The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 8: "The Coming Assyrian Invasion" (Isaiah 7:17-8:22)

The Prophecy of Isaiah

“The Coming Assyrian Invasion” (Isaiah 7:17-8:22)¹

Outline

• The Destruction of the Land (7:17-25)
• The Birth of Maher-Shalal-Hash- Baz (8:1-4)
• The Judgment of the People (8:5-22)

Destruction of the Land

• Isaiah 7:17-25
• Punishment for trusting in Assyria for protection rather than the Lord.
• Assyria will remove the threat of the Syria-Israel alliance, but Assyria will also subjugate Judah.

The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah-- he will bring the king of Assyria." (Isa. 7:17 NIV)

• Flies & Bees: No place to hide (7:18-19)

In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. (Isa. 7:18-19 NIV)

• Shaved & Shamed: No more dignity (7:20)

In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River-- the king of Assyria-- to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also. (Isa. 7:20 NIV)

• 1 Cow & 2 Sheep: No one to inhabit the land (7:21-22)

In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. (Isa. 7:21-22 NIV)

• Briers & Thorns: No harvest to bring in (7:23-25)

In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run. (Isa. 7:23-25 NIV)

The Birth of Maher-Shalal-Hash- Baz (8:1-4)

The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz." (Isa. 8:1 NIV)

• Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz
  
  • “Swift is the plunder; speedy is the prey.” – Bryan Beyer
  • “Speeding is booty; hastening is plunder.” – John Mackay
  • “The spoil of the two kings will quickly be taken.” – Willem VanGemeren

So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. For before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria." (Isa. 8:2-4 NIV)

The Judgment of the People (8:5-22)

• Assyrian Invasion (8:5-10)

The LORD spoke to me again: 6 "Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates-- the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!" (Isa. 8:5-8 NIV)

Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. (Isa. 8:9-10 NIV)

• Waiting for Yahweh (8:11-22) 

Assessing the Options (8:11-15)

This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: "Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." (Isa. 8:11-15 NIV)

Divinely Given Hope (8:16-18)

Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God's instruction among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him. Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion. (Isa. 8:16-18 NIV)

The False Alternative (8:19-22)

When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. (Isa. 8:19-22 NIV)

¹ The outline for this lesson was based on Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Book of Isaiah and John L. Mackay, A Study Commentary on Isaiah, Volume 1: Chapters 1-39 (Ep Study Commentary).