A blog of the bible reading from Genesis to Revelation that analyzes the text as a piece of literature written in history by living people separated by time, language, and geography.
Hosea prophesied in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II (ca. 786-746 BCE), after whose death the kingdom begins to decline before its defeat by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. According to the preface in the Harper Collins Study Bible, its core message can be gleaned in a declaration toward the end of the book, a restatement of the first commandment: "I have been the Lord your god ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior." (Hosea 13.4). The text vacillates between Israel's sin and salvation.
Unlike the prophets of the exile period [who we have recently read], Hosea does not deride Israel's enemies. Hosea is a prophet who seeks to reform Israel from the inside, so that it is a more just society. As the community is not in exile, the focus is entirely on the reform of the nation.
Hosea and Ezekiel
We can see interesting parallels between the prophets Hosea and Ezekiel, two of the great prophets of the Jewish people. Hosea is from the north, and anticipates Israel's demise. Ezekiel, who appears years later and witnessed the fall of Judah, is concerned mainly with the southern kingdom. However, their function as sign reveals an interesting typology. Like Hosea, Ezekiel acts as a sign to God's people through his relationship with his wife.
In Ezekiel's case, the prophet's wife dies and Ezekiel is forbidden from mourning, in anticipation of the coming exile, which will happen so quickly that it will not be mourned. In this sign, Ezekiel represents the Israelites and his wife represents Israel.
Hosea, on the other hand, is instructed to marry an unfaithful woman:
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."
The sign here is Gomer's (his wife's) promiscuity with men, which reflects Israel's insatiable turning to other gods and fertility cults. In this sign, Gomer represents Israel, and the jealous husband Hosea represents God.
God is not angry with the false gods that the Israelites pray to, but rather the Israelites themselves, who have turned away from him after establishing a binding covenant not unlike marriage. Though an exclusive contractual agreement, this is not the western marriage of equality that we enjoy today, but one in which the female party is explicitly the property of the male. To imagine Hosea's distress and anger is to imagine (though clearly not to understand) God's reaction toward his people Israel.
A rose by any other name
Hosea's children all have symbolic names, which point to important parts of Hosea's prophecy.
The current order is hopelessly corrupt, and can only be saved by radical change. This is made apparent in the naming of Hosea's only legitimate child, Jezreel, is named after the plane where Jehu slaughtered the house of Ahab. The implication is that the same fate that Jehu brought upon the old order (which itself was rife with apostasy) will be dealt to the current monarchy, which has decayed through its own apostasy. The preceding dynasty of Ahab was no better than the current on. The prophet that anoints Jehu king of Israel tells him,
"Thus says the Lord the God of Israel...You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the Whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel."
(2 Kings 9.6-8)
But whereas in the past the Lord was content with simply wiping out the old order, presently a more radical change is needed. Israel will be harshly punished for its actions, and kings will never again reign in Israel or Judah.
Hosea's other two children are illegitimate, the product of Gomer's whoring. They serve as symbols of God's opinion of his people: Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied") and Lo-ammi ("I am not yours"). The signs stand for themselves.
Hosea's See-Saw
It is remarkable how quickly messages of rejection turn to messages of acceptance in Hosea. No sooner does God give the name for these children, than the tone completely shifts to one of deliverance. The effect is almost dizzying:
...Then the Lord said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God." yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, [in fulfillment of the Genesis covenant] which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."
Remarkably, the image of Jezreel is upended here into a positive symbol, a common theme throughout Hosea. Frequently throughout its fourteen chapters we find that negative images are later expressed in a positive light:
"...and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel."
(Hosea 1.11)
In this new world order, the Lord addresses the two children with their names minus the negative "Lo": Ammi and Ruhamah, meaning "my people" and "pitied." But as soon as their new names are uttered, the mother is rejected, and Israel's wrongdoing is again revealed.
Reaping and Sowing
An unfaithful wife is not the only image used to express Israel's unfaithfulness toward God. Images of agriculture are also used. Some are negative, and others positive, so that the positive images correct the negative:
For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind
(Hosea 8.7)
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
(Hosea 10.12)
You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
(Hosea 10.13)
The text ends on a positive note, a plea for repentance followed by an assurance of forgiveness:
I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
(Hosea 14.4)
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me.
Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
(Hosea 14.8-9)
Ezekiel 25-32 consists of oracles against and laments over foreign nations, a sort of reassurance of Israel after God thoroughly censures his people. Though Israel is in the process of being brought down, it will one day be raised back up, and its neigboring countries will suffer a harsh fate for their conduct against Israel, whether it was warfare, mockery, or failing to protect God's people.
The following nations are singled out: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt.
Ammon
Ammon will be handed over to the nomads of the east, who will set up shop in the area: "They shall set their encampments among you and pitch their tents in your midst; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. This is retribution for their rejoicing at the destruction of Israel. It is said that Ammon will be wiped from history.
Moab
Moab will suffer the same fate because they never recognized Israel's prominent status with God.
Edom
Edom will have the Lord's vengeance thrust upon it for its past vengeance upon Israel.
Philistia
The hostility of the Philistines against Israel will be repaid with the wrathful punishment of God.
Tyre
The section of oracles against Tyre is broken up into four parts, a proclamation against the land, a lament over the land, a proclamation against the king, and a lament over the king. Tyre is built up to be a great land with a ruler that is described in primordial terms and even at one point seems to have had God's support. Tyre's special treatment probably stems from the fact that it was able to repel the Babylonians for 13 years, and escaped from the encounter intact. Judah, on the other hand, was unable to stand against the strong hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
Proclamation against Tyre: Ezekiel 26
God's wrath falls on Tyre because it rejoices at Israel's destruction, knowing that this will increase its commerce. The Lord will bring the armies of many nations onto Tyre, and it will be completely destroyed:
I will make you a bare rock;
you shall be a place for spreading nets.
