The Vision in the Temple.
Even his closest friends could not explain what had come over young Isaiah, since the physicians announced that King Uzziah was nearing his end.
Amoz, Isaiah's father, was of a noble family, very near the throne in Jerusalem, and a dear personal friend of the king. Isaiah, too, was a prime favorite of Uzziah's, not by virtue of his father's friendship for the king, but because of his own fine qualities and excellent disposition.
Often Isaiah had been invited, with the Crown Prince, Jotham, to be present at the Great Councils of State—a very distinguished honor for so young a man. But no one thought, for an instant, that this change in manner and behavior, so noticeable to everyone, had come upon Isaiah because of his grief over the aged king's fatal illness.
Isaiah was being trained to enter upon a political career. His politics was the only serious thing in life for him. The country was so peaceful and prosperous, however, that even politics was a matter of little consequence to most of the royalty in Jerusalem. They lived the joyous life, paid little attention to the Temple and its priests, and often laughed at the whole religious ritual. But when great State functions occurred at the Palace or foreign ambassadors appeared at Court, all royalty celebrated with feasting—and Isaiah was among those present and in high favor.
He always came to these occasions in rare good humor and with cheerful enthusiasm. He was a young man of many accomplishments. His knowledge of affairs was wide and extensive. His cleverness and wit had made him famed far and wide. His occasional poems, written for sport and festivals, showed a genuine talent, almost a genius, for the poetic art. He was considered by all the very life and spirit of the younger Court set. A great future as a statesman and man of letters was predicted for him by everybody.
Now, however, since King Uzziah became so critically ill that his life was despaired of, this unexplainable change took place in Isaiah. He seemed to have quarreled with Prince Jotham, who had been reigning as king since Uzziah was smitten beyond hope of recovery, though both laughed at the rumor and denied it.
What proved the greatest surprise to all, was the fact that Isaiah often went to the Temple and talked earnestly with the priests. At times he would linger about the place long after the evening sacrifices had been offered and the priests had gone home. His jolly friends would make sport of him; but his more sober-minded companions became quite alarmed when, instead of displaying his usual good humor, he spoke with bitter sarcasm. His contagious laugh began to ring forced and hollow. He was morose and always ill at ease, as if he were laboring under a great strain that burdened his heart and mind.
King Uzziah's death was a lingering one. For many weeks reports from the sick chamber were to the effect that he was passing away, but he clung to life. Jerusalem had doffed its gala attire and the whole of Judah was prepared to go into mourning for its king. For a month or more the nobility and the Court had not indulged in any social functions, state or private. The Capital and the country were awaiting the royal funeral.
Uzziah had been a great king and a good ruler. He had done much for the whole country, and especially for the Capital. The mourning in Jerusalem and all through Judah was, therefore, genuine and sincere, when the king died. The pomp and ceremony that characterized the funeral procession were not mere royal show, but expressions of honor and deep regret of a loyal people for its beloved sovereign.
The young Isaiah was accorded an honored place in the long list of notables who followed the body of the king to its last resting place. He walked beside Jotham, his bosom friend; but did not accompany the new king on the return to the palace. In the slight confusion that followed after Uzziah had been "buried with his fathers," Isaiah slipped quietly away and took the road to the Temple Mount.
Taking his way through the Water Gate, on the west side of the Temple, he entered the Inner Court. Then he mounted the twelve steps leading to the vestibule of the Temple proper. Two priests, who had just come out of the chamber where the implements for sacrificing were kept, bowed low to him and passed out into the Inner Court. Isaiah was evidently so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice them, for he did not return their salute, but walked forward to the entrance of the Hekal, or Temple proper.
There he stood for a moment in silence; then he leaned wearily against one of the entrance pillars. Behind him the Priests' Hall and the Inner Court were deserted. Before him, in the Hekal, was the Altar of Incense, on which coals from the recent sacrifices were still alive. To the right of the Altar was the Menorah, the seven-light candlestick, and to the left the table of showbread. Behind these hung the golden curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple.
A thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal. As Isaiah watched the rising smoke, it became thicker and thicker, and filled the whole Temple. His eyes gazed from the Altar to the glittering gold curtains behind it. The reflection from the coals, and the playing of the blue and purple smoke on the golden sheets, caused them to sheen and shimmer until they faded entirely away into the blue and purple maze that filled the Hekal.
Isaiah was gazing right into the Holy of Holies, where no human eyes, except those of the High Priest, once a year, ever looked, and behold! he saw a most remarkable vision.
There, instead of the wooden Ark of the Covenant, he beheld a great and lofty throne on which was God, Himself. Instead of the two Cherubim of wood and gold, that surmounted the Ark, he beheld Seraphim, the fiery Angels, standing attendant before Him. Each of the Seraphim had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one cried unto another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,The whole earth is full of His glory."
Isaiah felt the very foundations of the threshold shake under him, at the sound of the calling. Covering his face with both hands, he cried out:
"Woe is me!I am undone.For I am a man of unclean lips.And I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips;Yet mine eyes have seen the King, the God of hosts."
Uncovering his face, he stretched out his hands towards the throne in mute appeal. Thereupon one of the Seraphim flew to the Altar and, with a pair of tongs, took from it a live coal. From the Altar the Seraph flew directly to Isaiah and, touching his mouth with the live coal, said:
"See, this has touched thy lips,Therefore thine iniquity is goneAnd thy sin forgiven."
Then Isaiah heard the voice of God Himself, saying:
"Whom shall I send,And who will go for us?"
Falling to his knees, and again stretching out his hands towards the throne, Isaiah answered:
"Here am I!Send me!"
Kneeling there, motionless, hardly breathing, his lips apart, his face expressing the fear and anguish that were in his heart, Isaiah heard the reply:
"Go and say to this people:Hear and hear again, but understand not;See and see again, but perceive not.Make fat the heart of this people,And their ears dull, and besmear their eyes,Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their earsAnd their heart should understand and they be healed."
