ISAIAH: “the Holy One of Israel” Children, Signs of God’s Presence: Isaiah 7:1—9:7 Part One: 7:1-9
Introduction
“Whatever we trust in place of God will eventually turn on us and destroy us.”?
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3).
As we have seen Isaiah 6 looks both backwards (cc. 1-5) and forwards (cc.7-39). Today we begin the forward look with 7:1—9:7, one of the greatest sections of Isaiah. Found in it are two Old Testament texts very familiar to those of us who live out of the Christian hope, texts that we will soon encounter again as the Christmas season comes with the singing of Handel’s Messiah:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (7:14).
For unto us child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (9:6, KJV).
We have seen in our study of Isaiah 1-6 the call of God’s people to “Servanthood.” Isaiah 40-55 presents the vocation of “Servanthood “and chapters 56-66 lay out the marks of “Servanthood.” In the intervening chapters, 7-39 Isaiah wrestles with the question of “The Basis of Servanthood,” “Whom Shall we Trust”?
So we face today the problem of trust, a theme very prominent in the passage before us. Will Ahaz (735-715 B.C.), king of Judah (and Judah), trust in God or in the might of Assyria? Will it be for them or us that “whatever we trust in place of God will eventually turn on us and destroy us (8:6-8)”? Is this a problem with which we can identify?
Isaiah’s answer to the problem of trust as posed by our text focuses on “Children.” So it is appropriate that we take Oswald’s heading of this section for our lesson title:
Children, Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7)
Scattered throughout our passage are both puzzling and fascinating references to children or sons:
Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jasub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field (7:3).
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (7:14; cf. 8:8).
And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. then the LORD said to me, Name him Maher-shal-hash-baz, . . . (8:3).
See, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion (8:18).
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (9:6).
Set before Ahaz and his nation is a challenge of perspective. What perspective should they take on their affairs? One’s perspective is important. I am told that one day John Smith climbed to the top of Mount Sinai to get close enough to talk to God. Looking up he asks the Lord, “God, what does a million years meant to you?” The Lord replies, “A minute.” “And what does a million dollars mean to you? The Lord replies, A penny.” Smith asks, “Can I have a penny? The Lord replies, “In a minute”!
In 7:1—9:7, helpless, innocent, and weak children are what the sacred text of the prophet Isaiah suggests as God’s perspective for the problem faced by King Ahaz and his people. Against the scheming and politics of nations Isaiah sets a group of children in whose innocence the prophet sees the divine perspective: “strength is weakness; weakness is strength.”
But this is not Ahaz’s perspective.. Ahaz sees the problem he faces differently than God. Isaiah presents Ahaz with the divine perspective, but for him as for us, it is not always an easy matter to view our lives from God’s point of view. Eve and Adam found that out: “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Gen. 3:7). So we listen in as Isaiah challenges Ahaz on his crucial issue, “Whom shall we trust?” There is some help for us in the prophetic text. Perhaps we will be encouraged to take seriously the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? . . . And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? . . . Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:25, 27, 31-32).
I. The First Child: Will You Believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9)
The text briefly presents the historical scenario. Remember Judah is the Southern Kingdom, Israel/Ephraim is the Northern Kingdom located north of Judah, and Aram or Syria lies yet to the north and east of Israel, now modern Syria. To complete the geographical picture the expanding Assyrian Empire, ruled by King Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.C.), made its home in the territory along the banks of the Tigris river north of Babylonia, roughly equivalent to what we know as northern Iraq.
All three nations, Judah, Israel, and Syria, were vassal states of Assyria paying periodic tribute or taxes for the protection of the larger empire. This was the least oppressive of the three stages of Assyria’s relationship to dependent states. Isaiah reports the developing political situation:
In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind (7:1-2).
The two nations to the north of Judah, Israel and Syria, were in the mood to cast off even the mild restraints imposed by Assyria and wanted Judah to join them in their rebellion against Assyria. Ahaz must have initially refused to go along with them, so their kings Pekah and Rezin marched against the kingdom of Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem, but were unable to take the city as it turned out. In the meantime Ahaz of the noble “house of David” along with “his people” were utterly terrified—the prophetic metaphor suggests they were immobilized.
Presented with an opportunity to hold steady and trust God, Ahaz eventually decided to increase his level of dependence on Assyria and appeal to them for help, in the long term, an appeal to his worst enemy. The narrator of the book of Kings reports that Ahaz, taking “the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king’s house” as a present, sent messengers to the King of Assyria saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me” (2 Kings 16:7-8).
Isaiah as a prophet knew that the real long-term threat to Judah’s existence as a nation was not Syria and Israel, but Assyria, a powerful nation, whom Ahaz wanted to invite more deeply into his affairs. But Assyria’s help would come at the price of a more costly covenant with her, a relationship bringing not only political but also spiritual implications involving the Assyrian gods and their recognition. Ahaz’s perspective was short-sighted, he could not see the long-range price—he did not see what Isaiah saw, he did not have the divine perspective on the affairs of the nation, on the divine will for the people of God.
Now back to Isaiah’s role in the situation and to the word of the LORD to Isaiah for Ahaz:
“Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jasub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s field, and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah. Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel (“good for nothing”) king in it (7:3-6).
