General Overview
·
Isaiah Chapters 7-12 is known as "The Immanuel Book”[1]
·
Last time we ended on
a wonderfully encouraging note as we considered the Immanuel child with the 4
names (9:1-7).
·
This new
section (9:8-10:4) appears in
sharp contrast to 9:1-7. This is by
design. The glorious age of the Messiah just described will come, but it is not
yet. This hopelessness is meant to make us look elsewhere. Until the Messiah
comes to redeem His creation, this earth will groan (Rom. 8:18-23).Throughout this
section Isaiah encourages us to
lift our eyes above to Immanuel, our Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Branch.
· Isaiah 9:8-10:4 is written in four parts, each
part concluding with the words, “For all this His anger is not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.” God has been using the prophet Isaiah to warn the people of Israel (NK) and
Judah (SK) concerning the impending
judgment which will come upon them if they do not repent. In this text, Isaiah
is commanded to speak a Word from the Lord to the NK. But God is also using the
prophet Isaiah to speak to us in our own day.
We will find 4 warnings here that
correspond to our own day.
Outline of 9:8-10:4
(i)
Because of your pride you will be defeated
by many enemies (9:8-12)
(ii)
Because you refuse to
repent your leadership will be
overthrown (9:13-17)
(iii)
Because you persist in wickedness you will turn against one another (9:18-21)
(iv)
Because you practice social
injustice there will be a day of
judgement (10:1-4)
1.
9:8-12 Because of your pride your
will be defeated by many enemies
Our text
begins with these dramatic words: “The
Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel” (Jacob
= Israel= Ephraim= Samaria= NK). The tribe of Ephraim was the largest tribe in
the NK . Ephraim is therefore often used
synonymously with Israel and the NK. Samaria was the capital city of the NK. This prophecy is directed to the NK. The Lord
(here Adonai - the sovereign Lord/ Master) has a weighty word for
this wayward nation. Whenever we think
of the word of the Lord, we must
not think in small terms. God’s word is always weighty and sure.
We get
a sense of this in Isaiah 55:11: “...so shall my word be that goes out from my
mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I
purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
The words of the Lord are his deeds. God has
sent forth this word, and because it is His word, He will bring it to pass [2].
This word is given as a result of the
prideful, arrogant attitude of the NK (9:9). This arrogant attitude is described
in 9:10. In their pride, the leaders and the people of
the NK of Israel said, “The bricks have
fallen, but we will build with dressed stones” etc. Whatever has fallen
down (probably a reference to the earthquake of Amos 1:1;4:11), they said, we will simply rebuild with something better.
In so doing
they disregarded the hand of God in the earthquake that caused the bricks to
collapse. Their world view was the ‘Yes
we can’ attitude, which is so common in our own day. They and we make no connection with the fact
that God sends wars and calamities
against a pride infested people. But look
what is happening! From the perspective of Isaiah, the spokesman of God, it is
the LORD that
sends successive waves of enemies over time against Israel –first there
is King Rezin and the Syrians from the east and the Philistines
from the West (9:11,12), and later the Assyrians in 10:5ff. At the hand of the Assyrians,
the destruction of NK- Israel would be complete. After this they will never
rebuild anything! The most notable fact here
is that God is the FIRST CAUSE of
their down fall, as He uses the Syrians
on the east, the Philistine in the west (9:12), and infighting or civil war (9:18-21)and finally Assyria (10:5-19) to humble them.
This
section ends with the refrain (9:12b), “For all
this, His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still”.
It appears at the end of each of these
four sections (9:12; 9:17; 9:21; 10:4).
Literally, it reads, "All this
judgment, but still there is more to come." It signifies that
He continues to judge, which now
follows in the next section…
2.
9:13-17 Because you refuse to repent, your leadership will be overthrown.
Listen to this: “The people
did not turn to Him who struck them, nor
inquire of the LORD of hosts.So the LORD cut off from NK- Israel head and
tail…” (9:13,14).
Despite the fact that God had
sent these enemies against them they would not listen. The more they
were chastised by God the more they refused to listen. The consequence of
rejecting the word of the LORD is that they will listen to someone else. “You gotta serve somebody” (Bob Dylan).
The problem is that those
that they were listening to their
societal leaders such
as the elder and the
honoured man, and the prophet-
BUT none of these led by the truth.
On the contrary, they led their people astray (9:16). They were not leaders – they were misleaders! They misled the
young men, the vulnerable orphans and widows. Even these were led astray by the godless examples of
their leaders. In the end they were all
speaking folly (9:17).
