Bible In One Year Day 199 (Isaiah 16-17, Joel 3, Proverbs 10:2-24)

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Day 199: Times for War

Agape Bible Study 
Isaiah 16-17 

HISTORICAL SUMMARY 

Timeline (dates may vary according to source):

• The prophet Jonah is sent to call the people of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh to repentance in c. 759 BC.
• Tiglath Pileser III is king of Assyria (745-727 BC) and begins to rebuild the empire.
• Isaiah begins his prophetic ministry in 740 BC, in the year King Uzziah of Judah died.
• Damascus and the Northern Kingdom of Israel form an alliance and go to war against the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 735-34 BC.
• Ahaz king of Judah makes an alliance with Assyria and becomes a vassal of the Assyrians in c. 734 BC.
• Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III conquers all the cities of the Mediterranean coast from Phoenicia to the Philistia to Egypt and returns to conquer the Israelite tribes of the Galilee and Gilead in 733-732 BC.
• The Assyrians take the Israelite population of the Galilee and Gilead and into exile in 732 BC.
• Damascus is destroyed by Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III in 732 BC.
• Babylon is conquered by Tiglath Pileser III in 729 BC.
• Shalmaneser V becomes king of Assyria (727-722 BC).
• Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, is destroyed by Shalmaneser V in 722 BC.
• Sargon II becomes king of Assyria (722-705 BC).
• The entire population of Israel is deported into Assyrian lands to the east in 722/721 BC, and five Gentiles groups are resettled in what was the Northern Kingdom but becomes the Assyrian province of Samaria. They will become the Samaritans.
• Hezekiah son of Ahaz is king of Judah c. 716-687 BC (727 in other sources).
• Nubians establish the 25^th Dynasty in Egypt (715 to 663 BC).
• Assyrians re-conquer rebellious Philistine cities, including Ashdod in c. 711 BC.
• Sennacherib becomes king of Assyria (705-681 BC).
• King Sennacherib lays siege to Jerusalem in 701 BC, but he returns to Nineveh without taking the city. He is murdered by his elder sons and succeeded by his youngest son, Esarhaddon who rules from 681-669 BC.
• Manasseh son of king Hezekiah of Judah rules Judah 687-643/2 BC.
• Assyrians conquer Egypt in 663 BC.
• Assyrian capital of Nineveh is destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC.
• King Josiah of Judah is killed by Pharaoh Necho at the Battle of Megiddo in 609 BC.
• Assyrians and their Egyptian allies are defeated by the forces of the Babylonians in 605 BC at the Battle of Carchemish, signaling the end of the Assyrian Empire.
• 1^st Babylonian deportation of children of royal and influential families of Jerusalem in 605 BC (Daniel); Babylonians take King Jehoiachin/Jechoniah into exile and make his uncle king.
• 2^nd Babylonian deportation of citizens of Judah 597 BC (Ezekiel).
• Jerusalem is conquered by the Babylonians 587/6 BC; the Davidic king is executed and the remaining population of Judah is sent into exile in Babylon (3^rd deportation).
• Babylon is defeated by the armies of King Cyrus of Persia 539 BC.
• Edict of Cyrus allows the return of all the peoples taken into exile by the Babylonians 539 BC.
• 539/38 BC a remnant of the citizens of Judah return to the Promised Land.

Historical background 735-729 BC: In 735 BC the Aramaean kingdom of Damascus and the Northern Kingdom of Israel formed an alliance to destroy the Southern Kingdom of Judah and plan to put a puppet king on the throne of Judah, ending the rule of the Davidic Kings (2 Kng 16:5; Is 7:4-7). The combined armies marched on Judah, conquering Judean cities on their way to Jerusalem and besieging Jerusalem in 734 BC. In Isaiah chapter 7, God promised Davidic king Ahaz of Judah that he had nothing to fear from the Aramaeans and Israel; God would protect him and protect the eternal covenant He made with David (2 Sam 7:16). Ahaz, however, refused to put his trust in Yahweh. In c. 734 BC, Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III received an appeal from Ahaz king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to save his kingdom from the armies of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Aramaean Kingdom of Damascus. Ahaz also sent a substantial gift to cement an alliance between Judah and the Assyrians (2 Kng 16:5-8).

The Kingdom of Tiglath Pileser III was on its way to becoming one of the greatest empires in world history. Tiglath Pileser III was the first ruler to establish a standing professional army that he used to conquer Upper Mesopotamia and to threaten the old Babylonian Empire. After receiving King Ahaz's offer to become an Assyrian vassal, Tiglath Pileser III turned his attention westward to address the Syro-Ephraimite alliance between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Aramaean kingdom of Damascus. In 734 BC, Tiglath Pileser III marshaled his armies and began a conquest of the cities along the Mediterranean coast, taking the coastal cities from Phoenicia all the way through Philistia and on to Egypt. Next, he returned to the Northern Kingdom of Israel where he destroyed their army and claimed the northern territories of the Galilean tribes of Zebulun, Naphtali, and the tribes on the east side of the Jordan River of Reuben, Gath and Manasseh. The Assyrians deported the entire population of Israel into Assyrian lands to the east (2 Kng 15:29-31), and then brought in five different groups of Gentile peoples to settle what was now the Assyrian province of Samaria (2 Kng 17:24-41).

