Isaiah 9

Perhaps a reference to Gideon’s army defeating Midian raiders who came to the Jezreel Valley at harvesttime to steal Israel’s crops. This sprawling valley was and still is the breadbasket of the region, with wonderfully productive farmland. Gideon’s story is in Judges 7.

Many Christians and Jews say they see in this a reference to a coming messiah—a king descended from David who will bring peace to the land. Christian Bibles usually call this ruler the Prince of Peace and point to Jesus as fulfillment of the prophecy. The Hebrew word for “Prince” is sar, which has a wagonload of possible interpretations, including: ruler, commander, governor, captain—generally, someone who’s some kind of boss. Jews call this child the ruler whose name honors “the Mighty God, and the Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler.” Christians usually teach that the ruler is the divine Son of God. Jews usually teach that this passage doesn’t say anything about a divine ruler. They say the long name is simply the official throne name of a king’s son. Jews sometimes embedded God’s name into the name of a child or a city. The practice is called “theophory.” Theo is Greek for “god” or “divine.” Phoros means “contains,” as in phosphorus containing a poisonous element called phosphate. The name of the prophet Ezekiel is embedded with the name el, which means “God” in Hebrew. Ezekiel’s full name means “strong God” or “God strengthens.” The point Jewish scholars make is that just because a person’s name refers to God doesn’t mean that person is God. Instead, it’s a name intended to honor God. Christians counter that Jesus was both a man of peace, the Son of God, and a king of kings whose kingdom will never end. Which resembles the king Isaiah described.

In 930 BC, Israel split in two. This happened after King Solomon’s son and successor, Rehoboam, threatened to make life harder on the citizens than his dad had done. Solomon had taxed heavily, and he drafted people to work on government building projects like the Jerusalem Temple and his palace and walls for cities. See 1 Kings 12. The northern tribes, on the spot, seceded from the southern tribes and took with them the name of Israel. The southern nation became Judah, using the name of the dominate southern tribe.

This reads like Israelites reacting to an Assyrian invasion, either predicted or reported as a past event. Assyrians would eventually erase Israel from the political map in 722 BC, leaving the world wondering whatever happed to the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. But Assyria’s intrusion started some 20 years earlier, in about 740 BC. Assyrian King Pul took many Israelites captive and exiled them (1 Chronicles 5:26). Both invasions likely took place on Isaiah’s watch. He lived in comparative safety in Jerusalem in the southern Jewish nation of Judah.

The text more literally says the LORD stirred up Rezin’s enemies. Rezin was the Syrian ruler in Damascus. But he controlled Israel as a puppet nation, with its capital in Samaria. Rezin was building a coalition army to fight off the Assyrian empire, which was expanding its tax base throughout what is now the Middle East. Rezin’s enemy was Assyria (Isaiah 7).

Ephraim and Manasseh were the two leading tribes in the northern Jewish nation of Israel, with its capital in Samaria. As Assyrians increased their demands on Israel for more wealth in the form of taxes or tribute, the tribes turned on each other, perhaps fighting how much each tribe needed to pay Assyria. Eventually, they turned on the southern Jewish nation of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem. King Pekah did this, as reported in 7:1.