The Tanakh Podcast

Isaiah paints a vision of a national leadership that is dedicated to justice, and fostering a society of attentiveness, care for all, equity, law, kindness and fairness. The image of the impervious hedonistic upper-class is presented as a foil for the alternative, which is a public culture of peace, kindness and truth.

Isaiah advises Hezekiah to remain independent, and God will protect Israel: "Like a lion roars over its prey... like birds fly free." But can we simply rely on God and abandon human initiative? Is Isaiah's religious policy a reasonable one? In this article I quote: https://www.etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/great-thinkers/harav-aharon-lichtenstein/bittachon-trust-god

In chapter 30 and 31, Isaiah warms Hezekiah, in the lead-up to the Assyrian assault - not to forge alliances with Egypt. We will go into the biblical roots of this policy, and show that this instruction goes back to the very beginnings of Israelite nationhood.

Isaiah contrasts his prophecy with the political prognosis of other religious and political figures in Jerusalem as the Assyrians advance. Isaiah says that God's word is not being "read" by the people; it is indecipherable: 'Like the words of a sealed document. If it is handed to one who can read with a request to read it, the response will be, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”' The people of Jerusalem are not receptive to Isaiah's words; His prophecy is impervious and opaque.

The prophet accuses the people in Samaria and Jerusalem of being drunk - proud and intoxicated - and deaf to the words of the prophet which they compare to nursery rhymes, children's fables. The prophet warns that they are dancing on the precipice, absolutely unprepared for the impending disaster.

Chapter 27 envisions God slaughtering the Leviathan - the sea monsters. What is the Leviathan in Tanakh and the Talmud?

Is Chapter 26 the source for the doctrine of Techiat Hametim?

Chapter 25 depicts a world of universal recognition of God, in which "Death will be swallowed away for ever". What does this mean? Doe sit mean that the death of the Assyrian conquest will end, or is it a reference to a time in which people will live eternally?

"The earth is breaking, breaking; The earth is crumbling, crumbling; The earth is tottering, tottering." Our chapter describes a devastating earthquake, which is visited on society because of its injustice and sin. It leads to a sense of social parity, as high and low are dealt the same fate, and the apocalypse means that all are as vulnerable as the other.

Ch.23 is the final of the Pronouncements against the Nations. This one predicts the fall of Tyre, and bears a striking affinity to the fortunes of Israel and Jerusalem.