The force of this message struck Isaiah to the heart. He understood its meaning very well. It was terrible! It carried with it the sound of doom and the end of his nation. The very thought of it terrified him. Holding his head with both hands his back bent forward as under a heavy weight, until his face touched his knees upon the floor, he cried in heartbreaking tones:
"Lord! How long?"
And God answered him:
"Until the cities are in ruin without an inhabitant,And the houses without a human occupant,And the land become utterly desolate,And God hath sent the men far away,And in the midst of the land the deserted territory be great.And should there be a tenth in it,It must in turn be fuel for flame,Like the terebinth and the oak,Of which, after falling, but a stump remains."
For a long time after the voice had ceased speaking, Isaiah remained in the position in which he had listened to the last reply.
When, finally, in fear and trembling, he slowly raised his head, the vision had gone! Behind him the Priests' Hall and the Inner Court were deserted. Before him a thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal.
Isaiah passed his hands over his eyes. For a moment he let his cool palm rest against his burning forehead. Then he slowly found his way out of the Temple and passed out into the silent night.
The Parable of the Vineyard.
The fact was that Isaiah did not grieve particularly over King Uzziah's illness and approaching death. What troubled him was the attitude taken by his dear friend, the Crown Prince, Jotham, toward the political future of the Kingdom of Judah, since his sick father had placed the reins of government in his hands.
The differences of opinion between Isaiah and Jotham, as to what was best for the nation were so great as to be almost hopeless. So that, even before Uzziah died the two stopped discussing problems of State, although they continued their warm friendship.
As long as King Uzziah lived, it was plain nothing serious could happen to the country. To the south, Uzziah was feared by the Philistines and Arabians, whom he had subdued, and his name was honored even at the Court of Egypt. To the north Jeroboam II was prosperous and at peace; Syria was weak and Assyria had not yet made its power felt. Within the extended borders of his own country, Uzziah had established peace and had built up commercial enterprise and prosperity.
To the average citizen of Judah, therefore, the country was all right, the king was all right, and the future had not the slightest cloud before it. To Isaiah, the keen-sighted and well-posted young statesman, however, neither the country nor the king was fit to deal with a great national crisis—and the future had one in store.
When Uzziah became sick and abdicated, quietly, in favor of Jotham, then a young man of twenty-five, Isaiah began to call Jotham's attention to the internal social conditions of the country; but Jotham had such a high respect for his father's ruling power that he would not alter a single law nor make a single reform.
When Isaiah attempted to drum into Jotham's head the causes of the reign of anarchy in Samaria and the lessons to be drawn therefrom for Judah, Jotham, desiring to show his power as a ruler while his father was yet alive, busied himself fighting with the Ammonites and extending the boundaries of his kingdom.
When, finally, in the year 788 B. C. E., the news came to Jerusalem that King Menahem, of Israel, had sent a heavy tribute to the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser, Isaiah's worries over the future of his own country became very acute.
It was in this year Uzziah died; and it was on the day of the king's funeral that Isaiah saw the remarkable vision in the Temple.
Up to that hour Isaiah was conscious only of the fact that something must be done in Judah to save it from the evils of injustice and unrighteousness that were being practiced by the rich and powerful upon the poor and weak. From that hour on he knew that God had called him to be His prophet, that God had selected him to bring the truth home to the Judeans and, if possible, to save the nation from the doom that awaited the sister-nation, Israel.
What Isaiah saw and heard in the Temple at the close of that memorable day, gave him the germ of an idea as to what God demanded of him to do. Time, thought and experience ripened that idea into a plan. The course of events offered him the opportunity to put the plan into action.
Isaiah could not count on Jotham to institute and carry out reforms in the religious beliefs and practices of the people, in their commercial wrongdoings, in the corrupt law courts and in the general oppression of the lower classes. He had to begin work on his own initiative; and he began it with the people themselves, in the City of Jerusalem.
He came to the Temple Mount one day, when many pilgrims were gathered there. He listened attentively, with the rest, to travelers from Arabia, who were relating wonderful tales of adventure. From stories of adventure in foreign lands the pilgrims drifted into stories of happenings in their own country. Some related rumors of what was going on in Samaria; others spoke of the possibility of Judah's being forced to fight Assyria some day. Some laughed at such a suggestion; others were in grave doubt whether such an emergency would find the nation prepared. Some spoke of the evils that were sapping the strength of the people; others complained that the king, instead of attending to his business of State, was busying himself with his wealth of herds and vineyards.
Here Isaiah, who had been silently listening to the discussions, offered to recite a poem, an original composition. The suggestion was received with loud applause and Isaiah began:
"Let me sing a song of my friend,My friend's song about his vineyard."
At this introduction everybody settled down comfortably to listen, and Isaiah continued:
"My friend hath a vineyardOn a fertile hill;He digged it and gathered out the atones,And planted it with choicest vine;A tower he built in the midst of itAnd hewed out a wine press.He looked to find grapes that were good,And it yielded only wild grapes."
Isaiah's listeners were disappointed. The story not only lacked excitement, it even lacked interest. They shifted in their places uneasily, but Isaiah caught their attention again by continuing:
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem,And ye people of Judah.Judge, I pray you, betwixt meAnd betwixt my vineyard.What more could be done to my vineyardThan that which I have done?When I looked to find grapes that were goodWhy yielded it wild grapes?
"And now, pray, I will tell youWhat I will do to my vineyard:I will take away the hedge thereof,That it shall be devoured;I will break down the wall thereof,That it shall be trodden down;Yea, I will make a waste thereof,That it shall not be pruned or weeded.Then it shall put forth thorns and thickets of brambles;The clouds I will command that they rain not thereon."
Everybody understood now that Isaiah was speaking a parable and that its application was to them and to their country. But who was the "friend" who possessed this vineyard? Isaiah did not hold the questioners in long suspense:
"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel,And the men of Judah are His cherished plant;And he looked for justice, but, behold! bloodshed;For righteousness, but, behold! a cry of distress."
