Isaiah 6-12

Isaiah's writings in chapters 6-12 are from a time of great political upheaval in the Ancient Near East.  In order to really understand anything Isaiah is getting at in these chapters we need to first look at a little historical background.  The most dominant power in the Ancient Near East in Isaiah's time was that of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to the north of the two Hebrew kingdoms.  Under the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyria began a series of expansionist military campaigns meant to expand their political influence and ability to collect tribute from neighboring nations.  It is within the looming shadow of the Assyrian empire that Isaiah writes in these chapters.

Stela of Tiglath-Pileser III, King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire - circa 8th C. BCE

Historical Context: The Syro-Ephraimite War

As the Assyrians expanded their empire, the kings of Israel (also known as Ephraim) and Syria (also known as Aram) entered into a coalition in the hopes of resisting the Assyrians.  King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel tried to persuade Ahaz, King of Judah, to join them in resisting the expansionist Assyrians, but Ahaz refused.  Unhappy with Ahaz's response, Syria and Israel then mounted an invasion of Judah meant to depose Ahaz and install a king more willing to join the coalition.  As Judah floundered under attack, not only by Aram and Ephraim from the north, but aslo the Phillistines from the West and Edomites from the South, Ahaz appealed to the Assyrian King for aid.  Tiglath-Pileser III answered Ahaz's call, conquering Israel, Syria, and Phillistia, but Ahaz got more than he bargained for.  Judah became a vassal state to the empire, and Ahaz was required to pay tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III.

A Terrifying Encounter with the Divine

Chapter 6 details Isaiah's call to prophecy.  This seems an odd place for the call to prophecy - after 5 chapters of oracles have already been chronicled - but it could have initially served as the introduction to Isaiah which chapters 1-5 (consisting mostly of oracles against the Hebrews) were then added onto.  This would have made sense as 6-12 detail a period of war and destruction which chapters 1-5 help to justify.

Isaiah's call is striking - he actually sees Yahweh seated on his throne in the inner sanctum of the temple (6:1-4).  The holy god of the Israelites is depicted in grandeur and majesty.  He is flanked by two six-winged seraphs speaking to his glory.  As the seraphs shout, the temple quakes and billowing smoke fills the inner sanctum.  Isaiah is beside himself, crying:

Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Sabaoth. - Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah expresses his unworthiness to witness the glory of Yahweh.  He is but a mere human standing in the presence of the divine.  But one of the seraphs flies to Isaiah and presses a hot coal to his lips, removing his sinfulness, making him fit to speak the words of Yahweh as his prophet (6:6-7)

credit: Taylor Leong

But then something really weird happens.  Just as Yahweh bizarrely hardens the Pharaoh's heart in the story of the Exodus, Yahweh curses his people not to listen to the warnings of Isaiah.

And he said: "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed." - Isaiah 6:9-10 

I'm just a layman, not a scholar, but I have an idea about what is going on here.  Obviously, this is reprehensible on the part of Yahweh, both here and in the Exodus story of hardening Pharoah's heart.  But I wonder if this might be a form of theodicy on the part of the Israelite authors.  Now, I don't believe the conception of Yahweh as omnibenevolent was necessarily present in pre-exilic Israelite religion, but Yahweh is generally thought to be a loving god.  Later, Christianity would adopt a more dualistic theology from Zoroastrianism that would allow the evil of the world to be placed at the foot of "the devil".  But in the Hebrew bible there is no all-encompassing evil entity opposed to the will of Yahweh.  In ancient Israelite monotheistic tradition Yahweh is the only god of history.  So the problem of evil, which is still a huge theological problem today, was still something of a problem for the ancient Israelites, even if they didn't believe Yahweh was necessarily omnibenevolent.  I think these bizarre tales of Yahweh cursing people NOT to repent, so as to justify their suffering, was a form of Ancient Israelite theodicy - primitive as it may seem.  So Yahweh was being an asshole - but he was an asshole with reasons - he needed to make an example of people to teach them how to be righteous.

Power in Names

After receiving the call to prophecy in chapter 6, In chapters 7-8 Isaiah urges King Ahaz not to rely on human aid in the form of help from Assyria, but to trust in the power of Yahweh to protect Jerusalem.  Something fascinating about this section of Isaiah is the use of the names of children as some sort of prophetic message (8:18).

