Even today, we sing the words in some of our songs:
I will sing unto the Lord,
For He has triumphed gloriously;
The horse and rider thrown into the sea!
It calls to mind the celebration at the Reed Sea Crossing, when the Nation of Israel walked across on dry ground, but the cavalry of Pharaoh drowned when the waters returned to the sea bed. How could they forget?
Yet, forget they had indeed, for now the political party favoring alliance with Egypt trumpeted what a mighty army Pharaoh could field against Assyria. The same God who drowned the pride of the Nile could handle a few Assyrians, too. Since Judah will not trust God, He would see to it the Egyptians would be smashed again, and those relying on Egypt would fall with her.
In ancient times, when lions roamed that part of the world, they would often take a single sheep from the flock. Usually the critter was not dead right away, just injured. Several shepherds would band together against a common threat and chase down the lion now burdened with a living sheep. At some point, it would either be cornered or get tired and stop. The shepherds would do their best to yell and make noise to scare the lion away from its prey. Only the most determined would actually dare to physically threaten a lion.
God said He would be like a lion. He would defend His own honor like a lion determined to keep its prey. Neither Egypt's mass of chariots nor Assyria's sea of infantrymen would cower Him, any more than a bunch of wimpy shepherds yelling at a lion. Those who clung to God by symbolically clinging to His Temple in Zion would be safe from an enemy hardly capable of more than empty threats.
Or consider how a group of mother birds would defend their nesting ground. They attack from all directions, seeming to come out of nowhere, harassing so fiercely almost no creature would risk it for just a few eggs or nestling chicks. The Assyrians would never know what hit them. Isaiah uses the term "passing over" -- the same word for the annual celebration of Passover, or Sparing. Again, He reminds them of His power displayed in the one event which gave Israel her identity. Just because that was seven hundred years before was no reason to think God had changed.
Isaiah prophesies what would happen during the siege to come. The city would remember whence they came, would purge their city of idols, and call on God in sorrow and repentance. Upon the wings of that revival, the Assyrian army would fall in the night. Not by any human hands, not by the swords wielded by soldiers, but of God's own hands. So devastating would God's attack be, the young squires and shield bearers would surrender themselves to slavery under Judah.
Indeed, the nobles would hie themselves back to their home forts, and hide behind the walls. The mere sight of Judah's royal battle ensign would cause them to quake in fear. This is the God who symbolically made His home in the Temple on Mount Zion. Were they truly seeking Jehovah, Assyria need never come in the first place.
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By Ed Hurst
21 January 2009
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