threats and trust

Good morning all,
First a reminder that tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 and tomorrow evening from 6:30 to 8:00 we'll be sharing our living nativity scene with the community at Laurelton. In addition to sharing the story of Christ's birth with our neighbors, we will also share refreshments and fellowship with folks in the narthex. Sunday we will also have evening worship at 7. This is a great weekend to get involved.

Today's passage is a bit confusing. There are four major political figures in the scene; the year is about 735 BCE. At this point the nation of Israel is divided into the northern kingdom, Israel and the southern kingdom, Judah. The capital of Israel is Samaria and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, is the king of Israel. Ephraim is a tribe of Israel and is sometimes used in the Bible as another title for the kingdom. The capital of Judah is Jerusalem with Ahaz, son of Jotham and descendant of David as its king. To Israel's north is Aram or Syria. Syria's king is Resin and its capital is Damascus. These are all pretty small kingdoms, but Israel and especially Judah are the center of the biblical story of this period. To the east of these kingdoms is the large empire of Assyria. Rezin and Pekah (Syria/Aram and Israel) allied with some of the other local kingdoms to defend themselves against Assyrian power. They tried to persuade Judah to be part of this alliance, but without success. This invasion seems to have been part of that persuasion. I tried without much success to find a decent map to attach to make this clearer. Your Bible may have one that helps you see this situation clearly.

Isaiah comes to King Ahaz in Jerusalem to encourage him to stand firm and trust in God. It seems that Ahaz wanted to ally with Assyria, but Isaiah advises him to simply trust in God and steer clear of political alliances. Isaiah tells Ahaz that both Syria/Aram and Israel will be conquered, and indeed, in 722 Israel is defeated by Assyria and the people are take captive. The threats we face always change, but holding on to God in the midst of trouble is always our calling.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 7:1-9

In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. 2When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.


3Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; 7therefore thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.) 9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.