Prophesy, History and Context as Explored through the Period of Isaiahs Prophecies - Essay Example

Prophesy, History and Context as Explored through the Period of Isaiah’s Prophecies Introduction The Old Testament has many purposes in the Christian religion, including giving prophetic context to the New Testament. Through examining the way in which history is held within the stories related in the Old Testament, the prophetic nature of much of the work can be seen in relationship to history and placed into context with the revelation of God within the work. The history of the time period in which Isaiah was working as a prophet provides a backdrop for his position in revealing the power of God and the nature of faith in God. Understanding how the telling of history is given a focused purpose as it is related in the Bible provides meaning in revealing how Isaiah should be taken as a character, that his position is not about revealing who he was, but in how his presence was part of the revelation of God to readers of the histories and stories about his presence in the events. In understanding the context of the writing, that plot, place, and character are backdrops to the revelation of God allows the reader to understand that the focus is not on the events, but in how God is revealed in those events. Historical Background The background of the book of Isaiah is an essential part of understanding the meanings of the writings that are within the book. The historical background puts the writing into context, helping to inform the reader on which aspects were relevant to the contemporary and which are relevant to future events. Although not every part of any of the passages of the ancient writings can ever fully be identified as one or the other, there are some frameworks of meaning that are well known and can be related in order to help the reader interpret what is read. According to Oswalt, the way to understand the writing is through the time and place in which it was written, that “God’s revelation is always incarnational” or humanized through the context of location in which they are written (4). Therefore, it is essential to discuss the nature of historical context of the book in order to begin to understand the nature of the meanings that are revealed. To begin with, it is highly likely that the book is the work of multiple authors, each contributing through their own perspective. One of the first indications of this way in which the book came into existence is because there are three distinct time periods in which the book relates events. The first time period occurs during Isaiah’s lifetime and likely represents 739-701 BCE. The second and third time periods are reflections of the time periods after the death of Isaiah and are about the time of the exile (605-439 BCE), which is discussed in chapters 40-55, and the return (539-500 BCE) which is defined through chapters 56-66 (Oswalt 4). The first section of time, the time of Isaiah’s life, is also representative of Assyria’s last period of great influence as part of human expansion. This period of Assyrian influence ended in 609 BCE as the Medo-Babylonian culture completely destroyed the Assyrian seat of power. Part of the destruction of Assyria came about through a series of very weak ruling Kings who could not hold what their ancestors had gained through conquest. Therefore, the areas that were at the outer edges of the expansion of the Assyrians had a period of tranquility, lasting from approximately 810 to 750 BCE. Two of the regions that benefited from this tranquility were Judah and Israel. During this time, the second king named Jeroboam was in rule over Israel and the kingdom of Judah was being ruled by Azariah, or sometimes known as Uzziah. Because of this time of peace, the Judeans and the Israelites believed that God was pleased with his children, the efforts of both prophets that had been sent to warn them of coming doom unheeded, the messages of Amos and Hosea. Through the apostate course that the nations were traveling, the end of this peace was inevitable (Oswalt 4-5). A fascinating part of understanding the road down which the Israelites and then later the Judeans lost their way is in the form that it seemed to have taken. According to Hosea chapters 1-3 and Ezekiel 16-23, the form of apostasy in which the Hebrews fell was in prostitution. Oswalt defined this as “the debasing of oneself with unworthy lovers for gain”, however this did not necessarily mean a sexual act, but an act of “forsaking their sole allegiance to Him (God) and serving other gods, particularly those representing power and fertility” (6). Oswalt goes on to further clarify the time period by saying “Such a denial must also carry with it the abuse of those weaker than oneself, because the primary goal has now become satisfying one’s own needs through the manipulation of the environment. Thus, for the prophets, idolatry, adultery, and oppression are always indissolubly linked” (6). When the Assyrian king, Tigleth-pilesser III came into power in 745, he was not the weak king that had existed before him, but resumed the Assyrian expansion, which put the kingdoms of Israel and Judah once again in the path of their outward conquests. This set up the division that would occur between Judah and Israel as Israel was overrun