The Tanakh Podcast

Jerusalem is under siege. But the city is partying! What are the people thinking? Why don't they turn to God? Why is there an atmosphere of levity and rejoicing? Are they secure in their defenses, or are they intent on enjoying their final days on earth? Isaiah will pin the blame on a particular politician - Shevna.

Isaiah ch.21 contains no less than three prophecies. Our podcast today addresses two foci: 1. The prophet's traumatic experience at receiving harsh prophecy 2. The usage, in piyut and in modern Israeli song, of vs.11-12: "The morning comes, and then again, the night."

The prophet is told to walk "naked and barefoot" for three years (!) to warn the people not to rely on the power of Egypt. But would God really demand that his prophets debase themselves in this manner?

Isaiah prophecies the chaotic demise of Egypt. But he also imagines that "Israel shall be a third partner with Egypt and Assyria as a blessing on earth." Isaiah seems to be proposing that from Egypt to Assyria, all nations will recognize God, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic promise: "Through you all nations will be blessed"

Chapter 18 is a cryptic chapter that imagines the mighty kingdom of Ethiopia, and the destruction that will befall them, leading to the recognition of God, and the tribute to Him, in Jerusalem. It has been interpreted to be refrring to messianic times.

Our chapter is entitled "Pronouncement against Damascus" but what it really describes is the Assyrian advance of Tiglat Pilesser in 732 BCE which devastated and destroyed 1. Damascus, 2. The Israelite tribes in the Transordan and 3. The Galilee panhandle. Yishayahu also addresses the spiritual causes and effects of this blistering attack.

The prophecy of ch.15-16 closes with the words: "That is the word that God spoke concerning Moab LONG AGO." (16:13) To what does the prophet refer? We shall bring the traditional approach of Rashi, followed by an archeological suggestion by Prof. Yehudah Elitzur. We end with a line which was incorporated into a song penned by Israeli songwriter - Naomi Shemer.

Ch.15 and 16 articulate a lament for the destruction and demise of Moav, their cities ravaged and their landscape devastated. Is this a sympathetic reflection or a vindictive one?

Chapter 13 and 14 - the Pronouncement against Babylon - depicts the fall of a superpower and its leader who has "fallen from the heavens" to Sheol, whose body has been strewn like the war-dead, and not brought to royal burial. These events correspond to a very real event in history. The death in war of Sargon, the Assyrian king, in 705 BCE. So is this the "Pronouncement against Babylon" or is actually The Pronouncement about Assyria?

Ch.13-23 gives us a succession of prophecies that predict the demise of Israel's adversaries. This is a phenomenon found in other prophetic books. What is the nature of this genre of prophecy?