King Pekah of Israel was murdered by Hoshea who became king (ruled 732-724 BC), and submitting to the Assyrians was recognized by them as the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Assyrian army also attacked Damascus where Tiglath Pileser III captured the city, killed King Razon/Rezin, and deported its population into Assyrian lands to the east in 732 BC (2 Kng 16:9). In 729 BC Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III conquered Babylon and all the territories formerly under Babylonian control, becoming the greatest empire the region had ever seen.

Isaiah 16:1-6 ~ The Moabites' Petition

In the era of the United Monarchy, the Moabites were vassals of the King David and his son Solomon. When the United Kingdom failed and divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Moab was a vassal of Israel until King Mesha of Moab declared his independence from Israel in the 9^th century BC. In this passage, the Moabites are sending a lamb sacrifice to the Davidic king in Jerusalem (daughter of Zion) with a petition.

Question: What is the Moabites' petition to Judah and her king in verses 3-5?
Answer: The Moabites are appealing to the king of Judah who is a descendant of David to offer them his protection and asylum as refugees from their devastated land. If he will do this, when the conflict is over, they will submit to Judah again as a vassal state.

Isaiah 16:7-12 ~ Moab's Lament

Northern Moab was known for their vineyards and for growing a fine quality grape that produced a fine quality wine enjoyed all across the region. Soreq is the same variety of grape as in Isaiah's vineyard parable in 5:2.

Question: The Moabites will offer sacrifices on the high places and will pray in their temple for deliverance, why will this accomplish nothing?

Answer: They are offering sacrifice and praying to false gods who are not capable of saving them.

Isaiah 16:13-14 ~ Yahweh's Judgment on Moab

A hired worker counts the years from harvest season to harvest season. The harvest of that year would count as "year #1", so within two years as we count this prophecy will be fulfilled. It is difficult to pin-point the date the prophecy is made or when it will be fulfilled. The Assyrians rampaged through the region at least four times. Assyrian kings Tiglath Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib V, and Esarhaddon all claimed victories over the Moabites according to documents discovered in the Assyrian archives. Since Jerusalem isn't under siege yet, the army may be that of Sennacherib who ruled 705-601 BC and who laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 BC.

Icon Joel 

Isaiah 17:1-14 ~ Oracle against Damascus and Israel

 

Isaiah 17:2-3 ~ Oracle against Damascus

Question: What does Isaiah foresee as the fate of Damascus and Israel (Ephraim) in verses 1-3? The word "glory" is used sarcastically.
Answer: The great city of Damascus will lose its sovereignty and will become a heap of ruins. Israel will lose its defenses becoming a vassal of Assyria as will those people who survive the destruction of Damascus.

Tiglath Pileser III response to King Ahaz's gift and petition for an alliance was swift.
Question: What happened to Damascus? See 2 Kng 16:9.
Answer: Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians, the king was executed, and the people were exiled into Assyrian lands to the east.

Isaiah 17:4-14 ~ Oracle against Israel

Isaiah prophesies the destruction of the Northern Kingdom by a vast foreign army (verses 12-14).
Question: What kind of imagery does Isaiah use to describe Israel's devastation in verses 4-6?
Answer: He uses agriculture imagery. Just as little remained in the Valley of Rephaim after the harvest, in the same way little would remain to glean in Israel after the harvest of God's judgment.

Question: What does the sparse grain, fruit and berries in verses 5-6 represent?
Answer: The few people who will survive the devastation.

Question: Who is the "Rock" in verse 10? See Dt 32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31; Ps 18:2.
Answer: The "Rock" is Yahweh.

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 199 He Knew Her Not Until

CHALLENGE: “Matthew states that Joseph ‘knew her [Mary] not until she had borne a son.’ This implies that he did have sexual relations with her later.”

DEFENSE :This overtaxes the meaning of “until.”

The term “until” (Greek, heōs) commonly indicated a particular state existed to a certain point, as in “John worked at his desk until five o’clock.” 

The existing state often changes when the point is reached (thus, at five o’clock, John may go home). But change is not always indicated.

In 2 Samuel 6:23, Saul’s daughter Michal scoffed at King David’s enthusiasm for the Lord, and we read that she had no child “until” the day of her death. The word in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament is heōs. The passage d es not mean Michal had a child after the day of her death. It means she never had children.

We see the same in the New Testament. In Matthew 13:33, Jesus tells a parable in which he says, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” The use of “till” (heōs) does not mean that the leaven was later taken out of the flour.

Similarly, in Matthew 14:22, Jesus is at the Sea of Galilee and “he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while [heōs] he dismissed the crowds.” This does not mean that the disciples turned around and returned to shore as soon as Jesus dismissed the crowds. They continued their journey to the other side, which resulted in their meeting Jesus as he was walking on the water (Matt. 14:25).

Similarly, in Matthew 1:25, the evangelist’s point is that Joseph did not have sex with Mary before Jesus was born. His concern is to emphasize the virgin birth, not to address what happened later. This is consistent with the uses of “until” (heōs) documented above.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist