Discuss about the Theology and Religious Studies for Isiah.
Isaiah, a prophet in ancient Israel, the Amoz’s son is the vision of Isaiah. In Uzziah days he adage the concerned Judah and Jerusalem, in spite of being Isaiah is not disclose with his name either in the Qur’an or in Hadith, Muslim community have accepted him as a prophet. The ministry of Isaiah has begun in the era of Uzziah who got death with Judah affluent and steadiness. In previous day, Isaiah might have been stirred by the incursion of Israel. There were a various types of nature of the Isaiah which had described in the previous days.
1: The book of Isaiah is one of the most important books of the Old Testament. The book is the first of the latter prophets in the Hebrew Bible and is the first one of the Major Prophets in English Bibles. The book is considered as the work of the 8th century BCE prophet Isaiah ben Amoz. The book is also referred as a superscription (Isaiah 2013). Nevertheless, many sources show that much of the work was done during the Babylonian captivity and in the later centuries. The conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon and the exile of its leaders in the 586 BCE further developed the next stage in the formation of the book.
Isaiah had begun his prophecy during the reign of the king Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, all belonging to the realm of Judah. Isaiah must have begun his ministry a few years before the death of the king Uzziah, probably in the 740s BCE (Chilton 2013). The prophecies of Isaiah speak of a time when King Judah was under the threat of an imminent invasion. After the incident, Isaiah had a vision of the death of Uzziah (Isaiah 2013). After the incident, he realised his need to be prophet, but before that, he had to overcome his own inadequacies.
The book of Isaiah addressed many important issues such as what would be the promise of God and how will the chosen people survive (Isaiah 2013). The book described that there would be a purging of the whole nation as the almighty himself is holy. Therefore, God will chasten the state of Israel and will clean the sins.
2. Uzziah: King Uzziah was a king of the ancient kingdom of Judah. Uzziah was only sixteen years of old when he ascended throne and the ruled for fifty-two years. His reign is considered as the most prosperous reign. King Uzziah was very faithful towards God. He defeated the Philistines and the Arabians and received tributes form the Ammonites. He invented many useful types of machinery to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. He refortified the the whole country, reequipped the army and he himself engaged his ideas in the agricultural pursuits. He met his death during an earthquake and it is considered as his downfall (Chilton 2013).
Jotham: King Jotham was the son of Uzziah. He was only sixteen years of old when he started to rein the kingdom and he ruled for more than sixteen years. He was very much influenced by his father. Although he had his own views about serving God but he did not destroyed the pagan shrines. He lived during the time of the prophets Isaiah, Hosea and Amos. Jotham inherited a strong government as well as a strong administration (Zeitlin 2013). He built the upper gate of the temple and did extensive rebuilding of the wall of the hills. The most significant incident of his time was his successful victory against the Ammonites.
Ahaz: king Ahaz was the son of the king Jotham. He was only twenty years old when he was chosen as the King. Immediately after his coronation, King Ahaz had to face a coalition raised by the northern Israel, under Pekah and Damascus under Rezin. Ahaz was an irresolute and impressionable king. For the upcoming battle, the prophet Isaiah tried his best to encourage him but he refused to have faith on God and went into bribing the opposite force. He died at the age of thirty-six, and his son succeeded him (Zeitlin 2013). Both politically and spiritually, he had been instrumental in determining the foundation of the kingdom of Judah.
Hezekiah: Hezekiah was the son and successor of king Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Judah. He was the most prominent King of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible. According to the Hebrew Bible king, Hezekiah was the only king to witness the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Sargon’s Assyrians in 720 BC and was the present king of Judah during the invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BC (Zeitlin 2013). During King Hezekiah’s prophet, Isaiah and Micah ministered the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah put God above everything. King Hezekiah’s life for most of his actions is considered as the model of faithfulness and trust towards God. Prophet Isaiah influenced his life in many ways.
