There is hope that Israel will learn to trust fully in her holy God and further hope that the day will come when the envoys of distant peoples will come to Zion. There follows word of judgment on Assyria and Egypt. Yahweh is pictured riding on a swift cloud, a portrayal derived from Canaanite thought, to the dismay of the Egyptians and their gods. Natural disasters occur. The Nile, on which the land depends, dries up; gone is the sustenance of the fishermen and of those whose crafts need good crops for raw materials. Egypt’s wisdom has failed. The vaunted skill of her wise counselors and statesmanship of her princes has come to nothing. We are told of five cities in Egypt where Hebrew is spoken. It is often suggested that these were places where Jews had settled during the dispersion following 586. Egypt turns to God and learns, like Israel in Canaan, by discipline and restoration the way of obedience and life. Egypt is “my people” and Assyria is “the work of my hands”, while Israel retains a special place as “my heritage”. Isn’t it interesting that Yahweh uses every player to do Her Work? It must be true, then, that God can only do for us what He can do through us. The oracles that close chapter 21 contain an element of sympathy for non-Judean sufferers. The biblical scholars point out that there could be no surer witness to the spiritual genius, the inspired insight of Isaiah, than this discernment of the vital relationship between peace and religion. More that two thousand years ago this man of God saw clearly what the modern world is only now glimpsing, that peace is spiritually conditioned. It is clear that man has the capacity to solve every problem except the problem of self-control. That victory still awaits him, and must continue to elude him until he acknowledges the need of power other than his own to change the human spirit. Isaiah saw it long ago, and this is the message of his prophecy of reconciliation. Peace is not basically a matter of treaties but of a new spirit in human relationships, and that new spirit is possible only through a shared faith, trust, and obedience to God.
There is hope that Israel will learn to trust fully in her holy God and further hope that the day will come when the envoys of distant peoples will come to Zion. There follows word of judgment on Assyria and Egypt. Yahweh is pictured riding on a swift cloud, a portrayal derived from Canaanite thought, to the dismay of the Egyptians and their gods. Natural disasters occur. The Nile, on which the land depends, dries up; gone is the sustenance of the fishermen and of those whose crafts need good crops for raw materials. Egypt’s wisdom has failed. The vaunted skill of her wise counselors and statesmanship of her princes has come to nothing. We are told of five cities in Egypt where Hebrew is spoken. It is often suggested that these were places where Jews had settled during the dispersion following 586. Egypt turns to God and learns, like Israel in Canaan, by discipline and restoration the way of obedience and life. Egypt is “my people” and Assyria is “the work of my hands”, while Israel retains a special place as “my heritage”. Isn’t it interesting that Yahweh uses every player to do Her Work? It must be true, then, that God can only do for us what He can do through us. The oracles that close chapter 21 contain an element of sympathy for non-Judean sufferers. The biblical scholars point out that there could be no surer witness to the spiritual genius, the inspired insight of Isaiah, than this discernment of the vital relationship between peace and religion. More that two thousand years ago this man of God saw clearly what the modern world is only now glimpsing, that peace is spiritually conditioned. It is clear that man has the capacity to solve every problem except the problem of self-control. That victory still awaits him, and must continue to elude him until he acknowledges the need of power other than his own to change the human spirit. Isaiah saw it long ago, and this is the message of his prophecy of reconciliation. Peace is not basically a matter of treaties but of a new spirit in human relationships, and that new spirit is possible only through a shared faith, trust, and obedience to God.
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