Isaiah 9:1-7.  If you remember my description of the structure or layout of this first part of Isaiah I said that chapters 2-12 form a unit.  The book is a collection of “sermons” or messages that Isaiah gave at different times and places.  He obviously collected them together and arranged them later in his life (Remember the introduction where he mentions four different kings).  Chapters 7-8 reflected information in chapter 5.  Chapter 5 talked more generally about destruction that was coming on Judah, chapters 7-8 were more specific about the invasion being by the Assyrians.  Now chapters 9-11 are going to reflect back to chapters 2-4.  Those chapters described how God was going to deal with human pride and selfishness.  Also they showed that God alone was to be put on a pedestal.

Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the twelve tribes of Israel.  When the land was divided between the tribes these two tribes received land in the northern part of the promised territory (Remember any of this from our reading in Joshua?).  The sea that is being talked about in verse 1 is the Sea of Galilee (a lake really).  This verse is telling us that the land in the north of Israel is going to be honored in some way.  Remember at the time Isaiah is writing that the nation has been split into two kingdoms the northern, Israel, and the southern, Judah.  Jerusalem is in Judah and the temple, the official place to worship God, is in Jerusalem.  When the nation split, about 200 years before the Assyrian invasion, the king of the northern tribes Jeroboam, set up an alternate place of worship, fearing that his people would defect to stay in touch with God.  This “new” worship resulted in the people straying from God rather quickly.  If pride was an issue in Judah (and we have seen that it was in chapters 2-4) it is reasonable to figure that part of the pride was that they were the true worshippers of God and that the northern people were not.  The Assyrian invasion that would devastate Judah but not conquer it at this time would conquer the northern kingdom.

After a conquest of a region the Assyrians would take some of the leading people away and leave most of the inhabitants.  They would also bring new people into a region, transplant them so to speak.  By mixing populations they hoped to get rid of tribal loyalties, one new people under Assyrian rule.  These “mixed” people in the north came to be know as Samaritans by Jesus time.  The Jewish people who were descendants of the people of the southern kingdom considered the Samaritans “half-breeds” and despised them.  In John 4:4-26 there is a story of Jesus talking to a woman at a well in Samaria.  In verse 9 she was doubly shocked that Jesus was willing to talk to her because she was a woman and a Samaritan.  After some initial conversation about water they began to talk about spiritual things.  During the conversation Jesus made some comments that showed the woman that he was more than just a passer-by, she thought he was a prophet.  She then asked a question which shows us that the southern Jews were prideful about the Temple being in their territory and their hatred of the Samaritans (v. 20).  Jesus told her that her worship was incomplete since it was disconnected from the Jews (but here he probably was referring to God’s word since the Jews had been given God’s word (Romans 3:1-2)).  But then He went on to tell her that even the Jew’s worship was incomplete.  He told her that worship had to be done from the inside of a person not from some outward practices or rituals.  Interestingly this discussion caused her to think of a promised messenger from God, the chosen one, the Messiah.  You can see though that descendants of the northern Jews were despised even more that 700 years later in the time of Jesus.

So Isaiah, bringing messages to the southern territory, tells them that the hated northern territory will be honored.  The reference to light tells us that what ever happens in and around Galilee will give the people a new understanding that will make them glad and set them free.  (Notice that verse 3 includes other nations in the “blessing”).  If you read through Judges with us you might remember the story of Gideon.  The oppressing nation at that time was Midian.  Midian was defeated against impossible odds (120,000 to 300) because it was God who did the fighting.

The next part of today’s reading tells us how this gladness and freedom will happen.  A child will be born who will set on the throne of David.  According to 1 Kings 2:45 the kingdom of David would last forever.  From history we know that there have been interruptions in that kingdom.  At the time  of our reading Ahaz, who was setting on the throne of David was at great risk of losing the kingdom to the Assyrians.  Later in history the Bbylonians would take over Judah and there would be no kingdom for 70 years.  Even farther in the future the Romans ruled over Israel and the nation passed off the scene shortly after Jesus time.  It has only been recently re-established in the mid 1940’s.  Gladness and peace will come because this promised king will rule the nation.  He will rule with justice and rightness in God’s sight, a contrast to kingdom of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:1-4).  The character of this child links this him to the child in Isaiah 7:14-15 who knew to choose good and reject evil.  This connection is kind of fuzzy;  at the time Isaiah gave that prediction he would not have known the extra information contained in today’s reading (nor some more that is coming in a few days in chapter 11), but the writers of the New Testament clearly identify Jesus with these different predictions (Matthew 1:20-23 with Isaiah 7:14-15, Luke 1:79 with Isaiah 9:2,  maybe Mark 11:11 with Isaiah 9:6-7).   Jesus told us that he was the way the truth and the life and that no one could have peace with God without him (John 14:6).  The angles at the birth of Jesus announced that there was now on earth the potential for peace between men and God (Luke 2:11-14).  In John 8:31-47 Jesus tells the religious leaders of his time that he is the one who has god’s truth and it is through the truth that he has that they will be made free.  Sadly they might have been focusing on this passage because they were looking for political freedom from Rome but Jesus was consistent in talking to them about their slavery to sin.  Jesus told them in verse 36 that if he made them free they would be really free.  When this light from Galilee began to shine in the world a renewed relationship with God was made possible.  Jesus is the way to peace with God and freedom from the penalty of our disobedience.

