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kootvanwykVan Wyk Blobs to Isaiah Sabbath School Lesson 4
People may ask, what arrogance he has to change
the concepts that Dr. Roy Gane of Andrews has prepared for us here and the GC
took time to present. Firstly, Roy Gane wrote these SS for 2004 and there is no
change in the presentation between 2004 and 2021. Nothing was done. I did not
pay attention that year to Isaiah Sabbath School quarterly because I was
getting ready for defense and graduation. Our writer seems to be shy of
Adventist historicism and indulge in utilizing Calvinistic preterism so heavily
buttered in the commentaries of Eerdmans, Knobel, Moody, Grand Rapids, Fortress
Press and others like the Baptist commentary by Bob Utley in 1996, see online?
The purpose and task of Sabbath School Lesson in Adventism is interlocution.
That is my goal here with a vintage spine, get back to the old paths with a
focus away from ontology [what does it mean for your experience] to espistemology
[what does God say packed in His messages of eschatology that may happen as we
are getting there]. The GC said that no one must publish this and distribute it
under their name in the form I have it. It can only be used for study and
research. No gain aspect connected to this.
Isaiah
Sabbath School Lesson Begins
Bible Study Guide - 1st Quarter 2021
Lesson 4January 16-22
The Hard Way
Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study:Isa. 7:14-16,Isa. 7:17-25,Isa. 8:1-10,Isa. 8:11-15,Isa. 8:16-22. Memory Text: “I will wait on the LORD, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and
I will hope in Him”(Isaiah 8:17, NKJV). At a burning building in New York City’s Harlem, a blind girl was perched
on the fourth-floor window. The firemen had become desperate. They couldn’t fit
the ladder truck between the buildings, and they couldn’t get her to jump into
a net, which she, of course, couldn’t see. “Finally her father arrived and shouted through the bull horn that there
was a net and that she was to jump on his command. The girl jumped and was so
completely relaxed that she did not break a bone or even strain a muscle in the
four-story fall. Because she trusted her father completely, when she heard her
father’s voice she did what he said was best.” — Edited by Michael P. Green,
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, p. 135. In the same way, God provided powerful evidence that He wanted the best
for His children, but they rejected the gently flowing way He first presented
to them; thus, He had to speak to them with a roar and a flood instead. What lessons today can we learn from their mistakes? The beauty of this narrative selected by Gane here cannot be improved
upon. He put the text of Isaiah and events as what happened to them then and
what can we learn now. What the text meant and what it should mean now. This is
a very popular phrase by preteristic commentaries but not necessarily wrong to
be used by him. Let us look how Ellen White considered the messages described by prophets
such as Habakkuk, Zachariah, Maleachi: “[Habakkuk 2:1-20; Zephaniah 1:1-3:20;
Zechariah 1:1-4:14; Malachi 1:1-4, quoted.] These scenes will soon be
witnessed, just as they are clearly described. I present these wonderful
statements from the Scriptures for the consideration of everyone. The prophecies
recorded in the Old Testament are the word of the Lord for the last days, and
will be fulfilled as surely as we have seen the desolation of San
Francisco.—Letter 154, 1906 (May 26). [LDE 115.1] There is a possibility that strong comparisons can be found with a Baptist
Isaiah Commentary from Texas in 1996. See online Bob Utley’s Isaiah commentary.