The larger socio-economic context of ancient Israel during Isaiah’s period of ministry:
To evaluate the larger socio-economic context of the ancient Israel during the ministry of Isaiah it must be noted that one-fifth of the chapters and prophecies are directed to the foreign nations (Chilton 2013). Major parts of his chapters are also set in the historical and socio-political context of his age. As Assyrian territory increased its reach towards Israel and Judah during Isaiah’s lifetime, Israel underwent three stages of conquest while in the case of Judah, the kingdom suffered only the first stage, and nearly escaped the other stages. Both the states Israel and Judah exercised a great hold of independent judgement during the Assyrian rule; this encroachment was frightening at the same time (Isaiah 2013). As the Assyrians were very powerful during Isaiah’s ministry, they were getting prepared to attack Palestine and Syria.
Judah experienced a strong stable rule during Isaiah’s early life. In the political conditions much more disturbing during this time (Isaiah 2013). The lower class of the time were mostly suffered. Many farmers were forced to sell their lands and there were forced to become the servants of the upper classes. During Isaiah’s youth and early manhood, the strong king Uzziah ruled the southern Israelite of Judah. He was an able ruler to maintain his his country also, he valued the precious prophecies of Isaiah.
3.a) From the considered passage from the book of Isaiah, three key themes can be deducted including the pivotal role of the folk musician who sings a beautiful Ballard on the beauty of the vineyard of god. This initial major theme follows up with god’s expectation of the productivity of his vineyard and penultimate significant theme, which is the thorough description of the sins practiced by the inhabitants of Israel (Robetrs 2015). The very first major theme is significant in context to the history of Israel. The song sung by the folk singer indicates that god has taken complete care of the vineyard which represents Israel and has cleaned it up and ensured fruitful production. It therefore implicates that Israel, the old city presented in the testament, which is symbolic of the lord created garden (Parker 2015).
The second major theme bears remarkable resonance with the condition of Israel. The 5:2b portion draws a picture of god’s disappointment about his vineyard as the kind of production of grapes is completely opposite of what the lord has expected. It is indicative of the tempestuous and unsettled situation of Israel. However, verses 8 to 10 are concerned to be probably the most important theme of the chapter, which says that Israel has been corrupted with people whose sole intention is to become the owner of a large estate (Robetrs 2015). The verses infer that lord will ultimately punish those landowners, as the lord will ultimately turn their properties empty.
b) The two most crucial parts of the fifth chapter of Isaiah’s book are the song about god planted vineyard, the six woes, and their judgments. The Song of the Vineyard is addressed to the lord Yahweh and talks about how lord’s expectations regarding the vineyard has turned to fruitless, bitter outcome (Davies and Gordon 2014). Woes and judgments from the verses 8 to 30 on the other hand informs about the shameful woes driven by the people of Judah due to cultivating stinking, bitter fruits. Most significantly, both The Song of the Vineyard and Woes and judgments start with a parable which is a like a prophecy statement or an initial preparation process for judgment statement that later followed up with ultimate judgments. Additionally, two of these sections are interconnected as message from both of the segment discloses one major aspect which is the disgruntle outcome of the vineyard which has been created by the Lord in hope of producing something beneficial (Evans 2016).
Woes and judgments’ one of the most noteworthy points comes in the 5:8-17 verses where the prophet talks about the first woe brought by the hegemonic power of a wealthy class of Israel whose sole concern to gain maximum luxury have been proving troublesome. Another potential problem discussed in this segment is the second woe, which is the sin of being drunkenness (Moore 2012). The prophet through the second woe laments about the wealthy people who consider indulging themselves into drinking more than anything else.
