Chapter
26– And More - the Violence of Prophecy?
(God's
activity in history)
“I
will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges as in days
of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be
called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”
(Isa 1:25,26)
Contents
of Chapter 26
26.1
Introduction
26.2
Recapping the Purpose of God
26.3
Generalisations versus Activity
26.4
Specific Examples: Isaiah
26.5
The Historical Context of Isaiah
26.6
And so...
26.1
Introduction
Whenever
the subject of God's love comes up in the context of the Old Testament,
someone is eventually going to ask, “How can you talk about a God
of love when you see His violent assertions in the prophetic books
of the Old Testament, His announcements of violent judgment on people?”
In this chapter we propose to start examining the truth behind the
assumptions of this question.
WARNING:
These chapters are for those who genuinely want to find out what the
Bible actually says. To that end we have, therefore, used many quotes
- and we could have used considerably more! Therefore please bear
with us and take in the power of what comes through in the many Scriptures
below.
Return
to top of page
26.2
Recapping the Purpose of God
Although
we have covered this again and again in different forms in this book,
we still need to repeat it until we have completely taken it in and
understood it. It is important, vitally important, to see if we are
to understand the theme of this chapter. God's objective ALWAYS throughout
the Old Testament was to draw Israel
back into a close relationship
with Him so that they could enjoy the goodness of His love and His
provision. We have asserted throughout this book that God is a God
of love and that love seeks the wellbeing of others.
For
Israel ,
as we asserted in the previous chapter, that meant coming back to
living according to the design that God had from the beginning for
mankind. Although we have said this again and again in this book,
perhaps it still needs example and explanation. The example of what
we call ‘marriage' will suffice well.
God's
design for human beings includes the ability of a man and a woman
to come together and experience love, a selfless giving of one to
the other. We have that ability; it is something built into us, God's
design if you like, so that we find we can enter into such a relationship
(not just an act).
Now
we just described this relationship as involving selfless giving to
one another and, of course, we don't find that with all people, we
find ourselves experiencing that with one person. Now if that remains
the definition AND
experience of the couple – selfless giving to one another – that can
deepen and mature over the years. It takes work and it takes commitment
but the testimonies of the elderly who have been together say over
sixty years, reveals a goodness that is rarely found in such a way
anywhere else in human experience. Now that is the design of God,
how He made us to ‘work'.
Now
we only have to look at modern society to know that not only do we
have the ability to live like that, we also have the ability to jump
from one relationship to another, leaving a trail of devastation in
our wake. Modern social commentators testify to the breakdown of society
and the ills that flow forth from broken relationships, disturbed
children and so on. There are alternatives to God's design but they
are always destructive and leave hurt and harm behind them.
We
have seen how the Law of Moses was God's explanation of His design
for Israel ,
including the recognition that people will stray from His design and
how society should handle that. The Law thus provided for
how individuals should be dealt with by society if they failed to
keep to the design (and were caught stealing, as an example). Furthermore
what is sometimes called the ceremonial law, or the sacrificial law,
made provision for the individual to come back into a relationship
with the Lord. Recognition of failure and a means back, were always
key parts of the Law, for God's intent was not to alienate but to
draw back into relationship.
What
now concerns us in this chapter is how He did that when the whole
nation turned away. Remember His intent was always to draw them back
and where they failed to return, to maintain a remnant who would continue
in the design and display it to the rest of the world.
Return
to top of page
26.3
Generalisations versus Activity
The
simplest way we can put this, to explain this heading, is to imagine
God saying to Israel ,
say, “I am going to judge you and take you out of the land unless
you repent.” Now essentially that is what He did say to them through
Jeremiah but note first of all that it was conditional. This will
only happen IF you continue in your wayward path, contrary to the
design and failing to accurately represent God to the rest of the
world.
Now
we have already covered some of this in 11.7 – The Forms of God's
Judgment, but it does need reiterating, especially in the light of
the theme of this chapter. Let's take the example we used there:
In
the book of Job we see the Lord giving Satan leeway to come against
Job. We then see the following:
Job
1:15
the Sabeans attacked
- How
did Satan get these invaders to attack Job's farm? All he needed
to do was to speak into
their minds what was already there – hostility toward others – and
point out Job's affluence to them. How easily they would have responded
.