(Ezekiel 26.14)
Lamentation over Tyre: Ezekiel 27
The Lamentation over Tyre takes the form of prose and poetry listing all the nations that the city-state had contact with and benefited from.
Maritime imagery dominates the first poetic section, fitting as the port city served as a an important commercial center. Tyre is first described as a ship, with planks from the firs of Senir, a mast made of the cedar of Lebanon, oars from the oaks of Bashan, a deck made of pines from Cyprus, a linen sail from Egypt, awning from Elishah, rowers from Sidon and Arvad, and pilots from Zemer. The elders and artisans of Gebal caulk the seams.
The poem then turns to militaristic imagery: an army that featured men from Paras, Lud, Put, Arvad, Helech, Gamad.
It continues with descriptions of all the other nations that used Tyre's ports: Tarshish, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Beth-Togarmah, the Rhodians, Edom, Judah and Israel, Damascus, Helbon, Vedan and Javan from Uzal, Dedan, Arabia and all the princes of Keday, Sheba and Raamah, Haran, Canneh, Eden, Sheba, Asshur, Chilmad.
These countries and their wares listed, the poem reverts to sea imagery in order to show the destruction of the ship. Tyre goes down with all its wares and most of the nations that support it. A great lament will be raised for the destruction of so great a people.
Proclamation against the King of Tyre: Ezekiel 28.1-10
The King of Tyre is a very wise man, but he is also very bold. Though God confesses the man is wiser than even the wise mythical king Daniel, he also promises to strike the King down for self-deification. Both he and his kingdom will be destroyed by foreign armies.
Lamentation over the King of Tyre: Ezekiel 28.11-19
The King of Tyre is further extolled in the beginning of the lamentation over him, for the purpose of bringing him very low at the end.
You were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering...
With an anointed cherub as guardian I placed you;
you were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked among the stones of fire.
You were blameles in your ways
from the day that you were created,
until iniquity was found in you.
(Ezekiel 28.12-13; 14-15)
The King of Tyre enjoys a mythical back story that features elements of the Genesis tale of cosmogony. He was in Eden, on the very mountain of God (the description posits Zion as the location of the Edenic narrative). Blameless, he walks in a paradise created by God, protected by one of God's own cherubim. This man is not even related to Jacob!
But even he is cast down when the Lord discovers the evil within him. And for his violence and iniquities he is exposed and conquered.
Sidon
For treating Israel with contempt, Sidon will be besieged with both war and pestilence.
Egypt
Of all the countries listed, Egypt receives the harshest treatment from the Lord, with a total of seven pronouncements against it. Like Tyre, Egypt also resisted Babylonian invasion. However, Egypt deserves even greater retribution in God's eyes because it was unable to protect Israel from the Babylonians.
...because you were a staff of reed
to the house of Israel;
when they grasped you with the hand, you broke,
and tore all their shoulders;
and when they leaned on you, you broke,
and made all their legs unsteady.
(Ezekiel 29.6-7)
For this, and for her pride, Egypt will be brought low:
I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries; and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries.
(Ezekiel 29.12)
Generally, nations that receive God's retribution are completely destroyed. This is not the case for Egypt, however, whose people are dispersed. There is a certain resonance with the plight of the Israelites here. Both nations are conquered and their people dispersed for a long period of time (the forty years is not literal, but a symbolic number indicating a long period of time that is brought to completion). In fact, they will be conquered - at least it is predicted - by the Babylonians, adding a further kindred resonance. The destruction is described in violent detail in Ezekiel 32.
In continuing this idea, Egypt will again be restored, albeit to a much lesser degree. The purpose of this seems to be humiliation. Even worse than eradication, Egypt will fail as an ineffectual state as Israel becomes a great nation. Egypt will be defined by its shortcomings, in contrast with Israel.
Last week we explored the prophet Ezekiel's mystical encounter with God. As I noted, description of mystical encounters are not to be taken as piece-for-piece parables or allegories. Rather, we may interpret certain images within them to arrive at a sense of what the encounter signifies.
Today we encounter a different form of revelatory experience: allegories or parables given directly from God to the prophet. These have a few different functions, such as the revelation of history through a riddle to trick the reader into accepting the Lord's propositions. Others indict directly. No matter how these stories are used, however, the symbolism is understandable and direct, corresponding to true historical events. Below are five examples of this sort of meaning making.
God's Faithless Bride
One of the most compelling accounts of Israel's shameful history comes in Ezekiel 16, titled in the New Revised Standard Version, "God's Faithless Bride." Here "the Lord God of Jerusalem" recounts the history in a highly stylized, metaphorical style.
Jerusalem was born "in the land of the Canaanites," (Ezekiel 16.3) phrasing that precludes ownership. Israel is a stranger here, the child of an Amorite father and Hittite mother. These, of course, were the people that preceded the Israelites in Canaan, the promised land.
Jerusalem is born an abandoned in an open field, receiving no birth rituals; her umbilical cord even remains uncut. No one pities the bloody flailing child but God, who happens upon her and commands her to, "Live! and grow up like a plant of the field." (Ezekiel 16.6-7) Jerusalem sprouts into full womanhood, though is still naked and bloody when God encounters her a second time:
I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.
(Ezekiel 16.8)
God washes the blood from Jerusalem's body and clothes her. He adorns her in fine clothing and jewelry, and gives her the finest food. Jerusalem becomes renowned for her beauty among the nations. Rising up from an ignoble beginning, Jerusalem is at its best.
Then things go awry. Jerusalem begins to whore herself to other me - that is, she turns to other gods. (This imagery is very common in biblical literature, and Ezekiel uses the unfaithful wife motif extensively.) Jerusalem even sacrifices her children - the most tangible sign of the covenant with her husband God - to the false gods.
In succession, Jerusalem is rebuked for whoring herself to the Egyptians, the Philistines, Assyria, and Chaldea (Babylon). The list parallels the troubled history of God's people: slavery in Egypt, conflict with Philistia, and a tumultuous relationship with Assyria and Babylon that alternated between submission and trade and armed conflict.
God notes that Israel's "whoring" is unique for its subversion of the sex-marriage economy. Generally prostitutes receive payment for their services. Jerusalem, however, renders services and makes payments to her clients. We can easily see why God would be angry with her behavior. Not only is his wife unfaithful, but she is giving to her lovers the very gifts that he gave to her.
For this God promises wrath. She will be delivered into the hands of her enemies - those who were once her lovers:
Because you have not remember the days of you youth, but have enraged me with all these things; therefore, I have returned your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God.
(Ezekiel 16.43)
While it might be easy to understand the need for retribution, the line that precedes this verse seems to speak with the voice of an abusive husband when read in a modern light:
So I will satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall turn away from you; I will be calm, and will be angry no longer.
(Ezekiel 16.42)
God must expend all his anger before he will again accept his bride. This is not the portrait of domestic abuse popularized by Eminem - though one can see the parallels in a broken contract and a propensity to do harm.
This is on a completely different level, the breaking of a contract between God and an entire people. God offers the easy yoke to those that are faithful, but too many are reluctant to take that bear their faith entirely in God.
God returns in his excoriation to the image of family: Jerusalem as daughter of a Hittite and Amorite. The idea is expanded into a complete family of sinners. Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel, is Jerusalem's elder sister, while the notoriously sinful city of Sodom is Jerusalem's younger sibling. Not even these cities are as sinful as Jerusalem, claims the Lord, though Sodom was destroyed long ago and Samaria has already been conquered. Indeed, the sisters will be restored even as Jerusalem languishes. Thus the city will feel shame for its sins.
In classical prophetic style, however, Jerusalem is promised salvation:
Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant; yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
(Ezekiel 16.59-60)
Though it has been noted by others that negative prophecies are most frequently correct, this one does come true in part with the ascension of King Cyrus.
The Useless Vine
Ezekiel 15 offers a sophisticated riddle that is meant to reveal the truth about Jerusalem through a clever reveal. The riddle works by introducing a situation and convincing the reader of a truth about it, before revealing that actually the situation is representative of something that directly affects the reader. In this way, riddle solvers indict themselves. This particular riddle goes as follows:
O mortal, how does the wood of the vine surpass all other wood -
the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest?
Is wood taken from it to make anything?
Does one take a peg from it on which to hang any object?
(Ezekiel 15.2-3)
Well, no, the reader replies. People do not use vine wood for pegs. Vines do not surpass any wood at all - all they are good for is burning.
The vine, of course, is Jerusalem. Indeed, says the Lord, this useless city will be burned. It will be consumed and made desolate because it has not positive use for God. It does not give back to the Lord in any way, so why should he not destroy it to create the more useful fire?
The Two Eagles and the Vine
The next reference to the vine of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 17) is highly allegorical, a riddle whose question is phrased in poetry and answer revealed in prose.
A great eagle, representing the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, removes the top of a Lebanon cedar, representing King Jehoiachin, and takes it away to a "city of merchants," representing exile. The eagle then takes a seed - the offspring of Jehoiachin, Zedekiah - who is initially loyal to the eagle and therefore prospers.
Soon another eagle appears, representing the pharaoh Psammetichus. The vine is drawn to its brilliant plumage and great wings, and its allegiance transfers. This is a fatal move, as Egypt is not able to protect Jerusalem against the angry Babylonian monarchy. There will be great struggle and destruction.
But eventually God will intervene, taking "a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar." (Ezekiel 17.22) It will be planted on the mountain height of Israel to proper. In fact, the sprig will grow to become the greatest of the nations: "Under it every kind of bird [certainly even great eagles!] will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind." (Ezekiel 17.23)
Not only will Israel be recognized, but God as well. All nations will finally bow before him:
All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree,
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.
(Ezekiel 17.24)
Judah the Lion
[Fun fact: Ariel means "Lion of God" in Hebrew]
Judah is frequently identified with a lion for Jacob's blessing of the tribal patriarch in Genesis:
Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?
(Genesis 49.9)
Ezekiel picks up on this theme in chapter 19, a lamentation for fallen Judah, who was the great lioness. Here cubs were reared to be great lions, to catch prey and devour humans, but nations raise the alarm and capture them, afraid of the power that they wield. Here the lioness is the nation of Judah and the cubs it kings. Jehoahaz is deported to Egypt and both Jehoiachin and Zedekiah are exiled to Babylon. Though the lioness mother Judah attempts to raise strong offspring, here enemies are stronger than they.
The Vine Again
The lament abruptly transitions to an image of mother Judah as a vine of great mass and height in a vineyard. The vine is destroyed by various means: plucked up and cast down (armed conflict), dried by an eastern wind (siege warfare and famine), stripped of fruit (death, attrition), consumed by fire (conquered), and transplanted (exiled).
And the fire has gone out from its stem,
has consumed its branches and fruit,
so that there remains in it no strong stem,
no scepter for ruling.
(Ezekiel 19.14)
These verses have a remarkable resonance with Jacob's blessing of Judah in Genesis (mentioned above):
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes; his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
(Genesis 49.10-12)
Oholah and Oholibah
Finally we come to Ezekiel 23, another parable of Judah's sin and God's retribution. "Born" in Egypt, the sisters Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Judah) both become brides of the Lord and bear children. For the time being, at least, God overlooks the fact that they are "damaged goods" - that in Egypt they have already been dealt with sexually.
Oholah soon whores herself to the Assyrians, and is killed - not by God - but clearly in retribution for her unfaithfulness. Oholibah also lusts after the Assyrians, but soon turns to the Babylonians, then Egypt. The last of these is portrayed as a return to an old lover:
Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your breasts.
