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.