Jerusalem is addressed by a strange and beautiful name, Ariel. It seems to be that of the altar hearth, where the sacrifice was offered, the blood flowed, and the fire burned. Things are quiet in Jerusalem, though everyone knows that the storm, Assyria, is raging in the north. In the quiet before the storm, Isaiah calls, “The time is short; another year or so of the old routine, and then death and destruction.” Then Jerusalem shall indeed be Ariel. Just when the Assyrians think their capture of Jerusalem to be certain, the Lord snatches victory from their hands and saves his city as predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah says that they brought war on themselves, and God used it to thunder in their ears the moral demands of his rule. Isaiah next takes on Egypt where everything is “secret and highly confidential.” Isaiah rightly had a deep suspicion of any policy which could not bear the light. As a result of their conspiracy of silence, the national life is utterly confused, and “things are up-side down.” Isaiah is instructed to publish a summary of God’s judgment on the Egyptian policy and scolds his people for refusing to face reality. They are caught in the lure of Egypt, the great promiser, purveyor of smooth things, “prophet of deceit.” In God’s name Isaiah reiterates the only policy of security and strength, trust in the power and purpose of God. To devise something better, like this Egyptian alliance, means but one thing-defeat. The biblical scholars say that Chapter 30:15 is the greatest text of the chapter and the most difficult. “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ”In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” And you would not,” Isaiah, who advocates a kind of pacifism which trusts God, must be prepared to lose his audience. But Isaiah is no pacifist. He is simply telling the national leaders that they are putting the first emphasis on the wrong thing. They are negotiating with godless diplomacy to buy Egyptian support in their frantic planning to increase their military strength. According to Isaiah God is not merely a judge. He is the Lord of history! Furthermore, as a God of judgment, God knows best, always moving toward justice, a continual process. Yet, how impatient are we with Divine delays? We turn to luck and chance rather than meditate and ask for divine guidance. Isaiah gives us comfort in the thought of God closing in on those evils which invade life. Godless movements may sweep a nation, enslave it. Yet the protecting love of God is always persistently, relentlessly at work. The figure of the hovering bird suggests that the care by God of his own has not lost its force and beauty.
Jerusalem is addressed by a strange and beautiful name, Ariel. It seems to be that of the altar hearth, where the sacrifice was offered, the blood flowed, and the fire burned. Things are quiet in Jerusalem, though everyone knows that the storm, Assyria, is raging in the north. In the quiet before the storm, Isaiah calls, “The time is short; another year or so of the old routine, and then death and destruction.” Then Jerusalem shall indeed be Ariel. Just when the Assyrians think their capture of Jerusalem to be certain, the Lord snatches victory from their hands and saves his city as predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah says that they brought war on themselves, and God used it to thunder in their ears the moral demands of his rule. Isaiah next takes on Egypt where everything is “secret and highly confidential.” Isaiah rightly had a deep suspicion of any policy which could not bear the light. As a result of their conspiracy of silence, the national life is utterly confused, and “things are up-side down.” Isaiah is instructed to publish a summary of God’s judgment on the Egyptian policy and scolds his people for refusing to face reality. They are caught in the lure of Egypt, the great promiser, purveyor of smooth things, “prophet of deceit.” In God’s name Isaiah reiterates the only policy of security and strength, trust in the power and purpose of God. To devise something better, like this Egyptian alliance, means but one thing-defeat. The biblical scholars say that Chapter 30:15 is the greatest text of the chapter and the most difficult. “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ”In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” And you would not,” Isaiah, who advocates a kind of pacifism which trusts God, must be prepared to lose his audience. But Isaiah is no pacifist. He is simply telling the national leaders that they are putting the first emphasis on the wrong thing. They are negotiating with godless diplomacy to buy Egyptian support in their frantic planning to increase their military strength. According to Isaiah God is not merely a judge. He is the Lord of history! Furthermore, as a God of judgment, God knows best, always moving toward justice, a continual process. Yet, how impatient are we with Divine delays? We turn to luck and chance rather than meditate and ask for divine guidance. Isaiah gives us comfort in the thought of God closing in on those evils which invade life. Godless movements may sweep a nation, enslave it. Yet the protecting love of God is always persistently, relentlessly at work. The figure of the hovering bird suggests that the care by God of his own has not lost its force and beauty.
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