NOTES for Isa 9:9-21

Unlike the Christmas hymn we read yesterday, today’s prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled during the prophet’s own lifetime. These words concern the fall of Samaria, which was destroyed together with the entire Northern Kingdom in 722 BC. This prophecy contains several things that draw attention by how relevant they remain. The prophet speaks of people—a believing nation—who do not see their own calamities as the fruit of their lawlessness. It is precisely this that makes disaster inevitable. Never mind, the northerners say, that the country is in decline, growing poorer, and falling into ruin. We will not lose heart; we will rebuild our native... Samaria, of course, more splendidly than before. But the prophet says that the people do not turn to Him who strikes them and do not seek the Lord of Hosts. It would therefore be right, in conditions of decline and disintegration, when the economy is dying and arbitrary rule is multiplying, when the country is crumbling like a sandcastle, not merely to think about how to set our... Samaria, of course, in order. It would be right to ask: “What sin of ours has brought us to this?”—and to seek the Lord of Hosts.

The key words of the whole prophecy are verses 1–2 of chapter 10. The prophet accuses those who enact unjust laws and write oppressive decrees, deprive the poor of justice, and rob the weak among the people of their rights. This denunciation is addressed by no means only to Pekah and Hoshea, the kings of Samaria at that time, but to the entire country. This shared responsibility may be the reverse side of the unity of the nation, the unity of the country. And therefore the cruelty and tragedy of our history are a matter for our common repentance.