Tag Archives: Ahaz

Isaiah 911

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Isaiah 9:11 in the King James is- “Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and join his enemies together.” I guess the first thing to look at is, who is Rezin.

Rezin is the king of Aram and an ally of Pekah king of Israel (northern kingdom). Their stories are in 2 Kings 15 and 16, 2 Chronicles 28, and Isaiah 7 and 9. This is the time of Ahaz king of Judea (he did not do right in the eyes of the Lord) and the prophet Isaiah. As enemies go, he did not last long. Rezin and Pekah harassed Judah and caused a problem (2 Chronicles 28) but did not overpower Ahaz. The attack is recorded in Isaiah 7, which also contains the message about Immanuel. 7:8 has a most unusual time prediction of sixty-five years for Ephraim (Samaria) to be scattered and not be “a people”.   

The second thing to look at is who his enemies were. Ahaz bribed the king of Assyria to attack Rezin (Damascus), he also marched on Samaria and deported the inhabitants of both countries to Assyria. Israel’s final deportation would come later-2 Kings 17.

Isaiah 9 also contains a messianic prophecy. The section of 9:8 to 10:4 is a message to Jacob (especially Ephraim and Samaria) about their pride and arrogance. It sounds like it could have come from Amos or Hosea. God did not forget Ephraim, but He did punish them. There are numerous words about God restoring Ephraim and Israel. To be fair Judah/Jerusalem was not acting right and under Ahaz, they really ignored God and the way of David.

My takeaway from the study of Isaiah 911 is

  • God watches over His chosen people.
  • The Father directs enemies to get His people’s attention when they will not listen to Him.
  • God has good for His people when they return to the Father and rest in His righteousness and salvation.

Further Study-Find examples of God’s promise to restore Israel and Ephraim in Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah.

AMOS 911 

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Amos 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old (KJV) 

(This is one of two posts on Amos. In the other one I studied topics in Chapter 1-9:10.) 

The last five verses of Amos are a promise of good things that will happen for Israel (all the children of Jacob-3:1). Most of the Book foretells judgements and why they are coming. Amos focuses on the northern kingdom, but Judah, the southern kingdom is included. This book was written before the north went into exile-2 Kings 17. The name Israel, before 2 Kings 17, normally refers to the northern kingdom. I suggest you read Amos, carefully, because it may be talking about both parts, and it will switch without warning.  

There are two references to David in Amos, the first one is 6:5 and is scolding people for mimicking David (the name means beloved) while their hearts are far from God. David is the “gold standard” for kings in Israel, not many came close to being like him.  

The thing that is fallen, destroyed, or ruined, and has holes in it is the focus of the verse. (The day is a common theme in Amos and Isaiah.) The KJV says tabernacle, while other good translations say tent, family or people, or kingdom. On a surface read, you may think that this is the tent he pitched for the Ark of God (2 Samuel 6). Verse 12 does lend itself to family or kingdom, as they will be dealing with Edom and other countries (verse 12). The term for this fallen thing is Strong’s #5521H or sakkut/sukkah, which is a temporary dwelling used during the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23: 39-44) made of branches. If it was #168 H, ohel, or tent, it could be a metaphor for family or even the tent for the Ark. An ohel is more permanent than a sakkut. The restoring terms sound like Isaiah 58. 

The part about Edom gave me a “maybe” for the near future of this prophecy. Amos, a prophet from Judah, was sent to Samaria (the north) to call them to repent. David’s grandsons ruled the southern area near Edom. 2 Chronicles 28:17 states that Ahaz sent for help because Edom was raiding the land again. See chapter 1 as Edom was involved in the slave trade of God’s people and it was the final “sin” for them. Ahaz was not a king after the heart of David, but Hezekiah, his son, was. Hezekiah could be the “near” fulfillment of Amos 9:11 and 12.  

Amos 9:13-15 relates to a “blessing” harvest that is coming after the judgments in the book. Remember, a sukkot is a shelter for the Feast of Tabernacles which came after the harvest. Verse fifteen may have been fulfilled in 1948, or it could be speaking about heaven. 

The Father will have people who want to follow Him and do His will and work. Yes, Amos speaks of judgments, but these came because the people refused to love God and their neighbors. Amos 9:11 is a reminder that He will restore all things. 

More Study-What Feast of Israel is associated with the events in the Book of Ruth? 