• Shear-jashub

Isaiah takes his first son, named Shear-jashub, to meet with Ahaz and try to convince him that Yahweh will turn back the invasion from Israel and Aram (7:3-9).  Shear-jashub means "a remnant will return", which scholars believe refers to only a remnant of Israel which will survive the coming disasters.

• Mahar-shalal-hash-baz

 Later, Isaiah has sex with "the prophetess" (is this how prophecy is carried out?  prophets and prophetesses banging?  or does prophetess simply refer to the wife of a prophet?) and produces another son, who he names 'Mahar-shalal-hash-baz', which translates to 'speedy-spoil-quick-booty' - indicating that Israel and Syria would be defeated soon (8:1-4).

• Immanuel

Of course, the most famous of the symbolic names in this section is Immanuel, or 'god with us'.  This promised child likely refers to Hezekiah - Ahaz's son and future King of Judah.  Hezekiah is frequently upheld as an ideally righteous king in the Hebrew Bible.  He instituted many strict Yahwistic reforms, which the biblical authors and later redactors would praise him for.  Interestingly, a translational mistake in 7:14 had a profound impact on Christianity and the tradition of the virgin birth.  Modern translations render 7:14 thusly:

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. - Isaiah 7:14

The original Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14 uses the term 'almah' meaning young woman - however when this verse was translated into Greek in the Septuagint the Greek word 'parthenos' or 'virgin' was used instead.  The Greek-speaking authors of the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke were familiar with the Septuagint version of this verse and interpreted it as a messianic prophecy, not in reference to Ahaz's son Hezekiah, whose name 'Immanuel' was meant as a promise of peace and protection to Judah from Yahweh (7:10-16).

His Hand is Stretched Out Still

Following more promises of the righteousness of Hezekiah's reign, in what sounds like a coronation ceremony (9:1-7), come portents of punishment upon Israel in poetic form (9:8-10:4).  Isaiah describes the sins of the northern kingdom and the punishments which Yahweh has enacted upon them.  But following every passage is a refrain:

For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still

The repetition of this line is a powerful rhetorical device which would have served to frighten the listeners, as it paints Yahweh's wrath as not easily quelled.  Despite the calamities which he brings upon Israel, his rage is such that he continues to punish them for their sins until there is virtually nothing and no one left.  Even the young, the orphans, and the widows are not spared Yahweh's wrath, because according to Isaiah there was not one righteous person in all of the northern kingdom (9:17).  Probably because of that whole cursing episode earlier (yeesh).  In Chapter 10, Isaiah assures the people that Assyria and their King Tiglath-Pileser III will not escape his wrath either.  The King of Assyria will be humbled for his arrogance.  Yahweh is simply using him as a tool to punish his chosen people, his accomplishments are not due to his own greatness (10:12-19).  Yahweh will fell the Assyrian army like a forest (10:33-34).

A Future United Kingdom of Hezekiah

Chapter 11 describes further the period of peace which will result when Hezekiah rules from Jerusalem and all Israelites properly devote themselves to Yahweh.  Eden-like imagery of wild animals living in peace together is used to illustrate the type of peaceful kingdom Hezekiah will steward (11:6-9).  Isaiah foresees a future when Israel and Judah will be re-unified as a united kingdom and come to dominate the Ancient Near East (11:10-16).  Of course, this would never actually happen.  The northern kingdom was scattered by Assyria and Judah was eventually exiled to Babylon.  This section of Isaiah is concluded in Chapter 12 with a thanksgiving hymn, likely to exemplify the type of gratefulness those living under Hezekiah will feel toward Yahweh for seeing them through these difficult times.

Psalm 3

Another serendipitously timed psalm, this exhortation toward Yahweh for deliverance when beset by enemies on all sides would have been perfect on the lips of Ahaz if we were to make a movie out of the events of the Syro-Ephraimite war.

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Phew.  I wrote a lot.  These posts might be getting out of hand, but there are just SO MANY interesting things going on in this section of Isaiah.  We will continue with Isaiah and look at Psalm 4 next time!