Week 6 - Isaiah 7-11 & John 5 (Feb. 5-11)
Notes
Heads up about “Ephriam”
Ephriam is just one of the 12 tribes of Israel (one of Joseph’s two sons - the other being Manasseh). In many places throughout our reading (not just in Isaiah, we’ve already encountered this in Hosea) the Biblical author uses “Ephriam” to refer to the northern 10 tribes of Israel. This is because Ephriam was the largest tribe and the tribe in which the capital of the northern kingdom, Samaria, was located. when you read “Ephriam” here in Isaiah think of the entire kingdom of the northern 10 tribes, not just this one tribe themselves
Isaiah 7: Immanuel
Isaiah 7 contains a famous prophecy concerning a child named Immanuel. The prophecy is given to King Ahaz of Judah. King Ahaz was nervous because the kings of Aram and Israel had joined forces to march against him. God had given Isaiah a message to speak through his son to king Ahaz declaring that Aram and Israel would be unsuccessful against Judah (in fact they would themselves be destroyed), and then told Ahaz to request a sign to prove this is true. Ahaz refuses to request a sign and (surprisingly to me) this refusal is treated with hostility. Jesus told the Pharisees that "a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign" (Matthew 16:4) but, apparently, when a prophet of God directs you to request one you should not refuse. God gives Ahaz a sign despite his refusal, promising that:
The virgin (or young woman) will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
This prophecy is famous because of what the apostle Matthew records concerning Jesus
All this took place (Mary's conception and angel appearing to Joseph) to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:26)
It is true that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy. In fact, you'll notice that Isaiah has much to say throughout the whole book about a Davidic king that will deliver Israel and fulfill what God's people were supposed to be all along, and all of these prophesies are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus and the New Testament people of God. However, don't miss the immediate context of this prophecy. Immanuel is not only* about Jesus. While this passage predicts and prophesies Jesus, it also had an immediate meaning and fulfillment to Ahaz. this immediate fulfillment comes further into focus when you get to verse 16 which predicts that before the boy comes of age (presumably after he is born) Israel and Aram will be laid waste. Consider how useless of a sign it would be to Ahaz that God would deliver Judah from Israel and Aram if the promised Immanuel did not arrive for 700 years. Many attempts have been made to identify the individual who immediately fulfilled the Immanuel prophecy; Jewish tradition maintains that Hezekiah was the promised Immanuel, while others have suggested that it was Isaiah's son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz because of what we read about him in Isaiah 8:4. Still others contend that it was some other son of either Ahaz or Isaiah.
The upper pool and the pool of Bethesda
The location of the pool of Bethesda mentioned in John 5 is known, here are some pictures of the site
Time for an accidental, but extremely cool, the connection between our Old Testament passage and our chapter of John this week. Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy (ch. 7) is given at a pool near Jerusalem:
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.
Our John 5 reading opens with the story of Jesus healing a cripple, and this miracle also occurs near a body of water
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
Now here is the cool part: They are (probably) in the same place! We’re not sure where exactly to locate the “upper pool” of Isiah 7, but before the Bethesda pool came to be known by that name, it was called “the upper pool.” In Jesus’ day, this pool would have been located inside the city gates because of Herod’s civic expansion, but in Isaiah’s time, it would have been located outside of the city.
This “upper pool” appears later in the Old Testament in a way that is wonderfully entangled with Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy in chapter 7. Here, God promises to us Assyria to destroy Ephriam(Israel) and Aram. When the Assyrian empire does just that under their king Tiglath Pileser III, they also sweep down into Judea soon after under Sennacherib and threaten Jerusalem in 701 BC (Just as Isaiah prophesied that they would - see 7:20). The place where the Assyrian army stopped (and were ultimately turned away) is… The upper pool.
2nd Kings 18:17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.
Thus the upper pool is both the place where Isaiah prophecies that God would send the Assyrian invaders, and the place where they would ultimately be stopped and turned away.
here are two articles to read about the Bethesda pool
Making sense of the parade of names in Isaiah 10:28-32
28 They enter Aiath;
they pass through Migron;
they store supplies at Mikmash.
29 They go over the pass, and say,
“We will camp overnight at Geba.”
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul flees.
30 Cry out, Daughter Gallim!
Listen, Laishah!
Poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the people of Gebim take cover.
32 This day they will halt at Nob;
they will shake their fist
at the mount of Daughter Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
If you don’t have a map handy, the parade of names that you encounter at the end of Isaiah 10 seems pretty senseless. But if you do have one (like I have provided here) you can see that the passage is detailing a southward advance of an army that approaches Jerusalem. They will not take the city, however, as verse 32 says they will only “shake their fist” this future event is the subject of much of this week’s reading, and one that comes to pass in 2nd Kings 18.
John 5 - Teaching on the Resurrectoin
When Jesus is discussing his authority in John 5, he gives some of his clearest teaching on the resurrection in any of the Gospels in verses 19-30. It is helpful to read this passage with an understanding of what Jesus’ contemporaries would have known/believed about the resurrection before they heard him say this:
(note on John 5:28-29) The Old Testament (Dan 12:2) and much of ancient Judaism taught a *resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous, which would take place at the last day. (Some circles in ancient Judaism taught only a resurrection of the righteous; others taught that the wicked would be resurrected only temporarily for judgment and then destroyed; still others held that the wicked would be resurrected to eternal judgment. Others, such as *Sadducees and probably many Hellenized Diaspora Jews, denied a future resurrection.) The Old Testament and Judaism spoke of God judging people by their deeds. “Tombs” may evoke Is 26:19 in the Septuagint.
Keener, Craig S.. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (p. 264). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.