Christmas – Isaiah 9

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Christmas – Isaiah 9

Isaiah 9 contains three very important prophecies about Jesus: where he would live (vs. 1), a list of His titles, and what His kingdom would be like (vs. 6, 7). Nazareth is by the Sea of Galilee in the land of Naphtali and foreshadows Matthew 2: 23 in that He would be called a Nazarene. Handel immortalized verse 6 and 7 but these names/titles are important: christmas angelsWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Verse seven clearly puts this ruler in David’s family and places justice and righteousness as keystones in His government. The last line is often overlooked but it too is important – The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

These promises came to Judah and Israel not in a “great time” period but at a very low one. Just like Father to encourage His people when things look bleak. Ahaz, the fifteenth ruler of Judah, was actively rebelling against God (2 Chronicles 28 and 2 Kings 16). So God used Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel Christmas 1to do some cleaning up of Judah (see Fifteen – Cleaning Up to Celebrate). Idolatry and oppression by foreign kings, and bloodshed was the life of the people of God when Isaiah spoke this prophecy. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, certainly stepped up and turned things around for Judah but only Jesus could fulfill the names in verse six.

Pic of angels: http://www.squidoo.com/vintagechristmasimages 

Nativity scene by Mark Johanningmeier

Hezekiah part 2

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In part one I said to study Hezekiah start with Ahaz his father.  So I followed my own advice and did it again. Ahaz was a “bad” king and the nagging thought of “why” has been with me for several days. In 2 Chronicles it says he starts his reign at the age of twenty and ruled for sixteen years; that makes him 36 when he died. (see my timeline) Hezekiah started ruling when he was 25 so a little math tells us that Ahaz started his family at 11 years old. Maybe now we can start seeing why Ahaz was a mess. His great-grandsons at the end of 2 Chronicles were active very early also. This sort of answered my next question, why was Hezekiah so different? Probably he was not raised around his father instead he may have been raised by his mother’s parents.  Ahab, the king associated with Elijah, did this with his children; it was good business and at least kept part of the family safe in case of attack.

To add a few thoughts about Hezekiah and some things he did and may have done. In Proverbs 25 the heading in my NIV Bible says that these proverbs were copied by Hezekiah’s men but had been written by Solomon. So that adds to his “good” of cleaning and reopening the Temple and helping revival by holding Passover for the first time in over 250 years.

These, as always, are almost impossible to prove but because of the content I think he may have written Psalm 102 and 116 during or after his illness. I give him Psalm 119 just for the scholarly work that went into its writing and the phrase of verse 67, “before I was afflicted.” Psalm 119 is acrostic, which means that a verse or section was written using each letter in their alphabet. Each one of the sections also has eight verses in it, the number of “new beginning.” Something that I noticed several years ago was that if you lined them up and read all of the similar verses they made sense that way also. Example read verse 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88, 96, 104, 112, 120, 128, 136, 144, 152, 160, 168 and 176 together they make a continuous thought. So you can read the 22 sections or you can read it as 8 sections with 22 verses each. (see Psalm 119 rewritten) See the other Psalms I try to connect with people.

The picture is from http://christianimagesource.com/king_hezekiah_g337-king_hezekiah__image_4_p2265.html 

Hezekiah

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The meaning of Hezekiah is “strengthened of Jah.” Jah or iah is a short form of Jehovah; many names in the Bible end in iah.

His life story is found in 2 Kings 18-20, 2 Chronicles 29-32 and Isaiah 36-39 (see The Life of Hezekiah, I put all three together) but there are other books that have not been found that also contains records of historical events of Judah and Israel, they are mentioned in the Bible. (see Samuel & Chronicles) I think everyone has noticed how closely the books of Kings and Chronicles are related; a reason for this is that the two writers, possibly Ezra and Baruch (Jeremiah’s scribe), used a common source and tailored the books for specific readers. He lived approximately 250 years after Solomon’s son Rehoboam and witnessed the fall of the Northern Kingdom.

Hezekiah’s reign lasted twenty-nine years and there are four major components of his time as king that are reported in our Bible.

  1. The restoration of the worship to the Temple.
  2. The attack of Sennacherib king of Assyria.
  3. His healing and its conformation.
  4. The visit of envoys from Babylon.

I tend to read the stories about the kings individually but with Hezekiah you must start with his father, Ahaz. His father did the things he undid in 2 Chronicles; Ahaz stopped Temple worship and put pagan altars there and around Jerusalem. The story in Chronicles covers cleaning and restoration of the Temple while 2 Kings covers the attack of Sennacherib.  Isaiah’s story of Hezekiah mirrors what is found in 2 Kings except for Is.38: 9-20. His illness is in Isaiah and 2 Kings while the visit from Babylon is told in all three.

The amazing thing to me is not the fact that one king was good and one was bad but that the people are not objecting to the change. Can you image what a person who was alive during Ahaz and his leaving Jehovah to then have his son Hezekiah push for reform to have his son Manasseh be the worst of all the kings of Judah must have thought? That is reflected in the story of Elijah at first the people said nothing but voiced approval when Elijah gave the challenge of fire. (1 Kings 18:21-24)

The timeline is my own. It is an Excel document and covers the time from Solomon to the 70 years of Exile. But I only can screen shot short pieces of it.