Then Isaiah launched forth into a powerful denunciation of the social evils of which Judah and the leading Judeans were guilty—a sixfold woe that was rushing the Nation on to destruction.
"Woe unto them that join house to house,Who add field to field,Until there is no space left,And they dwell alone in the midst of the land.
"Woe unto them that rise at dawnTo pursue strong drink,Who tarry late into the nightUntil wine inflames them;But they regard not the work of the lordAnd see not what His hands have made
"Woe unto them that draw guilt upon themselvesWith cords of folly,And sin as with a cart rope!
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
"Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,And prudent in their own conceit!
"Woe unto them that are heroic in drinking wine,And valiant in mixing strong drink!Who, for a bribe, justify the wickedAnd strip the innocent man of his innocence!
"Therefore, as the fire devours stubble,And as hay shrivels in a flame,So their root shall be as rottennessAnd their blossom go up as dust;Because they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of hosts,And despised the word of Israel's Holy One."
So intensely absorbed in his speech was Isaiah, and so deeply interested was the vast assembly whom he was addressing, that no one took note of a splendidly arrayed group of men who had come up and stood with the rest, listening.
When Isaiah had finished speaking, and the people had caught their breath again, some one shouted:
"Behold! The king!"
Isaiah looked over the heads of the crowd toward the newcomers, and there he beheld Jotham and a retinue of nobles, laughing heartily, no doubt, at his masterful effort.
Fearlessly, and without a moment's hesitation, the prophet did what he had threatened Jotham he would do—he denounced his friend, the king, before his people:
"The Lord standeth forth to present his case,And He standeth up to judge His people.The Lord entereth into judgmentWith the elders of His people and their princes.'Ye, yourselves, have devoured the vineyard.The spoils of the needy are in your houses.What do you mean by crushing my peopleAnd by grinding the face of the needy?'Saith the Lord, God of hosts."
Laughing still more heartily at this madness of his old friend, Jotham easily made his way to where the prophet stood. He placed his arm around Isaiah's shoulder and invited him to go with him and his companions to the palace.
Isaiah did as he was bidden. All the way Jotham and his friends made fun of the feverish enthusiasm with which the denunciations were delivered, but Isaiah did not feel hurt. His heart was quite at peace. At last he had launched forth upon the work to which God had so unexpectedly and so marvelously called him!
When Jotham and his friends arrived at the palace, a joint embassy from Rezin, the king of Syria, and from Pekah, the king of Israel, was awaiting them. To the amazement of them all, the ambassadors placed before Jotham a demand that Judah join forces with Syria and Israel, forthwith, and fight Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, who was then threatening to invade Damascus and Samaria!
A Coward on the Throne.
King Jotham was wise enough to follow the advice of the Prophet Isaiah in his reply to the embassy from Rezin and Pekah. At the Council of State, called to consider the message from the kings of Syria and Israel, Isaiah counselled an unhesitating and decisive refusal of their demand. While, therefore, the ambassadors were received and entertained royally in Jerusalem, they returned to their respective sovereigns, their mission unaccomplished.
The answer that Jotham sent back to Damascus and Samaria was plain, simple and to the point. Judah, he said, had no interest in the political policies and intrigues of Syria and Israel and would not join a coalition against Assyria.
Both Rezin and Pekah stormed against Jotham and his advisors, but to no avail. Judah was strong, independent and at peace, and Jotham would not involve his country in a quarrel with which he had nothing to do.
Conditions in Israel were different, however. The majority of the people chafed under the indignity of being tributary to Assyria. They hated King Menahem who, in his fear, sent the tribute to Tiglath-Pileser and became his voluntary subject. Menahem was hated by the rich merchants and large landowners as well as by the people generally, because on them the burden of the tribute fell the heaviest. The powerful Samarians, therefore, formed themselves into a party to oppose the king.
King Rezin, of Syria, who was watching his opportunity to rebel against Assyria, kept alive this hostile spirit against Menahem in Samaria and Israel. Rezin was working toward a coalition of all the countries along the Mediterranean sea that were tributary to Tiglath-Pileser, so that in their combined strength they might rise and throw off the Assyrian yoke.
The leaders of the opposition to the king,—the national patriots—in Samaria, hoped that Pekaiah, Menahem's son and successor, would prove himself a truer son of his country than his father. They looked to him to refuse the payment of the Assyrian tribute and to re-establish the independence of the Kingdom of Israel; but they were disappointed. Pekaiah followed in the political footsteps of his father and the hopes of the Samarian patriots waned when he succeeded his father on the throne.
Rezin, however, was not to be denied in the plan he had laid out for himself and for the other Assyrian tributaries. Pekaiah reigned in Samaria less than two years, when, in 735, through the assistance of Rezin and the connivance of the patriotic party in Samaria, he was assassinated by one of his generals, Pekah, the son of Remaliah.
Pekah was thus raised to the throne of Israel with the avowed purpose of uniting with Rezin in the proposed rebellion against Tiglath-Pileser. Israel wanted, and needed, the help of Judah in the desperate conflict that awaited them. The smaller countries north of Israel and Syria, crushed under the burden of their Assyrian tribute, gladly joined the Syro-Israelitish coalition; but the embassy to Jerusalem returned empty-handed. Rezin and Pekah, however, were not dismayed by the refusal of Judah to join them. They bided their time for a better opportunity.
This opportunity came the very next year when Jotham died, suddenly, and his son, Ahaz, a young man of twenty, came to the throne of Judah.
Without any notice whatever, Rezin and Pekah united their armed forces and marched upon Jerusalem. This sudden invasion of Judah had been carefully planned beforehand. It was so arranged that, when the Syro-Israelitish forces attacked Jerusalem, a certain man, the son of Tabeal, who was willing to play the traitor, was to assassinate Ahaz, proclaim himself king, admit the enemy into the city and throw all the power and wealth of Judah into the scale with Syria and Israel in the war against Tiglath-Pileser.
Ahaz was entirely unprepared for such a move on the part of Pekah and Rezin. The news that the two armies were on the march caused consternation, not alone in the palace of the king, but in Jerusalem and in the entire country.