- Hostile, self-centred
people only need a whisper in the mind to stir them into action.
- Thus
God - through Satan - would only have to speak into the minds of
foreign kings and leaders to get them to rise up against Israel
to discipline them.
- We almost certainly
do not realise how much God can speak into our minds or the minds
of others to either restrain or release wrong actions from the wrong
motivations that are already there!
The
other example of this which occurs again and again in the book of
Judges, is other neighbouring nations who come to attack Israel
. On rare occasions that did
happen when Israel
were in a good place with God, but mostly it happened when Israel
turned away from God.
Now
writers such as Isaac Asimov (in his original ‘Foundation' trilogy)
have used the idea of being able to speak into people's minds as a
way of directing affairs. If an individual has already got a bias
against God and against His people, then it only takes frequent repetition
into that person's mind, about the idea of coming against the people
of God, for them to do that. In good times, it would only take constant
repetition into their minds that it was a foolish thing to oppose
Israel ,
for them to hold back from attacking Israel
. That is what we mean when we
have spoken of God “lifting of His hand of restraint” from a neighbouring
nation.
Now
to return to the heading of this part. Very often in prophecies we
find generalisations such as “I will remove you” but no mention of
the specific action that will achieve that. It tends almost invariably
not God Himself who brings the discipline or judgment, but other people,
as we'll see later.
Thus
when we see the judgment of God in action, so often at least, it is
NOT God but sinful mankind. He is simply using their sinfulness to
bring about that discipline.
Of
course we see this using mankind's sinfulness in the bringing about
of the death of Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, spelled it out:
Acts
2:22-24 “ Men
of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited
by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among
you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over
to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help
of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God
raised him from the dead.”
This is probably THE classic instance
of God using the sinful intents of men to bring about His purposes.
figures show around 300 unlawful killings in 1964, which rose to 565
in 1994 and 833 in 2004.”
Return
to top of page
26.4
Specific Examples: Isaiah
The
book of Isaiah is the first of the ‘major prophets' in the Old Testament
and has sixty six chapters. We'll simply consider the first half dozen
by way of example. If we put aside the speculations of liberal scholars
and simply take Isaiah as it stands as brought to us within the Jewish
canon of the Old Testament, we find (Isa 1:1) that Isaiah was prophesying
round about the period 700 to 740 (roughly) years before Christ. The
northern kingdom of Israel
fell in 722BC never to arise again. Thus we might expect this to be
a time of strong prophetic words denouncing Israel
(and perhaps Judah
in the south, represented sometimes
just by ‘ Jerusalem'.)
Chapter
1 of
Isaiah , the opening
chapter, bewails the spiritual state of Israel
:
Isa
1:4b “
They
have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.”
Already
they have suffered the chastening of invading armies:
Isa 1:7 “Your country
is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped
by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.”
Then
there is a call to Israel
to start living according to God's design, nothing of which I suggest
any of us would argue with as good things for a nation:
Isa
1:16,17 “Stop
doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
Options
are placed before them:
Isa
1:19,20 “If
you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword."
Promise
of blessing on one hand, if they live by ‘the design', and of death
by invaders on the other. God's end objective is quite clear:
Isa
1:25,26 “I
will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges as in days
of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be
called the City of Righteousness,
the Faithful
City.”
He
will clean out the city (Jerusalem) so that it will be returned to
be known as a place of justice, a place of righteousness (living rightly
according to the design) and faithful again (in relationship with
God), being a light to the world.
In
chapter 2 of
Isaiah he sees how Jerusalem
will eventually be, with people
coming to it from all over the world (v.2-4). Notice the language
of it, for it confirms what we have said about Israel
being a light to the rest of
the world: “all nations will stream
to it” (v.2), “many peoples
will come” (v.3) “nations
… peoples” (v.4)
But
then he faces the present and shows how different it is: “full
of superstitions… practice divination… their land is full of idols”
(v.6-8) so he warns that He will deal with all this.