Ahaz, deeply agitated, was personally investigating the city’s highly vulnerable water supply in preparation for the coming siege of the city when Isaiah met him. To have water under siege was crucial. The fact that Isaiah was commanded to take his son with him hints at the significance that children play in the larger passage (7:1-9:7). Although the son’s name meant “a remnant shall return,” its meaning in context is ambiguous, not clearly judgment or salvation. Oswalt suggests that it meant an “impending doom which cannot obscure God’s intentions to bless,” and intended as a word of assurance to Ahaz—there will be a remnant preserved from destruction. For the assuring word that Ahaz is to hear from Isaiah is twofold: Ahaz is to relax, to “be quiet, do not fear,” and be assured that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel are only “two smoldering stumps of firebrands,” merely the smoking ends of sticks deserted after a bonfire. The goal of their conspiracy against Assyria and the accompanying aggressive intentions against Judah do not fit God’s plan:
therefore says the Lord GOD; It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.) The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all (7:7-9).
In fact Israel, the northern kingdom, will in a very few years cease to exist as a nation. It fell to the Assyrians in 721/722 B.C. Isaiah sums up the whole issue for Ahaz and his people with a fascinating play on the Hebrew verb, ’amen:
If you do not stand firm in faith (ta’aminu), you shall not stand at all” (te’amenu).
Oswald translates “If you do not believe You will not be established.
If Ahaz can just believe, just “stand firm in faith,” his entire perspective will be altered, his eyes will be opened to see that his house as the house of David (2 Sam. 7:12-16) and his people will be established. The challenge of the word of the LORD to Ahaz is plain:
If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all” (1:9).
Is not the challenge of Jesus to us just as plain?
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his (or its) righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow brings worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today (Matthew 6:34-35).
So our prayer is that of the Psalmist,
Search me O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23, NASB).
ISAIAH: “the Holy One of Israel” Children, Signs of God’s Presence: Isaiah 7:1—9:7 Part Two: 7:10—8:10
Introduction
“God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10)
As we approach our text “it’s beginning to look like Christmas,” and it is not even Thanksgiving yet! But we must keep pace with the stores!
Christmas is in the air as we continue our theme of “Children, Signs of God’s Presence.” In our passage two references to children appear, “the young woman . . .shall bear a son” (7:14) and “the prophetess . . . conceived and bore a son” (8:3).
Without failure, a newborn child fascinates, infants always attract our attention. We never see a new baby out in public without Betty stopping to gaze and “ooh” and “aah.” Recently Marvel (Salgado) and Jim Hitson welcomed a baby girl, Emilia Joy. At a recent visit to greet this new one Marvel told us that Jim is completly taken with his new daughter. He cannot keep his eyes off her or keep from holding her!
Here in Isaiah it is significant that the first child in our text is named “Immanuel” (immanu-’el), a name that appears again in 8:8, “your land, O Immanuel” (immanu-’el). Then in the final verse of our text for the day comes the affirmation, “God is with us,” also immanu-’el in Hebrew. The same word is used in Psalm 46 verses 8 and 12 as the Psalmist emphatically declares that. “The LORD of hosts is with us” (immanu) in an expression of trust integral to Israel’s faith.
In Isaiah 7:1—9:7 children are the supreme “sign” of God’s relation to his people. Children in every time and in every place are signs of hope, of new life, of a new day, of a new beginning. (Thus it is tragic when children are neglected, mistreated, and deprived of the necessities of life as with so many in today’s world.) So it was in the time of Ahaz and Isaiah, and surely it is so in our time, that innocent and helpless children face us with what God is about in our lives: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Perhaps they fascinate us because in them the voice of God touches us; they are where his prevenient or “going before” grace is found! Here in our scripture children become the word of the LORD to Ahaz as he responds to the imminent danger he faces as the representative of the house of David, the leader of the nation of Judah.
The last time we were in Isaiah 7 we looked at the passage that mentioned Isaiah’s son. There we met
I. The First Child: Will You Believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9)
As we have seen, Ahaz had the problem of trust, where should he place his hope? John Wesley comments that “If a man will not believe God, he will believe anything” (Letters VI: 123). Is it true that “when we cannot trust God, it suddenly makes good sense to trust the enemy”? (203).
Today we move on to encounter the
II. Second Child: God Is With Us (7:10—8:10)
The sign of Immanuel (7:10-17)
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.
In this “sign narrative,” Ahaz, who is facing the immediate threat of the armies of Israel and Syria at the gates of Jerusalem due to his rejection of their invitation to join them in rebellion against Assyria, is invited by the LORD to ask for a “sign,” quite unrestricted, “let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” Offered to him is an event, ordinary or miraculous, a “sign” designed to confirm the prophetic word to him. Yet he refuses, as he says, to “put the LORD to the test,” to take the risk of manipulating God! But who is being tested? Is his so-called spiritual sensitivity really an evasion of serious spiritual interaction with God? This inexperienced and indecisive young king is religious enough, but his real gods were idols.
So Isaiah warns, “Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?” God has had enough of Ahaz’s arguments and excuses. So the testing of Ahaz is inevitable and Isaiah declares,
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (7:14).
What does the “sign” mean? Whatever the “sign” itself is, the primary meaning for Ahaz and Judah is that by the time the child is able to make decisions, that is, when he “knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good,” the armies of Israel and Syria will be long gone from “the land.” But then,
the LORD will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria (7:17)..
Still, our thirsty curiosity for the “real” meaning of Isaiah 7:14 remains unsatisfied. As Childs comments, “one of the significant features of this verse is the mysterious, even vague and indeterminate, tone that pervades the entire passage.” We do not know who “the young woman” (Matthew 1:23 translates “virgin”) is, who fathered the child, and how the mother’s giving of the name “Immanuel” relates to the meaning of the sign. The issue is significant both in the immediate historical context of Ahaz and in the larger prophetic Vision (1:1) of Isaiah.