The northern part of Judah, as far as Jerusalem, was unprotected and at the mercy of the enemy. Neither Uzziah nor Jotham looked for a foe from that direction. In fact, the Syro-Israelitish forces met no opposition whatever until they came within sight of Jerusalem.
The very first thing that Ahaz and his generals did, when they had recovered from their consternation, was to prepare the capital for a siege. The fortifications were examined and strengthened. The water supply to the south of the city, without which Jerusalem could not have withstood a siege for three months, was especially looked after.
Now, Ahaz was like that ancient Pharaoh who did not know Joseph, or like his own predecessor, Rehoboam, who "took council with the young men that were grown up with him." Ahaz did not call Isaiah, the old friend and counsellor of the royal house, to advise him in his great extremity.
Isaiah, however, called to God to save his nation—if the nation would be saved—and did not wait for an invitation from the young king. While Ahaz, his advisors and the commanders of his army, were examining the water supply of Jerusalem, preparatory to the inevitable siege, Isaiah went out to meet him. The prophet came upon the royal party at the end of the conduit of the upper reservoir, in the highway of the Fuller's field.
Isaiah, who had been quietly and carefully studying the entire situation since the embassy came to Jotham, understood well enough that an intrigue must be brewing in Jerusalem against the young King. When the report reached the city that the enemy was on the march, Isaiah's searching inquiries and careful observation of the leaders of the capital resulted in the discovery that the son of Tabeal was in league with Rezin and Pekah. It was Isaiah at this meeting, who informed Ahaz that his immediate danger was as much within his own city as from the enemy that was approaching. No wonder, then, that "his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind."
But Isaiah immediately reassured the trembling Ahaz in the following words:
"Take heed and keep thyself calm; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of these two fag ends of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and of the son of Remaliah. Syria, with Israel, hath purposed evil against thee, saying, 'Let us go up against Judah and distress it and overpower it and appoint the son of Tabeal king in its midst.' But thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass, for, the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and the head of Israel is Samaria and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. Verily, if you will not hold fast, ye shall not stand fast."
Ahaz laughed at the idea of keeping quiet and having no fear, under the conditions. He turned away impatiently from the prophet and proceeded with his business of examining the reservoir. Isaiah, however, would not be put off with mere impatience.
"Ask thee a sign of the Lord, thy God," he cried to Ahaz. "Ask it either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above."
But Ahaz replied, "I will not ask, neither will I put the Lord to the test."
Then Isaiah said:
"Hear now, O House of David! Is it too small a thing for you to weary men, that ye must also weary my God? Therefore the Lord, Himself, will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman will bear a son and call his name Immanuel (God is with us). Before this child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good those two kings before whom thou tremblest shall be deserted."
Ahaz was tired of mere words. Advice he had enough; he wanted now to act. In fact, when the knowledge of the political intrigue in Jerusalem became known to him, he immediately made up his mind what to do. He, therefore, again turned from Isaiah and ordered his retinue to continue the examination of the water supply.
Isaiah then tried another form of argument with this cowardly young king, in order to bring him to his senses. He, himself, was positive that Tiglath-Pileser, who was at that time in Asia Minor, had, no doubt, been informed by his spies of the action taken by Rezin and Pekah. Isaiah felt sure, also, that Tiglath-Pileser would immediately invade Syria. He knew, in addition, that neither Rezin nor Pekah was strong and powerful enough, at this time, to wage a protracted war with Assyria; that is why he described them as "two fag ends of smoking firebrands." He, therefore, concluded that, at the first information of Tiglath-Pileser's march into the northern country, Rezin and Pekah would have to return to defend their own lands.
On the other hand, Isaiah knew that, if Ahaz did anything that would in any way displease the mighty King of Assyria, the latter would, after finishing his campaign in Syria and Israel, attack Judah. Therefore, he warned Ahaz in these words:
"God will bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father's house days such as have not been, since the day Ephraim departed from Judah, through the King of Assyria. Curds and honey will be that child's food (in the wilderness) when he knows to refuse evil and choose the good."
Isaiah ceased. He had delivered his message, had counseled and warned the king. He made it clear to Ahaz that, if he did anything except trust in the power and care of God for his people, Judah, like Syria and Israel, was destined to become a wilderness in the short time that it takes a child to reach that age when it can begin to think for itself.
Ahaz, however, acted upon his own and his young men's counsel. Hardly had he returned to the palace that day, when he sent messengers carrying the following letter to Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria:
"I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me fromthe power of the King of Assyria and from the power of theKing of Israel, who have attacked me."
Ahaz followed up this message by ransacking the Temple in Jerusalem and the treasures of the royal palace, sending both as a gift and bribe to Tiglath-Pileser.
Then exactly what Isaiah foresaw happened. Tiglath-Pileser immediately invaded Syria and attacked Damascus. Rezin and Pekah were forced to hurry back to defend their own countries, and Judah was saved from Syro-Israelitish attack; but Ahaz had already thrown himself at the feet of the great Assyrian conqueror, with terrible results to his own country.
On Deaf Ears.
Though the spineless Ahaz sent his cowardly note, and the presents that followed, to Tiglath-Pileser secretly, the truth leaked out. Great indignation was aroused among certain opponents of the king in Jerusalem at the discovery of his act of treachery to the nation, and a new party was formed to fight against submission to Assyria.
The aim of the new movement was, principally, to preserve the independence of Judah. The only avenue open seemed to be the alliance with Israel and Syria that the lamented king, Jotham, would not enter into.
With Ahaz looked upon as a traitor, the only one whom these patriots could turn, was the Prophet Isaiah, who loved his land and knew its traditions. So, the leaders of the patriotic party came to him with their plans. But Isaiah stood firm in the position he had taken with Jotham against entangling alliances.
He shocked these gentlemen with a well-spoken rebuke. He told them that the patriotism Judah needed was not of alliances and war, but of faith in God, of trust in Him who always guards and protects a righteous nation against its enemies.