In
chapter 3 of Isaiah
he speaks of how the Lord will take the strength from Jerusalem
, (v.1-9) but then there is a
ray of hope:
Isa
3:10 “Tell
the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit
of their deeds.”
i.e.
those who are living according to ‘the design' won't have any problem;
they will just be blessed.
As
a quick aside we should remind ourselves that everything we have described
as being “in the design of God for the way mankind works best” actually
are all good things and it would be a silly person who would challenge
the descriptions we've used previously and say these aren't goods
ways of living.
The
only way we can do that is if we have an irrational opposition to
God that blinds us to the goodness of the way we have described as
‘His design'.
Further,
on the other side, few of us would object to the challenges that God
brings to this people, for instance:
Isa
3:14,15 The
LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people:
"It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the
poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and
grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the LORD
Almighty.
Who
wouldn't want to speak out against those oppressing the poor?
In
chapter 5 of Isaiah ,
the complete frustration with Israel
is expressed through Isaiah
in a song he makes up about Israel
, picturing it as a vineyard
that God had tended and eventually He declares, “Now
you dwellers in Jerusalem
and men of Judah
,
judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for
my vineyard than I have done for it?”
(Isa 5:3,4)
Come
on, He says, think rationally about this, is what I am saying not
true? Can we note the reasonableness of all of this. It isn't like
God has said, “Right, that's it” I've had enough of you. That's the
end of you!” No, quite to the contrary, He has been reasoning with
them, offering hope but yet confronting them with their state and
making it abundantly clear where their failures are and what needs
to be changed to come back to ‘the design'.
His
warning to them is abundantly clear if they keep on in the way they
are going:
Isa
5:13,14 “ Therefore
my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men
of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.
Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without
limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their
brawlers and revelers.”
This
is rich and poor alike, all who refuse to return to the design. He
expands on their proud rejection of God and concludes with this warning:
Isa
5:25a “Therefore
the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and
he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are
like refuse in the streets.”
We
are clearly in figurative, picture language here. Yes, God is angry
(rightly so) at this ongoing stupidity. He has made it so plain for
them. There is the plan, the design – His law that reveals a better
way of living – but persistently they refuse to heed it.
When
it says, “He strikes them down” there
isn't a record here of it actually being a sovereign act of God but
the historical record (which we'll come to later) shows enemy invaders
coming in. But if that isn't enough, there is more:
Isa
5:25b “Yet
for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those
at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!”
He
sees that still there is no repentance, no returning to the design,
and so He extends the call to nations further away to come and discipline
Israel .
One way or another, He will remove those who refuse to return to the
design, so that only those who will are left and will carry on the
task of being a light to the rest of the world.
We
could repeat and illustrate the things we have been saying again and
again, going through the book of Isaiah, but what might be more helpful
would be to consider historically what went on at this point of their
history.
Return
to top of page
26.5
The Historical Context of Isaiah
Isaiah
appears to have prophesied (Isa 1:1) from
- the
last year of King Uzziah's reign in Jerusalem
(740BC),
- through the reign of Jotham
(740-732),
- and then Ahaz
(732-716)
- and finally into the reign of Hezekiah
(716-687)
In
the far north the Assyrian empire had been quiet until 745 when Tiglath-pileser
III
(2 Kings 15 & 16) came to rule and was then followed by three
equally ambitious kings:
•
Shalmaneser V (726-722) – who attacked
the northern kingdom and destroyed Samaria
(2 Kings 17 & 18)
•
Sennacherib (704-681) (2 Kings 18
& 19 and 2 Chron 32 and Isa 36 & 37)
a)
The Case of Ahaz
In
the reign of Ahaz king of Judah, the king of Israel
(northern kingdom) aligned with the king of Aram, and came against
Judah and Jerusalem (see Isa 7:1). The reason for that may be seen
in the historical record:
2
Chron 28:1-4 Ahaz
was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right
in the eyes of the LORD. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel
and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices
in the Valley
of Ben
Hinnom
and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways
of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He offered
sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops
and under every spreading tree.
