The Law of Moses was an expansion on the Covenant of Noah. While God's people were bound to the specifications of the Law, it was always something doable, always with a built in margin of error. Moses himself made it clear the underlying principles were more important than the precise observance. It was this substrate of underlying principles which brought the things all men seek, short of spiritual enlightenment. The Law promised prosperity, security, and stability -- shalom. These precepts reflected the very nature of Creation, how it operated, and how man could lay hold of the best this fallen world could offer.
The Northern Kingdom had long since abandoned these principles. Residual prosperity continued, and human wisdom seemed to stave off political wrangling with neighbors, but the internal social stability was already collapsing. The ruling class suffered from hubris regarding their prosperity and worldly wisdom, thinking themselves the finest example of what mankind could have, the flower of human achievement. But they were drunk on their pride. Human wisdom can only reach so far, but not far enough to prevent an even more arrogant and powerful empire from northern Mesopotamia coming to blow across this little kingdom of Israel like a storm, and the flower of Israel's pride would be tromped down. They were the first fruits of summer, ripe for picking and eating out of hand.
Naturally, there were a few people who understand the necessity of clinging to the Law. They knew their true King was Jehovah. By their continued efforts to observe the Law under a political system which militated against Covenant faithfulness, they would lay claim to the promises and be spared. Those who escaped the coming hordes of Assyria would not be random refugees, but the faithful of the Lord who fled at the prophet's warning.
Let not Judah think she shall escape this invasion! They are equally drunken in the hubris of human wisdom, including the priests and prophets. It was these who were supposed to lead the way in teaching the requirements of the Law, of understanding and keeping the Covenant. Instead, they were the bulk of the political party within the ruling class who had forged an alliance with Assyria, paying them tribute to draw them into battle against Israel to the north. In their grand and mature wisdom, they mocked Isaiah as some simplistic rube, prattling with childlike understanding of this complicated world. Their mocking sounded like oral Hebrew lessons given preschoolers: tsav la-tsav, tsav la-tsav; kav la-kav, kav la-kav; ze'er shim, ze'er shim.
But these great wise men would hardly understand the foreign tongue of the Assyrian invaders, no better than they could understand the Assyrian ways. Since they reject the prophet's words in their own language, they would next hear from God in Assyrian. The ways of shalom offered by the Law were repugnant and childish to them, so let them learn from a brutal but intellectual culture far older than Abraham. Isaiah describes the terms of their punishment in words which sounded somewhat in Hebrew like the mocking childish prattle he quoted.
In making a treaty with Assyria, these brilliant mockers had obliged themselves to Hell itself, as it were. Can men make a deal with Death to be spared? Does Death observe treaties? Isaiah reminds them the Covenant with God is the very foundation of life, it brings shalom in preventing panic. The appeal to Assyria was a panic move, because Judah could not match the combined forces of Israel and Syria. This was not at all according to the Law, but the Law still stood. All actions outside the boundaries of the Law would be destroyed. Assyria would not keep her word, yet would hold Judah accountable their hers. Indeed, Isaiah promised Assyria would invade repeatedly, and every time Judah would be trampled, just like the flower of Israel.
Their wisdom and political maneuvering would not be sufficient. Like a bed too short, and covers too narrow, they would be cramped and exposed. Instead of David's great victories at Perazim and Gibeon, they would become places of Judah's defeat. Did this seem crazy? It was the same God who stood for His standards of truth when He gave David the victory; it will be the same God standing for the same standards when Judah falls before Assyria. There was still time to humble themselves under those standards, still time for the mockers to repent.
The Law seemed to them childish and silly, something they had outgrown. Did they suppose God did it all just to make fun of them? Were they not calling God "crazy" for holding them accountable? Isaiah told the parable of the farmer. A farmer does not plow just because he likes to plow. He does it so he can make it ready for sowing. He does not randomly scatter seed, mixing crops, but chooses the best soil and terrain for each crop. Why? Because he pays attention to what happens when he sows year by year, and knows how nature works. That's how God teaches -- He explains how His Creation operates.
The farmer knows how to harvest his various crops because he has seen what happens. There is no need to innovate, to test and discover afresh which techniques work best with each item of harvest. It all has a purpose, as does the Law. Moses did not set forth a riddle, he did not bind God's people to a mind game. It was the very real requirements to get along with how God made things to be. Surely Judah's rulers did not think they had suddenly discovered the right way to do things, in the human wisdom of political intrigues, that they could forget the God who brought them out of slavery, who made them a great nation? The great gift of the Law was to allow this one nation, out of all the nations on the earth, to truly understand how things actually work, a divine revelation of how to achieve simply what all men on earth desired.
Return to Isaiah Index
[<-- Previous]
[Next -->]
By Ed Hurst
24 December 2008
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)