Isaiah knew well enough the weakened and helpless condition of bothIsrael and Syria. To join with them in a war against Tiglath-Pileserwould mean even greater ruin for Judah than the peaceful submission ofAhaz. He pictured the results of such an alliance in the following words:
"Because this people have rejected the waters of Shiloah thatflow softly,And rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son,Therefore the Lord is about to bring upon themThe waters of the River Euphrates, mighty and great,(Even the King of Assyria, in all his glory).And it shall rise above all its channels,And overflow all its banks;And it shall sweep onward into Judah,And it shall overflow and pass over it,Reaching even to its neck,And its outstretched wings shall cover the breadth of thy land,O Immanuel."
To the king, the prophet sent a concise message that would have been heeded and understood by any one but a weakling like Ahaz. Isaiah referred to the utter helplessness into which Ahaz had cast Judah by his cowardly self-subjugation to Tiglath-Pileser. He pictured what might happen when that mighty monarch would receive the king's pitiful cry for help:
"In that same day the Lord will shave with the razor hired beyond the Euphrates the head and the hidden hair; and it shall even sweep away the beard."
Despite Isaiah's efforts, the peace party that stood by Ahaz, and the war party that desired an alliance with Pekah and Rezin, continued their separate agitations.
The capture of the town of Elath, at the head of the Arabian Gulf, by a detachment of the Syrian army, strengthened Ahaz in his belief that help could come only from Tiglath-Pileser. On the other hand, it convinced the war party that only the union with Samaria and Damascus could restore to the country this center of Judah's lucrative trade, that commanded the commerce to the south.
Isaiah recognized the uselessness of appealing to either of these opposing parties. He determined to appeal to the country at large, to the whole people, who were interested not in party quarrels, but in the welfare of the nation. He wanted to create a public opinion in favor of peace and in opposition to entangling alliances, either with Assyria or with the Palestinian coalition.
On his own property, in the heart of Jerusalem, where all the passers-by could see and read it, Isaiah erected a great sign which read:
He meant this to indicate to the people that the triumphs of either the champions of peace or the champions of war would mean ruin to the nation at the hands of Assyria.
About this time a son was born to Isaiah. He gave a magnificent feast to the leading people of Jerusalem and, to bring his conviction home more forcibly, named the boy "Swift Booty—Speedy Prey."
At the close of the feast he addressed his guests and said, in part:
"Before the boy knows how to cry, 'My mother' and 'My father,' they shall carry off the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the King of Assyria."
At a great meeting in Jerusalem, soon thereafter, Isaiah again took up the burden of his argument against Israel and Syria. He predicted the inevitable destruction of these two kingdoms, because they were in rebellion against Assyria, and he pointed out the consequent foolhardiness of involving Judah in the oncoming disaster. Regarding Israel he said:
"In that day the glory of Jacob shall grow dim,And the fatness of his flesh wax lean.And it shall be as when a harvester gathers standing grain,And his arms reap the ears;Yea, it shall be as when he gleans in the valley of Rephaim,And the gleanings thereof shall be as the beating of an olive tree—Two or three berries on the topmost branch,Four or five on the boughs of a fruit tree,Saith the Lord, the God of Israel."
Then, addressing himself as if he were speaking to the people of Israel, but hoping to drive the lesson home to the people of Judah, who were listening to him, he spoke most regretfully:
"For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvationAnd hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength."
Turning to a consideration of the second of the allies, Syria,Isaiah continued:
"Soon shall Damascus cease to be a cityAnd shall be a ruinous heap.Its cities shall be given up to flocksWhich shall lie down, with none to make them afraid.Ephraim shall lose her bulwark,And Damascus her sovereignty,And the rest of Syria shall perish;Like the Israelites shall they be,Saith the Lord of Hosts."
These descriptions of what would happen to Syria and Israel, however, did not go unchallenged. The prophet was told that he had evidently forgotten that all the nations in Palestine and along the Mediterranean, except Judah, were parties to this coalition against Tiglath-Pileser. Isaiah laughed. With fine scorn he cried:
"Ah! The multitude of many peoplesThat roar like the roaring of the seas!And the rushing of nations,That rush like the rushing of many waters!But he shall rebuke them and they shall flee far off,And shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind,And like the whirling dust before the storm.At eventide, behold, terror;Before the morning, they are no more."
Then, as if addressing himself to all the petty northern countries that were trying to drag his own beloved fatherland into the whirlpool of disaster, Isaiah spoke as follows:
"Make an uproar,And be broken in pieces;And give ear, all ye of far countries;Gird yourselves and be broken in pieces,Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to naught;Speak the word and it shall not stand;For God is with us."
And in answer to the appeal of the people as to what ought to be done in this national crisis, Isaiah replied:
"Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calleth conspiracy.What they fear do not fear, nor be filled with dread.The Lord of Hosts, Him regard as the conspirator!Let Him be your fear and your dread!"
The Survival of the Fittest.
While Isaiah was thus attempting to influence the two parties in Jerusalem, exactly what he had warned Ahaz of happened. The Assyrian forces made a speedy march into Syria, with Damascus as the point of attack. The combined Syro-Israelitish army, upon hearing of Tilgath-Pileser's new move, abandoned the siege of Jerusalem and hurried back to defend their own countries.
The great Assyrian conqueror easily subdued all the land about Damascus and finally besieged the city itself. Rezin offered him desperate resistance, but it was useless. Tiglath-Pileser destroyed all the forests, fruit groves and fertile fields in the vicinity of the city, until both food and water failed the defenders.
In a last sally from the doomed city, the Syrian troops were literally cut to pieces. Rezin escaped with his life, and, disguised and alone, re-entered Damascus. But he was caught, brought before Tiglath-Pileser and put to death.
In the meantime, all Israel and Samaria quaked at the fate that awaited them. Pekah, who had been lending Rezin what help he could, without entirely weakening himself, was ready and willing to give the Assyrian battle. Tiglath-Pileser, however, had his hands full with Damascus. He therefore, welcomed the suggestion of a certain Hoshea, son of Elah of Samaria, who offered to follow the example of the traitor Menahem.