This
account shows that Ahaz
- worshipped idols
- sacrificed his sons
- set up his own occultic altars on
high places
and all this from a king of a supposedly godly nation.
Observe
what follows:
2
Chron 28:5-8 Therefore
the LORD his God handed him over to the king of Aram
.
The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners
and brought them to Damascus
.
He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel
,
who inflicted heavy casualties on him. In one day Pekah son of Remaliah
killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah
--because
Judah
had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. Zicri, an Ephraimite
warrior, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the officer in charge
of the palace, and Elkanah, second to the king. The Israelites took
captive from their kinsmen two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters.
They also took a great deal of plunder, which they carried back to
Samaria
.
The
recording historian saw his defeat at the hands of Aram
and Israel
as God's discipline. In effect
all that God had done was stand back and leave Judah
to its own devices. They chose
what happened. Also note that Ahaz needn't have fought. He could easily
have surrendered and so no one would have been killed. The deaths
here were because he fought against the invaders.
But
was God hard-hearted about what happened? No, see further:
2
Chron 28:9-11 But
a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet
the army when it returned to Samaria
.
He said to them, "Because the LORD, the God of your fathers,
was angry with Judah
,
he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage
that reaches to heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women
of Judah
and Jerusalem
your slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sins against the LORD your
God? Now listen to me! Send back your fellow countrymen you have taken
as prisoners, for the LORD's fierce anger rests on you."
God
may have opened a door to allow Judah
to be vulnerable but that doesn't
mean the invading armies won't be held accountable to Him for the
way they acted. Watch what happened:
2
Chron 28:12-15 Then
some of the leaders in Ephraim--Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah
son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai--confronted
those who were arriving from the war. "You must not bring those
prisoners here," they said, "or we will be guilty before
the LORD. Do you intend to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt
is already great, and his fierce anger rests on Israel
."
So the soldiers gave up the prisoners and plunder in the presence
of the officials and all the assembly. The men designated by name
took the prisoners, and from the plunder they clothed all who were
naked. They provided them with clothes and sandals, food and drink,
and healing balm. All those who were weak they put on donkeys. So
they took them back to their fellow countrymen at Jericho
,
the City of Palms
,
and returned to Samaria
.
Through
God's intervention, those who had been taken from Judah
were returned. So what was Ahaz's
response to all this? Was it to call on the Lord? Did he appreciate
the help from the Lord's prophet? Was his response to turn back to
the design? No!
2
Chron 28:16 At
that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria
for help.
He
looked to another ungodly king for help. So what then happened?
2
Chron 28:17-18 The
Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners,
while the Philistines had raided towns in the foothills and in the
Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon and
Gederoth, as well as Soco, Timnah and Gimzo, with their surrounding
villages.
i.e.
the Edomites and Philistines carry on the purging process of Judah
. They have still not learnt.
But it is ongoing:
2
Chron 28:19-20 The
LORD had humbled Judah
because of Ahaz king of Israel
,
for he had promoted wickedness in Judah
and had been most unfaithful to the LORD. Tiglath-Pileser king of
Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help.
Judah
had sent for Assyria
to be a help but instead they
plundered them. Judah
were not learning the cause for all this – they were on their own
because the Lord had stood back and now they were vulnerable.
We
should note before moving on from Ahaz that he was not killed in battle
and he remained unrepentant until he died and his son Hezekiah took
over. In all of these things note the freedom of will
that all the players still had, and within which God worked:
•
Ahaz chose not to follow God (the
Lord stood back),
•
eventually he died, still resisting
God (God never forced his submission).
b)
The Case of Hezekiah
Fortunately
it was not a case of ‘like father, like son':
2
Chron 29:1,2 Hezekiah
was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father
David had done
He
went on to open up and cleanse the Temple
(2 Chron 29:3-5) and he clearly
understood the spiritual dynamics of what had taken place:
2
Chron 29:6-10 Our
fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our
God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD's
dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors
of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or
present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel
.
Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah
and Jerusalem
;
he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can
see with your own eyes. This is why our fathers have fallen by the
sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.
Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel
,
so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.
