Social Justice (Isaiah chapter 1)
Contents:
1. Who Was Isaiah?
2. Judah and Joseph.
3. When did Isaiah Live?
4. Rebuilding the Temple.
5. The Message of Isaiah. Social Justice.
Sources.
For a video of a previous talk we gave on Isaiah ch.1, see:
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/isaiah/is1repent.html
Isaiah Short 1
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/isaiah/isaiah-summarized/isaiah1.html
Isaiah Summarized 1-10
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/isaiah/isaiah-summarized/isaiah-summarized-1-10.html
Isaiah Outlined
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/isaiah/outlined.html
Isaiah 1. The Future
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/isaiah/isaiah-summarized/isaiah1sum.html
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The kings of Judah were (Solomon), Rehoboam, Abiyah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jeohoaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, Zedekiah.
Isaiah son of Amoz was the brother of King Amaziah of Judah (father of King Uzziah) and the father-in-law of Hezekiah. King Manasseh of Judah was his grandson and also his executioner (Talmud, Yevamot 49b).
Isaiah lived for 120 years (Agadat Breishit 14, Chasidah).
Isaiah was therefore himself of royal blood of the House of David.
The teachings of Isaiah influenced the early Zoroastrian religion of Iran some of whose texts resemble translations of Isaiah.
The prophets Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, all lived in the same era.
The name Isaiah in Hebrew is "Yeshiyahu" meaning the "The LORD Saves".
The daughter of Isaiah married King Hezekiah of Judah and from this line will emerge the future Messiah.
Isaiah speaks of Judah and Israel (the Ten Tribes). The emphasis is more on Judah though much concerning the Ten Tribes and their future history is also given.
Other nations are discussed as well, such as the fate of the Philistines, Damascus, Elam, Media, Edom, etc.
A Midrash (Pesikta Rabah 33;25).says that Isaiah prophesied concerning all nations of the earth.
Isaiah lived through the Exile of the Northern Kingdom of the Ten Tribes ca. 730-720 BCE.
Isaiah also saw the invasion of Judah and the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in ca. 701 BCE.
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2. Judah and Joseph.
An important work, "Kol HaTor" (Voice of the Dove")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kol_HaTor
quotes from Midrash Tanchuma (Breishit) saying that:
# "EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO JOSEPH OCCURRED TO ZION. THE MESSIAH SON OF JOSEPH IS IN THE NORTH. THE NUMERICAL VALUE OF ZION (156), SAYS THE MIDRASH (TANCHUMA), IS THE SAME AS THAT OF JOSEPH.
re "Midrash Tanchuma" -While traditions date its core elements to the 4th and 5th centuries, scholars largely agree the text was formally edited into collections around the 8th or 9th century.
Here we have Joseph equated with Zion and Zion with Jerusalem.
The Jews of today are Judah of the Bible. The Lost Ten Tribes are among Western peoples. English-speaking enmities represented the Tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. In some cases in prophecy as explained above Joseph may be represented as "Zion" or as "Jerusalem" according to the context.
The message of Isaiah even when he applies it to Jerusalem may therefore in some contexts be applicable to Joseph, i.e. the LTTs (Lost Ten Tribes).
There is a principle that Scripture never abandons its primary meaning. If it says "Jerusalem" it means Jerusalem at some stage or other BUT it can also represent aspects of Joseph.
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3. When did Isaiah Live?
The conventional academic view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by Isaiah, possibly in two periods between 740 BCE and c. 686 BCE, separated by approximately 15 years. The Rabbinical Dates for the same events are 574-556 BCE.
The Biblical Time Table according to Rabbinical Dating diverged from that found in conventional sources in concerning Isaiah by about 130 years.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3915966/jewish/Timeline-of-Jewish-History.htm#Kings
Extracts:
-3760 (1) Creation of the world; birth of Adam and Eve (Chavah)
-877 (2884) David became king of Judah in Hebron
-869 (2892) David became king of Israel in Jerusalem
-797 (2964) Jeroboam ben Nevat became king over Israel (i.e. the Ten Tribes)
-619 (3142) Isaiah began his prophecies
-574 (3187) The first two of the Ten Tribes were exiled
-566 (3195) Another two of the Ten Tribes were exiled
-562 (3199) Hezekiah became king of Judah
-556 (3205) The last of the Ten Tribes were exiled
-548 (3213) Sennacherib invaded the Land of Judah and retreated
-533 (3228) Menasseh (son of Hezekiah) became king of Judah
-463 (3298) Jeremiah began his prophecies
-458 (3303) Josiah renovated the Temple.
