Yeshayah
Introduction
According to Yeshayah, all those who reject the Word of G-d will find judgment (5:24). Invasion by foreign armies (5:26-30), fiery destruction, and exile (5:13-29) will cause a reversal of fortune for these people, and the Day of the L-rd will cause the haughty to be brought low (2:17) and the poor in spirit to become holy and purged in the fire (1:25; 4:3). Along with the survivors will come in the aftermath the Moshiach, the Tzemach (Branch) of the L-rd (4:2) who is identified (in the book of Isaiah itself, not merely in Jer 23:5-6; 33:15 or Zech 3:8) with the Tzemach T'zadik (Righteous Branch) of the L-rd (53:11) and of Dovid (37:35).
This Moshiach-Servant is associated with the L-rd in many ways:
He too is “raised high and lifted up” (compare 52:13; 6:1);
He too is glorious, Jesseʼs glorious root (compare 4:2 and 11:10 with 6:3, noticing also the word Shoresh [root], linking 11:10 and 53:2);
He too is the rallying focal-point of the nations (compare 11:10 to 2:2-4 and see the one “to whom the obedience of the nations belongs” — Gn 49:10; see Ezek 21:27 [21:32 in the Hebrew Bible]; Ps 18:43; Isa 42:1,4; 49:6);
He too bears a divine name and governing function (9:5-6);
He too is Immanuel, (G-d-with-us), the rightful owner of Israelʼs land (compare 8:8 and 7:14 to 5:5);
He too, this anointed Moshiach-Servant (11:2; 42:1), is righteous (see 11:4-5 and 42:21; 51:5).
The Moshiach-Servant, through the Dovidic covenant, witnesses as a light to the Gentiles (9:6) to those outside the covenant (Isa 55:3). Job standing rejected and forsaken with mockers around him (Job 17:2) reminds the reader of the picture we have of the suffering Servant of the L-rd in Isaiah 53 or the mocked Dovidic King in Psalm 22 (compare Job 27:4 to Isa 53:9). In the midst of the false accusations, Job “holds fast to his righteousness” (Job 27:6) and waits on the L-rd to vindicate him (Job 42:7-8). So the mocked sage who becomes a fool that the world curses and makes sport of is depicted in Isaiah 53. We have seen this picture before in that other image, the judge of Israel, Samson, being made sport of by the Philistines (Judg 16:25) or in the King of Israel, Dovid the sage, pretending to be mad before a similar scoffing Philistine audience (1Sm 21:13-15). When sages like Moshe or Dovid are nearly stoned by the people (Ex 17:4; 1Sm 30:6) we see this reemerging picture of the rejected-yet-vindicated-as-righteous Sage of Israel.
Significantly, the Son of Dovid is depicted as the sage par excellence in the life of Sh'lomo in I Kings. Then II Chronicles intensifies this portrait and gives Messianic prophetic significance to Dovidʼs Son as the Moshiach Sage of Israel. Finally, Isaiah combines the two portraits of the sage found in Job and Sh'lomo and depicts the Dovidic Servant of the L-rd as the mocked and rejected sage-counsellor (9:5-6) filled “with the spirit of wisdom” (Isa 11:2) who seems to labor “in vain” but trusts his cause to the L-rd (Isa 49:4) and, after mockery and rejection (Isa 53:2-4), is finally vindicated by G-d as righteous (see Isa 53:11-12). The Moshiach is the eternal Kohen who sprinkles the nations with a Cosmic Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) sacrifice (Ps 110:4; Zech 6:11-13; Isa 52:15; Lv 16:14-17), just as the End He brings is depicted in Scripture as an End beginning with a Rosh Hashana-like Shofar (1Th 4:16).
The Moshiach is the Seh HaElohim (the Lamb of G-d) provided from heaven as the redemption sacrifice in order that G-dʼs people might be passed over and purchased for freedom from divine judgment, as Isaac was and as the nation of Israel was. G-d sent His Word and healed His people from the plagues of judgment He poured out on the heathen. G-d saved His people in order that they might make an exodus to new abundant life in accordance with His gracious covenant promise in the Moshiach (Gn 32:8; Ps 107:30; Isa 53:5-6,10; Dt 7:15; Isa 42:1,6-7; 40:3; 42:16; 43:19; 49:5-26).
