We growl like bears and mourn like doves

 

In addition to writing some of the most eloquent, theologically significant, and historically influential poetry in the Bible, the prophet Isaiah often found himself front-page news in his day. Let’s just say the guy had a way with words …both written and spoken.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia substantiates this with their claim that, “For versatility of expression and brilliance of imagery Isaiah had no superior, not even a rival.”

The sixty-six-chapter biblical book that bears his name continues to be a foundational text in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. There were at least twenty-one copies of Isaiah among the Dead Sea Scrolls—ancient manuscripts that were first discovered by a Bedouin shepherd between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves located on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea—along with six copies of commentaries on Isaiah.

Jesus himself referenced the prophetic writings of Isaiah often, which may explain Jesus’ reason for using parables to teach. One example is found in Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9-10: “He said, Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah’s message varied, depending on which political crisis he was addressing. And believe me, he addressed many in his lifetime, given his daily encounters with political leaders and social elites in Jerusalem. In fact, Isaiah, who prophesied for some sixty-four years, found himself witness to one of the most turbulent and unstable periods in Jerusalem’s history, from both a political and religious point of view. He was not one to cower when it came to confronting the ruling classes in defense of common people. Especially against the corruption they increasingly faced. Something, I’m certain, we can all relate to.

Isaiah’s efforts brought him into direct contact with kings and priests; and, as one can imagine, given his outspoken message, he managed to encounter strong opposition from both groups. At times, this opposition was so oppressive that he was forced to give up speaking in public and confine his ministry to a group of disciples with whom he met privately.

Wrote Biblical scholar and professor Sheldon H. Blank in his book, Prophetic Faith in Isaiah (1958), “Painfully sensitive to the rottenness of his society, Isaiah foresaw its consequent collapse.”

From the 59th chapter of Isaiah: “No one speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell lies, No one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

“So, justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

“No one has come to defend us or to bring about justice. We growl like bears and mourn like doves. We hope for justice and victory, but they escape us.”

Submits Blank, “[Isaiah] knew and offered an alternative to tragedy: his people’s survival depended on their acceptance again of the ancient moral demands …his goal was to redirect his people into the ways acceptable to the God whom by their conduct they had alienated, and so to save them from catastrophe. He screamed dread warnings and pleaded for amendment.

“He gave way to despair only because his program had no success. His people seemed to him bent on self-destruction; that was the sickening course of their destiny as he saw it unfolding.”

Isaiah’s seemingly impossible efforts breakthrough in the crisis that arose some seven-hundred years before Christ arrived on the scene. A crisis during which Isaiah stands in violent opposition to the generals ready to go to Egypt for help against the Assyrians laying siege to his beloved homeland.

Professor Blank explains, “Isaiah looked neither to allies nor to armaments for security. If it is God who decides the destiny of nations, security is for God to grant and for humans to deserve.” Isaiah held the counterintuitive daring view that the best defense is no defense— none other than to reconcile the created with their Creator. To restore harmony in response to the moral demand.

Isaiah fully understood, those who look to government for their security will continually be disillusioned by false hope; an optimism more often used to control those under authority than to protect them.