First is the question of “the young woman,” the Hebrew ‘almah which is definite, “the” in context, so here someone specific. Over against the unambiguous word betulah where the emphasis falls on virginity, ‘almah connotes a female ripe for marriage, a young woman sexually mature. As Oswalt puts it “the prophet did not want to stress the virginity, neither did he wish to leave it aside.” In the historical context of Ahaz and Isaiah’s larger Vision I find Watts’ conclusion convincing:
The view that the child to be born is a royal heir, and that his mother belongs to the king’s household does justice to the evidence, fits the context, and provides the potential of messianic intention that is needed.
Now why in the sovereign providence of God did the child’s mother name him “Immanuel,” meaning as we know “God is with us” when the horizon forecasts only devastation of both Judah and the house of David? And what is the significance of Matthew’s use of Isaiah’s “Immanuel” prophecy in his announcement of the soon birth of Jesus? “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, . . . ‘the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us’” (1:21, 23). How does all this relate to us today? Is Oswalt on track at all when he comments that “the presence of a transcendent and holy God with us may mean weal and woe. . . So it was when Christ walked the roads of Palestine.” Perhaps the rest of the passage will help us with prophetic perspective!
The razor of Assyria (7:18-25)
On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures. On that Day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well. On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey. On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. With bow and arrow one will go there, for all the land will be briars and thorns; and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
Expanding on the announcement of 7:17 are four oracles of doom regarding the coming of the Assyrian armies. Each oracle is prefixed by a fixed prophetic formula of eschatological import, “On that day.” The end result of all the devastation will be the return of briars and thorns to the land in place of fertile pastures, only a herder culture remains and horticulture is no more.
The significant point for us to ponder is that “on that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.” For Isaiah it is God who calls in the foreign powers, he is the ultimate force at work, he has his program in mind, not only then in empires of Assyria and Egypt in relation to his people, but also as Isaiah’s Vision progresses, in the future Empire of Persia with Cyrus at the helm (45:1).
Question: In our day is God really the Sovereign of history or is he not? We cannot have it both ways, we cannot both remove God from the tragedies of human affairs and have him in ultimate charge of all things! So is he or is he not present in the affairs of all the nations in current political history?--Active in our day of hourly disturbing news domestic and abroad? Remember Isaiah sums up all the issues for God’s judgment into one overarching issue, injustice, an issue defined in part by its inherent idolatry! What if by one grand stroke we could rid the entire creation of all injustice? What would change? How would our individual lives change?
Isaiah moves on in a narrative of prophetic autobiography, “the LORD said to me,” and presents us with another child,
The sign of Maher-shal-hash-baz 8:1-4)
Then the LORD said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” and have it attested for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the child knows how to call “My father or “My mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.
The immediate historical situation is the same, the sign is in similar language and parallel in significance for the menacing threat of Israel and Syria. Does this child too take on the meaning of “Immanuel,” at least in immediate fulfillment? Or is he possibly the same child? The child is clearly Isaiah’s, his name is “To Swift-Plunder, Hastening Booty,” the people of Judah are in view, not just Ahaz, and the question remains, “Is God really with us?”
What does Isaiah say about our question as he continues with yet another prophetic oracle?
Assyria at the flood, yet God is with us (8:5-10)
The LORD spoke to me again: Because the people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah; therefore, the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above its channels and oveflow its banks; it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. Band together, you peoples, and be dismayed, listen all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed! Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
The contrast is graphic, between “the waters of Shiloah that flow gently” and “the mighty flood waters of the River,” between the gracious help of God and the imperial “glory” of “the King of Assyria.” The one trickles calmly onward within its providential banks while the other pours out into and spreads over the breadth of the land. Yet something is new and quite different, all of Judah is now “your land, O Immanuel”!.
Can “Immanuel” now be simply the son of Ahaz or even the son of Isaiah? Or is there a hint here of ultimate fulfillment, of One in whom all hope abides for God’s people? Are the arrogant and rapacious plans of the nations and peoples the final word? The prophetic word is
Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us (immanu-’el).
Can we see God at work in any sense in our national malaise, in our foreign adventurism, in the convoluted affairs of the Middle East, in the human tragedy of Africa, or even in the natural calamities that have visited the human family in recent months? In a time and in a world like ours the word of the Lord from Isaiah is that ”those who trust God must look deeper than appearance” and that God’s “immanence is the one factor which ought to influence all our plans.”
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will be bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emannuel,” which means, “God is with us” (Matthew 1:20-23).
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The hymn writers of the 12thand 19th centuri8es sum up the message for us as they invite us to sing the prayer,
O holy child of Bethlehem, Descend on us, we pray, Cast out our sin, and enter in; Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell, Oh come to us; abide with us, Our Lord, Em-man-u-el.
O Come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lowly exile here Until the Son of God appear. ISAIAH: “the Holy One of Israel” Children, Signs of God’s Presence: Isaiah 7:1—9:7 Part Three: 8:11—9:7
Introduction
Two great Isaianic texts leap out at us from our scripture of the day:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them the light has shined (Isaiah 9:2)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given (Isaiah 9:6, KJV).
We could just stop here and reflect on our biblical heritage in these texts the rest of our time together, and our morning’s lesson could be complete, for these texts speak to us of hope, of something startling, even renewing in the flow of history.
