Isaiah 10 – Those who make terrible laws and issue tyrannical decrees, refusing justice to the unfortunate will be punished. Then what will they do? Assyria is the rod of Yahweh’s anger, but the insolence of Assyria will also be dealt with. The king of Assyria claims that all he has accomplished has come from his own intelligence and strength (10:13), but he is just the “ax,” not really power who has used the ax (10:15).

To teach them, Yahweh will send “a wasting…

Isaiah 10 – Those who make terrible laws and issue tyrannical decrees, refusing justice to the unfortunate will be punished. Then what will they do? Assyria is the rod of Yahweh’s anger, but the insolence of Assyria will also be dealt with. The king of Assyria claims that all he has accomplished has come from his own intelligence and strength (10:13), but he is just the “ax,” not really power who has used the ax (10:15).

To teach them, Yahweh will send “a wasting…

Isaiah 8 – Yahweh tells him to take a seal and scratch a name on it [Maher-shalal-hash-baz] that means “Speedy-spoil-quick-booty” (8:1). He asks Uriah, a priest, and Zechariah – both honest men – to be witnesses to him doing this.

“Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, ‘Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the…

Isaiah 6 – This chapter tells us the story of Isaiah’s call. It happened c. 740 BC. Isaiah says he “saw the Lord Yahweh seated on a high throne” (6:1). Two “seraphs” stood above him, each with six wings (two covered its face, two its genitals – here called feet – and two for flying). They cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth [the Lord of Heaven’s Armies]” (6:3). “Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke”…

Isaiah 3 – Yahweh will take from Jerusalem and Judah all that supports it. “People will oppress each other – man against man, neighbor against neighbor. Young people will insult their elders, and vulgar people will sneer at the honorable” (3:5).

“They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves” (3:9). The leaders of God’s people mislead them and oppress them. They grind the faces of the poor in the dust. Zion is compared to a beautiful but frivolous…

Introduction to Isaiah: Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old Testament, says that Isaiah lived in the kingdom of Judah. Amos and Hosea prophesied in the northern kingdom. He began his ministry around 740 BC and continued at least for 40 years.

Threatened by Assyria, King Hoshea of Samaria wanted to rebel against Assyrian dominance (with the king of Damascus) in 734 BC. They asked Judah’s king Ahaz to join them, but when he refused, they attacked him first –…