There is nothing wrong in utilizing good commentaries like this one of Utley
but an Adventist was given a mandate by God with a special message for these
times (C. D. Brooks and Charles Bradford) and the Spirit packed it in Isaiah’s
descriptions for us to pull out and frame. Study this week’s lesson to prepare for
Sabbath, January 23. Prophecy Fulfilled (Isa. 7:14-16) In Isaiah 7:14-16, Immanuel is a sign. He did not ask a sign but the Lord offered
one. The sign of the Lord is a long term prophecy of the Incarnation of Jesus
Christ. “Behold, the virgin will be with a child and bear a son, and she will
call His name Immanuel” (v. 14). Christ will eat cheese and honey “at the time
He knows to refuse evil and choose good” (v. 15). The reason is that Christ had
to be absolutely perfect. “Before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose
good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken” (v. 16). As Gane said Before the child Immanuel
would be old enough to decide between different kinds of food, “the land before
whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted” (Isa. 7:16, NRSV). For Gane it refers to
the land and kings of Syria and northern Israel(see Isa. 7:1, 2, 4-9). In the time of Christ the Arameans
were no longer a threat to Judah and Northern Israel was deported in 723 BC and
made almost desolate. Empire upon empire was to do this. Why does Isaiah mention
“curds and honey” (NRSV) that the boy would have to eat? Isa. 7:15. The crops and fields of Judah would be destroyed by the Assyrians (Isa. 7:23-25). So the people, including
the Old Testament Immanuel, whoever he was (Isa. 7:14, 15), would be forced to return to the diet
of nomads (Isa. 7:21, 22). But while they would be poor, they
would have enough on which to survive. In my own understanding of these verses from 15 to 22 I would say: Thus, before 2BCE it will be forsaken. The Lord
was planning to bring on them the king of Assyria (v. 17). A number of Assyrian
kings would hang around Israel and Judah: Tiglath-Pilezer until 727 BCE, the
year of this prophecy, Shalmanezer V, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon,
Ashurbanipal. They “will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the
ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places”
(v. 19). Prisoners will be shaved on the head and legs as one can see on the
iconography presentation of Seton Lloyd, The
Archaeology of Mesopotamia 1987: 145 no. 97. Exactly and vividly as if
Isaiah saw the same picture. It will come about in the day of the Messiah (v.
21) “that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep”. “And it will
happen that because of the abundance of milk produced He [Immanuel or Christ]
will eat cheese for everyone that is left within the land will eat cheese and
honey” (v. 22). Cheese that are from cows that exercise enough and are not
injected with hormones and other modern contaminants.There will be a dry period
so that where there use to be a thousand vines at a thousand shekels, it will
become briars and thorns (v. 23). People will come with weapons since it is dry
and deserted (v. 24). The Romans came. The hills will become a place for
pasturing oxen and sheep to trample (v. 25). Isaiah was outlining the period
the Messiah would come. That is why in Jesus day the pigs in which the demons
went, went off a cliff. When was the prophecy
regarding Syria and northern Israel fulfilled? 2 Kings 15:29, 30; 2 Kings 16:7-9; 1 Chron. 5:6, 26. Gane felt that this prophecy of Isaiah was given about 734 B.C. In
response to the bribe of Ahaz, Tiglath-pileser III did what he probably would
have done anyway: He smashed the northern coalition, conquered the Galilee and
Transjordanian regions of northern Israel, deported some of the population, and
turned the territories into Assyrian provinces (734-733 B.C.). The remainder of
Israel was saved when Hoshea, after murdering King Pekah, surrendered and paid
tribute. In 733 and 732 B.C. Tiglath-pileser conquered Damascus, the capital of
Syria. Then he made Syria into Assyrian provinces. So, by 732, within about two
years of Isaiah’s prediction, Syria and Israel had been conclusively defeated,
and it was all over for the two kings who had threatened Ahaz. Soon after Shalmaneser V replaced Tiglath-pileser III in 727 B.C., King
Hoshea of Israel committed political suicide by rebelling against Assyria. The
Assyrians took the capital city of Samaria in 722 B.C. and deported thousands
of Israelites to Mesopotamia and Media, where they were eventually absorbed
into the local populations and lost their identity (see Isa. 7:8—within 65 years Ephraim would no
longer even be a people). God had predicted what would happen to the
enemies of Judah, but His point to Ahaz was that this would happen anyway,
without any need to rely on Assyria. Think, if you were living in the northern
kingdom while all this was happening, how easy it would be to lose faith. What
can we do, now, today, to learn to keep our faith intact, so that when
tomorrow’s calamities come, we can stay firm? See 1 Pet. 1:13-25. Foreseen Consequences (Isa. 7:17-25) Read the above verses.