Speaking of a sense of newness, on March 10-11, 2005, at Princeton Theological Seminary, two days of festivities were held around the inauguration of Iain Torrence, a Scottish theologian, as the sixth President of that prestigious institution. The theme for the several addresses given to celebrate the occasion was “Reading Scripture Together.” Invited by the new President to give the addresses were four scholars two Christian, one Jewish, and one Muslim—representing the three Abrahamic faiths. Iain Torrence in his Inaugural address, “Beyond Solipsism,” in response, paraphrasing one of the participants, defines the aim of Scripture Reasoning as “to reconstitute modern thought as a practice of reflection upon our actions, and thereby to discern in them traces of the divine will.”
The Jewish scholar was Peter Ochs, the Edgar Bronfam Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia. Commenting about signs of a future time of rebirth for the people called Israel, Peter Ochs remarked,
I believe this occasion has the appearance of such a sign: I mean this occasion on which the leader of a great seminary of the Church invites a religious Jew to share words of Torah at the time of his inauguration—and a day on which the Jew agrees.”
Very pertinent for us as we gather today to reflect on a key passage in the prophecy or Vision of Isaiah are Peter Och’s twelve features of scriptural reasoning, that is, how he approaches the reading of scripture within his Jewish tradition. Some of these features are very suggestive for us as we approach “our reading together” of Isaiah with the expectation due the text:
“I turn to Scripture for guidance on how to understand and act in the world.” To turn for guidance means “’inquiring after God,’ . . . searching through the words of Scripture for meanings that are already there but not yet disclosed to me.” “The plain sense speaks for all eternity, but the deeper meaning is disclosed only for the time and place of the seeker.” “Seeking into the depths of Scripture is a form of prayer: it is asking God, ‘How shall I understand this day? And what shall I therefore do?’” “The seeker believes that God answers back, as it were, and then the seeker asks a more refined question, then God answers back, and that back and forth dialogue between the prayerful seeker and the God of Scripture is what we mean by studying into the depths of Scripture as Scripture, provided we remember that this kind of study speaks only to the time and place of study.” “Scriptural reasoning . . . marks out special times for bringing a part of the eschatological future into the present.” ”to search for scripture’s deeper meaning for this day is to pray for illumination and search for signs of that illumination in our text traditions and in our study fellowship.”
In many ways the above is what we have tried to do over the years as we “Come and Go” together!—employing a Jewish hermeneutic!
Now back to our Isaianic text. The themes that grab us are “darkness” and “light.” These are our keys to examine the richness/witness of the passage: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Scientifically or physically “darkness” is “the absence of light, neither illuminating or illuminated.” “Light” is “that which enables one to see, a form of radiant energy that acts on the retina of the eye making sight possible, an energy that is transmitted at a velocity of about 186,000 miles per second by wavelike motion.”
Philosophically--? Only one out of four philosophical dictionaries I consulted had an entry entitled “light.” After using a brief scientific description it made reference to Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who asked if light were merely a subjective phenomenon or was there also something objective about it, that is, is light only something that happens in your head, or is it also “out there”? As to “darkness” there was no listing. So I take it that there is no darkness in philosophy!
In real life we inhabitants of the concrete jungle have little occasion to experience “pitch” darkness. Any memories?
Our interest in “light” and “darkness” today, however, is primarily in its biblical usage, beginning significantly in Genesis 1:1-3:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God (or “the spirit of God”) swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let their be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from darkness.
The contrast is between “chaos” and “creation,” probably the fundamental motif behind the general use of these terms in scripture. Some typical texts include
“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness “(Job 29:2-3).
It is you who light my lamp; The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness (Psalm 18:28).
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:11-12).
For with you is the fountain of life; In your light we see light (Psalm 36:9).
In a passage very like our text, Isaiah 60:1-3 reads,
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Previously in this present series as we were examining the theme of “Children, Signs of God’s Presence” in 7:1—9:7 we began with
I. The First Child: Will You Believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9)
Ahaz, king of Judah, we remember, was traumatized by the armies of Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Syria at the gates of Jerusalem. What should he do? Join them against their common overlord, Assyria, or appeal to Assyria for more help and thus invite in his armies and increased subjection? Isaiah’s word to Ahaz was to hold steady and trust God, for
If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all (7:9).
The next study in this series moved on to the
II. Second Child: God Is With Us (7:10—8:10)
Here we began to see clearly that children are the supreme “sign” of God’s relation to his people; they are where the voice of God touches us. Here in our scripture children become the word of the LORD to Ahaz as he responds to the imminent danger he faces as the leader of the nation of Judah. Significantly this second child is named “Immanuel” (immanu-’el), a name that appears again in 8:8, “your land, O Immanuel” (immanu-’el). Then in the final verse of our text for the day came the affirmation, “God is with us,” also immanu-’el in Hebrew. So “God is with us” (8:10) was the Word of the LORD to Ahaz and is the Word of God to us.
Today we come to the conclusion of our larger passage, 7:1—9:7, as Isaiah sums it all up as
III. Our Way—Darkness; His Way—Light (8:11--9:7)
Pay attention to God (8:11--9:1)
Addressed to his faithful hearers, perhaps to his disciples (8:16) Isaiah, with heightened intensity, continues his autobiographical style:
For the LORD spoke thus to me while his hand was strong upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over—a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken (8:11-15).
