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Isaiah
by
DR
HARRY
M
ORLINSKY
The 8th century B. C. E. was one of great ferment in West
ern Asia. Two rather smallish kingdoms, generally equal in
strength, lay between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan,
the kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. And east of
them, on the other side of the Jordan, lay the Kingdom of Aram,
of Syria.
Unfortunately for these three states, they were relatively
small in size and in population, and of no great consequence in
natural resources or accumulated wealth. Even more, it was
their misfortune to be located geographically such that they
constituted the land bridge between Asia and Africa, more spe
cifically, between the empires of Babylonia and Assyria in Meso
potamia on the east, and the empire of Egypt along the Nile
river on the west. This meant, that from prehistoric times down
to our own day, whenever any of these mighty countries found
it feasible to expand beyond their national borders, it was the
regions of Judah, Israel, and Aram that became immediately in
volved. They were simply unable to determine their own des
tinies: their more powerful neighbors were masters of their fate.
Accordingly, the history of Biblical Israel, virtually from
beginning to end — the lone exception was the 10th century
Israelite Empire under David and Solomon, which dominated
Western Asia — was one of involvement, invariably unwanted,
forced involvement. Independence was but a wishful idea, a state
which was not to be theirs in the forseeable future. And involve
ment, for Biblical Israel, meant invasion or threat of invasion;
conquest; captivity; tribute; slavery; destruction.
The prophet Isaiah, in the 8th century B. C. E., was born into
such a period. Assyria was on the march once again. The petty
kingdoms on both sides of the Jordan were justifiably apprehen
sive. In trepidation they began to form alliances; what else could
they do? So that, about 740, Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah,
king of Israel, formed a coalition against Ahaz, king of Judah,
“and the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people trembled” —
so'wrote Isaiah — “as the trees of the forest tremble before the
wind,” and Ahas was ready to seek aid and protection from
powerful Assyria. About 40 years later, king Sennacherib of
Assyria invaded Judah, and the Judean monarch, Hezekiah, was
ready to submit to a pact with the Egyptian ruler in return for
military assistance.
The prophet Isaiah knew that these alliances and pacts were
basically of little account. So far as he was concerned, the Aram-
Israel coalition would cease to exist before long, for Assyria
would not tolerate any coalition aimed at her. As for Hezekiah,
even Sennacherib’s general Babshakeh, warned him (in the cele
brated 36th chapter of the book of Isaiah), “On whom do you
now rely, that you have rebelled against me? You are relying
on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand
of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all
who rely on him.” r
Israel’s greatest need was peace from her more powerful
neighbors. And the ultimate solution for this little nation, Isaiah
recognized, was, bluntly, the cessation of war. It was not that
Isaiah, or the other great prophets, or the people of Israel, had
any great concern for the welfare of Egypt, Moab, Babylonia,
Phoenicia or Aram. Israel’s one concern was to be left alone, and
it was this overwhelming desire that Isaiah — and Micah and
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