(Ezekiel 23.21)
Jerusalem, which has not yet suffered exile (the "death" of Oholah) is therefore warned of impending fury that God will unleash, dealt through the armies of the vary nations Oholibah once loved. She will suffer the same fate as her sister. Says the Lord:
For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols the have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.
(Ezekiel 23.37)
Judah will indeed be punished. But the beauty of God's relationship with his people is that there is always room for reconciliation.
The Boiling Pot
One final allegory comes in Ezekiel 24, a boiling pot to cook an animal. The imagery is complex, but it seems that the pot is rusted on the inside, making worthless the food cooked within. Furthermore, the blood that Jerusalem has shed is symbolically inside the pot, an image that God uses to incriminate the city. The Lord will also take a rusted pot, symbolic of Jerusalem, and heat it, so that the filth and rust within it is consumed. In this way, the pot will be cleansed. But the cleansing of Jerusalem clearly will have dire consequences for its people.
Thus concludes today's post.
As for me, this reading really brought out the feminist in me. The language of the bible is remarkable here in its portrayal of women and violence. Could it have been put another way and understood as poignantly? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
I have written much of the dialectical tension that shape the biblical narrative, the push and pull between the word of God and the will of humankind. Intertwined with this plot-forming device is the device of movement. Throughout much of Israel's history, it has moved toward and away from the promised land. Now, long after conquering the promised land, Israel finds itself again out of God's favor and out their proper space.
At this point in the biblical narrative, it seems that God's people are permanently removed from the promised land. After they are given the land of Canaan, they fail to fulfill their contract and are expelled. In popular parlance, they blew it. (But that's human nature, as the bible widely attests.) The Babylonian exile represents the first time that Israel feels the bitter pull toward the land they possessed for so long.
The literature that developed during the time preceding and following the expulsion deals with the sense of loss in different ways. The Book of Job teaches how to deal with injustice. Lamentations mourns present conditions and looks to God for a panacea. Psalms offers myriad interpretations of punishment and reward. Prophets, like Jeremiah and Isaiah (First, Second, and Third), bring to light improper worship practices and preach social justice, while they deliver both predictions of terror and prophecies of salvation.
Ezekiel responds to the plight of the exile, and as a part of this offers the reassuring image of God in motion. Judah, home of God's people and God's residence on earth, is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE. Therefore in his tenure as a prophet from 593 to 571 BCE, Ezekiel can be seen as comforting the exiles from the deportations from Jerusalem. Part of this comfort comes from Ezekiel's particular vision of God as a mobile deity.
God in Motion
The Book of Ezekiel opens with Ezekiel's vision of God's chariot, but before turning to that, it is important to note the setting. Ezekiel receives his vision "in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was on him there." (Ezekiel 1.3)
Jeremiah is the first prophet we encounter that prophesies redemption explicitely from captivity, delivering a distinct message to his audience. Jeremiah was in Israel for his entire tenure, Isaiah 1 and 3 prophesied from Israel, and Isaiah 2 consists of God's direct message to Israel (without the explicit medium of a prophet).
God's Chariot
Ezekiel's vision of God's chariot takes place in 593 BCE, five years after the first exile, and still six before the second in 587.
I recommend reading the entire vision sequence of Ezekiel 1-3.11 to get the full effect of the literature. For those of you who would rather not, here is an artist's rendition, courtesy of Wikipedia:
A stormy wind from the north (the direction of Babylon) blows in a phantasm that can only be described using the noncommittal mystical terms such as like and as. The four living creatures of the vision have legs and arms for mobility, and for whatever reason only move directly straight, without turning. Never mind exactly why, as Ezekiel is trying to put into words an ineffable mystical experience. (A description of mystical experience is not part-for-part allegory, by the way, but a "translation" of a mystical encounter).
That being said, we may focus on the prominent images of movement throughout the vision to guess at what exactly Ezekiel is trying to say. Ezekiel writes of his encounter:
"As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them."
(Ezekiel 1.15)
One wheel or four? Both? In a vision, it doesn't really matter. The image is that of a wheel, which might signify completeness or more likely movement.
As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved. Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
(Ezekiel 1.16-21)
These wheels are capable of special locomotion, made possible by a wheel within a wheel. Four sets of tall and awesome double wheels propel the cart/chariot wherever it goes, forward and backward, up and down. The device is free to move in any direction in three dimensions. Additionally, the wheels function as a symbol of divine attentiveness. Eyes adorn all four wheels, indicating God's ubiquitous knowledge and presence. God is not only mobile, but all-seeing as well.
Ezekiel's Second Vision: Transportation
After this encounter, Ezekiel heads to Tel-abib, to reveal God's message to the exiles there. Here again Ezekiel encounters God. A year later in Judah (592 BCE), Ezekiel encounters God in a vision:
...and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north...
(Ezekiel 8.3)
The vision is very similar, a fact that is even made explicit:
And the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley.
(Ezekiel 8.4)
Again, Ezekiel faces north, the direction from which the Babylonians attack. He is then transported to various parts of the city, where he encounters the abominations that still occur in Jerusalem. Ezekiel is warned of the future hardships before being brought back.
This section is notable because again God has a remarkable range of motion. He is not limited to the Jerusalem temple, but can observe and even interact with his people in captivity.
Again we see the details of movement in his encounter:
I looked, and there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like gleaming beryl. And as for their appearance, the four looked alike, something like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved; but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without veering as they moved. Their entire body, their rims, their spokes, their wings, and the wheels—the wheels of the four of them—were full of eyes all around. As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the wheelwork.” Each one had four faces: the first face was that of the cherub, the second face was that of a human being, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle. The cherubim rose up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the river Chebar. When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise up from the earth, the wheels at their side did not veer. When they stopped, the others stopped, and when they rose up, the others rose up with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
(Ezekiel 10.9-17)
God's capability of movement is a remarkable development, and has a great influence on prophets and God's people, as we shall see in future chapters and later books.