What is the Lord saying that will happen to the land? Why should we not be
surprised at this outcome? “Invitation upon invitation was sent to erring Israel to return to their
allegiance to Jehovah. Tender were the pleadings of the prophets; and as they
stood before the people, earnestly exhorting to repentance and reformation,
their words bore fruit to the glory of God.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings,
p. 3 25. Thus, for Ahaz, the man of fear rather than faith, the good news from God
was that Syria and Israel would be wiped out. The bad news was that Assyria,
the ally and “friend” he had chosen to help him, would turn out to be a far
more dangerous foe than Syria and Israel had been. By turning down God’s freely
offered deliverance, Ahaz was guaranteed defeat. If Ahaz thought his world was
falling apart now, things were going to get only worse! “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in princes”
(Ps. 118:9, NRSV). How could Ahaz trust
that Tiglath-pileser III would be satisfied with taking the countries to the
north and would respect Judah? Assyrian writings, such as annals of the
Assyrian kings themselves, testify to the fact that their desire for power was
insatiable. Read 2 Kings 16:10-18 and 2 Chronicles 28:20-25. What was happening to
Ahaz? What spiritual principle do we see unfolding here? Why should we not be
surprised at his actions? Second Chronicles 28:20-23 powerfully
sums up what resulted from Ahaz’s asking for help from Assyria rather than
relying on the Lord. Our natural tendency is to trust in what we
can see, feel, taste, touch—the things of the world. Yet, as we know, the things
of the world vanish. Look at 2 Corinthians 4:18. What is the text saying to
us? How can we apply its message to our own lives? And what difference will it
make for us if we do? What’s in a Name? (Isa. 8:1-10) Can you imagine playing a ball game with Isaiah’s second boy? By the time
you could say “Maher-shalal-hash-baz, throw me the ball!” it would be too late.
But even longer than his name is its meaning: “swift is booty, speedy is prey”
or “speed the spoil, hasten the plunder.” The message of the
name clearly has to do with rapid conquest, but who conquers whom? Isa. 8:4. Isaiah 8:1-10 Isaiah is given a writing task by the Lord in this chapter. He is to write
on a tablet the words “Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey” (v. 1). This
writing had to be done in the presence of two faithful witnesses for testimony
that the Lord selected: Uriah the priest and Zachariah the son of Jeberechiah
(v. 2). Some interesting points are involved here. If this Uriah is the same
Urijah who built the heathen altar copied from the Assyrian fashion at Damascus
for king Ahaz after 727 BCE, then Isaiah wrote this tablet prior to that date
when faithful Uriah became unfaithful Urijah (2 Kings 16:10-11). The second
point is that Zachariah was probably the greatgrandfather of the prophet Zachariah.
Jeberechiah was the grandfather of Zachariah and his child was probably Iddo
who’s son Berechiah was the father of the prophet Zachariah (Zachariah 1:1).
Isaiah then approached his wife who is called “the prophetess” and she
conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord gave the name Maher-shalal-hash –baz.
The agglutinating stringing of words together in one block like this, is a
characteristic of the Sumerian syntax and grammar. Isaiah was a learned man who
knew Akkadian well. Akkadian also uses some Sumerian loanwords and expressions.
They both wrote on clay tablets. Probably before 724 BCE, the boy of Isaiah was
born since before he could speak “the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of
Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria” referring to the fall
of Samaria between 723-721 BCE by Shalmanezer V. Why the Aramean capital Damascus? The Assyrians
came to destroy. A new Empire was to start haunting that area. So what is going
on? The Aramean empire was spiritual “Babylon”. The remnant weed went after the
gods of the Arameans. In Acts 7:43 Luke is writing down the sermon of Stephen
in 34 A.D. very carefully and Stephen cited Amos 5:25-27 referred to Damascus
as “Babylon”. Then the Assyrians took over and certain cuneiform texts studied
by Stephanie Dalley indicated that Niniveh was “Babylon” as was all earlier
empire’s capitals. So what is “Babylon” in the Medo-Persian period? Susa or
Persepolis? Greek empire is Athens? Peter said in 1Peter 5:13 that Rome is “Babylon”.
The Vatican during 538-1798? The USA? Is it Washington or New York? Why does Isaiah tell
us he legally recorded the child’s name and had marital relations with his wife
(“the prophetess”)? Isa. 8:1-3. As Gane said the timing of this son was central to his significance as a
sign. As with the sign of Immanuel, from the time he was conceived and born
until the time Assyria defeated Syria and Israel would be less time than it
would take for the boy to reach an early developmental stage, in this case calling
for his father or mother (Isa. 8:4). When
Isaiah legally recorded the boy’s name even before his conception, he made the
child and his name a public prophecy that could be tested by subsequent events.
