The ox knows his master, the donkey his 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. [1] 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 12 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.
Have you ever been tempted to throw aside your faith in God? How'd that work out for you?
[1] Thoughts informed by Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003).
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