The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.
(Jeremiah 28.8-9)
So Jeremiah told Hananiah in his prophecies of the Lord's wrath against his unfaithful people. The postulate is remarkably accurate. Prophecies of peace are uncommon and are often unfulfilled (see further, the book of Revelation). It is easier for a prophet to prophesy war, famine, and pestilence because this is the most common denominator of human existence. A prophet may easily look at political situations and make an informed oracle about the future. But what makes a prophecy truly compelling is the divine input. God is all-powerful and yet gives his people the freedom to break their covenant with him. If all obey God, the prophets contend, there will be no war, famine or pestilence. If the Israelites disobey God, they will be destroyed by their enemies, who are of course controlled by an all-powerful and wrathful God. Such is life.
In the first two posts on Jeremiah, we explored Jeremiah's personal persecution vis-a-vis Israel's, and examined some of the prophet's laments. Today's post takes a look at Jeremiah in a historical context. It is clear that his prophetic messages changed over time to address evolving political realities. Read one way, Jeremiah seems to even execute an about-face on earlier prophecies. In any case, Jeremiah worked in a very difficult time, and seemed to adapt his message to reject the status quo while still maintaining a certain amount of care for his fellow Israelites.
Jeremiah prophesied in a tumultuous time in Jewish history. His career as a prophet began in 627, the "thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah's reign. This is the same year that Judah joined the other vassal nations of Assyria in revolting against the empire (a fact not mentioned in Kings). Josiah, who had ostensibly discovered the book of the Law of Moses (probably Deuteronomy), wished to reestablish the Davidic monarchy. Jeremiah firmly opposed this through his entire life, in favor of the older, God-centric expression of faith.
The Assyrians until this point had an adversarial relationship with the Jews. In 724 Hoshea, the last king of Israel, was carried away to Assyria for refusing to pay tribute as a vassal of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser and instead seeking the protection of Egypt. That same year the Assyrians began a three-year siege of Samaria, capturing the city and deporting its residents in 722 (2 Kings 17.1-6). By divine intervention (and creating a remarkable historical reality if this is in fact true), Judah avoided paying tribute to Assyria altogether, and continues to exist as a nation until 597.
Unfortunately for Judah, the Assyrian empire collapsed in 605, and Babylon showed interest in taking what Assyria could not. Though King Jehoiakim initially supported the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar beginning in 604, his tribute switched around 601 as Babylon's enemy Egypt seemed to gain power. Babylon grew in strength and conquered Jerusalem in 597. Wealthy and influential residents of the city were deported to foreign lands. The city was completely destroyed ten years later, and a second deportation exiled many of the remaining residents.
This is the political situation that Jeremiah found himself working in, adapting his message as times changed. Initially his oracles are against personal enemies and the corruption of Judah. The second theme is expanded upon over time so that the Babylonian conquest of Judah becomes seen as God's divine punishment on a wicked people. In fact, Jeremiah initially urges his audience to acquiesce to Babylonian rule. "It will all get better if we wait it out," the prophet seems to say. Babylon is simply acting as an agent of God, who wishes to punish his people for failing to fulfill their terms of the covenant with him. Later in his career, however, Jeremiah begins to prophesy against Babylon, framing the empire as malignant oppressors who are now the enemies of God, not simply a tool that God used to discipline his people. In a great reversal of fortune, the conquerors will be conquered. These oracles are messages of hope, for the Lord's wrath will be guided away from God's people, back to the pagan nations.
Let's take a look at Jeremiah's evolving prophecy.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am going to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them together into the center of this city. I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and mighty arm, in anger, in fury, and in great wrath. And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both human beings and animals; they shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward, says the Lord, I will give King Zedekiah of Judah, and his servants, and the people in this city—those who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine—into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them, or spare them, or have compassion.
(Jeremiah 21.3-7)
This prophecy, delivered by Jeremiah to King Zedekiah of Judah, accurately predicts the destruction of Judah by the Babylonians. He attributes the disaster not to King Nebuchadrezzar, but rather the Lord, who is seeking vengeance on his unfaithful people by destroying them with pestilence, sword, and famine. Always it is the Lord's hand that guides Babylon in defeating his people. And because it is the Lord acting against the Judahites, it is okay, even honorable to surrender. The only real shame that Jerusalem will face is their humiliation before God. The city is doomed, but the people may keep their lives if they surrender:
And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have their lives as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord: it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
(Jeremiah 21.8-10)
The oppression will not last forever, and Jeremiah indicates this in a prophecy from the Lord predicting the forthcoming righteous king of Israel:
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” Then they shall live in their own land.
(Jeremiah 23.5-8)
The new united monarchy (though monarchy may be the wrong word because the oracle champions worship of God over an earthly leader) will mark a great new era in the history of Israel, the second return to the homeland. Interesting - no matter where the Israelites end up, they always return to the same place. Since the days of Abraham this family has been drawn to this area, the land that God promised them.
By chapter 30 we discover that not only will the house of Jacob return to its homeland, but the punishment it suffered at the hands of its oppressors will be redirected at the oppressors.
But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the Lord, and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for I am going to save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
(Jeremiah 30.10-11)
For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good fortune that I now promise them.
(Jeremiah 32.42)
That disaster will be redirected against a slew of enemies, peoples in whose lands the exiled Israelites have resided: Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, the Amonites, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam, and most especially Babylon. It is Babylon, of course, that gets the greatest and longest prophecies against it. Initially drones acting out the will of the Lord, they are viewed at the end of Jeremiah's career as harsh oppressors who must be punished for their vile deeds. And indeed they will be punished. By 538 King Cyrus of Persia will defeat the Babylonians and issue a decree allowing Israelites to return to their homeland and worship their God. Jeremiah's prophecy of restoration is partially fulfilled, but after the second exile, Israel will never be the same.