The words “son” and “child” are very important to Isaiahʼs message. His own two sons are given portentous names (7:3; 8:1-3) and the conception of the second son in the womb of his prophetess-wife is divinely timed. In chapters 7-9, Isaiah refers to his own son but also to Dovidʼs son, a son he calls “G-d with us” and “Mighty G-d.” Isaiah shows us a Deliverer who can rule the world (9:5-6), and yet he marvels at this personage being born as a humble child, just as a little child leads the rest of creation in the future kingdom — Isa 11:6.
The future kingdom is described in passages which include 2:1-4; 4:2-6; 11:6-9; 25:6-8; 35:1-10; 60:1-22. The future king of this glorious kingdom is described in passages which include 7:1—12:6; 32:1-20; 49:1—57:21; 61:1-11. The Moshiach is the Descendant of the Woman who will battle that Ancient Serpent, Satan (Gn 3:15), called “Leviathan the twisting serpent” in Isa 27:1. On the Messianic Davidic dynasty — see MJ 7:14; Ro 1:3; Mt 1:1,16; Lk 3:23,31. The legal right to the throne came through the father — see Babylonian Talmud Baba Bathra 130a on Dt 21:16. Also, see Ignatiusʼ Epistle to the Ephesians, “Miryam of the seed of David.” The Branch of the L-rd and of Dovid is called “the L-rd” in Mal.3:1 and Ps 110:1, since Adon refers to Hashem in Zech 4:14 and 6:5. Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised if the Name of G-d is given to the Moshiach in Isa 9:5-6. The Hebrew words Moshi'a and Go'el found in the books of Judges and Ruth point to this Savior-Redeemer figure, the Moshiach. See Isa 49:26.
Three kings serve as foils in Isaiahʼs depiction of the Moshiach: Ahaz son of David, Hezekiah son of David (compare Hezekiah's illness and recovery in 38:1-22 to Isaiah 53), and the Persian King Cyrus, called Moshiach (45:1), because he saves the Jewish people from the Babylonian Exile and sends them home to rebuild their land and Hashemʼs Beis Hamikdash. About 734 B.C.E. Rezin King of Damascus (Syria) and Pekah King of Israel organized a coalition to rebel against Assyria. When Ahaz refused to join them and they invaded Judah (7:1), Ahaz appealed directly to Assyria for help, beginning the process of foreign invading armies and exile that would swallow his throne in 586 B.C.E. Assyria captured Damascus (732 B.C.E.) and Samaria (722); and Babylon (defeating Assyria) captured Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. Isaiah warned Ahazʼs son and successor, Hezekiah about the coming Babylonian captivity (see 39:5-7 and 6:11-12). Isaiah also prophesied about the release from Exile and the return to the land (48:20f).
For prophesies by Isaiah against the nations, see 13:1—14:23; 21:1-10; 43:14-15; chp. 46—47 (Babylon): 14:28-32 (Philistia see ch. 20 on Ashdod); ch. 15—16 (Moab); 17:1-11 (Damascus); chp. 19—20 (Egypt); 21:11-12 (Edom); 21:13-17 (Arabia); ch. 23 (Tyre); 23:4,12 (Sidon); 10:5-19; 14:24-27; 37:33-35 (Assyria); 18:1-7 (Cush, Nubia south of Egypt). Isaiah was well aware of Dt 4:26-27 which says that sin will cause the people to be “utterly destroyed…and…only a small number of you will remain.” Isaiah was also aware of the covenant reprisals in Dt 28:32-33,36-37,41,45-62. Therefore, when he begins to prophesy, he sees only a few survivors left after G-dʼs scourge of judgment is finished (see 1:9; 10:22). Isaiah foresees that Assyria will be G-dʼs rod of judgment (10:5) against Israel, though later G-d would destroy the Assyrian hordes as He did the oppressive Midianites in Judg 7:22-25 (see Isaiah 9:4; 10:24-27). The fulfillment of these very prophecies, as well as 30:31 and 31:8 about the destruction of Assyria came in 701 B.C.E. (see 37:36-38) when the Assyrian army was supernaturally defeated. Later, the capital of Assyria, Nineveh, would be destroyed in 612 B.C.E., as Isaiah (31:8-9), Nahum, and Jonah had predicted. Isaiah also predicts the Babylonian captivity (See Isa 39:5-7; 14:3-4).
It is important to keep the historical facts in mind, but, most importantly, that Moshiach provides first spiritual peace (Isa.53:5; Ro 5:1) before He provides world peace (Isa 9:5-7).
1
1 The chazon (vision) of Yeshayah ben Amotz, which he saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim in the yamim of Uziyahu, Yotam, Achaz, and Yechizkiyahu, melachim of Yehudah.
2 Hear, O Shomayim, and give ear, O Eretz,
for Hashem hath spoken;
I have nourished and brought up banim,
and they have rebelled against Me.*
3 The ox knoweth his owner,
and the donkey his masterʼs evus;
but Yisroel doth not know,
My people doth not consider.
4 Ah, goy choteh (sinful nation),
a people weighed down with avon (guilt, iniquity),
zera of evildoers, banim of corruption;
they forsook Hashem,
they have spurned the Kadosh Yisroel (the Holy One of Yisroel),
they have turned their back on Him.†
5 Why, seeing that ye will be stricken again,
will ye rebel stubbornly again?
The kol rosh is sick,
and the kol levav faint.
6 From the sole of the regel even unto the rosh
there is no soundness in it;
but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores;
they have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither soothed with shemen.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with eish;
your land, zarim devour it in your presence,
and it is desolate, as overthrown by zarim.
8 And the Bat Tziyon (i.e., Yerushalayim) is left
as a sukkah in a kerem (vineyard),
as a shack in a cucumber field,
as an ir (city) under siege.
9 Except Hashem Tzva'os
had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Amora (Gomorrah).
10 Hear the Devar Hashem,
ye rulers of Sodom;
give ear unto the Torat Eloheinu,
ye people of Amora (Gomorrah).
11 To what purpose is the multitude
of your zevakhim unto Me? saith Hashem;
I am fed up of the olot (burnt offerings) of rams,
and the fat of fed beasts;
and I delight not in the dahm of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 When ye come to appear before Me,
who hath required this at your hand, to trample khatzerai (My courts)?
13 Bring no more futile minchot;
ketoret is an abomination unto Me;
Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) and Shabbos, the calling of assemblies —
I cannot endure aven (wickedness) and atzarah (solemn convocation).
14 Your Rosh Chodesh and your Mo'adim
My Nefesh hateth;
they are a burden unto Me;
I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands,
I will hide Mine eyes from you;
yea, when ye make many tefillah,
I will not hear;
your hands are full of damim.
16 Wash you, make you clean;
put away the evil of your doings
from before Mine eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do good;
seek mishpat,
relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless,
plead for the almanah.
18 Come now, and let us reason together,
saith Hashem;
though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of ha'aretz;
20 But if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the cherev;
for the mouth of Hashem hath spoken.
21 How is the Kiryah Ne'emanah (Faithful City, i.e., Yerushalayim) become a zonah (harlot)!
It was full of mishpat;
tzedek lodged in it;
but now murderers.
22 Thy kesef is become dross,
thy wine mixed with mayim:
23 Thy sarim (princes) are rebellious,
and companions of ganavim:
every one loveth bribes,
and followeth after rewards:
they give no justice to the fatherless,
neither doth the cause of the almanah come unto them.
24 Therefore saith HaAdon,
Hashem Tzva'os, Avir Yisroel (the Mighty One of Yisroel),
Ah, I will relieve Myself of Mine adversaries,
and avenge Me of Mine enemies:
25 And I will turn My hand upon thee,
and refine away thy impurities,
and take away all thy alloy:
26 And I will restore thy shofetim as at the first,
and thy counselors as at the beginning:
afterward thou shalt be called,
The Ir HaTzedek, the Kiryah Ne'emanah.
27 Tziyon shall be redeemed with mishpat,
and those in her who make teshuvah with tzedakah.
28 And the destruction of the poshe'im and of the chote'im shall be together,
and they that forsake Hashem shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed
of the sacred oaks which ye have delighted in,
and ye shall blush
for the gannot (gardens) that ye have chosen.
30 For ye shall be as an oak
whose leaf fadeth,
and as a garden
that hath no mayim.‡
31 And the strong shall be as tinder,
and the maker of it§ as a spark,
and they shall both burn together,
and none shall quench them.
* 1:2 i.e., willfully flouted My authority. See Isa 53:5,8 † 1:4 T.N. Here we see it is “My people” (Ex 6:6-7) who are stricken, whereas in Isa 53:8 it is Moshiach Ben Dovid who is stricken for My people. ‡ 1:30 T.N. The unquenchable fire of the apostate in the first chapter points to the unquenchable fire of Gehinnom in the last verse of the last chapter (66:24) and the loathesomeness of those there — Dan 12:2 § 1:31 the idol