Condemnation of Israel’s Sinful Pride (9:8–10:4)

Bricks . . . dressed stone . . . fig trees . . . cedars (9:10). A broad range of quality in products available to builders is presented here, from common and ordinary to fine and rare. Cheaply available were mud bricks, which could be easily handmade from readily available material and sun-dried. Isaiah brags that this common house-building stuff will be replaced by finished, hewn ashlar stone, which has been dressed on all sides by a chisel.337 Requiring more work and being much more durable, these stones were also more expensive than common brick.

The upper blocks of Ashlar masonry contrast to the fieldstone base near the gate of Tel Dan.

Kim Walton

Roof beams were generally made from the commonly available wood of the sycamore fig, which was used in spite of its softness and lack of durability. In contrast, the speakers, in their braggadocio, purport to replace it with the harder and therefore stronger, taller, and more precious cedar (cf. 2:13). This is reminiscent of the days of Solomon, who “made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as numerous as the sycamore-fig trees” (1 Kings 10:27; 2 Chr. 9:27).

Rezin’s foes (9:11). Rezin, the Aramean king of 7:1, was conquered by Assyria in the campaign of 734–732 B.C.338 Undoubtedly Assyria is the enemy noted here.

Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west (9:12). When Assyria campaigned in the area, it moved against all the inhabitants, including Israel, the Arameans, and the Philistines. Tiglath-pileser III says, “I received tribute from . . . Mitinti of Ashkelon [a Philistine city], Jehoahaz of Judah”;339 “I received tribute from . . . Rezon of Damascus”;340 and “as for Hanno of Gaza [a Philistine city] who had fled from my army . . . I imposed tribute upon them.”341 Since this verse sees Israel suffering attack from these two neighbors, this could indicate that some of their soldiers were either conscripted into the Assyrian army or were hired as mercenaries.

Pharaoh with outstretched arm in relief at Karnak

Manfred Näder, Gabana Studios, Germany

His hand is still upraised (9:12, 17, 21). The anthropomorphism of God’s outstretched hand most often indicates anger and judgment (5:25; 23:11), though it can also bestow blessing (Deut. 4:34). In the Akkadian folktale Poor Man of Nippur, the poor man “with his right hand he greeted the mayor, ‘May Enlil and Nippur bless the mayor.’ ”342

In iconography, the hand seems most often stretched out in blessing or supplication, though it at times indicates aggression. A text of Sargon states, “I raised both of my hands in fervent prayer.”343 In the Gilgamesh Epic, the cow-goddess, Ninsun, “climbed the staircase and went up on the roof. . . . Scattering incense she lifted her arms in appeal to the Sun God.”344 A more sinister connotation is in a Sumerian/Akkadian bilingual text where “when you lift your arms, a long shadow is spread.”345

On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied (9:20). A similar description is given of two baby sons of the chief Ugaritic god, Ilu. Upon their birth, Shahru-wa-shalimu, personified dawn and dusk, “prepare (food for themselves) on right and left, into their mouth (it goes) but never are they satisfied.”346

Feed on the flesh of his own offspring (9:20). In times of siege, when all outside supplies were cut off by the surrounding enemy, people were driven to eating the unthinkable, even their own children. This could be metaphorical, indicative of the barbaric way people treated each other. An Egyptian pyramid text from the time of the Pharaoh Unas (c. 2375–2345 B.C.) seems to use the idea metaphorically:

[Unas is] a god who lives on his fathers, who feeds on his mothers! . . . who lives on the being of every god, who eats their entrails . . . their bodies full of magic. . . . Unas is he who eats men, feeds on gods. . . . Unas eats their magic, swallows their spirits; their big ones are for his morning meal, their little ones for his evening meal, their little ones for his night meal, and the oldest males and females for his fuel.347

However, there is no reason to argue it is not literal in Isaiah. Cannibalism was one of the curses for breaking the covenant between Israel and her God (Deut. 28:53–57).

In the Assyrian story of the flood, Atraḫasis, mankind is punished by deprivation of food. This happened for so long that “[when the sixth year arrived, they served up] the daughter for dinner, they served up [the son for food].”348 Among the curses that Esarhaddon placed on his vassals if they should break their treaty with him was cannibalism:

Let the barley rations to be ground disappear for you, so that they grind your bones, (the bones of) your sons and daughters instead of barley rations . . . may you eat in your hunger the flesh of your children, may, through want and famine, one man eat the other’s flesh . . . may he make you eat in your hunger the flesh of your brothers, your sons and your daughters.349

Deprive the poor . . . widows . . . fatherless (10:2). As noted in the sidebar on “Unjust Laws,” Hammurabi singled out “the orphan (and) the widow,” while Ur-Nammu states that “the orphan was not delivered up to the rich man; the widow was not delivered up to the mighty man.”350 King Keret from Ugarit is condemned: “You let your hands fall slack; you do not judge the widow’s case, you do not make a decision regarding the oppressed. . . . Before you, you do not feed the orphan, behind your back the widow.”351 The Egyptian wisdom text The Eloquent Peasant commends someone by saying: “For you are the father of the orphan, the husband of the widow, the brother of the desolate, the garment of the motherless.”352 These are commonly mentioned in the Old Testament.