I would add that just as Immanuel or Jesus would be born after Damascus and Ephraim
is destroyed in 4 BCE, so the boy of Isaiah would be born a living prophecy
that when the Lord gives names, it came to pass as the Lord predicted. I also add that the Lord reiterate why the
punishment was in process over Israel (v. 5). The remnant weed has “rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoice in Rezin and the son of
Remaliah” (v. 6). Their fascination with Aram and Pekah of Israel, led them to
their punishment. This was in the days of Ahaz in 727 BCE when Ahaz went to
Damascus to pay for Tiglath-Pilezer III and copied the sketch of the altar
there. “Now behold the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant
waters of the River [Euphrates]” (v. 7) which was Tiglath-Pilezer III. “Even
the king of Assyria and all his glory” (v. 7b). It will come into Judah “and
pass through . . .and the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of Your
land O Immanuel (Christ)” (v. 8). This world empire was to colonize all peoples
after breaking them “be broken O peoples and be shattered and give ear all
remote places of the earth” (v.9a-b). Even thought nations will militarily
prepare against Assyria, it would not succeed (v. 9c-d). They will devise a
plan but it will not succeed (v. 10). Despite repeated mistakes on the part of His
professed people, the Lord was still willing to save them. How can we take this
principle and apply it to ourselves personally, especially when we fail and
fall in our own spiritual life? Nothing to Fear When We Fear God Himself (Isa.
8:11-15) In his first inaugural address, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt
told a nation disheartened by the Great Depression: “The only thing we have to
fear is fear itself.” — U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. (March 4, 1933).
Isaiah’s message to depressed people is: “We have nothing to fear when we fear
God Himself.” I may add, Ellen White said it better: “We have nothing to fear lest
we forget how God has led us in the past.” God warned Isaiah not to fear what his people feared, but to fear Him (Isa. 8:12, 13). This is an important theme in
Scripture. For example, in Revelation 14:6-12, three angels proclaim a
worldwide message: Fear God and give glory to Him, rather than fearing and
giving glory to the earthly beast power described in chapter 13. How do you understand
the idea of “fearing” God? What does that mean, especially in light of the
command for us to love God, as well (Matt. 22:37)? I would add that the reason is
that with the remnant seed, God is with them “God is with us” which is the
equivalent of Immanuel or the Christ promise to come mentioned in v. 8c. Isaiah
said that this is what the Lord told him and the Lord instructed him to be not
like the remnant weed but like the remnant seed (v. 11). The identification of
the remnant weed is then given: the remnant weed says “a conspiracy!” but the
remnant seed should not share that view (v. 12a); remnant seed should not fear
what the remnant weed fear (v. 12b); the remnant seed should regard as holy the
Lord (v. 13a) not politics; the Lord should be the remnant seed’s fear not like
remnant weed who fear politics (v. 13b); the Lord becomes a sanctuary to the
remnant seed but the remnant weed likes the cult of politics they set up for
themselves (v. 13d); for both Israel in 723 BCE and Judah in 586 BCE there was
a coming kingdom of the Messiah “a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over”
(v. 14b). The exiles and historical events are all related to the Rock of Ages
to Whom we all should be cleaving (see the final kingdom of the Messiah as a
Rock in Daniel 2). Jerusalem was to suffer “many will fall on them” and then
they will fall and be broken, the inhabitants snared and caught in history many
times (v. 15). Doesn’t the idea that we should fear God contradict 1 John 4:18? “There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever
fears has not reached perfection in love” (NRSV). There are different kinds of fear. If someone with awesome power is your
friend, with whom you share mutual love, you do not fear that person in the
sense you think he or she will hurt you. But you have a kind of fear in the
sense that you know and respect the power of that person and the boundaries of
your relationship. As Christians we aren’t to love the things of
the world, the things people of the world themselves love (1 John 2:15). Thinking, then, along
parallel lines, as Christians, are there things the world fears that we as
Christians shouldn’t fear? If so, what are they, and why shouldn’t we fear
them? At the same time, what things does the world not fear that we Christians
should? See, for instance, Matt. 10:28; Jer. 10:2, 3. Gloom of the Ungrateful Living Dead (Isa.