The section is called Woes and judgments as in this individual section of chapter five, the prophet laments about six particular woes one by one and then proceeds with the individual judgments for each of the sins which have initiated the laments (Davies and Gordon 2014).
c) Apart from Isaiah, there is the book of another leading prophet of Judah who is Habakkuk which talks about five woes or laments against the society and afterwards gives an account of god’s answers or judgments regarding those woes in chapter two (Parker 2015). Chapter two of Habakkuk’s book talks about how lord’s judgments eventually sums against a nation which has gradually descend itself to a level of utmost repulsion.
d) Isaiah’s song of vineyard introduces itself again as a counterpart of another song in the verses from 27:2-6. The former song of vineyard mainly talks about the wrath of god regarding the stinking reproduction of the nation made like a vineyard whereas vineyard song in the verses of 27:2-6 contrarily draws a picture of merci, love, protection, kindness and promise. The song of vineyard in the later verses shows difference in the expression of god along with different circumstances in the vineyard (Evans 2016). Furthermore, whereas in the first song, the vineyard has been the polluted and befouled place of Israel, the vineyard in the later one is probably the church of Jerusalem which is full of love and merci.
4. Isaiah’s ministry is a series of prophecies made right after the demise of Uzziah with the demolition of all the prosperity and stability. The ministry talks about the sins committed by the inhabitants of Israel which is disappointing and increasing lord’s wrath. The context is symbolic enough for the present turmoil of the western society of twenty first century (Thompson 2015). The ancient sins of the nation of Israel are presently occurring frequently by the inhabitants of most of western Christian countries. Isaiah talks about the lavish scandalous lifestyle of the rich people affecting negatively upon the society (Robetrs 2015). The unceasing hunger for money and comfort of the rich people are the prime instigator for the increasing poverty in the third world countries. Isaiah’s ministry about the history of Israel significantly symbolize uncontrolled tempestuous situation of which the recent condition of twenty first century acts like an identical counterpart.
5. However, Isaiah’s ministry only concentrates about the nation of Israel and prophets circumstances for the nation only, whereas such presumed conditions are being valid for almost every nation of 21st century. On the other hand, role of church and practice of Christianity which did resurrect the dying nation now seems not worth standing for the problems of the western world. Isaiah’s ministry talks about the sacrifice of Christ that unblemished all the sins from earth, whereas in today’s world there is no Christ like figure who will save the world from sins with sacrifice (Thompson 2015). Even in 21st century most of the Christian rituals are not celebrated properly.
References
Berlin, Isaiah. Russian thinkers. Penguin UK, 2013.
Berlin, Isaiah. The crooked timber of humanity: Chapters in the history of ideas. Princeton University Press, 2013.
Berlin, Isaiah. Three critics of the enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder. Princeton University Press, 2013.
Berlin, Isaiah. Three critics of the enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder. Princeton University Press, 2013.
Chilton, Bruce D. A Galilean Rabbi and His Bible: Jesus’ Use of the Interpreted Scriptures of His Time. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.
Zeitlin, Irving M. Jesus and the Judaism of his time. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Davies G, Gordon R. 12 Notes on Two Verses in Isaiah (26 16 and 66 17)(1980). InStudies on
the Language and Literature of the Bible 2014 Nov 14 (pp. 187-200). Brill.
Evans, Craig A. “14 An Aramaic Parable in a Greek Gospel: The Quest for the Original Meaning
of the Vineyard Parable.” In Earliest Christianity within the Boundaries of Judaism, pp. 281-302.
Brill, 2016.
Moore, Robert R. “Toward a biblical understanding of servant leadership: An examination of
biblical concepts of servanthood in Isaiah’s Servant Songs.” PhD diss., DALLAS BAPTIST
UNIVERSITY, 2012.
Parker, Jonathan Deane. “Biblical Prophecy: Perspectives for Christian Theology, Discipleship,
and Ministry.” Cithara 55, no. 1 (2015): 47.
Roberts, Jimmy Jack McBee. First Isaiah: A Commentary. Edited by Peter Machinist. 2015.
Thompson, Bill. “Preaching Isaiah’s Message Today.” The Asbury Journal 70, no. 2 (2015): 8.
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