When the Word of the LORD is rejected by leaders, society crumbles! Hosea[3] says, “and
it shall be like people like priest” (Hosea
4:9). All are corrupt. No one is righteous. What else can God do but
to judge this wicked nation? Isaiah speaks graphically. In one day (i.e. very quickly) head and
tail, palm branch and reed (tall growth and low growth), elders, respected men
and the prophets will be cut off. And God is the FIRST Cause. He hands us over
to bad leaders. Yet, Israel still refuses to turn to God. And once
again, God says, [REFRAIN 9:17b] “For all
this, His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still” -literally
- "All this judgment, but still there
is more to come."
3.
9:18-21
Because you persist in your wickedness you will attack your own brothers.
Evil leaders
are self- centered. We have seen that their self- serving leadership causes
their society to lose its cohesiveness. Brother betrays brother. It is a part
of what it means to be handed over by God. Let’s see how this happens.
9:18 “For wickedness burns like a fire; it
consumes briars and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they
roll upward in a column of smoke.” We all have seen the recent images of
wildfires in California, Australia and even South Africa. Wildfires are unstoppable, swift, uncontrolled, devouring
everything before them. The prophet Isaiah applies this image to the wrath of
God on this godless society: “And the people are like fuel for the fire” (9:19). Their wickedness supplies fuel to the fire of
God’s judgment. He hands us over to
ourselves. It manifests in society by
the fact that close family ties are no longer considered sacred. No man shall
spare his brother (9:19-21). God did
not need to start the fire or fan the flames; He simply takes away the gift of common grace - the “fire
retardant” that restrains evil men.
Ephraim and Manasseh (9:21)
the sons of Joseph were blood brothers, but
here they devour each other, and
together they are against their
brother Judah. It is a picture of
utter societal chaos and disintegration. This house is hopelessly divided. It
cannot stand.[4]
In terms of application all we have to do is to observe the
history of the NK- Israel, following
the death of Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:23-29). We see what
follows in 2 Kings 15:8ff . Six kings reigned before NK-Israel fell in 722 BC.
Five came to the throne by assassination of their own brothers. This is the wildfire of God’s judgment. They fought with each other, and they fought against their brothers in
the southern kingdom of Judah. No love for God = no love for fellow man. The apostle Paul saw this and he warned the
Galatians, 13 For you
were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole
law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 15 But
if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one
another. Gal. 5:13-16
And once again, a third time,
God says, “For all this, His anger has not turned away,
and His hand is stretched out still” - "All this
judgment, but still there is more to come." (9:21b) There was still sin to judge, and God wasn’t ready to stop His
work of judgment.
4.
(10:1-4)
Because of social injustice, you will be
exiled and killed.
Again, the
subject here relates to the leadership of NK-Israel, acting in a ruthless way against the poor and vulnerable of their society: 10:1-2 “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep
writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to
rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless
their prey! “
The question
for them is, “What will you do on the day
of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee, and
where will you leave your wealth? (10:3) …and the answer is …” you will crouch among the prisoners or fall
among the slain (10:4).
All that God
needs to do to bring judgment on Israel is to withdraw His protection. Without
Him they have no hope before their enemies. And for the fourth time, Isaiah says, “For all this, His anger has not
turned away, and His hand is stretched out still” - "All this judgment, but still there is
more to come." (10:4b). The
repetition of this refrain reminds us that God is not letting up on them. They
will drink His wrath down to the dregs.
There will be no escape from God’s justice. It is either repentance now,
or it is the facing of the wrath of God when the day of mercy has expired. What
hope is there for a people like this?
Here
is the only hope! As we look
back over the last few chapters we take note that the Immanuel book (Chapters
7-12) reverberates with Name of the Messiah – Immanuel (7:14;8:8,10), Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince
of Peace, everlasting Father (9:6,7), the Branch (11:1).
Greater than
God’s judgment is the message of God’s mercy. The mercy plan of God is rooted in God’s Messiah. Isaiah begs us to
look to the Messiah – NOW! The key to our survival is the Messiah.
Look to Him! He is the central focus of this section.
This is the Gospel, the
Good News, and it becomes the Good News only because we have learned to
recognise the severity of the bad news that surrounds us.
Do you recognise
these societal symptoms in our day?
"What will YOU do on the day of punishment... to whom will YOU flee for help, and where will YOU leave YOUR wealth?" (Isa.10:3)
And
in the light of these facts, do you recognise and embrace the Messiah?
[1] H.C. Leupoldt: Exposition of
Isaiah, Baker Book House, p.39
[2] E. Young: The Book of Isaiah, Eerdmans , p.348
[3] Hosea –the last prophet of Israel to prophesy before the NK fell to
Assyria
[4] Luke 11:17; Mark 3:25; Matthew 12:25
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