One of the primary themes of the Hebrew Bible is persecution and suffering, a theme that was given extensive treatment from Job onwards, through Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiates, and especially through the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. During the time of the divided monarchy, the Israelites suffer perpetual persecution. In this time, people turn to prophets, who offer an alternative (though politically well-informed) worldview. The Israelites, say the prophets, are persecuted by God for their apostasy. How is this situation rectified? Laments give us a view into this process. This traditional form of writing - like a dirge or a sonnet, is comprised of a few different elements that express suffering and call on God to intervene. Elements include:
Invocation (call to God)
Complaint
Plea for help
Condemnation of enemies
Affirmation of confidence in the Lord
Confession of sin
Acknowledgement of divine response
Praise for God
The enemies are generally an outside force, such as the Babylonians, but the doubly-oppressed Jeremiah sees persecution at the hands of others as well. These people say to one another:
Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living
so that his name will no longer be remembered!
(Jeremiah 11.19)
Jeremiah's enemies seek to destroy the prophet (tree) along with his children (fruit). To eliminate the offspring would essentially wipe Jeremiah from history by removing all traces of him form the collective memory. This is significant because memory - either passed down through stories or expressed physically through offspring - was the only sort of afterlife an Israelite could hope to enjoy. Hence the promise of land and progeny to the patriarchs.
Jeremiah begs the Lord to intercede from these oppressors:
But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
(Jeremiah 11.20)
Who are these mysterious oppressors who wish to kill Jeremiah? His own family! "The people of Anathoth were friends and relatives of Jeremiah in his home town (Jeremiah 11.21, 12.1). Not only does Israel stand on the brink of destruction, but Jeremiah's own family want to suppress his message.
Yet the righteous Jeremiah continues to prophesy, and his persecutors in fact will face a penalty for the evil they plot against the man. The very evil they wished upon him will be inflicted on them:
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and not even a remnant shall be left of them.
(Jeremiah 11.22-23)
"Why does the way of the guilty prosper?" Jeremiah asks God.
You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
yet far from their hearts.
(Jeremiah 12.1-2)
Jeremiah here uses the language of his oppressors against them As they seek to destroy good and righteous trees along with their fruit, Jeremiah asks the fundamental question of why these people are allowed to exert their malicious wills. The Lord acknowledges the problem, and commiserates with Jeremiah, revealing a striking parallel between Jeremiah's situation and his own. The Lord's own "family" of Israel has turned against him and forced him to make some difficult decisions:
I have forsaken my house,
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
into the hands of her enemies
(Jeremiah 12.7)
God has come to this decision because idol worship has wrought such havoc on the faithful:
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
(Jeremiah 12.10-11)
Thus we transition into the larger problem of Israel's inevitable exile at the hands of their oppressors. God's people will face dispersion for their apostasy, and the righteous Jeremiah will be show oppressed in two ways, first as a prophet and secondly as an Israelite. He is righteous in both capacities, and therefore is something of an anomaly. His parallel stories, however, help illustrate Israel as it collapses simultaneously from outside and internal pressures. Both of these are expressed though the same prism of God's wrath. The Lord's people must be punished for their sins.
Retribution comes first in the form of a drought, which is relayed by the people of the land in the form of a lament in Jeremiah 14.1-10.
Although our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, for your name's sake;
our apostasies are indeed many,
and we have sinned against you.
(Jeremiah 14.7)
The lament continues in Jeremiah 14.19-22:
Have you completely rejected Judah?
Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace, but find no good;
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
the iniquity of our ancestors,
for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.
Can any idols of the nations bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you,
for it is you who do all this.
(Jeremiah 14.19-22)
We see the elements of lament here: complaint, confession of sins, and a plea for help. In this way the lament moves from accusation to confession to supplication. This parallels part of the cycle of dialectical tensions following a severe blow to the Israelite people, the subsequent recognition that this harm was in fact the result of apostasy.
The Lord offers a harsh response to the Israelites through Jeremiah, suggesting that not even the great leaders of Moses and Samuel would be able to turn God's heart toward his people. Sin has reached a tipping point, and now punishment is inevitable. Jeremiah will survive, but the people will hate him for his true words against them. The prophet's agony is so great that in one lament he wishes he had never been born. Yet he plays an integral role in the history of Jerusalem, and as we will see, forecasts the future of God's people.
Along the way, though, Jeremiah continues his laments, as he balances the persecution of himself and his family with that of the people of Israel.
First Isaiah presents Zion/Jerusalem on the brink of destruction, Second Isaiah presents Zion in Babylon, and Third Isaiah presents God's people as they have returned to Judah from their captivity in Babylon. Even though the people have returned to their land in Third Isaiah, the prophet's grandiose prophecies have not all come true. Oppression remains, even in the homeland as the Israelites start to rebuild their home city and temple. Therefore, Isaiah must deliver new oracles to clarify the old ones.
That's the trouble with prophecy: it is rarely exactly correct, and so the prophet must modify the prophecy in order to suit his worldview. We see this tradition continue even today. Evangelist Harold Camping, who predicted the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011 and the end of the world on October 21 of the same year, is by no means a biblical-level prophet, but his predictions thrust him into the realm of prophecy. When no apparent rapture occurred, he had to change his prediction somewhat.
Camping had in fact originally predicted the end of the world for September, 1994. When that did not occur, he insisted that he had not done enough research. He was much more certain about the events of May and October 2011. When the faithful were not corporeally ascended on May 21, Camping held strong in his assertion of rapture, but clarified that it was largely symbolic, or spiritual, as opposed to physical. The proposed date for the destruction of the world remains.
Isaiah also fails on a number of counts. The wilderness of Zion is not like Eden, the nursing child does not play over the hole of the asp. These things have not even come true in metaphorical terms. But part of his prophecies did come true: Judah was conquered, then delivered, and its people were allowed to return to their homeland. But because so much did not come true, the new message represents a departure from previous predictions.
