Isaiah - The Background

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderfully excited I am to get into this study of Isaiah! If you are following along here the back story is important information to understand. We need to know why Israel is in the place it is in the book of Isaiah. It is so important to understand this to appreciate the book of Isaiah. May we see God in ways we have not before. We will clearly see His frightful justice, His amazing grace, and His solution for our problem foretold.

From the beginning God desired relationship with us. Sin quickly entered the scene of our life on earth through our first parents, Adam and Eve. This sadly marred a perfect relationship with God. God cannot tolerate sin, justice must be paid for it. When sin entered the world things changed yet God had a plan to fix it. He always had this plan.

You see, God was going to make the ultimate sacrifice to pay for the sin we committed. All our fault yet all His restoration. He is amazing. He is the Hero of every story. He is what the entire Bible is about. The book of Isaiah will point us quite often to Jesus. It is the hope we have and the hope they had because He was going to restore to us a right relationship with God through faith in HIM alone. God even points this out to them at the height of their grossest sinfulness.

God is a God of covenant. Meaning He is faithful to His promises. He however, entered into a conditional covenant with His people through the law. In doing this there were rules they needed to follow. They were to let the Lord rule. He was to be the King of their lives.

However, after time passes and they are in the land God promised to them they look around at the other nations. They see they have an earthly king to rule them. The Israelites decided they also want a human ruler to rule like the other nations. This is a rejection of God. Yet God allows it (1 Samuel 8). They are stubborn because despite the warnings of how a dictator king will oppress them, they want one anyway. God also foreknew this writing in rules of how a king should behave in the book of Deuteronomy.

Saul is appointed first king. The people are happy because he is handsome and taller than the rest. However he does not lead a great legacy. He loses the kingdom because of his disobedience to the Lord. God then appoints another king in his place. King David, who is the most famous king of the Bible. He was a king after God's heart. His son Solomon then rules after him but his heart went astray because of his disobedience and this is what the Lord did, "¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. ¹² Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen” 1 Kings 11:11-13.

This is how Israel becomes two separate kingdoms instead of one. Now a smaller kingdom is formed in Judah. This is the king family line that Jesus will eventually come from. I wrote a study on the kings of Israel that can be found here. It walked us through their history. The background is good info because what is happening with them is important and parallels the kingdom of Judah. Isaiah will be prophesying to the kings of Judah. I also wrote a study on the lives of the kings of Judah and all in the family line of Christ which you can get here. I also can just send you an email version if you are interested just email me. All the history is so interesting. It helps you see the cultural context of Isaiah rightly.

The people have gone astray and are worshiping many idols, they are unfaithful to God. They have run astray and are committing spiritual adultery against God. In His great love He sends prophets to speak for Him. He warns His children over and over. He loves them so much to warn of the impending danger of breaking covenant but also loves them enough to not withhold punishment when they do not listen. He is a good Father. He loves His children but they will not listen.

When you read the account of the kings you see that they decline in following the Lord over and over. They seek many things other than God. Reasons? Prosperity comes and they forget God. They get strength and think they do not need God. They want to be like the others around them so they start to worship their gods. It is a very sad decline you see through the generations. Yet God is good and He is patient with them. He sends His messengers through the prophets. 

During the time of Isaiah Amos, Micah, Hosea, and Isaiah were all at work warning the people to come back. They refused. However, God is good and promises though He must punish them He will save a remnant for the sake of His covenant. He will also send a coming Savior who Isaiah points to in much of the book.