LOOKING FOR ISAIAH

[JLG]

 

Isaiah 1:24

 

- I will be relieved of my foes and avenged myself on my enemies!

 

- They have become God's enemies!

 

- What about mankind!

 

- God's feelings are strong and powerful!

 

- After the expression of one's feelings comes action!

 

- I would say feelings concentrate on his actions!

 

- It was bad for Israel and Judah!

 

- It will be bad for mankind!

 

- But it will mean freedom for the faithful ones!

 

- And renewal for the earth!

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Isaiah 1:25

 

- I will turn my hand against you!

 

- I will thoroughly purge your dross!

 

- I will remove all your impurities!

- It's not going to happen peacefully!

 

- It is going to be violent!

 

- They are too corrupted!

 

- And God did his best to put them back on the right track!

 

- But each time it is more difficult!

 

- Look at mankind!

 

- That's why a deep cleaning is necessary!

 

- And then God won't tolerate any opposition!

 

[JLG]

 

Isaiah 1:26

 

- In this verse, God says that Jerusalem can become a city of righteousness again but for that they should change!

 

- What a patience!

 

- But they don't care!

 

- It is the same with mankind!

 

- They should be scared!

 

- Anyway, they will be scared when it is too late!

 

- The more they wait the more they will be scared!

 

- And the flood is nothing compared to what will happen!
 

[JLG]

 

Isaiah 1:27

 

- Jerusalem will be restored!

 

- After all they have done!

 

- But yet they won't understand!

 

- In fact, they never understood!

 

- No difference with mankind!

 

- It seems to be a competition for the worst!

 

- And Jerusalem would be restored twice and destroyed twice!

 

- And God knew it!

 

- He knew they wouldn't change!

 

- Poor men!

 

[JLG]

 

Isaiah 1:28

 

- If Jerusalem would be restored, rebels and sinners will pay!

 

- In fact, the verse starts by but which indicates that whatever may happen, there is a price to pay!

 

- Everyone has to pay the price according to his deeds!

 

- But they don't care!

 

- When time comes, it will be too late to care!

- They may care but it will be of no use!

 

- Mankind has always been short sighted!

 

- That's why it is strange to imagine that one day they will get perfection!

 

- But with God everything is possible!

 

- So those who will survive may see it!


 

[JLG]

 

Isaiah 1:29

 

- Can they be ashamed of their spiritual prostitution!

 

- Once you get corrupted!

 

- It is difficult to leave it for righteousness!

 

- Especially when you have been doing it all your life!

 

- That's what human history tells us!

 

- Paul was an exception but he was told by Jesus in a vision!

 

- But when you think of the apostles, they needed to be told again and again!

 

- And when everything is corrupted, it is even worse!
 

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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Uzziah

Uzziah, also spelled Ozias, also called Azariah, orAzarias, in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 26), son and successor of Amaziah, and king of Judah for 52 years (c. 791–739 BC).

Assyrian records indicate that Uzziah reigned for 42 years (c. 783–742). His reign marked the height of Judah’s power. He fought successfully against other nations and exacted tribute from the Ammonites. Judah expanded westward with settlements in Philistia.

During the period of Uzziah’s reign, the nation prospered, and desert areas were reclaimed by water conservation. Jerusalem’s walls were reconstructed, towers were added, and engines of war were mounted at strategic points. A large army was also maintained. The nation’s prosperity under Uzziah was considered to have been a result of the king’s fidelity to Yahweh.

According to the biblical record, Uzziah’s strength caused him to become proud, which led to his destruction. He attempted to burn incense in the Temple, an act restricted to priests. When the priests attempted to send him from the Temple, the king became angry and was immediately stricken with leprosy. His son Jotham ruled for his father until Uzziah died.

 

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https://salvationcall.com/jotham/

Father: King Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:23
Mother: Jerushah, 2 Chronicles 27:1
Predecessor: King Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:23
Succession: 11th king
Length of reign: 16 years, 2 Chronicles 27:1
Successor: King Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 27:9
Age when made king: 25 years, 2 Chronicles 27:1
Age when he died: 41
Kingdom: Kingdom of Judah
Reign: 742 BC – 735 BC
Morality: good, 2 Chronicles 27:2
Biblical history:  2 Chronicles 27:1–9; 2 Kings 15:32–37

In the second year of Pekah king of Israel, Jotham the son of King Uzziah began to reign. King Jotham was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.  His mother’s name was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.

And he did that which was right in the sight of God, just like his father King Uzziah. However, King Jotham never entered the Temple of Solomon because of what happened to his father King Uzziah.  

At the height of his power, King Uzziah became proud to his own destruction. King Uzziah transgressed against the LORD God; that is, he took matters into his own hands and went into the temple of God to burn incense upon the altar of incense – something that only the priests are supposed to do. Though the priests tried to stop him from this transgression King Uzziah would not listen, rather he took offense at the priest. And the Lord struck King Uzziah with leprosy right in the temple in the presence of the priests, and the king hurried out of the temple. So King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death.  