The reasons Isaiah's visions do not come true are attributed to the Israelites' apostasy. God is not worshipped as he should be. And when pagan practices are in vogue, the normal signs of worship: sacrifices of oxes, lambs, grain, and aromatics like frankincense do not count, and actually bring sin upon a person.
But one day, all these people will be put to shame, when the new kingdom comes. A much different kingdom it shall be.
Deliverance and Social Justice
In Third Isaiah, deliverance is not longer reserved for those related to Israel. Now foreigners who obey the Lord will be called to the house of God. (Isaiah 56.8) They stand in stark contrast to Israel's rulers, the “wild animals,” and blind sentinels with mighty appetites and meager understanding.
The reason for the concession to foreigners seems to be the lack of regard that Israel has for God. They simply go through the motions of Judaism, without proper belief or practice. They ask:
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
(Isaiah 58.3)
God responds:
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
(Isaiah 58.3-5)
Fasting, the Lord asserts, should be accompanied by humility, even in the face of hunger. Fasts are meant to “loose the bonds of injustice,” “let the oppressed go free,” “share your bread with the hungry,” “bring the homeless poor into your house,” and cover the naked. (Isaiah 58.6-7)
The simple orthopraxy emphasized in the days of Moses must now be accompanied by social justice. Israel's relationship with God is no longer simply based on obedience of his commandments, but also a sense of caring for one another. In prophesy short of apocalypticism, there is always an opportunity for the audience to change its ways.
Prophets, we must remember, were always on the fringe, and rarely believed by the aristocracy or the common people. So it remains today. Our new prophets, uninspired by any god we comprehend, continue to fail in their predictions. It is up to us whether they serve as an example of piety or errancy.
Cyrus the Conquerer
The complex tensions in First Isaiah carry over into Second Isaiah, which sees a great new conquerer coming to free Israel from its captivity in Babylon. A new tension is added: this conquerer is Cyrus the Great, a Persian king. Israel's own monarchy has failed; considering that 1 Samuel portrays the monarchy as a rejection of the Lord, one might say it was doomed from the start. In fact, Babylonian captivity springs directly from the evil kings of the divided monarchy. But since the divine covenant still exists between Israel and God, God is able to redeem his people by exerting his will through Cyrus. This is not without precedent. The Lord formerly aided his people directly through the judges:
Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them.
(Judges 2.18)
The innovation is that Cyrus is not an Israelite, as the Israelites are unable to fight against the strong oppression they face. The historical fact of Cyrus' conquering Babylon is given the theological gloss of God's divine will. It is easy to make this connection when we consider that Cyrus not only conquered Babylon, but also brought freedom of religion to the Israelites and allowed them to rebuild the temple. This is historical fact that is also recalled in Ezra:
"Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of those among you who are is people - may their God be with them! - are now permitted to go to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel - he is the God who is in Jerusalem..."
(Ezra 1.2-3)
We discover in Second Isaiah that God was behind this decree all along. In fact, Cyrus is referred to as God's "anointed," a moniker reserved - with this one exception - for Israelite kings and high priests. Isaiah 45 describes God will go before Cyrus and conquer everything in his way. Victory is never Cyrus' accomplishment, but rather that of the Lord.
On Poetry
Why are we to believe that Cyrus is the Lord's agent? The biblical author attempts to convince the reader in the lead-up to the description of Cyrus' campaign in Isaiah 45. A poem in Isaiah 44.24-28 eases us into the idea of Cyrus by asserting God's greatness and revealing truths that we are likely to believe. By the time we learn that Cyrus will act as God's agent, we have already agreed with the rest of the poem, so why not tack on one more thing?
It begins with an invocation
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
before addressing the reader in particular:
who formed you in the womb:
The Lord then shifts from particular to universal, displaying his mastery of everything great and small:
I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who by myself spread out the earth:
After this comes a rejection of false prophets
who frustrates the omens of liars,
and makes fools of diviners;
and a rejection of knowledge (or certain kinds of knowledge):
who turns back the wise,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
Prophets like Isaiah are to be trusted because God validates their oracles:
who confirms the word of his servant
and fulfills the predication of his messengers;
Next comes a promise, one meant to instill hope in its audience:
Who says of Jerusalem, "It shall be inhabited,"
and of the cities of Judah, "They shall be rebuilt,
and I will raise up their ruins";
What follows is an image that invokes the past while looking to the future. A reference to the deep and a dried up river recalls the exodus, one in which the Israelites will again return home.
who says of the deep, "Be dry -
I will dry up your rivers";
Finally comes the biter pill. Israel's savior will not be an Israelite. Unable to save itself, the Lord will act through an intermediary. Since the Lord has already established his track record of greatness, rejecting book knowledge in favor of prophecy, the foundation is laid for us to believe that Cyrus indeed will save Israel as an agent of God:
who says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd,
and he shall carry out all my purpose";
Finally, the poem closes with a positive look toward the future, one inevitable as predicted by Isaiah and executed by Cyrus, both agents of the Lord himself:
and who says of Jerusalem, "It shall be rebuilt,"
and of the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid."
This is exactly what happens. The word of the Lord and the prediction of Isaiah come true and Israel once again finds itself with a place of centralized worship. We are led to believe it by a chain of plausible claims, and historically, the prediction became a reality. How much farther must one strain faith to believe it was God and not Cyrus? That answer does not come from the bible, but from the reader.
Isaiah is a prophet who lived during the time of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. This was a tumultuous time - as times tend to be when prophets appear. Isaiah was very concerned about the proper treatment of those with little protection in society, namely the orphans and widows. His vision for the future was one of violence and loss, but ultimately the kingdom of God would be restored.