by Assyria and Judah had to make a decision to either support Assyria or stand against them. In a pro-Assyrian foreign policy state, Judah was then in conflict with the states of Israel and Damascus who attacked Judah in 735 BCE. Meanwhile, in 727 BCE Tiglath-pileser III died, his successor, while not as strategically competent as Tiglath-pileser III, still managed to secure the empire in the East and have the opportunity to turn once more to the West. At this point, he laid siege to Samaria and the predictions made by Hosea and Amos began to manifest, signaling the beginning of the end for Israel and Judah. As Assyria began its conquests towards Judah, the association between them was a risk as it would be easier for Assyria to conquer than to merely ally with Judah (Kitchen 503). Thus, Judah looked towards Egypt as a resource to stop the advancement of the Assyrian armies. The king at this time, Hezekiah, is known as a good king, but it was clear that Isaiah did not like this policy of foreign diplomacy with Egypt any more than he did that with Assyria. Hezekiah was responsible for leading the Hebrew people back towards God and away from pagan gods and idolatry. In an attempt to draw the people of Israel back to their faith and away from the lands of Israel now ruled by the Assyrians, he held a Passover which was not successful, but did show his intentions towards returning to the faithful ways (New International Version Bible, 2 Chronicles 30 1:5: Oswalt 6). Sargon, the now leader of Assyria had grand expectations of world domination. Despite his vast success, he was killed in battle, considered a disgrace for the history of his kingship, and Assyria was left in tatters, strong tatters, but with a drop of time in which they were not actively defending and advancing. Hezekiah spearheaded a force which included Moab, Edom, and Philistia which intended to push back the tide of Assyrian armies, but when Israel refused to join, Hezekiah turned his tactics towards a reversal of what Israel had done to Judah and took out the king, placing a leader at the head of the nation that would support the purposes of Judah. According to Oswalt “Isaiah was bitterly opposed to the entire preceding: Egypt was worse than useless and Assyria could be left to God” (10). Sargon’s heir, Sennacherib was a profoundly strong leader and within three years had reached the gates of Jerusalem. Following a prediction that Isaiah had made in 735, Assyria was a direct and eminent threat to Judah. In the end, the resolution came from a tribute that was paid by Hezekiah to Sennacherib, which gave Sennacherib a boast of victory that is historically remembered as a reference to having put him as a bird in a cage, so was his control over Hezekiah established. Despite this boast, the city was left intact and Hezekiah remained in his sovereignty. The Assyrian histories discuss the return of King Sennacherib as one of triumph, where the Old Testament states that it was the vengeance of God that sent the Assyrians back home. The interpretation of these passages suggests that a plague wiped out a number of the Assyrians, depleting their human resources and sending them back home. The claim is that 185,000 Assyrian men were killed in a single night through what has been interpreted as a swift disease, but is specifically referred to as the hand of God. He was hastened to return through three different events, but the story builds suspense, finally giving to God the credit for sending the troops back to their own country. Sennacherib did not leave after he received the large tribute of gold and silver, nor after he heard of the threat from Tirhaka, the king of Egypt. Only through the action of God did he return and no longer pose a threat to Judah (Moor and Rooy 110). Theological Perspective The point of the background is in identifying the way in which the history that is related is then turned on a point in which to strengthen faith. The truth of the history of that time period is vague, the Assyrian histories speaking of the event as a great triumph, where the Old Testament supports the event as evidence of the power of God. Theologically speaking, the events could have been turned to create a more palatable story for the Hebrew people while supporting a sense of victory, where the Assyrians did the same for their own people. As the centuries have passed since the event and through the way in which such histories were framed through the art of storytelling, rather than the more contemporary notion of recording a historical event through facts. Even in contemporary frameworks, most events are framed for the culture in which the story of an event is being told. The audience for this history was the people in the Hebrew nations, and in order to frame the events for the beliefs of their people, the story was told with the events being attributed to the hand of God. The ways in which most events with historical value are told in the Bible are through a narrative format, the development of the telling of the events following a story format that provides plot, setting, and characters. The plot is the series of events that make up the episode, the setting is the location, and of course, the characters are the ones that participated in the events. Walton and Hill discuss the nature of the stories