The
following chapters are an account of his turning Judah
back to the Lord so that,
2
Chron 31:20,21 This
is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right
and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook
in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the
commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he
prospered
But
that is not the end of the story:
2
Chron 32:1 After
all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria
came and invaded Judah
.
He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for
himself.
We
have commented how each person has free will and Sennacherib, the
fourth of the Assyrian kings we mentioned earlier, is now seeking
to gain power over Israel .
God's part in this is not mentioned so we will not speculate. But
look how Hezekiah encourages his people:
2
Chron 32:7,8 "Be
strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of
the king of Assyria
and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than
with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD
our God to help us and to fight our battles."
Sennacherib
come to Jerusalem
and threatened them from outside and then we see:
2
Chron 32:20-22 King
Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to
heaven about this. And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all
the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian
king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went
into the temple of his god, some of his sons cut him down with the
sword. So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem
from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria
and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side.
Note:
•
Here was a godly response – to pray
and seek God for help.
•
This was a rare occasion when the
angel of God killed an army!
•
Back home Sennacherib's own family
assassinated him. End of story.
Is
the destruction of an army the act of a loving God? It is the act
of a judge, jury and executioner. One might call it an act of justice.
As
an aside, a human judge may be an utterly loving, caring and compassionate
individual and yet when he is sitting as a judge he hands out justice
dispassionately, and may have to sentence people to death or to life
imprisonment. He is no less the individual we described; he is simply
following the requirements of justice – and he may take no pleasure
it in. He would no doubt much prefer that criminals were never criminals
and that he never had to sentence them – but they are and he does.
The same is true of God and we would be hypocrites to apply one standard
to a man and another to God!
Return
to top of page
26.6
And so…
In
this chapter we have taken the early prophetic chapters of Isaiah,
and then historical chapters of 2 Chronicles, and have sought to demonstrate
and reiterate:
- God's
purpose throughout the Old Testament was to draw Israel
back into a relationship with
Him whereby He could teach and lead them to live lives in accordance
with His original design for mankind.
- In prophecy we often come across
generalizations about how God would bring judgment on wrong behaviour
that is established, set and unchanging, but the specifics of how
that came are seen to be more often than not at the hands of sinful,
unlawful, vengeful men (kings and armies).
- That in the early chapters of Isaiah
(which typify so much of the rest of the book) we see:
- Israel
's poor spiritual and moral
state declared,
- An alternative lifestyle (God's
design) offered,
- A reasoned reconciliation offered,
- Warnings given if that is refused,
- A
picture given of God's ultimate intent for Jerusalem
as to be a place where believers
from all over the world congregate,
- Hope given in that day for those
who will remain righteous (a remnant).
- Moving from the prophetic to the
historic we saw:
- King Ahaz being chastised again
and again by invading armies,
- Ahaz refusing to turn to God,
- After he dies his son Hezekiah
turning the people back to God,
- When the Assyrian king invades,
Hezekiah and Isaiah seek the Lord,
- The Lord destroys the Assyrian
army as an act of justice and judgment and the Assyrian king being
assassinated by his family back at home.
- Again
and again, we have seen the Lord acting with restraint and warning
and warning again of the consequences of trying to stand alone against
those who would seek to destroy Israel
, and almost uniquely we have
seen him acting as a judge, jury and executioner to exact justice
on a warlord who would destroy Israel.
Finally
to reiterate what we have seen in previous chapters, does God delight
in death? Definitely not.
Ezek
18:23 Do
I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign
LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and
live?
Ezek
18:32 For
I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign
LORD. Repent and live!
Ezek
33:11 “ Say
to them, `As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn
from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!
But
as a judge (e.g. Gen 18:25,
Deut 32:36, Jud 11:27,
1 Chron 16:33,
Psa 7:11,
Psa 9:8, etc. etc.) He will not shirk bringing justice after His grace
and mercy have been refused. Love does not mean that He cannot act
in bringing justice. As He described Himself to Moses in verses we
considered earlier in this book:
Ex
34:6,7 the
LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding
in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving
wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does
not leave the guilty unpunished.
That
is the whole truth!
Return
to top of page