Understanding the Book of Isaiah - Part 1

If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon), you know that it is important to read and study the Book of Isaiah. It is quoted extensively in the New Testament as well as in the Book of Mormon.

One of the biggest obstacles to people understanding the Book of Isaiah is that they just don't understand the context which he has written in. Even the people in Nephi's day had trouble understanding Isaiah. As Nephi said "For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews." (2 Ne. 25:1)

I have to say, if I was one of the Nephite, being born in the promised land and had never seen Israel, I would be about as perplexed as anyone born today reading though Isaiah today. Let's say we read something like this from Isaiah 7.

1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 

At first, the whole chapter seems rather perplexing, particularly  if you do not understand the history of Israel and what was going on at the time. Once you understand what is going on, you have a better sense of what Isaiah is saying. The kingdom of Syria, and the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) are uniting in an alliance to go to war against the Kingdom of Judah.

Note that the Kingdom of Aram-Damascus came to be known as the Kingdom of Syria.

This brings me to my main point. The first key to understanding Isaiah is to understand the history of Israel and what was going on at this time. It will take some time to go over the whole history of Israel, but here are the high points. See Old Testament Chronology for more detals.

1. Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham had 12 sons, from whom we get the 13 tribes of Israel. (normally referred to as the 12 tribes of Israel, just like there are not 12 teams in the Big 12)
2. The family of  Jacob(Israel) moved to Egypt because there was a great famine in the land and Jacob's son Joseph became the Pharaoh's right hand man and found the family a great place to live.
3. After many generations, the family grew to a great people. The pharaoh got nervous about their size and began enslaving and oppressing the Israelites.
4. Moses leads the people of Israel out of Egypt and back to Canaan, the original home of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
5. People gain inheritance based on their tribal lineage, except for the tribe of Levi, who become the priest class and are scattered throughout Israel.
6. The people of Israel are governed by judges and form kind of a loose confederation of tribes.
7. After a chaotic period of about 300 years, the tribes of Israel decide they want to form a kingdom. This is against this advice of the prophet Samuel.
8. Saul is anointed the first King of Israel. He is later deposed and David is eventually anointed king.
9. As king, David expands Israel through military conquest.
10. Solomon succeeds David and reigns through peace and prosperity. Solomon builds temple in Jerusalem. Solomon has many wives and later, takes wives from pagan kingdoms and he deviates from the Lord's ways.
11. Rehoboam becomes Solomon's successor. 10 tribes revolt against Rehoboam due to high taxes and follow Jeroboam who was exiled in Egypt. They form the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria or Ephraim. The Southern Kingdom is known as the Kingdom of Judah, consisting of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, half of Benjamin and those Levites in the Southern Kingdom. Probably a majority of the Levites went down to the Judah.
12.  Jeroboam abandons the Lord because he does not want to go to the temple in Israel to worship.  (1 Kgs. 11:26–14:20) He institutes pagan worship.
13. The Northern Kingdom becomes more wicked, reaching heights of depravity during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and towards its end.
14. In 735 B.C. the King of the Northern Kingdom, Ahaz, makes an alliance with Rezin, the King of Syria against Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, in order to repel an attack from Assyria. Ahaz, king of Judah, at this crisis refused to co-operate with the kings of Israel and Syria, and was then attacked and defeated by Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel.  See 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chr 28. This is condemned in Isaiah 7.  
15. Due to its iniquity, the Lord allows the Assyrian empire to conquer the Northern Kingdom in 721 B.C. The people of Samaria are scattered throughout the Assyrian kingdom and many depart to parts unknown and become known as the Lost Tribes or lost 10 Tribes of Israel.
16. About 701 B.C., the Assyrians attempt to conquer Jerusalem. Their army is wiped out by an angel. (1 Kings 19:35)
17. Assyria eventually conquered by the Babylonians in about 612 B.C.
18. Judah is conquered in 587 B.C. by the Babylonians. Many inhabitants are taken to Babylon.

Isaiah was a prophet during items 14 and 15. He preached about 40 years, from 740-701 B.C.