of the Bible through comparing them to literary devices. In determining the nature of Biblical writings, they decide that they are nonfictional historical writings that emphasize plot over characters Walton and Hill state that “The biblical authors relate real events in the lives of real people in real space and time” (84). However the difference is found when the focus of the stories is examined for the meaning that is intended. At the basic level, it can first be observed that the stories emphasize plot over character development. Attitudes and motivations are rarely explored, but are almost always from solely the narrator’s point of view. Because the point of all of the writings to express something that reveals God within the context of the events that are being related, the stories can neither be strictly historical or fictional, but based upon discovering meaning in events and providing context in relationship to belief. As in the example of the historical event of the 185,000 men dying in the field before they could be used as a threat to the Judeans, the meaning of their deaths has more importance than the historical event of them dying. That God was the instigator of vengeance and the protector of his people was more important than the people that were involved, the motivations and the nature of the events. The meanings of all the stories within the Bible are more important than the historical context which has created conflicts and confusion about some of the details that exist within the related events (Walton and Hill 84). According to Goldingay, the nature of these stories is through defining how history relates to the revelation of God, rather than the revelation of history with the context of how God fit into those events. History becomes related in “gathering nodule points, and crystallizing upon outstanding figures who mark great turning points in history of the race and the meaning and interrelation of these moments is not calculable but revealed by God” (Goldingay 88). Isaiah is just such a figure, his position in the stories placed in such a way to spread across a great many years of history in order to provide revelations of the power of God as seen in the historical context of the events. Identifying Isaiah Isaiah represents a great number of concepts within the history, traditions, and belief systems from within the religions that come from the Judeo-Christian heritages. In identifying Isaiah, the first step is in understanding his position within the history of those heritages can be achieved. Isaiah was a prophet who made his revelations during the reigns of several kings, which included those of Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, and finally Hezekiah. The two major events that frame the predictions of Isaiah: that of the invasion of Israel by Tiglath-Pileser III which came after Damascus and Israel attempted to invade Judah and that event when Sennacherub attempted to invade Judah and put under siege Jerusalem, from which the salvation of the city rested in an act from God (Hill and Walton 417). Once again, however, it is the context of prophesies, the revelations that they bring that are important. As the people are sent into despair, the predictions of Isaiah serve to give the people faith, to assure them that after “the period of judgment, God would bring restoration” (Hill and Walton 421). In greater context, rather than relating the histories and prophesies being a part of the history, are the point, the meaning of the writing to give over an understanding of the meaning and presence of God in the lives of His believers. Isaiah’s wife was referred to as ‘the prophetess” where in Isaiah 8:3 the verse refers to Isaiah conceiving a child with his wife, thus there is some speculation that she too was a prophet, although it is more likely that it was a title given to her to refer to the position of her husband as a prophet (Goldingay 78). If calling her the prophetess was done as deference to the position and power of her husband, then it can be deduced that as his wife, she was an extension of him, rather than an individual, thus she was the vessel of the prophet who provided him with a child. This may be further proof of the nature of the characters in the Bible, the characters not directly related given an identity that is only related to their association with the main character, the main characters only have relevance as they relate to the revelations of God that their position within the stories provide. Isaiah becomes part of what is termed salvation history (Hanson 241). Salvation history is a context within the related histories that provides a running narrative about the prophecies and the histories of Christ as they develop substantiation for the promised and the fulfilled promise through Christ. According to Goldingay, “salvation history is not history in the modern sense: an unbroken causally connected chain of historical facts that is controllable and provable in such a connection” (88). It is, however, a sense of history in that there is a chronology and the events provide a running discourse on the concept of sin. What does determine the space which is different within the history is that it is given from the point of view of God, that the events are related to the revelations that God