ONE JUST GOD OVER ALL PEOPLES
THE MESSAGE OF ISAIAH
The destruction of the northern kingdom by the Assyrian armies struck
fear into the hearts of the Hebrews of the sister kingdom in the
south. No one had dreamed that such a thing could happen. It is true
that from the beginning of the terrible onrush the Assyrians had been
almost irresistible. All the little nations which had stood in their
way had been swallowed up.
Moreover, the prophets Amos and Hosea had plainly foretold that some
such calamity would be sent upon Israelites by Jehovah on account of
their sins. But very few of them believed these brave and lonely
preachers of the truth. "Jehovah send the Assyrians against us! Why,
that is absurd! We are Jehovah's people, and he is our God. What has
he to do with the Assyrians? He may chastise us, but not by sending
foreign armies to conquer us. What would he do if we should be
conquered? He would have no nation to worship him." So they reasoned.
=Jehovah too weak to protect his people?=--When, therefore, the
Assyrians actually did come marching down from the Euphrates River,
hundreds of thousands of them with their gleaming armor and their
multitudes of horses and war chariots, and besieged and captured the
city of Samaria, leaving it a ruin, most of the Hebrews, north and
south, were sick with fear and bewilderment. For them with their false
notions it could mean only one thing: their God, Jehovah, was too
weak to protect his people against the greater gods of Nineveh. The
Assyrians said to them:
="Let not thy God in whom thou trusteth deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt
thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered
them?... Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad,
and the king of the city of Sepharvaim?"=
Against such taunts as these, the Hebrews, with their mistaken
beliefs, could bring no answer.
THE CRAZE FOR FOREIGN GODS
With their faith in Jehovah breaking down there was a great running
here and there after other gods and strange religions. Instead of
trusting quietly in Jehovah's watchful care many of the people
resorted in their terror to soothsayers and mediums, to "wizards that
chirp and mutter." Jerusalem seems to have become almost as full of
them as the cities of the Philistines, which had always been famous
for their fortune-tellers and necromancers.
=Alliances with other nations.=--Another favorite way of seeking
safety was through alliances with other nations and their gods.
According to the beliefs of that age, when two nations made an
alliance their gods were included in it. To overcome the Assyrians,
therefore, it would be necessary to make an alliance with some other
nation whose gods were very powerful. So the people of Jehovah began
to "strike hands with the children of foreigners." The rulers of
Jerusalem set about making coalitions with the other nations of
western Asia: with the Philistines, the Syrians, the Phoenicians and,
most of all, the Egyptians. The gods of the Egyptians were supposed to
be especially strong: Osiris and Isis were the chief of their deities
and they were believed to be the gods of the underworld--of Sheol, or
Hades, the abode of the dead. So when these poor ignorant politicians
at Jerusalem finally did succeed in arranging for an alliance with the
crafty and deceitful kings of Egypt they said to themselves: "Now we
are safe. The Assyrians cannot hurt us now. We have made a covenant
with Death."
THE STATESMAN-PROPHET, ISAIAH
It is good to know that among many misguided people there was one man
whose wisdom of the eternal Truth of God made him stand like a rock
while the multitudes ran to and fro in uncertainty and despair. Isaiah
was a comrade and co-worker in spirit with the prophets named in the
three preceding chapters, Amos, Hosea, and Micah. It is by no means
impossible that he had listened to the sermons of Hosea, and thus
caught from him his inspiration. He must certainly have known Micah
personally, for they lived and preached only some twenty-five or
thirty miles apart--Micah in the village of Moresheth and Isaiah in
the city of Jerusalem.
=Isaiah's message.=--Isaiah's special message to his people was that
all the nations of the world are subject to the righteous rule of the
God of righteousness, Jehovah; and that the attempt to find safety for
their nation by alliances with other nations and their gods was
utterly foolish and wrong. Undoubtedly this message found a response
in the hearts of those who remained faithful to Jehovah.
This message grew out of the great and splendid ideas as to Jehovah's
character which Amos and his successors had been working out: that he
was a God of righteousness and love, not greedy for burnt-offerings,
not flaring up into fits of anger, and needing to be soothed and
mollified by peace offerings; but a God who asks only for justice and
fair-dealing among men, and for true love in response to his own.
Isaiah repeated these great truths to his own people in Jerusalem in
glowing words whose eloquence is unsurpassed. For example:
="Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well;
seek judgment; relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow....=
="I will turn my hand upon thee, and will thoroughly purge
away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin: and I will
restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at
the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the city of
righteousness, the faithful city."=
=Isaiah's originality.=--The prophets and leaders who came before
Isaiah had not fully grasped the idea of a God of all nations instead
of one. Amos and Hosea had only caught glimpses of it. Before their
time, even the greatest of the leaders of Israel had thought of
Jehovah as for the most part the God of Israel only. But now in the
midst of the terror of cruel armies and ruined cities and smoking
fields, when no one knew what to believe or where to look for comfort
and protection, this great Isaiah was able to realize that Jehovah,
the God of righteousness and justice and love, was _the God of all
humanity_. There were no limits to his realm. All tribes and kingdoms
and races were subject to his holy law. The Assyrians are but "the axe
that he hews with." His providence rules over all. Whatever wicked men
may say or do, his will is done in the end. His plans are brought to
pass.
=Isaiah's faith.=--With such a God as this in whom to trust, Isaiah
was able to show himself to his countrymen as a wonderful example of
the power of faith. When they were panic-stricken he was calm. "Thus
saith the Lord God, ... In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in
quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Do not rush off to
other nations and other gods. They will fail you. Most likely they
will selfishly betray you. Only do the will of the just God, who rules
the nations, and quietly trust him. Do that and no evil can befall
you. He is all-wise and all-powerful, and he is good.
So at last, the religion of the one All-Father, which we call
_monotheism_, was born in the mind and heart of a man, and began to be
clearly proclaimed by human lips.
STUDY TOPICS
1. Look up "Isaiah" in the Bible dictionary.
2. Read Isaiah 6. 1-8 for his own story of the experience which led
him to be a prophet.
3. What parts of this story in Isaiah 6. 1-8 express the idea of one
great God of all nations? Look up "Monotheism" in the dictionary.
4. Read chapter one or chapter five of the book of Isaiah for a good
example of his eloquent preaching.