The issue at stake is two visions of reality. Where does the future lie? Panic is abroad in the land; rumors and fear of violence fill the city, and conspiracy phenomena, no stranger to our culture, penetrate the populace. At such a time Isaiah is to remind the people of the real source of power and dread: “the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (13). This is somewhat like the language of Jesus: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28; cf. Luke 12:4).
God is the object of their ultimate respect, their final authority, for he is “the Holy One of Israel” and can be either their “sanctuary” or “a rock one stumbles over,” indeed, “a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (14). They shall stumble and fall “and be broken; they shall be snared and taken” (15). The nature of God’s revelation of himself has a double-edge, both here and even more so in God’s final revelation in Jesus.
Darkness is over the face of the land; even God “is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.” The people apparently do not know whom to fear or to whom to turn. Darkness is to be without hope. But not so Isaiah, as he confesses,
Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. See, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on the behalf of the living, for teaching and for instruction?” Surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn! They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward, or they will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness (8:16-22).
Isaiah “will wait for the LORD,” Isaiah ”will hope in” God, in fact, he cries out “I and the children . . . are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion” (18). Significant for Isaiah in this situation is the revealed Word of God, “Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples” (16). Prophetic oracles are being collected and preserved in faith for another generation. They “retain their truth and authority in spite of the passing of time and continue to serve as God’s words for a future age.” Our Bible is under way!
Away with the temptation to inquire of ghosts and spirits from the realm of the dead. During the whole history of Israel following the settlement in the land, Israel fought a running battle against the inroads of such forms of superstition that were categorically prohibited by the Hebrew faith. A similar kind of search for certain answers in fearful times is rife in our land; we are tempted to believe anything and anybody but the faithful and “sensible” interpreter of the revealed Word of God. All it takes it seems for a mindless hearing is the display of charisma and a dogmatic sense of simplistic certainty!--right or left, secular or religious! This is “darkness” without “dawn” (20). Isaiah describes such folk as those who “will be enraged and will curse their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward, or they will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness” (21-22). Darkness comes from refusing to hear the testimony. Our lives are dark to the extent of our neglect to listen to the revealed divine will in its time-honored expressions.
Light, however, comes when we look to God, even though at times he hides his face from us, as our ultimate teacher and for the source of knowledge that holds us fast when the chips are all on the table. From Isaiah’s perspective, it is from the Holy One alone that an adequate perspective on life can come.
Isaiah is beginning to say, “I see the light, even though afar off!” Isaiah has been given signs of the promise of a new age.
But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations (9:1; cf. Matthew 4:15).
What is light really like? Light in the prophetic, biblical sense? Isaiah knew:
Unto us a child is born (9:2-7)
O Come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lowly exile here Until the Son of God appear.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You who have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it With justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this (9:2-7).
Here asserts Oswalt is the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel prophecies, “the ultimate expression of the truth that God is indeed with us (Immanuel),” and the “culmination of Isaiah’s use of children to indicate God’s providential mastery of history.” The prophetic word is that “a son is given,” an eschatological figure, one royal and messianic, even divine. War will be no more and peace and justice will reign in the kingdom of “light.” Again, “What is light?” Light is . . .
A “child has been born for us, a son given to us”: God will not deliver from arrogance, war, oppression, and coercion by being more arrogant, more warlike, more oppressive, and more coercive. For “when the prophet comes to the heart of the means of deliverance, a childlike face peers out at us. God is strong enough to overcome his enemies by becoming vulnerable, transparent, and humble—the only hope, in fact, for turning enmity into friendship.”
It is a day when “the rod of their oppressor” will be “broken” and “the boots of the tramping warriors . . . shall be burned as fuel for the fire.” One people will no longer violently exploit other peoples, and the innocent and the prime of youth will cease to die needlessly.
It is a realm established and upheld “with justice and righteousness;” it will be a society where the wage of the common working person will no longer be just 1 piece of chocolate while the CEO of his company receives 362 pieces!
In the light of our text, what should our Christian attitude be?
Conclusion
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16).
“I am the light of the world. Who ever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. . . . If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5, 7).
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined (Isaiah 9:2). ISAIAH: “the Holy One of Israel” Christmas in Isaiah Isaiah 9:8—12:6
Introduction
Among the Old Testament scriptures most used in the worship of the Church at the Christmas season, at the top of the list is Isaiah 7:1—12:6. We began our study of this larger passage October 30 and today will be our fourth and final study. We have looked at the great Immanuel passages:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. . . . The Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. . . . Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us (7:14, 8:7-8 and 10).
We saw that Isaiah’s prophetic declaration of “God is with us” (immanu-‘el) is at the heart of Matthew’s infancy narratives, and climaxes the whole of his Gospel:
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. . . . Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (1:23; 28:20 KJV).
Last time in Isaiah 9:6, at the climactic point of our larger passage, we encountered that most familiar chorus from Handel’s Messiah,
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The prophet, however, is not yet finished with this theme, for today’s lesson focuses on another messianic text, almost an anti-climax, one not as familiar to us at Christmas time:
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD (11:1-3).
Yet these verses are an essential part of this the greatest of all Old Testament passages in relation to the coming of the Messiah as it focuses on a figure that cannot be interpreted finally other than as a Divine Son of God!
So the message of the prophet to us in our day is “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” who means finally and forever, and in all circumstances, at all times, and in all places, that “God is with us”!
In the day of Ahaz, King of Judah, a day of threatening nations, a day of fear throughout the populace, a day of international power politics, a day of impending national destruction, and a day of you please of divine judgment, the prophet declared to Ahaz and to Judah and Israel that in the midst of all the confusion, the turmoil, and the debilitating dread on every side that “God is with us,” that even in the overwhelming flood this is “your land, O Immanel”!