Isaiah the Politician
If we discount God's revelation to Isaiah - say the prophet made it all up - we would be able to see Isaiah as a political reformer who uses a clever scheme to convince his audience of his position. Isaiah attributes probable events to a higher authority (God) as retribution for perceived injustices done by human agents. Isaiah's genius - and the genius of all the prophets - lies in his misdirection. He uses a clever sleight of hand to convince his audience. For example, Isaiah does not says that the Assyrians invaded Israel in order to gain land and resources. Rather, he asserts that the Assyrians acted under God's control in order to punish the Israelites for their sins.
This assertion holds an implicit value judgment that the Israelites, as God's chosen people, are better than the Assyrians. Assyria is merely God's puppet, used by the almighty to punish those people who matter more. In fact, it is this mentality that allowed Jews to cope with oppression, invasion and deportation all the way to today. The notion is bittersweet: bitter because they were scattered directly because of their sins, sweet because God was still willing to protect them in accordance with the divine covenant. It is the sweet that keep the Israelites going. No matter how bitter a situation, that sweetness is upheld by an agreement that transcends sin, the covenant between God and his people.
It is no surprise, then, that Isaiah's message speaks of redemption in addition to its dire warning.
But we don't have to view Isaiah that way...
...Because his story is really interesting! Isaiah is fortunate/pious enough to have a direct encounter with God. His description in Isaiah 6 is almost in mystical terms: God is so large that the hem of his garment fills the temple, and he is accompanied by seraphs, each with six wings. Since the encounter is in the temple, we might imagine God on the throne formed by the wings of the cherubim described in 1 Kings 6.23-28. Therefore we have a multitude of creatures. The seraphim are winged cobras that use one pair of wings to cover their genitals out of modesty, another to cover their faces from the glory of the Lord, and a third to fly. Even God's attendants may not look upon him, so Isaiah's discomfort comes as no surprise:
"Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a an of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts!"
(Isaiah 6.5)
His lips are cleansed with a live coal from the altar, and he becomes able to speak with God. The message is dire:
“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)
No one will listen to the message, but God knows and expects this. Therefore he will bring armies against the Israelites. Israel will be punished for its sins.
Isaiah (speaking on behalf of God) asserts that simple sacrifices are not enough to expiate the sins of the people. Rather, the poor and orphans and widows must be protected as well. But because this has not happened, the Israelites will be conquered ad dispersed.
Eventually, though, there will come a great peace, when all the earth acknowledges and worships the Lord. In this time of great obedience, there will be peace.
Deuteronomy 16: The Passover Reviewed / The Festival of Weeks Reviewed / The Festival of Booths Reviewed / Municipal Judges and Officers Deuteronomy 17: Forbidden Forms of Worship / Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges / Limitations of Royal Authority
Festival Day! Also, Governance Day! Miscellaneous rules and regulations are given regarding the celebration of festivals and the governance of the Israelites.
The Passover Reviewed: Deuteronomy 16.1-8
The passover commemorates the Israelites' departure from Egypt, during which time there was not enough time to bake leavened bread, so it was left unleavened. The holiday is meant to invoke the story by requiring the Israelites eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day, the Israelites are to make an animal sacrifice in the place of worship that God designates, and eat it there with their families. This is to be done "in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt" (Deut. 16.6). Previous to this statement, the time of day that the Israelites departed is unclear. This addition fleshes out the passover story while giving an etiological reason for the practice.
The Festival of Weeks Reviewed: Deuteronomy 16.9-12
The festival of weeks is to be observed by everyone in Israel at the place of centralized worship the Lord designates. It consists of a freewill offering to the Lord in proportion to the blessing received from the Lord - a way of saying "thank you" in proportion for the help given. The date of the festival is seven weeks beginning from the time of the harvest [a summer festival].
The Festival of Booths Reviewed: Deuteronomy 16.13-17
The autumn festival of booths is a seven-day festival at the end of the harvest season. It will be celebrated by everyone in Israel at the place of centralized worship the Lord designates.
Throughout all these festivals, the males are to appear before the Lord and make an offering:
"They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you."
(Deut. 16.16-17)
Sounds a little like Karl Marx, no?
Municipal Judges and Officers: Deuteronomy 16.18-20
The Israelites are to appoint judges and officials to keep a just society. Fairness is a very important component of Israelite life:
You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
(Deut. 16.19-20)
Forbidden Forms of Worship: Deuteronomy 16.21-17.7
The Israelites are forbidden from practices that resemble pagan worship: planting trees as sacred poles, erecting stone pillars, sacrificing to the Lord impure (or unholy; not-separate) animals (those deemed "defective").
In addition, anyone that subverts worship of the Lord is to be stoned to death if there are two or more witnesses. This law promotes justice by attempting to prevent unwarranted accusations.
Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges: Deuteronomy 17.8-13
Any case that is too difficult to decide by a judge or official within a town is to be brought to the levitical priests and a judge at the place God has designated for worship. The verdict shall stand and the punishment should be carried out. Anyone who disobeys the word of the priest or judge shall die. Word shall be spread of the decision in order to prevent future crimes.
Limitations of Royal Authority: Deuteronomy 17.14-20
Here the book of Deuteronomy gets a bit prophetic. Moses, who has been speaking on behalf of God, tells the congregation that eventually the Israelites will want a king. This is true. The king must be an Israelite. However, he may not abuse his power or sell people to Egypt (in order to buy more things, here "horses") and thereby abuse his power. Israel is never again to return to Egypt. He must not marry many women or else he will lose faith in God. He must not acquire great riches. He is to know the law - in fact, it is to be written out before him when he takes the throne. He is to keep this law with him at all times so that he will fear the Lord and not exalt himself above the Lord.
How is this prophetic? Well, it predicts a king, which in fact the Israelites will plead for. It also predicts a specific king: King Solomon, who pretty much disobeyed all the commandments listed here. But prophecy in the bible is a funny thing because it is generally written after what is predicted has come to pass and set in a time before the event. Therefore King Solomon's reign is "predicted" in a text that is written after his reign but set in a time before it.
