Simon Snowball - Isaiah Session 4

Background Bible Reading
ISAIAH ch 38 - 48
2 Chronicles ch 33 - 36
2 Kings ch 21 – 25
Ezra 1

CONTEXT: BC 701 – 538, Is 40.15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket. By miraculous means Judah escaped from the Assyrian siege in BC701, yet it was only a temporary reprieve. Hezekiah’s son Manasseh soon entered into another treaty with Assyria; the evil done in the nation during the reign of Manasseh was the trigger point for God’s eventual judgment on Judah. Under King Josiah (reigned 640-609 BC) there was one final national and spiritual revival in Judah, as Josiah broke from the pro-Assyrian policies of his father Amon and grandfather, Manasseh. However this came to an end when Josiah died in a battle against the Egyptians, who were now in alliance with the Assyrians. Around this time, in 626BC, Babylon broke free from Assyrian rule, and commenced their rise to be the next regional superpower. From 609-605 Judah was under Egyptian control. However after the battle of Carchemish in 605BC, where the Babylonians defeated the Egyptian/Assyrian alliance, King Jehoiakim of Judah switched sides and supported the Babylonians. However, in 601BC, when things looked better for the Egyptians, he tried to switch sides back again. This was a bad move and sealed Judah’s fate. Babylon invaded and took most of the leaders of Judah into exile. Following a further rebellion, in 586BC the Babylonians (under King Nebuchadnezzar) returned and completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

History had caught up with what Isaiah had seen 120 years earlier. The words of Isaiah 38-48 were now relevant for the people of God in exile in Babylon. Isaiah’s words of comfort and encouragement were for the darkest time; Isaiah had seen not only the rise of Babylon, but also the fall of Babylon, and much more besides.

The Babylonian empire was strong during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, but after he died in 562BC, subsequent rulers were not as successful. The Babylonian empire fell suddenly in 539BC to the Medes and the Persians (see the writing on the wall in Daniel ch 5), led by Cyrus. The previous Babylonian leaders had been unpopular, so Cyrus was viewed as a liberator by the Babylonian people. For those who had been brought to Babylon against their will, the advent of Cyrus proved to be a particularly happy event for by the standards of those times he was a very enlightened and humane leader. He reversed the Babylonian policy of deportation and quickly embarked on a programme of repatriating displaced people and restoring their places of worship, the captives from Jerusalem being one of the first groups to benefit in 538BC. The substance of the decree permitting their return is recorded in Ezra ch 1.

This is the back-story to Isaiah Ch38 to 48. Why is the LORD God so much greater than all the surrounding nations and their gods? What is the proof? It is that no-one else foretold the coming of Cyrus 170 years before he came (Is 41.25-29, Is 45.1-3). Despite everything that has happened to both Judah and the surrounding nations, here is the evidence that really it is that the LORD God is on the throne, whilst the nations are like a drop in the bucket.