His son King Jotham learned a lesson from what happened to his father. However, he also misinterpreted what befell his father into fear and pessimism about his going to the house of the Lord. Therefore, he never entered the house of the Lord throughout his reign.

Jotham took over from his father too early; since the time his father became leprous, he had been over the administration of the kingdom, judging the people of the land.

Though King Jotham himself was a good king, it is reported in the Bible that the people of the Kingdom of Judah still followed corrupt practices.

At the age of 41 years, King Jotham died and was buried in Jerusalem. His son Ahaz became king after him.

Achievements of King Jotham

King Jotham built the high gate of the Temple of Solomon, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. 2 Chronicles 27:3

King Jotham built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. 2 Chronicles 27:4

King Jotham fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them.  And that year, the Ammonites gave him 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 measures of wheat, and 10,000 of barley.  The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and the third years. So Jotham became mighty, because he was a pious king. 2 Chronicles 27:5, 6.

Major events during the reign of King Jotham

King Jotham fought a war against the Ammonites and prevailed. Then he made them pay heavy tribute to him yearly.

King Jotham’s relationship with his contemporaries

There was enmity between Jotham and the king of Ammon, whose real name was not mentioned. King Jotham fought against him and prevailed.  

Jotham became king in the 2nd year of King Pekah of Israel, but King Pekah outlived Jotham into the reign of Jotham’s son, King Ahaz. Rezin was king of Syria in Jotham’s time. King Pekah and King Rezin became allies against King Jotham, for the Bible testifies that during the reign of King Jotham, God began to send King Rezin and King Pekah against the Kingdom of Judah for war (2 Kings 15:37). However, King Jotham never fought a war against these two kings. It appears that during the reign of King Jotham, the animosity and the tendency of war between the allies and King Jotham was heightening, but it did not get to where they would fight a war.  King Jotham’s son King Ahaz came to fight the allies.

Categories to which King Jotham belongs.

He is counted among kings who peacefully took power from their predecessors.
He is counted amongst kings who died of natural causes, not by assassination.
He is counted among the kings who did right in the sight of the Lord.

 

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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahaz

Ahaz, also spelled Achaz, Assyrian Jehoahaz, (flourished 8th century BC), king of Judah (c. 735–720 BC) who became an Assyrian vassal (2 Kings 16; Isaiah 7–8).

Ahaz assumed the throne of Judah at the age of 20 or 25. Sometime later his kingdom was invaded by Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, in an effort to force him into an alliance with them against the powerful state of Assyria. Acting against the counsel of the prophet Isaiah, Ahaz appealed for aid to Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria, to repel the invaders. Assyria defeated Syria and Israel, and Ahaz presented himself as a vassal to the Assyrian king. Not only was Judah’s political situation unimproved but Assyria exacted a heavy tribute and Assyrian gods were introduced into the Temple at Jerusalem.

 

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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hezekiah

 

Hezekiah, Hebrew Ḥizqiyya, Greek Ezekias, (flourished late 8th and early 7th centuries BC), son of Ahaz, and the 13th successor of David as king of Judah at Jerusalem. The dates of his reign are often given as about 715 to about 686 BC, but inconsistencies in biblical and Assyrian cuneiform records have yielded a wide range of possible dates.

Hezekiah reigned at a time when the Assyrian empire was consolidating its control of Palestine and Syria. His father had placed Judah under Assyrian suzerainty in 735 BC. Hezekiah may have taken part in a rebellion against King Sargon II of Assyria (reigned 721–705 BC), which the Assyrians apparently crushed in the year 710. At the accession of Sennacherib (705–681 BC), further rebellions broke out all over the Assyrian empire. Hezekiah may have been the leader of the rebellion in Palestine, which included the city-states of Ascalon and Ekron and gained the support of Egypt. In preparing for the inevitable Assyrian campaign to retake Palestine, Hezekiah strengthened the defenses of his capital, Jerusalem, and dug out the famous Siloam tunnel (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:30), which brought the water of the Gihon springs to a reservoir inside the city wall.

Sennacherib finally put down the rebellion in 701 BC, overrunning Judah, taking 46 of its walled cities, and placing much conquered Judaean territory under the control of neighbouring states. While Sennacherib was besieging the city of Lachish, Hezekiah sought to spare Jerusalem itself from capture by paying a heavy tribute of gold and silver to the Assyrian king, who nevertheless demanded the city’s unconditional surrender. At this point Jerusalem was saved by a miraculous plague that decimated the Assyrian army. This event gave rise to the belief in Judah that Jerusalem was inviolable, a belief that lasted until the city fell to the Babylonians a century later. Contradictory dates for Sennacherib’s invasion are given in the Book of Kings, and he may possibly have invaded Judah a second time near the close of Hezekiah’s reign.

In his religious reforms, Hezekiah asserted Judah’s inherited Hebrew traditions and practices against imported cults of the Assyrian gods. He thus tried to achieve both political and religious independence for Judah, but the catastrophe of 701 BC left among his people an unmistakable yearning for an ideal king who would restore the golden age of David.