As we work our way through pieces of the Book of Isaiah, we are learning useful facts together!
The first useful fact was that the book of Isaiah is in three sections. First Isaiah is from before the exile to Babylon. The bit we read this week is from First Isaiah. Second Isaiah is from during the exile. The bit we read last week, about building a highway in the desert to lead the people home to Jerusalem, is in Second Isaiah. Third Isaiah is from when the People of God return from exile and start to rebuild Jerusalem. One famous part of Third Isaiah is ‘The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed…’
The second useful fact we learned is that Jerusalem is on a hill in a hole. The only reason Jerusalem was where it was is because of the spring that provided water. Today’s reading actually takes place out at the beginning of the channel that brought water into the city before Hezekiah built his amazing tunnel. Jerusalem is a strange place for a capital, but it’s perseverance is largely due to its access to water.
Today’s useful fact is about the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Basically, there was a Northern Kingdom called Israel and a Southern Kingdom called Judah. I always get them confused, so I usually call them the Northern and the Southern Kingdom because I know north is up and south is down. It’s particularly confusing because the modern nation-state called Israel stretches across both the north and the south. At any rate, it’s important to remember that, in the biblical narrative, King Saul ruled a united kingdom, then King David sort of ruled a united kingdom (except during the periods of civil war). David’s son King Solomon was the last king to rule a united kingdom of both Israel and Judah, with the capital based in Jerusalem. After Solomon, there were always two kingdoms and they were often at war with one another. They made pacts and alliances with other nations and various attempts were made to dominate each other. The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722BCE. But it fell because of a sneaky move by King Ahaz of the Southern Kingdom. This provides some important background to today’s reading, so I’m going to try to explain what was going on.
King Ahaz was, you may recall, a bad king. Isaiah had some tough words for him, including calling him a treestump. But before they fell out, Isaiah was trying to help King Ahaz. In the reading appointed today, Isaiah goes to Ahaz where he’s inspecting the water supply and invites him to ask God for a sign. Any sign ‘let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven’. And Ahaz is all ‘yeah nah, I’m not going to do that’. Now, why did Ahaz say ‘yeah nah’ to Isaiah? Honestly, if a prophet came and said to you ‘look, ask God for any sign at all and it will happen’ wouldn’t it make sense to ask for something? But Ahaz doesn’t ask for a sign because he is a cunning, sneaky bugger who has been negotiating with Tiglath-Peleser, the King of Assyria so that he can save his own hide and drop the northern kingdom right in it. Ahaz sends Tiglath-Peleser a bunch of gold, silver and treasure, and swears to be the Assyrian king’s ‘servant and son’. He doesn’t need to ask God for a sign, you see, because he’s already paid his protection money to the biggest, nastiest king around.
But Isaiah doesn’t take no for an answer. If Ahaz won’t ask for a sign, Isaiah will give him one. ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.’ Just to be clear, this is good news with a poison sting. Sure, the northern kingdom and its ally Aram are going to suffer. But before too long, the Assyrians are going to turn on the Southern Kingdom and attack.
In fact, this child called Immanuel is the first of two signs which come in the form of babies. In the next chapter, there is another baby-sign who is born of a prophetess. This other kid has the best name in the whole bible: Mahershalahashbaz. It means ‘Rush to the plunder!’ and it’s a reference to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom.
So we’ve got two little babies with symbolic names who are both portents of what is going to come. Immanuel is generally understood to refer to Hezekiah who would go on to be the good king and build the cool tunnel. His mother Abijah was Ahaz’s wife. Hezekiah would manage to drive off the Assyrians when they came, so it makes sense to call him ‘God with us’ and portray him as a moral person who could discern good from evil. We never find out the name of the ‘prophetess’ who gives birth to Mahershalahashbaz, but the two babies go together as twin symbols of the destruction and danger that is to come.
Now, the author/s of the gospel of Matthew, writing in the late first century, knew full well that Immanuel in the book of Isaiah was a reference to King Hezekiah and that the prophecy related to the destruction of the northern kingdom and exile of population of the southern kingdom. But, as with so many texts from the Hebrew scriptures, the words and images were appropriated to explain their experience of Jesus. The opening lines of Matthew’s gospel are dedicated to a tedious but fascinating genealogy of Jesus. It’s rich with hidden meaning, but it is intended to situate Jesus firmly as the successor the patriarchs, prophets and kings of old. The quote from Isaiah about a young woman who gives birth to child named ‘God With Us’ is applied to Jesus to add further credibility to his identity as God’s anointed Messiah and the embodiment of God in human form. It hardly needs to be said, but: the gospels are spiritual literature, painting a picture of Jesus as Son of God, rather than a biology textbook, explaining how Mary’s ova were fertilised.
But there’s something else going on here as well, and it involves Romulus and Remus who were the legendary founders of Rome. Their Mother Rhea Silvia was a vestal virgin who was purportedly impregnated by Mars, the God of War. Of course, the Roman Emperors by the time of Jesus were also given quasi-divine status. It is no accident that Jesus, who is given Roman Imperial titles like King of Kings and Lord of Lords is also portrayed as having a divine Father, the God of peace, and an earthly, virginal Mother. The narrative is as much a repudiation of Rome as it is a fulfilment of Hebrew prophecy. It is pitting Jesus, born of the God of Peace against Rome, born of the God of War.
So in our appointed scriptures, we find holy people trying to proclaim holy words in the midst of a realpolitik. Ahaz doesn’t need God, he has a deal with Tiglath Peleser. Caesar Augustus doesn’t need God because he is god. But the words of Isaiah, both in the book of Isaiah and the gospel of Matthew, challenger hearers to remember the true source of authority in the world. Kings and rulers come and go, but God’s justice and righteousness are eternal. In a world where leaders are being impeached for high crimes and misdemeanours or locking up citizens in vast internment camps for ‘re-education’, or myriad other failings too numerous to detail – Isaiah reminds us that while there are many little stories, the great story belongs to God. Kingdoms will rise and fall, but the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Peace, stands forever if we only have eyes to see it.