intends. Isaiah is considered the first to introduce the virgin birth, the divinity of the child, and the coming of John the Baptist to herald to rise of the ministry of Jesus. Isaiah is used as a mouthpiece to herald in the coming salvation. Therefore the narrative of the individual books is over-shadowed with a running narrative that supports what will come to pass, the prophetic nature of the words that are shared having deeper meaning than the historical facts. The historical context is what is important, not a narrative of those facts. To put this into perspective, one can relate this idea to something more recent. If one looks at the American Civil War, the theme of that war is often considered the freeing of slaves from servitude and bondage. However, that war was fought for a great number of reasons, each of the individual events having many meanings and many specific facts from which to create the history. However, it is not those individual battles or all the meanings that have the greatest impact on how the events are perceived. The event of the Civil War is defined by the great change in society, in the abolition of one of the worst periods of moral and ethical poverty within the United States. That is the greater meaning and the facts of the events pale in comparison. Therefore, it is the same in reading the Old Testament in regard to the histories of Judah during the time period of Isaiah. It is not the individual events that are important, but the context in which God worked to save the Judeans that give the revelations in the text. Even more important for Christians than the revelations of God in context with the period, are the revelations of the future, the prophecies that are associated with the birth and introduction of salvation through Christ. If the books had solely intended to relate the history of the period, then the beginnings of the narratives of salvation would most likely not have been a part of those texts. However, the beginning of an understanding of what would come to pass for those who believed provides a deeper meaning, a larger narrative in which to pass through the events and get to the heart of what occurred. It is not whether the Assyrians left because of a plague or because of the hand of God, but that the Judeans regained their faith in seeing that God had come to their rescue through a dramatic and climactic event. Conclusion To understand the nature of the writings of the Old Testament it must be understood that while they are historical, the relation of history is not the point. Through the use of Isaiah as an example, the history of the expansions of the Assyrians towards Judah does not end in a truce between them that sends the Assyrians back home, but in the revelation of the hand of God working in the lives of the people of Jerusalem when they most needed to see that active participation in their lives. God had seen that they were no longer behaving in a manner that pleased Him, and the history of the period shows to the reader that there are consequences for living in a manner that is not pleasing to God, but there is redemption from that state and that He will provide when most needed. The prophets provided “truth and transparency” (Pride 86). In examining the position of characters within the texts, it is clear that they facilitate the revelation of God, rather than hold a position in which the details that would develop their characterization are important. The history and the people involved in that history is merely the stage on which the presentation of the revelation of the nature and point of view of God are enacted. Where a common criticism involves the gaps that the Bible has in relating history, those gaps exist because the history is merely to make the point of the relationship of God within those events. The example of Isaiah allows the reader to see how God makes a difference, how the power and glory of god far exceeds the greed that perpetuates the lack of belief and attention that is often the result when life seems to have gone too well. The Israelites and Judeans began to believe that God was pleased, despite their sin, but it was well foretold that they would pay for their sins. Isaiah held a space that allowed for the clear translation of God’s power over their lives and the hope for the redemption and salvation of those in Jerusalem. Works Cited Goldingay, John. Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation. Toronto: Clements, 2002. Print. Hanson, Paul D. The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Print. Hill, Andrew E, and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: ZondervanPublishing House, 2000. Print. Kitchen, Kenneth A. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans, 2003. Print. Moor, Johannes and Rooy, Harry F van. Past Present, Future: The Deuteronomistic History and the Prophets. Boston: Brill, 2000. Print. Oswalt, John. The Book of Isaiah. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1986. Print. Pride, Kathy. What the Bible Is All About for Moms: God's Loving Promises for You and Your Family. Ventura, Calif: Regal Books, 2010. Print. Walton, John H, and Andrew E. Hill. Old Testament Today: A Journey from Original Meaning to Contemporary Significance. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2004. Print. Read More