In our times, in “America’s finest city,” in our California “paradise,” in our “torn-apart” nation, and in the distress of the larger world--Israel, Iraq, Iran, Africa, North Korea, China, you describe the torment of our day—spin, corruption and greed, mean-spirited politics, religious bigotry of left and right, suicidal and frightening terrorism around the world, and natural disasters that threaten our faith in a good God, the message of Christmas remains, that “God is with us” for “they shall name him Emmanuel.” If we take our biblical texts seriously in both their Old and New Testament contexts we have to say that Christmas is both a time of “judgment” and a time of “joy.” As Isaiah expresses it,
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked (11:3-4).
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (12:2-3).
“Water” is a powerful metaphor in Isaiah, here it is “water from the wells of salvation,” back in 8:7-8 it was “the mighty flood waters of the River [which] will sweep on into Judah as a flood.”
Our scripture texts encounter us with the language of Promise. Yet it can be said that we live in a day, writes the popular spiritual writer Kathleen Norris, when “the very words that would engender and foster our trust have been stripped of meaning.”
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Professor of English at Westmont College, writes that in our culture there is “a gradual increase in language that is either meaningless or destructive of meaning.” She observes that “the generation of students I teach expects to be lied to.” In our “culture of lies” there is “more and more talk about less and less.” Because today’s college students hear so many words so constantly, their capacities to pause over words, ponder them, reflect upon them, hear the echoes of ancient cadences, attune themselves to allusiveness and alliteration, are eroding.”
So in view of these comments and since the prophetic text before us today is so huge let us tune our “language” ears to key parts of the text. We will attempt to keep our interpretative remarks to a minimum and let the language and metaphors of scripture encounter us with their own power. I invite you to first enjoy the language, then listen to its voice.
We follow Oswalt’s outline with our larger passage entitled “God or Assyria? No Trust” (7:1-12:6). In our previous three lessons we worked with the heading “Children: Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7). Today the next part of our passage can be designated.
Measured by God’s Standards (9:8—10:4)
Here we can please Herb as we strike again the note of judgment! I am sure the theme blesses you too! I found it interesting that in the reading for December 1, 2005, in the Episcopalian devotional book Forward Day by Day, the writer observed, “We find it somewhat shocking that God is truly a God of consequences.” He was even so bold as to suggest that it is a truth we need to hear.
So our text, a prophetic proclamation of divine judgement, begins appropriately:
The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it fell on Israel; and all the people knew it—(9:8-9).
Throughout the passage a refrain keeps occurring announcing God’s continuing anger against Israel and Judah who share “both in the selfsame wickedness and in the impending judgement”:
For all this, his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still (9:12, 17, 21; 10:4; cf. 5:25).
The historical calamities they suffered did not bring them to repentance. Instead they confirm the divine decision of hardening (6:9-13) by their arrogant response to the destruction of their cities:
“The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place” (9:10).
The people did not turn to him who struck them, or seek the LORD of hosts (9:13).
So judgment continues to fall:
So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day— elders and dignitaries are the head, and prophets who teach lies are the tail (9:14-15).
And wickedness only increases,
For wickedness burned like a fire, Consuming bricks and thorns; it kindled thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire; no one spared another. They gorged on the right, but still were hungry, they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied: they devoured the flesh of their own kindred (9:18-20).
Again injustice in society is the issue, the divine indictment:
Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right (10:1-2).
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? (10:3).
So For all this, his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still (10:4).
Now judgment takes a new direction, and the theme of hope reappears in Isaiah’s prophetic oracles in .
Hope Despite Destruction (10:5-11:16)
Following Oswalt’s outline this section falls into two distinct sections beginning with
The Destroyer destroyed (10:5-34)
Expressing “a philosophy of history in grand style which is build on the law of a moral world-order in history,” Isaiah now identifies Assyria as the appointed instrument of divine punishment:
Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger— the club in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I will send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets (10:5-6).
But soon it will be Assyria’s turn, for “when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride” (10:12).
Assyria has been gloating in its power and wealth saying,
By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones (10:13).
So the Lord asks a question,
Shall the axe vaunt itself over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it? As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up! (10:15).
And then declares,
Therefore the Sovereign, the LORD of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day. . . .
The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few That a child can write them down (10:16-17, 19).
Then a different note, a note of hope is struck, one hinted at earlier in the name of Isaiah’s son, “Shear-jashub” (7:3), “a remnant shall return”:
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness (10:20-22). . Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction (10:24-25).
What is the message? “God is with his people” even in the destruction of judgment: “Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.” In Brevard Child’s words, “the new reality of a community of faith in Israel does not emerge except from the ashes of destruction, and than as a sheer gift of divine mercy.”
The verses that follow, 26-34, describe the leashing of Assyria, the coming of the Lord in majesty and power, a major message of Scripture as our celebration of Epiphany on January 6 testifies. So the stage is now set for second section of “Hope Despite Destruction (10:5—11:16),
The Shoot from Jesse (11:1-16)
The first part of this passage speaks for itself as the figure who has haunted us throughout our larger passage, the one whose meaning is “God with us,” appears again, now as the one upon whom “the spirit of the LORD” uniquely rests:
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, And a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; . . . Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins (11:1-5).
This “full flower” expression of the messianic hope includes a vision of a visible kingdom unique to Isaiah:
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (11:6-9; cf. 61:17-25).
