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Context No. 2271 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 8:1-8: in context

1The LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; 2and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ 4For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.” 5The LORD spoke to me yet again, saying, 6“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 7now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. 8It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, O Immanuel.

Isaiah delivers a word of judgment with a curious diagnosis. Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, God says, and rejoices in Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore the Lord brings upon them the flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory, overflowing all its channels. Shiloah was the quiet stream that watered Jerusalem; and the people had despised its gentle flow, preferring alliances and powers that seemed grander. So they would be given the overwhelming flood they had, in effect, chosen.

The contrast Isaiah draws is between the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and the overwhelming flood of the River. The waters of Shiloah were quiet, gentle, unimpressive, but they were God's provision for Jerusalem, a steady stream that watered the city. And the people despised them, preferring the seemingly grander powers and alliances of the world. In rejecting God's quiet, gentle provision, they would receive instead the overwhelming flood of Assyria, the very grandeur they had preferred, which would sweep over them to their ruin. They despised the gentle stream and got the destroying flood. This exposes a folly we are prone to: despising God's quiet, gentle ways and provision in favor of what seems grander or stronger. God often works quietly, gently, in ways that seem unimpressive, a still small voice, a gentle stream, a quiet provision. And we can despise these, preferring what seems stronger, grander, more impressive, the flood over the stream. But the gentle stream is God's provision, and to reject it for the grander flood is to choose what will overwhelm and destroy. In quietness and trust, God says elsewhere, is your strength, but you would not; the people preferred the grander way and refused God's quiet strength. God's quiet, gentle ways are better than the impressive floods we might prefer. This searches whether we despise God's quiet ways for what seems grander. God's provision often comes in unimpressive, gentle forms, the quiet stream rather than the mighty flood; and we can be tempted to despise these, preferring what seems stronger or grander, only to find that what we preferred overwhelms us. Not by might, nor by power, God says, but by my Spirit; God's quiet way is his true strength. This calls us to value and receive God's quiet, gentle ways and provision rather than despising them for what seems grander. Israel refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and received the destroying flood; and we too can despise God's quiet stream, his gentle provision and unimpressive ways, preferring the grander floods of the world, only to be swept away by them. Let us not despise the quiet waters of Shiloah, God's gentle provision, for the grander things that seem stronger but overwhelm; but receive God's quiet, gentle ways as the true provision and strength they are, valuing the gentle stream over the impressive flood.

Do I despise God's quiet, gentle ways and provision, the unimpressive stream, preferring what seems grander or stronger, the impressive powers and ways of the world, and can Israel, who refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and received the overwhelming flood they had in effect chosen, warn me that God's quiet gentle ways are his true provision and strength, so that I value and receive the gentle stream rather than despising it for the grander floods that seem stronger but overwhelm?

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