Tiglath-Pileser assented gladly. He promised help and protection to Hoshea, as he did to Ahaz, for voluntary submission to Assyrian rule. So Hoshea conspired against Pekah in Samaria, slew him, proclaimed himself king under the protection of Assyria. and sent tribute to Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus. Cowardice and treachery thus once more sealed the fate of the kingdom of Israel.
After the fall of Damascus, the victorious Assyrian ordered a greatDurbarto celebrate his victory in that city. All the tributary kings in Palestine were commanded to meet him and pay homage to him there.
The splendor and display of the gathering was rivaled only by the magnificence of the welcome the terrible monarch received on his return to Asshur, his own capital.
Among the princes who hob-nobbed with their master at Damascus were the cowardly Ahaz and the traitorous Hoshea. But both were happy in that their countries escaped the awful havoc they witnessed in Damascus and throughout Syria.
Tiglath-Pileser always carried with him a wonderfully wrought altar on which he offered sacrifices to Asshur, the Assyrian god. During the religious exercises at the Damascus festival, in which all the Assyrian vassals participated, Ahaz was particularly struck with the beauty of this altar. Thereupon he sent to Urijah, the high priest in Jerusalem, "the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof," with instructions to have it duplicated for the Temple in Jerusalem.
Isaiah, when he heard of this, was thunderstruck by the audacity of the king who had no respect for his people or for his God.
Not only was this heathen altar built, but it replaced the ancient one, which was set aside. Ahaz even went further. When he returned from Damascus, he himself, instead of the regularly appointed priest, offered the sacrifices upon the new altar, as he had seen Tiglath-Pileser do. To cap the climax, Ahaz introduced certain pagan religious ideas, copied from the Assyrian worship, into the cult of the Temple, simply to please and gratify his Assyrian master.
With so base a king, Isaiah could hope nothing for the nation. Truly could he cry out in the anguish of his spirit:
"My people—a boy is their leader!""My people—thy guides lead thee astray."
Of one thing, however, Isaiah was positive. When messengers came to him from various parts of the country to inquire what to do in this national crisis he answered them all alike: "God hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge."
He was certain that neither a weakling like Ahaz nor a terror like Tiglath-Pileser could bring destruction upon the city that God had selected as the center of His worship, or upon the people whom God had chosen, to reveal Himself to them and to entrust them with His law.
The patriotic and religious backsliding of Ahaz and his counselors, however, seemed to point to the destruction of both. But Isaiah was not dismayed. Trusting faithfully in God's protecting hand over His people, he could not conceive that God would desert them for long. God would not permit a backboneless king to reign over His people. The successor to Ahaz would be a different type of man—an ideal prince in the sight of God and men:
"And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse,And a branch of his roots shall bear fruit.And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,The spirit of wisdom and understanding,The spirit of counsel and might,The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,Neither arbitrate after the hearing of his ears;But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,And arbitrate with equity for the afflicted of the land:And he shall smite the tyrannous with the rod of his mouth,And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,And faithfulness the girdle of his reins,And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;The calf and the young lion shall feed together;And a little child shall lead them.And the cow and the bear shall make friends;Their young ones shall lie down together;And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,And the weaned child shall stretch out his hand to the serpent's eye.None shall do evil or act corruptly in all my holy mountain,For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as thewaters cover the sea."
In all literature there is no more beautiful and meaningful description of what an ideal ruler should be and of the peaceful and happy state to which such a ruler could bring his country.
But Isaiah did not lose sight of the fact that just as little as an Ahaz could accomplish the destruction of the nation, so little could an ideal king, even if his fond dream would come true, accomplish the reconstruction of the nation, single-handed and alone.
What was necessary, therefore, was the raising and educating of a new generation of citizens in Judah; a just, patriotic, God-fearing company of men who, when the hoped-for king shall have come to the throne, would support him, with their valor and their lives, in building up the entire nation to walk in God's way.
So Isaiah began quietly with his own family first, and later with a few friends and disciples who believed as he did. "Binding up the admonition and sealing the instruction among my disciples," said Isaiah, "I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the House of Jacob, and in Him will I trust. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells in Mount Zion."
Isaiah's idea was similar to that of Moses in the olden days in the wilderness. The present generation, ruler and people, that did not place its trust wholly in God, would slowly die out; a new generation, better and more fit, would survive to save the nation.
Just at this time, when Isaiah began his slow work of upbuilding the nation, a son and heir was born to the king. Isaiah accepted this incident as a message of approval of his course from God. He and his disciples looked to this prince to be the ideal king; and in celebration of the event Isaiah greeted the heir apparent in the following fine outburst of hope for the future:
"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given;And the government shall be upon his shoulder;And his name shall be called wonder-counselor,Divine hero, father of glory, prince of peace.For the increase of dominion and for peace without end,Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom,To establish and support it by justice and by righteousnessFrom henceforth, even forever; the favor of the Lord of Hostswill perform this."
Working With the Remnant.
Isaiah called his little band of disciples and followers "The Remnant." He referred to them as "The Remnant" because he knew that, if only these remained true and faithful to God, for their sakes God would not forsake the Fatherland.
It was upon "The Remnant" that he placed the future welfare of his country. Through these few he hoped to regenerate the rest of his people, despite the corruption and wrongdoing of their leaders. He aimed, especially, to prepare the young generation for patriotic, God-fearing, God-trusting lives.
The prophet had set for himself no easy task. He met opposition from many directions. The king himself opposed him for political reasons. The priests, who sided with the king in his introduction of Assyrian rites and practices in the Temple service, opposed him on religious grounds; so that, for many years, Isaiah simply devoted himself to teaching and preaching moral living, just and righteous dealing and absolute trust in God.
