The reader has the right not to believe us, and, nevertheless, we declare: the prophet Isaiah was known to every Soviet schoolchild. Without getting acquainted specifically with the history of ancient Judea, without studying the Old Testament, remaining a vigorous pioneer, activist and Timurian - I knew. Although I had no idea about my latent knowledge, I thought about Isaiah that this name was very funny and had gone out of use. And yet - he knew, as the reader knows. And all because Pushkin's composition "The Prophet" is included in the school curriculum.
When the prophet Isaiah was born
Isaiah was born in Jerusalem around 765 BC. and could be considered happy just because, unlike many other prophets, he lived in this city all his life, not knowing exile and captivity. He came out of an aristocratic environment, was close to the court and outlived the four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Eszikai.
In the year of the death of the first king, in 740 BC. BC, when Isaiah prayed in the temple, he had a vision. The Lord sat on a high throne, and the edges of His robe filled the entire temple. Near Him were the Seraphim, covering their legs with two wings, covering their faces with two others, and finally, with the help of the last pair, they flew.
Isaiah was seriously scared: he did not have such special merit to be awarded such a spectacle. "Woe is me! I am lost! He shouted. "For I am a man with unclean lips and I live among the people also with unclean lips - and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
It was then that a seraphim flew to the aid of the humble pilgrim. Suddenly finding also his hands, he took coal from the altar with tongs and touched Isaiah's mouth with it. This, in fact, limited the picture of "self-mutilation" (the rest of the torment that fell to the lot of Pushkin's prophet, he does not mention the whole morbidity of this operation, it is more important for him to be wrong and to carry his will to them).
Promotional video:
Villains are villainous, and villains are villainous
In those years, the young king Ahaz ruled Judea. They say that he indulged in such extreme wickedness that he built pagan altars everywhere and even sacrificed his own children to alien idols. About this time, neighboring Syria began to look at the Judean lands with an open appetite, and the wicked king was seriously worried. He decided to turn to Assyria for help.
Wanting to warn Ahaz, Isaiah appeared to him. He predicted the imminent death of the Syrian king, and advised his own to rely not on the force of arms, but on the help of God. And to support his words, he suggested asking the Lord for a sign. However, Ahaz, after waiting a short time, nevertheless sent for the Assyrians. They did not break down and immediately occupied Syria. And along with Galileo. Judea was completely dependent on her "savior". Nothing was holding back the pagan sympathies of the Jewish king, and soon many of his subjects forgot about their destiny and God.
Do not carry any more vain gifts
However, some elegantly combined newfangled beliefs and some semblance of old beliefs. They made sacrifices to Hosts, scrupulously observed ceremonies and rituals. And then God spoke again through the lips of Isaiah.
And he said something that few of the church reformers would dare to do: “Why do I need your many sacrifices? I am satiated with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and lambs … I do not want. And when you spread out your hands, I hide my eyes from you … your hands are full of blood. Wash yourself, cleanse yourself, stop doing evil … seek the truth; save the oppressed; protect the orphan; stand up for the widow. Then come and we will judge."
Here is my boy
We agree that for the eighth century BC (for comparison: Homer worked about this time in Greece), the installation was rather unexpected. And yet Isaiah gained glory in the centuries for something else: his famous messianic prophecy - about the coming birth of the Infant from the clan of David: "Behold the Virgin in her womb will receive and give birth to a Son."
Most likely, he himself believed that the Savior of the Jewish race would appear in the royal family. Perhaps he even had in mind the next king, Hezekiah, with whom he associated (and rightly so) hopes of restoring faith. And, of course, he did not expect how his prediction would come true in the distant future. Surprisingly, (as in the Hebrew original) as a "virgin", no one pulled the tongue, but long before the birth of Christ, they made this strange "mistake" in their texts. So the prophecies of Isaiah turned out to be the main Old Testament texts about the coming of Christ.
Thank God everything
At thirty-six years old, King Ahaz died suddenly. His son Hezekiah succeeded him. He brought Isaiah closer to himself, especially since he himself was an ardent jealous of the old, truth of faith. The king not only fought against paganism - he even destroyed many altars of Yahweh, fearing that worshiping an idol would only interfere with pure religious feeling.
