The prophet Isaiah is a difficult person to pinpoint.<\/p>\n
Unlike some of the other prophets we have covered so far, where we understood who they were and when they were speaking, there has been great debate about whether the entire \u201cBook of Isaiah\u201d was in fact written by one person.<\/p>\n
Whether the book is all written by one person, who wrote before and after the Babylonian exile\u2026 or if it was written by different prophets all within the school of Isaiah, may not entirely matter.<\/p>\n
What is important is that we can divide the book of Isaiah into distinct sections that have some distinct messages.<\/p>\n
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Go ahead and open that pew Bible that is in front of you\u2026 or open it in the app on your smart phone.<\/p>\n
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First Isaiah, or the \u201cIsaiah of Jerusalem\u201d was a prophet about 700 years before the birth of Christ.\u00a0 He was called to be a prophet in the Southern kingdom of Judah.<\/p>\n
The message of First Isaiah can be found in chapters 1-39\u2026 although there are a few chapters that include material by the other \u201cIsaiahs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Second Isaiah\u2019s work focuses on chapters 34 & 35 and 40-55 and take place after the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem around 540 years before the birth of Christ.\u00a0 The prophecies come near the end of the time of exile and captivity and these chapters are full of words of comfort and reassurance that they will soon return home.<\/p>\n
Third Isaiah\u2019s work focuses on chapters 24-27 and 56-66 and take place when the exile ends.\u00a0 They remind the people that returning home will not be easy or simple.<\/p>\n
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For today, we are going to focus on First Isaiah, chapters 1-39.\u00a0 First Isaiah understood that God\u2019s home, God\u2019s favor, God\u2019s delight was Jerusalem.\u00a0 And as such, the kings of the Davidic line that ruled from the capital of Judah, Jerusalem, were also divinely favored.<\/p>\n
If you remember from last week, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, had rejected the heirs of David and Solomon and had set up their own capital at Samaria and temple at Bethel.<\/p>\n
But the Southern Kingdom, Judah, remained true to the line of David and the temple and capital at Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
One of First Isaiah\u2019s central beliefs was that, \u201cwhile Jerusalem and its king may suffer punishment for sin, God\u2019s chosen city will never be utterly destroyed, nor will King David\u2019s dynasty fall.\u201d (The New Interpreter\u2019s Study Bible, 955)<\/p>\n
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And punishment abounded.<\/p>\n
As First Isaiah was called to proclaim:<\/p>\n
\u201cHow the faithful city has become a whore!\u00a0 She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her \u2013 but now murderers!\u00a0 Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts.\u00a0 They do not defend the orphan, and the widow\u2019s cause doesn\u2019t come before them. \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes!\u201d (1:21-24)<\/p>\n
First Isaiah finds himself called by God to remind the Kings Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, to return to the Lord, to repent of their ways and turn to God. \u00a0If not, the wrath of God would be felt in the land.<\/p>\n
The Lord was their only source of protection and only by trusting in God would they be saved from attacks from outside their borders.<\/p>\n
But time and time again, the Kings chose to find security in weapons and alliances instead of in the Lord. They sought protections from Assyrian against Aram and Israel, and eventually found themselves as a vassal state instead of their own nation.\u00a0 The land was ravaged. Jerusalem was preserved only by God\u2019s grace\u2026 but barely\u2026 and only because it is the delight of the Lord.<\/p>\n
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It is in this context that First Isaiah speaks the prophecy we find in chapter 9:<\/p>\n
But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish.\u00a0 In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.\u00a0 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness \u2013 on them light has shined.<\/p>\n