Hope now becomes “down to history” as under the banner of “the root of Jesse” the remnant will return from exile in Babylon:
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples, the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hammath, and from the coastlands of the sea. . . . So there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that is left of his people (11:10-11, 16).
We conclude our lesson with the paean of praise that brings to a conclusion these great Isaianic chapters (7-12),
The Song of Trust (12:1-6)
When they finally come to an understanding of God’s gracious activity in the whole of their history the people of God are to sing in the lyrical language of worship:
You will say on that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. THIS IS NOW OUR SONG! Isaiah 1:4, 5:19, 24. Sunday, October 30, 2005. Contents of Isaiah from Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 60-64, Isaiah 40-66, 16-19: Introduction to the Prophecy: The Present and Future of God’s People (1:1—5:30) The Call to Servanthood (6:1-13) Whom Shall We Trust? Basis for Servanthood (7:1—39:8) God or Assyria? No Trust (7:1-12:6) Children: Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7) Will you believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9) God is with us (7:10—8:10) Our way—darkness, his way—light (8:11—9:7) Measured by God’s Standards (9:8—10:4) Hope Despite Destruction (10:4-11:16) The Song of Trust (12:1-6) God : Master of the Nations (13:1—35:10) God or Assyria? Trust (36:1—37::38) The Vocation of Servanthood (40:1—55:13) The Marks of Servanthood (56:1—66:24) Ibid., 194. We saw in an earlier lesson that Oswalt, 54, makes Servanthood “the overarching theme of the book of Isaiah” commenting that “God has called all people, but particularly his own people, to lay down their self-exaltation and be dependent upon him, to become evidence of his character and deliverance in order that the whole world might know him as he is and thus be delivered from their own destruction. Ibid., 194. Watts, Isaiah 1-33, 83, suggests “Of Sons and Signs.” Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 195. See Watts, Isaiah 1-33, 92. Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 199-200. “You” in both lines is plural. Isaiah 1:4, 5:19, 24. November 13, 2005. Contents of Isaiah from Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 60-64, Isaiah 40-66, 16-19: Introduction to the Prophecy: The Present and Future of God’s People (1:1—5:30) The Call to Servanthood (6:1-13) Whom Shall We Trust? Basis for Servanthood (7:1—39:8) God or Assyria? No Trust (7:1-12:6) Children: Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7) Will you believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9) God is with us (7:10—8:10) Our way—darkness, his way—light (8:11—9:7) Measured by God’s Standards (9:8—10:4) Hope Despite Destruction (10:4-11:16) The Song of Trust (12:1-6) God : Master of the Nations (13:1—35:10) God or Assyria? Trust (36:1—37::38) The Vocation of Servanthood (40:1—55:13) The Marks of Servanthood (56:1—66:24) The other references to children in our larger passage are 8:18 and 9:6. Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 203. We continue to follow Oswalt’s headings. Childs, Isaiah, 66. Following the Greek translation of the Septuagint (LXX). Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 210. Watts, Isaiah 1-33, 99. Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 209. A euphemism for “pubic hair.” See Exodus 4:25 for a similar euphemism. 1:21-26; 2:6-22. Or simply Ahaz’s policy before the crisis of non-resistant obedience to Assyria? Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 225, 220. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), #169 in Sing to the Lord. 12th century Latin hymn translated by John M. Neale (1851), #163 in Sing to the Lord. Isaiah 1:4, 5:19, 24. November 27, 2005. Contents of Isaiah from Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 60-64, Isaiah 40-66, 16-19: Introduction to the Prophecy: The Present and Future of God’s People (1:1—5:30) The Call to Servanthood (6:1-13) Whom Shall We Trust? Basis for Servanthood (7:1—39:8) God or Assyria? No Trust (7:1-12:6) Children: Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7) Will you believe (Shear-jasub)? (7:1-9) God is with us (7:10—8:10) Our way—darkness; his way—light (8:11—9:7) Measured by God’s Standards (9:8—10:4) Hope Despite Destruction (10:4-11:16) The Song of Trust (12:1-6) God : Master of the Nations (13:1—35:10) God or Assyria? Trust (36:1—37::38) The Vocation of Servanthood (40:1—55:13) The Marks of Servanthood (56:1—66:24) In 1959 or 1960 I sat in the classroom of his father, T. F. Torrance (still living at 92 Bruce McCormick told me at Homecoming), at New College, the University of Edinburgh. There exist study fellowships known as “Scriptural Reasoning” consisting of scholars from all three traditions who meet to read each others sacred texts in a context of dialogue, not polemic. Iain Torrence, “Beyond Solipsism,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volume xxvi, Number 1 (New Series, 2005), 65. The quote continues with “Scriptural Reasoning questions and seeks to interrupt the contemporary process which polarizes on the one hand secular modernism, and on the other anti-modern religious orthodoxy. Peter Ochs maintains that truth claims are not impossible, but are far more indirect than either side of such polarization permits.” Torrence is summarizing Peter Ochs, “The Rules of Scriptural Reasoning,” at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/ssr/issues/volume2/number1/ssro2-eo1.html. The Christian scholars are Setri Nyomi (Ghana), General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. The Muslim Scholar is Aref Ali Nayed, Visiting Fellow for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies, Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University. Peter Ochs, “Reading Scripture Together in Sight of Our Open