"Hear, O heavens, and give heed, O earth, for the Lord speaketh:Sons have I brought up and placed on high, but they have provedfalse to me.The ox knows its owner and the ass its master's crib,But Israel has no knowledge; my people have no insight;Ah! Sinful nation, people deep laden with guilt,Race of evil-doers, perverse children!They have forsaken the Lord;They have spurned the Holy One of Israel;They have become rebellious.
"On what place can you yet be smitten since you continue rebelling?The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint,From the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness,Only wounds and bruises and fresh sores,Which have not been dressed nor bound up nor softened with oil."
With words of this kind, and in similar speeches, Isaiah tried to describe the condition of Judah to its people. The cowardice of Ahaz in throwing himself at the feet of the Assyrian had, indeed, smitten the land and the people very sore. The large tribute to Tiglath-Pileser had to be collected and paid. The burden was terrible to bear. In the meantime, Judah's enemies from the south and along the Mediterranean coast took advantage of the weakened condition of Judah and attacked the country from many points.
Isaiah tried, with all his might, to bring the people, as a whole, to an understanding of Judah's condition. He wanted them to join "The Remnant" and to live their lives in accordance with his teaching, which were really not his, but God's. Only in this way, Isaiah said, could a country that had fallen deeply into sin and unrighteousness, and was at the mercy of its enemies, be saved:
"Your land is a desolation, your cities are burned with fire,Your tilled land—before your eyes strangers devour it;And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,Like a lodge in a field of cucumbers, like a watchtower.Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant,We should almost be as Sodom,We would have been like Gomorrah."
This simile, comparing Jerusalem to these ancient cities of evil repute, was answered by Isaiah's opponents with the statement that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were idol worshipers, but that the people of Judah brought their sacrifices to the Temple and observed the holydays in accordance with the ancient laws. This was the same kind of an argument as the citizens in Samaria gave to Amos and Hosea.
Isaiah, however, who knew, and had taught "The Remnant" that sacrificing animals was not the true manner of worshipping God, replied as follows:
"Hear the word of the Lord, ye Rulers of Sodom;Give heed to the instruction of our God, ye people of Gomorrah!What care I for the great number of your sacrifices? saith the Lord.I am sated with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat offed beasts,And in the blood of bullocks and lambs and he-goats I takeno pleasure.When ye appear before me—who has required this of you?Trample no more my courts, bring no more offerings,Vain is the odor of incense—it is an abomination to me;I am not able to endure a fast and a solemn assembly.Your new moons and your appointed days my soul hateth.I am tired of bearing it.When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you.Also, if ye make many prayers, I will not hear."
Then Isaiah launched forth into one of the most beautiful speeches that he delivered in his whole career. In it he brought home to the people the true idea of the religion which God had commanded to Israel, and through which Judah could be regenerated, strengthened and saved:
"Your hands are stained with blood;Wash, that ye may be clean;Remove the evil of your deeds from before mine eyes.Cease to do evil; learn to do good;Seek justice; relieve the oppressed;Vindicate the orphan; plead for the widow."
In one of the sublimest passages that any prophet ever uttered, Isaiah promised the people God's forgiveness in the following wonderful appeal:
"Come now, let us argue together, saith the Lord.Though your sins be as scarlet,They may become white as snow;Though they be red as crimson,They may become as wool;If ye willingly yield and are obedient,Ye shall eat the good of the land,But if you refuse and rebel,Ye shall be devoured by the sword.The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!"
While Isaiah thus pleaded and threatened, he gained many additions to "The Remnant," but he failed to create a deep impression either with the reigning house or with the powerful priesthood or with the majority of the rich in Jerusalem and Judah.
In the meantime, a vassal of Assyria, in far-off Babylonia, rebelledsuccessfully. Immediately, various Palestinian states, includingJudah, began to prepare a similar attempt to free themselves from theAssyrian yoke.
Ahaz had died in 721, the year in which Sargon the Great captured Samaria, after a two year's siege, and effectually reduced the kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah, his young son, to whom Isaiah looked for the ideal prince he had pictured, succeeded him.
The calamity of the northern kingdom did not seem to bring Isaiah orAhaz any warning. The king had been paying his Assyrian tributeregularly and faithfully; the prophet had centered his hope in "TheRemnant" and in the crown prince, and bided his time.
When, however, six years later, in the year 715, Hezekiah joined the coalition of Palestinian states against Assyria, Isaiah was not only disappointed, but became greatly alarmed.
To permit Hezekiah to follow the advice of his father's counselors, Isaiah knew would be national suicide. For three years, therefore, while the agitation for coalition and rebellion was going on, Isaiah cast off his prophet's mantle and sandals, and walked barefooted and in the garb of a captive through the treets of Jerusalem, as an object lesson to the people of Judah, to show them what might await them if they rebelled against Assyria.
But even this, for the time being, was of no avail. Rebellion was in the blood of the king and the court clique. Somehow the very thought of it in Jerusalem seemed to reach the Assyrian capital. Hardly had Hezekiah begun to carry his contemplated revolt into action when Sennacherib, the new Assyrian king, was on the march.
Once more Judah was invaded by the Assyrian hosts, and once more Judah's rulers bent their knee in submission and undertook to pay a tribute that was heavier than ever before.
Yet Isaiah, though heartbroken, was in no way dismayed. His unbounded faith in the final triumph of God's purposes led him to go on, fearlessly, to oppose the king and his associates to the very end.
Like Father, Like Son.
A chain, we are told, is as strong as its weakest link. The weak link in the long chain of Assyrian provinces was the fact that whenever a new king came to the throne, if he happened to be away, fighting in the field, he had to hurry back to the capital, backed by the complete military force under his command, in order to establish himself firmly in his dominions.
Immediately upon the withdrawal of the king's armies from the field, all the provinces that hated Assyria bitterly, rebelled. Naturally, all the work of conquest had to be done over again. Then, when another change took place in the rulership of Assyria, the new king met the same conditions and the same difficulties.
