Oracles against the Nations

Isaiah 13-23

            Isaiah was a prophet to the south kingdom, Judah. Now, we have evidence of a southern prophet traveling to the north kingdom, Israel, and prophesying against them. That is Amos’ story. We also have evidence of an Israelite prophet traveling to Assyria and preaching in their capital, Nineveh. That is Jonah’s story. But in Isaiah, there’s no hint he went somewhere else. He may have been a traveling man, but the list of nations he prophesies against is pretty long: Babylon, Moab, Aram (Damascus), Cush, Egypt Edom, Arabia, Tyre. He would have had to travel extensively.

            All of this raises some questions. Was Isaiah a world traveler? Did he prophesy against the nations from the relative safety of Jerusalem? What did he intend his prophecies to accomplish? I tend to think that Isaiah prophesied from Jerusalem, but that makes the last question all the more urgent. Were his prophecies against the nations meant to be heard in those nations? Were they for the comfort of the Judahites, that the nations would come in for the Lord’s judgment?

            Here’s what I think. I think these oracles were spoken primarily to the people of Judah. In one sense, they were meant to encourage them, surrounded as they were by enemies, that their God was indeed the Lord of heaven and earth and that He alone could actually deliver them from their troubles. In another sense, they set up the judgment against Jerusalem in chapter 22: they lull Judah into a sense of security that the Lord will judge her enemies only to be told that she too was under the Lord’s judgment. I think the expectation that the nations would hear these words is only secondary.

            There’s a contemporary application of this, when we ask, “What is the responsibility of the church to the world around it?” Paul makes an interesting pair of statement on this topic. In 1 Corinthians 5:12, he ponders, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?... God will judge those outside.” In the next chapter (6:2) he says that the Lord’s people will judge the world. So, on the one hand, it is not the church’s task to be the moral voice of the world, but, on the other hand, the church will stand by Christ’s side when He executes final judgment. The church’s preaching is directed largely to those who are inside the church, warning them of the dangers the world presents and consoling them that the Lord is really the Lord and nothing that goes on is beyond His ability to impact. The church’s preaching is directed to the world insofar as the world overhears.