8:16-22) Read the above passage.
What is it talking about? What has this to do with King Ahaz? Summarize the
ideas. I would summarize this section as follows. For
the remnant seed there is a message: bind the testimony; seal the law among the
disciples (v. 16); wait for the Lord Who is hiding His face from the house of
Jacob; look eagerly for Him (v. 17); Isaiah as a remnant seed is with the
mission, his wife, his children and him “are for signs and wonders in
[spiritual] Israel” and this mission was given “from the Lord of hosts [angels]
Who dwells on [heavenly] Mount Zion” (v. 18). The problem with the remnant weed
are continued: the consult mediums, spiritism “who whisper and mutter” but the
remnant seed consult God (v. 19); the remnant weed goes to ancestral graves to
speak to the dead but Isaiah says that the remnant seed goes to God to speak to
the living God (v. 19b). The remnant seed follows the Law and the Testimony (v.
20). This is how you know true religion “if they do not speak according to this
Word [Law including the Saturday Sabbath keeping command and Testimony
including the gospels about Christ’s substitutionary death for our salvation]
it is because they have no dawn” (v. 20b). The remnant weed will have hard
times in the Time of Trouble “they will pass through the land “hard-pressed and
famished” and when they are hungry they will curse their rulers and also God “as
they face upward” (v. 21) since God is going to send plaques during this time
to fall on the remnant weed and evil ones but not the remnant seed. They will
look to the earth at the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Time of Trouble “and behold distress and
darkness the gloom of anguish and driven away into darkness” the fatal result
(v. 22). What do these texts say
about the occult? Lev. 20:27, Deut. 18:9-14. Separation from the occult is a matter of loyalty to God. First Chronicles 10:13, 14 applies this principle to the case of King
Saul: “So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the LORD in
that he did not keep the command of the LORD; moreover, he had consulted a
medium, seeking guidance, and did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore
the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of
Jesse” (NRSV). Look around at your own life, at the
influences around you. In what subtle ways are you exposed to the principles
behind the occult and various manifestations of spiritualism? And even if you
can’t totally avoid them, what can you do to minimize their influence upon you,
or your family? Further Study: Read in The Great Controversy, “Can Our Dead Speak to Us?”
pp. 551-562. “In the days of the Hebrews there was a class of people who claimed, as do
the spiritualists of today, to hold communication with the dead. But the
‘familiar spirits,’ as these visitants from other worlds were called, are
declared by the Bible to be ‘the spirits of devils.’ (Compare Numbers 25:1-3; Psalm 106:28; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Revelation 16:14.) The work of
dealing with familiar spirits was pronounced an abomination to the Lord, and
was solemnly forbidden under penalty of death. Leviticus 19:31; [Leviticus] 20:27. The very
name of witchcraft is now held in contempt. The claim that men can hold
intercourse with evil spirits is regarded as a fable of the Dark Ages. But
spiritualism, which numbers its converts by hundreds of thousands, yea, by
millions, which has made its way into scientific circles, which has invaded
churches, and has found favor in legislative bodies, and even in the courts of
kings—this mammoth deception is but a revival, in a new disguise, of the
witchcraft condemned and prohibited of old.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy,
p. 556. Discussion Questions: 1. Discuss the issue of spiritualism as it appears in movies, books, TV, and
popular culture. If nothing can be done to stop it, how can we alert others to
the dangers of what, for so many people, seem like harmless distractions,
nothing more? Why is a proper understanding of the state of the dead so
important in being protected against these deceptions? 2. Read Isaiah 8:20. Rephrase it in your own words.
Let different people in the class read their versions aloud. What is the Lord
telling us here? 3. Dwell more on this idea of loving and fearing God at the same time. In
what ways does our love stem from that fear? Or does our fear stem from our
love? Discuss. Summary: Through Isaiah’s
actions and family, as well as his words, God reinforced the message of warning
and hope: The only safe course is to trust that God knows what He is doing. He
has both the love and the power to guide, protect, and provide for those who
let Him. For those who turn to other powers, there is only gloom. Readers still have to use the official SS
Adult book on www.ssnet.org to compare and
see the added comments supportively or critically. This is what Sabbath School
discussion is all about. We help each other to stay on course. 
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Mission