When Tiglath-Pileser died, Shalmaneser IV., who laid siege to Samaria, was forced to reconquer all the Syrian and Palestinian tributaries. The great Sargon, who reduced Samaria and carried its inhabitants captive into the northern part of the Assyrian Empire, left his successor, Sennacherib, no better legacy.
With Sennacherib's ascension to the throne in the year 704, therefore, the usual thing happened—rebellion broke out all along the line of his possessions.
In Palestine, King Hezekiah of Judah became the leader of a movement for a strong organization of all Palestinian and Syrian states and cities with the purpose of concerted rebellion against the new king.
So strong was the patriotism aroused among the various peoples that Padi, king of the city of Ekron, who would not join the proposed coalition, was captured by the citizens, bound in chains and handed over a prisoner to Hezekiah in Jerusalem.
It did not take Sennacherib long to make up his mind what to do. His predecessors had shown him the way. He organized a strong force, composed mostly of mercenaries, and marched at once into Phoenicia.
City after city fell before his prowess and he worked his way rapidly into Palestine. Unfortunately for Hezekiah and his allies, no concerted action could be agreed upon by them. Each one feared for himself; each one tried to be on the safe side.
Sennacherib took advantage of the situation in this rebellious district of his empire. He marched his armies, victorious throughout Phoenicia, into Palestine, meeting with success after success. The city of Tyre resisted most nobly on its own account, but it was no match for the Assyrians. Immediately after that Ekron, too, fell, and Judah itself was overrun by Sennacherib's troops.
The great disappointment of the Palestinian allies in this struggle for independence during the years 703-701, was that the help they looked for from the Arabian tribes to the south was very meagre, and that the horses and chariots they counted upon from Egypt did not materialize at all.
In Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah counseled against the proposed rebellion from its very beginning. He warned Hezekiah, the leaders in Jerusalem, and even the nations who were entering into the coalition with Hezekiah, of the folly of this step. Knowing, as he did, the situation, the weakness of the leaders, the corruption within Judah and the demoralization of the army and the people generally, because of greed and oppression, he understood that Sennacherib's forces would rout the Palestinian forces unmercifully.
He wanted no coalition. He wanted Hezekiah and the Judeans to trust wholly in God. "Quietness and trust" was his motto and "Abiding faith in God" his standard.
"By repenting and remaining quiet you shall be delivered;In resting and in trusting shall your strength consist."
Hezekiah, like his father, Ahaz, however, placed his trust in himself and in the power of his armies. There was no doubt in Hezekiah's mind but that the assistance that would come from Egypt would strengthen him sufficiently to defeat Sennacherib and gain complete independence for Judah.
Isaiah, who knew differently, preached openly against Hezekiah; but he had no more influence with the king than he had had with his father:
"Woe to the rebellious sons, is the oracle of Jehovah,Carrying out a plan which is not mine,Establishing a treaty contrary to my spirit,So that they heap sin upon sin;Who would set out for Egypt without asking my decision,To flee to the shelter of Pharaoh,And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt.The shelter of Pharaoh will be your shame,And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion."
While Isaiah's position among the people, and his standing in the community in Jerusalem, made Hezekiah fear to do him bodily harm, or even to arrest him, the king and his counselors, who were, naturally, eager to gain all the assistance possible from the people at home, sent out men who were in favor of fighting Assyria to refute the opinions and arguments of Isaiah.
These men also called themselves prophets of God; but Isaiah saw in them only false prophets:
"For it is a rebellious people, lying sons,Sons who will not heed Jehovah's instruction,Who say to the seers, 'See not!'And to those who have visions, 'Give us no vision of what is right!Speak to us what is agreeable, give us false visions!Turn from the way, go aside from the path,Trouble is no more with Israel's Holy One.'"
When Sennacherib's armies finally came into Judah, Isaiah still saw the possibility of saving the country from the horrors of devastation, and he warned the king and people in these words:
"Therefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel,Because ye reject this word,And trust in perverseness and crookedness and rely thereon,Therefore this guilty act shall be to youLike a bulging breach in a high wall about to fall,Suddenly, in an instant, will come its destruction;Yea, its destruction shall be as when one dashes an earthen vesselin pieces, shattering it ruthlessly,So that not a potsherd is found among the piecesWith which to take up fire from the hearth or to draw water froma cistern."
Notwithstanding the utter failure that faced Hezekiah in his course, neither he nor his counselors gave heed until Sennacherib had captured and destroyed forty-six fortified Judean cities and towns and had actually begun preparations for a siege of Jerusalem.
It was then that Hezekiah came to his senses. When Sennacherib was at Lachish, Hezekiah sent him a message which was almost a duplicate of the one sent by Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser:
"I have offended; withdraw from me; whatever you lay on me I will bear."
The tribute that Sennacherib laid on Hezekiah was three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. To meet this, Hezekiah was forced to ransack the Temple in Jerusalem and the treasure-chamber of the royal palace. He was even forced to strip the doors and pillars of the Temple of their gold decorations in order to make up the enormous tribute to send to Sennacherib.
Judah once more lay a helpless tributary at the feet of Assyria. Sennacherib withdrew his armies and returned to Nineveh. Hezekiah had proved himself both a coward and a traitor; a traitor because he did not do all in his power to assist such allies as Tyre and Ekron; a coward because, unlike Tyre and Ekron, he did not fight Sennacherib to the bitter end.
It was only after his own country had been terribly devastated by the Assyrian mercenaries that he followed the advice which Isaiah gave him in the first place. Had he followed it before, he would have saved not alone his country and his people from the ravages of war, but he would have been spared the payment of so large a tribute and the desecration of the Temple.
The real reason why Sennacherib withdrew from before Jerusalem was the fact that, while he was engaged in Palestine, all the Babylonian provinces rebelled. He, therefore, received Hezekiah's message with a great deal of pleasure. In truth, he was eager to act upon it, for he had to hurry to Babylonia to subdue the rebels there.
Immediately after the Assyrian troops were out of Palestine, however, Hezekiah returned to his old policy and began a war to regain the forty-six cities which Sennacherib had conquered and in which he had left Assyrian governors.