Although Isaiah didn’t necessarily know the deepest part of what he was saying when he said it he knew at least a part of the message, the part that applied to the situation he was in, the same thing goes for Ahaz.  We don’t know who the child in Isaiah 7:14-15 was but they did and Ahaz sadly did not respond to God’s messages to him.  We do have a clear message from God about the ultimate fulfillment of these prophecies, we know the truth, the question is, “Will we respond?”  Lord help me not be stubborn.  I have responded to Jesus but I need to renew our relationship ever day.  I know I’m headed for heaven but I don’t want to displease you today.  Isaiah has focused on you purity and worthiness in chapter 6 and I want my life to focus on those too.  Help me honor you each day with the things I do and say.  Help me listen to your spirit.  Let me worship you in spirit and truth.

Isaiah 8:1-22.  In chapter 8 we continue the description about the destruction of Judah that is going to come, not from Syria and the northern kingdom but from Assyria.  The destruction will ultimately not be complete, Jerusalem will stand but only due to repentance and only for a time.  That brief time of peace will not come to Ahaz and the people of his day though.  Ahaz and the people of Judah in his day would constantly live in the shadow of Assyria.  One thing you need to know about wars in those days is that they did not involve constant occupation.  Invading armies would come and do battle and then leave and go home.  It the conquest was not finished they would come back the next year and the next.  Wars could go on for years but in waves (See 2 Samuel 11:1).  Remember too that the focus of the structure of this part of Isaiah is chapter 6.  In that chapter we saw two things:  Heaven and Earth.  In Heaven we got a glimpse of God.  We saw God as completely special, pure and powerful.  On Earth we saw that people close their eyes, ignore the reality of God, and suffer destruction as a result.  All of this section is really a reflection focusing on God and our broken relationship with Him.

So Judah was in peril and Ahaz was encouraged by Isaiah to trust God to save Jerusalem and Judah.  But Ahaz decided to make a treaty with Assyria instead.  Isaiah told Ahaz that the land would be destroyed because of his rejection of God.  But Isaiah is not done speaking for God yet.  Unlike Jonah he is not going to give a warning and then set back and wait for destruction.  He hs warned the king in chapter 7 now in chapter 8 he is going to warn the people and also establish evidence for his message.  First he writes on a large stone for everyone to see, “Swift the booty, Speedy the prey”, an indication that an invading army will destroy quickly.    He has the writing witnessed by two men sympathetic to Ahaz Uriah a Priest and Zechariah, Ahaz’ father-in-law.  Then Isaiah and his wife had a child whom they named Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  His name means “Swift tht booty, speedy the prey”.  This child would be a timeline for the destruction.  Before he could say “daddy” or “mommy” the destruction would come.  This child was not the same one called Immanuel in chapter 7.  The destruction was coming because they had rejected God and were rejoicing over the Assyrian conquest of the Syrian/Northern Kingdom Alliance.  They thought their disobedient treaty was working.  Instead they had invited the very army that would attack them into their own backyard.

After setting up the reminder of their disobedience Isaiah then affirms that God will be faithful to his overall plan (vv. 9-10). His plan was for all the nations of the earth to be blessed by the Israelite nation.  Israel (the nation not the northern kingdom) was to be an example to the world so the world could see their God was the true God (See “The Old Testament Connection”).  In verses 9-10 Isaiah challenges the nations to “take their best shot” at Israel and be shattered in the process.  Like the wars of old though God’s plan is a process in progress.  The Law of Moses didn’t make the Israelites right with God it revealed all of our weaknesses (Romans 3:19-23).  The prophets who called the Israelites (and others) to be faithful to Yahweh were writing not just for their immediate audience but for us (Hebrews 11:39-40).  But God is not slow about His promises; He is allowing us to return to Him (2 Peter 3:9).

Isaiah is warned in verses 11-15 to be careful not to fall into the same traps that the rest of Judah was; he was not to follow all of the political drama, not to fear what they were afraid of, but to rather fear God and trust Him.  Then God would be a safe place for him.  To those who were not trusting God though, they would trip and fall over Him.  Isaiah was to be careful and was to encourage the other followers of God to stay close to God’s word.  Again they were not to follow the ways of the society around them; they were not to talk to spirits or mediums.  If they trusted in God they would be an example to those around them.  But they needed to hold onto God’s word.  As for the rest life would be gloomy, dark, and painful.

We need to be careful to put our trust in God not in other things.  We need to be very familiar with God’s word.  If the advise we are given does not line up with the Bible we need to reject it.  Remember though that Isaiah and his followers went through the siege just like the rest.  In Hebrews 11 it talks about all of the great victories that people of faith had but it also talks about the trials.  In Hebrews 11:37 it talks about one of these people being sawn in two.  Tradition says that Isaiah was killed this way.  Following God is not easy.  Some times it seems easier not to follow Him.  Often though God will call his people (in fact all people) into account.  Twice in the book of Revelation  (Revelation 9:20-21; 16:9-11) we see a sadness over the fact that people will not turn back to God (repent) in the face of sever suffering.  It is clear that God is using the troubles in that book to make people thing seriously about Him and their eternity.  Sin seems easy sometimes but in the end it is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).  We need to choose life and follow God’s word.  Lord be the lord of my life.  Help me understand your word and how it applies to my life today and every day.  Help me make good choices.  Help me check the advise of others against your truth.  Give me wisdom.  Help me look out for others too.  Help us Lord, help me.