Doors,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volume xxvi, Number 1 (New Series, 2005), 40. Among those who have met with him in a group engaged in scriptural dialogue at Princeton are PLNU Alumni James Kay and Bruce McCormick. Recently I have been motivated to think about the relation between “the text” we bring to the biblical text over against the biblical text itself. These two “texts” struggle against each other in the process of interpretation and presentation. The question is, which text predominates. Often our text turns out to be the text we bring to the text, and not the biblical text itself. Perhaps that will be true in this “scriptural” lesson! This he says, “presumes both that God’s instruction is revealed in Scripture and that what is revealed cannot be readily seen in the plain sense of the words of Scripture.” But to find this one must follow the path prepared by “the grammar, the text-historical context, and the semantic fields of the plain sense. Otherwise, [we] will be searching after something other than the Creator’s will.” Ochs, “Reading Scripture Together,” 36-37, 42, 44. Those features left out pertain directly to the Christian/Jewish/Muslim process of “reading Scripture together.” For the record, we include here the “reading” principles suggested by the Muslim participant, Aref Ali Nayed, “First, reading Scripture is radically different from any other kind of reading. Second, reading Scripture demands a sacred hermeneutics that respects the sacred origin and nature of scripture. Third, togetherness is already present in the reading of scripture to the extent that the love of God and of others is present in our hearts. And fourth, reading scripture together makes such love in God stronger and makes the togetherness deeper and more lasting.” “Reading Scripture Together: Towards a Sacred Hermeneutics of Togetherness,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volume xxvi, Number 1 (New Series, 2005), 53. David Ford’s address was entitled “Reading Scripture with Intensity: Academic, Ecclesial, Interfaith, and Divine.” Setri Nyomi9’s was “Living Faith in a Challenging Era.” In a series of lesson ages ago we did explore a different aspect of the biblical theme of darkness when we spent several weeks on the thought of John of the Cross. John’s use of the metaphor “darkness” in his famous “Dark Night” is in line with the apophatic stream in the history of spirituality, relating primarily to contemplative prayer. Our key biblical text was Exodus 20:21 (NIV) and the use of the Hebrew term behind “thick darkness” in the rest of the Old Testament, eight times in all. Also 2 Samuel 22;29. See also Isaiah 5:20; 42:16; 58:8-10; 45:7; Isaiah 45:15; 59:2; 64:7. We continue to follow Oswalt’s headings. Matthew 21:44; Luke 2:34; Romans 9:33. See also the Gospel of John and the Letter to the Hebrews. See Psalms 13:1; 27:9; 30:7; 44:24; 69:17; 89:46; 102:2; 104:29; 143:7; Isaiah 45:15, 59:2; 64:7. The literary genre of this paragraph is prophetic confession prevalent in Jeremiah and the Psalms of Lamentation. Childs, Isaiah, 76. He speaks of the beginnings of “canon consciousness.” See Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Samuel 28:7, Isaiah 19:3. 12th century Latin hymn translated by John M. Neale (1851), #163 in Sing to the Lord. See Matthew 4:16. Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 241. Ibid., 245. The imagery is a pile of chocolate. “Give 1 piece of chocolate to your worker stand-in and 44 pieces to your CEO stand-in. That was the 1980 ratio of average full-time worker to average page among CEOs in Business Week’s survey of major corporations. For the equivalent 2004 ration, give 1 piece of chocolate to the worker and 362 to the CEO.” Holly Skier, “Carving up America’s economic pie,” San Diego Union Tribune (November 25, 2005). Isaiah 1:4, 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6. Sunday, December 18, 2005. Contents of Isaiah from Oswalt, Isaiah 1-39, 60-64, Isaiah 40-66, 16-19: Introduction to the Prophecy: The Present and Future of God’s People (1:1—5:30) The Call to Servanthood (6:1-13) Whom Shall We Trust? Basis for Servanthood (7:1—39:8) God or Assyria? No Trust (7:1-12:6) Children: Signs of God’s Presence (7:1—9:7) Measured by God’s Standards (9:8—10:4) Hope Despite Destruction (10:4-11:16) The Song of Trust (12:1-6) God : Master of the Nations (13:1—35:10) God or Assyria? Trust (36:1—37::38) The Vocation of Servanthood (40:1—55:13) The Marks of Servanthood (56:1—66:24) Isaiah 9:6, KJV. Kathleen Norris, “Living by the Word,” Christian Century (November 29, 2005), 21. Her next sentence is "High sounding mission statements do not prevent corporate bosses from routinely betraying their employees, retirees and stockholders.” The sentences that follow begin with “the powerful words of scripture . . . ordinary words in the mouths of politicians,” etc. Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, “Why Worry About Words,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volume XXVI, Number 1, New Series (2005), 75-76, 79, 86-87. Most significant is her statement that the English language “will no longer perform, quite as well as it used to, its two principle functions: the conveyance of humane order which we call law, and the communication of the quick of the human spirit we call grace.” Forward Day by Day (Cincinnati: Forward Movement, 2005), 32. Childs, Isaiah, 83. Watts, Isaiah 1-33, 151. Watts is quoting R, Kittel, Geschicte des Volkes Israel II (6th ed., 1925), 386, n. 1. The quote concludes, “World history is world judgment.” Childs, Isaiah, 90. In the Christian calendar January is the season of Epiphany as December is the season of Advent. An expression used throughout Isaiah’s Vision as well as in the Psalms. Watts, Isaiah 1-33, 169-170, sees a chiastic structure in 11:1-10 with the keystone being “Yahweh’s righteousness and justice (11:3b-4).”
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“Come and Go,” San Diego First Church of the Nazarene Frank G. Carver