The ox knows its
master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know (Isaiah 1:3).
In the Hebrew Bible
the book of Isaiah follows right after Kings. Both concern themselves with the
final days of Jerusalem [11]. There was a repeating history in Israel and Judah
of unfaithfulness to Yahweh – specifically breaking the first commandment: You
shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3).
Isaiah’s first
twelve chapters seem to focus on the prophet’s interaction with Ahaz, king from
approximately 735 to 715 BC. Read about Ahaz in 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28.
During the reign of Ahaz, Judah was the whipping boy of Aram, Israel and Edom.
Rather than cry out to God for help, Ahaz used the treasures of the temple and
bribed the king of Assyria to rescue him. At that time Ahaz began worshiping
Assyria’s gods, adding them to his stable of gods from other nations.
Ahaz replicated
Assyria’s altar for burnt offerings and placed it in Jerusalem’s temple. The
bronze altar built by Solomon many generations earlier was moved aside – out of
the way – and used for fortune telling. Isaiah puts it plain: Even
dumb farmyard animals are smart enough to know where their food comes from, but
not Israel. Ahaz doesn’t even know which side his bread is buttered on (Author’s Paraphrase).
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Have you ever, for
expediency’s sake, been tempted to throw aside your faith in God? How’d that
work out for you? On another note, do you know whom to thank for the good
things in your life?
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