However, as order was established in the country, its borders became more and more hectic. The former Assyrian king died, the rulers subordinate to him began to come out of obedience. However, Sennacherib, the new Assyrian king, did not want to give up his former positions. He destroyed rebellious Babylon and marched against Judea. Many cities were taken, hundreds of thousands were taken prisoner. About Hezekiah, he boastfully wrote: "I locked him up like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem, his royal city." Hezekiah paid off with a huge indemnity, but 10 years later the Assyrians returned and laid siege to Jerusalem.
To each according to his faith
By that time, the position of Isaiah at the court was significantly strengthened: he managed to heal the dying king, and he absolutely trusted him. However, Isaiah's advice confused Hezekio. He, as before, ordered to rely on faith in everything, not to twist about the superior forces of the enemy and not to ponder plans for the coming battle. Hezekie did just that.
The Assyrian ambassadors were surprised by the intransigence of the “locked in a cage” Jew and asked, not without irony: “What kind of hope are you hoping for?.. did Hezekiah abolish altars? (Presumably, the rumor about more than decisive actions of Hezekiah in the field of religious reforms reached Assyria.)
… In the vicinity of Jerusalem, in the corresponding temporary layers, archaeologists have discovered a one-time burial of a huge army - ruined not by the art of the enemy, but, apparently, by some kind of terrible epidemic. So modern scientists believe. Isaiah had a different point of view on this matter: "The angel of the Lord smote in the Assyrian camp one hundred and eighty-five thousand people … and Sennacherib departed."
We add to this that when the Assyrian king prayed in the temple before the idol, he was hacked to death by his own sons.
Come down and sit on the dust, daughter of Babylon
The latter, however, could not have come as a surprise to Isaiah. We remember how he treated idolaters: a piece of wood or gold, no matter how skillfully handled by human hands, can neither save nor protect. And the fact that the pagan fell directly at the foot of his powerless god - well, that had its own, albeit ironic, logic.
And although our reader may not like this, Isaiah turned out to be so consistent that he did not favor Babylonian enthusiasm for astrology and even predicted death for Babylon for her pernicious and wicked addictions. “Stay with your magic and with the multitude of your sorceries,” he addressed from God's name to the neighboring country, “which you have been doing since your youth; maybe you can help yourself, maybe you can resist. You are weary of your multitude of advice, so let the heavenly observers, and the astrologers, and the forerunners of the new moons appear and save you from what should happen to you. Alas, mighty Babylon, as we know, could not resist …
When nations, having forgotten strife …
We can judge about the death of Isaiah by the later, already Christian texts. They say she was torturous. After the death of the well-behaved Hezekiah, the throne was succeeded by Manasseh, whom the harsh instructions of the prophet and his constant reproaches greatly irritated. Wanting to force Isaiah to recant his words, the king's servants tortured him and, failing to succeed, sawed him in two with a wooden saw.
Isaiah did not beg for mercy, "did not shout or cry, for his lips spoke with the Holy Spirit."
And yet, even taking this apocrypha on faith, do not rush to be grieved in spirit, to say that this is the common path of worthy people in a world where everything is "fear, a noose and a pit." Isaiah himself gave us comfort. Speaking about the future destinies of the world, he foresaw the time when “the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie with the goat; and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox will be together, and the little child will lead them. " All this will happen when the Savior comes to earth.
Isaiah stands apart from other Old Testament prophets. He does not spare the pagans, does not spare the enemies of Israel, but he does not expect the time when the true believers will shine blessedly on the bones of the unbelievers - this is not, in his words, the fate and role of the people chosen by God.
… New York, on the wall opposite the building of the United Nations, amazing words are inscribed - either a prophecy, or a dream: “And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles: the people will not raise a sword against the people, and will learn to fight more. Their author is the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who long before Christ declared that God is not an angry teacher who punishes a negligent disciple, but a stern father, sometimes heavy on his hand, but invariably believing in His child, able to forgive him and, most importantly, very loving …
Author: Ekaterina Detochkina
