DAY 274 ½

SOME BACKGROUND

I have been promising some background on Isaiah and this post for Day 274 ½ is the first installment. This background comes from The Message of Isaiah from the series The Bible Speaks Today written by Barry G. Webb and when a sentence is in quotations it is from this text.

I have already mentioned that Judah was a small nation, tiny really, but it is located at a strategic center linking Africa with Central Asia and the Far East. Judah lay at the center of the known world and had the audacity to claim that its God, the Lord, was the creator and effective ruler of everything. “Uzziah and his predecessors in the Davidic line were the Lord’s vice-regents whom he had installed on Zion, his holy hill, which would become the center of the new world. Judah lived in the conviction that the Lord was the true king, and looked forward to the day when all the world would know it.** This creed had not been difficult to believe during Uzziah’s long reign (791-740 BC)…” The once mighty Egypt was past its prime and weakened. Assyria was preoccupied with issues of its northern border. This allowed a period for both Judah and Israel to expand its borders and enjoy a great deal of prosperity…but as Uzziah’s reign drew to a close “it is clear that this state of affairs could not be maintained for much longer.” Five years before Uzziah’s death Assyria began to get things settled due to a new young ruler…and as the northern situation was settled the trajectory was clear…west and south to Syria, then Israel, then Judah, then…As the kingship of Judah transitioned from the 52 year reign of Uzziah to Jotham, to Ahaz, then Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a good king; we read about him in 2 Chronicles 29.

This is the period of time Isaiah prophesized during. You might remember in chapter 6, “In the year that King Uzziah died…” Isaiah saw his vision…it is this vision we are reading and studying…a vision of hope amid turmoil. A vision not just for Isaiah's day, but rather a vision for all when they/we think the world is coming apart. Isaiah's vision is God's vision for His world. Do you ever think we live on the brink of things coming apart? That is what will happen during Isaiah’s life…his world will come apart…which makes the vision and message of Isaiah vital to us today…because our worlds come apart—individually, at a family level, at a corporate level and beyond…our worlds come apart…and yet The Lord reigns.

In another post I will pick up on Hezekiah’s reign.

**Just an editorial comment: this idea that their God was the real king, it can go to your head, and you can confuse God’s reign, rule and power with your own sense of rightness and importance…anyone who now believe Jesus is the Christ is vulnerable to the same sense of misguided pride…we must remember that it is not about us, nor is it about our nations or churches or kingdoms…it is about God reconciling His world to himself.