JUNE 30

ANGER AGAINST INJUSTICE. Isa. 10:1-4

 

Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches? Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

 

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

 

ASSYRIA'S PUNISHMENT. isa. 10:5-19   

"Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy,

to put an end to many nations. 'Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.

'Has not Calno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus? As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and

Samaria— shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?'"

 

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says:

 

" 'By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subduedi1 their kings. As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.'"

Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?

 

As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up,

or a club brandish him who is not wood! Therefore, the Lord, the lord Almighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame. The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers. The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick man wastes away. And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

 

REMNANT TO BE SAVED. Isa. 10:20-23

In that day the remnant of Israel,

the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him

who struck them down but will truly rely on the lord,

the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return,2 a remnant of Jacob

will return to the Mighty God. Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea,

only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed,

overwhelming and righteous. The Lord, the lord Almighty, will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

 

CAPTIVITY WILL BE OVERCOME.   Isa.  10:24-34

Therefore, this is what the Lord, the     lord Almighty, says:

"O my people who live in Zion,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod

and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did. Very soon my anger against you will end

and my wrath will be directed to their destruction."

 

The lord Almighty will lash them with a whip,

as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the waters,

as he did in Egypt. In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken

because you have grown so fat.

 

They enter Aiath;

they pass through Migron;

they store supplies at Micmash. They go over the pass, and say,

"We will camp overnight at Geba." Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees. Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

Poor Anathoth! Madmenah is in flight;

the people of Gebirn take cover. This day they will halt at Nob;

they will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

 

See, the Lord, the lord Almighty,

will lop off the boughs with great power.

The lofty trees will be felled,

the tall ones will be brought low.

He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

 

SAVIOR'S LINEAGE FROM DAVID. isa. 11:1-9    

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of power,

the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the lord— and he will delight in the fear of the lord.

 

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the

earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt

and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

 

The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling6 together;

and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,

and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

 

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the lord

as the waters cover the sea.

 

SAVIOR TO GATHER REMNANT. Isa. 11:10-16

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,c from Cush,rf from Elam, from Bab­ylonia, e from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

 

He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,

and Judah's enemies/will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them. The lord will dry up

the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand

over the Euphrates River.  He will break it up into seven streams

so that men can cross over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel

when they came up from Egypt.

 

PRAISE FOR DELIVERANCE. Isa. 12:1-6

   In that day you will say:

"I will praise you, O lord.

Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away

and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid. The lord, the lord, is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:

"Give thanks to the lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done,

and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the lord, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,

for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

 

Ahaz must surely consider Isaiah a crazy dreamer. He probably does not even begin to understand Isaiah's message regarding the coming Messiah. Moreover, he does not have enough faith in God to believe that he could actu­ally defeat Israel and Syria (and even Assyria, if necessary) simply by trusting God. Foolishly, Ahaz will trust his own military strength instead.

So, having rejected God's support and having ignored Isaiah's warnings, Ahaz joins in battle against Pekah and Rezin. The historical account records the predictable results.

 

JUDAH DEFEATED BY ALLIES. 2 Chron. 28:5-8 [2Kgs. 16:5,6 ]

Therefore the lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus.

He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hun­dred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah—because Judah had forsak­en the lord, the God of their fathers. Zicri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the officer in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, second to the king. The Israelites took captive from their kinsmen two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder, which they carried back to Samaria.

 

CAPTIVES' RELEASE SECURED. 2 Chron. 28:9-15

 But a prophet of the lord named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, "Because the lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sins against the lord your God? Now listen to me! Send back your fellow countrymen you have taken as prisoners, for the lord's fierce anger rests on you."

Then some of the leaders in Ephraim—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—confronted those who were arriving from the war. "You must not bring those prisoners here," they said, "or we will be guilty before the lord. Do you intend to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt is already great, and his fierce anger rests on Israel."

 

So the soldiers gave up the prisoners and plunder in the presence of the officials and all the assembly. The men designated by name took the pris­oners, and from the plunder they clothed all who were naked. They pro­vided them with clothes and sandals, food and drink, and healing balm. All those who were weak they put on donkeys. So they took them back to their fellow countrymen at Jericho, the City of Palms, and returned to Samaria.

 

AHAZ SEEKS ASSYRIAN SUPPORT. 2 Chron. 28:16-21

At that time King Ahaz sent to the king'1 of Assyria for help. The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners, while the Philistines had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon and Gederoth, as well as Soco, Tirnnah and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages. The lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel/ for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the lord. Tiglath-Pileser/ king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help, Ahaz took some of the things from the temple of the lord and from the royal palace and from the princes and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.