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4. Rebuilding the Temple.
The Midrash (Pesikta Zutratha Lekach Tov, Balak, Numbers 24;17) says that the future Messiah Son of Joseph will rebuild the Temple.
This person is the future leader of the Lost Ten Tribes just prior to their reunification with Judah.
Other sources associate the rebuilding of the Future Temple with the Tribe of Manasseh whereas the future MBJ will be from Ephraim.
It may be that the tribe of Manasseh will have a special interest and role of its own to play in the rebuilding despite the over direction being from MBJ.
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5. The Message of Isaiah. Social Justice.
Isaiah 1:
3 'AN OX KNOWS ITS OWNER,
AND A DONKEY ITS MASTER'S MANGER,
BUT ISRAEL DOES NOT KNOW,
MY PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND.'
The People of Israel have forgotten that they have been chosen. They are the Chosen People. This entails obligations.
Isaiah prophesied both concerning Judah and concerning Northern Israel. Remember the principle that the Prophets prophesied both about their own times and about the future events leading up to the Messianic era. They prophesied in a visionary state and saw things in a non-rational way. The application of prophecies can therefore flit back and forth between different periods with the emphasis on the Messianic Era that somehow parallels something in the Prophet's own time or shortly after. The future is an outcome of the present.
Both Judah and the Ten Tribes need to better themselves in this regard.
They also need to know who they are.
They have been chosen and therefore more has been expected of them and they can do more!
1: 16 'WASH YOURSELVES, MAKE YOURSELVES CLEAN;
REMOVE THE EVIL OF YOUR DEEDS FROM MY SIGHT.
CEASE TO DO EVIL,
17 LEARN TO DO GOOD;
SEEK JUSTICE,
REPROVE THE RUTHLESS,
DEFEND THE ORPHAN,
PLEAD FOR THE WIDOW.
Your prayers and worship will not be accepted unless you act righteously (1:12-16) meaning especially the practice of social justice with protection and care for the vulnerable (1:17).
1: 18 'COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER,'
SAYS THE LORD,
'THOUGH YOUR SINS ARE AS SCARLET,
THEY WILL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW;
THOUGH THEY ARE RED LIKE CRIMSON,
THEY WILL BE LIKE WOOL.
1: 27 ZION WILL BE REDEEMED WITH JUSTICE
AND HER REPENTANT ONES WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In "The Tribes" we quote an old tradition tracing the Anglo-Saxons and Dutch Frisians back to "Jerusalem" meaning in their terms the former Land of Israel. We saw that also among the LTTs Jerusalem came to represent all of the Holy Land and the former domain of all the Tribes.
Isaiah begins his prophecy (1:1) from the viewpoint of Judah and Jerusalem.
Righteous rulers (judges) and counsellors will come forth and show us the way to Redemption (1:26-27).
They are a sinful nation (1:4). They are physically and ecologically suffering for their sins (1:7).
Alien foreigners are taking over (1:7). If God did not have mercy upon us we would be destroyed altogether (1:10). Your prayers and worship will not be accepted unless you act righteously (1:12-16) meaning especially the practice of social justice with protection and care for the vulnerable (1:17). If we repent God will forgive us and show us favor (1:18-19) but if not violence will overtake us (1:20). Violence, fraud and graft are among our major offences (1:21-23). This will change. The "bad eggs" among us will be removed (1:24-25, 28).This applies especially to "Zion" (1:27) who according to Midrash Tanchuma in Prophecy can also represent Joseph. We will be ashamed of our pagan practices and punished through them and for them (1:29-31).
Isaiah moves from one subject to another and back again. He describes the situation of Judah and sometimes also of Israel in his own times, and also in the End Times before the Final Redemption, and then again in the Messianic Era. From the context we may understand which stage is being referred to though on occasion analogies are made from one stage to another.