Reading for March 10th

 Read Isaiah 10.20-34. "Shear-jashub" of 7.3, "a remnant returns," could be understood in more than one way, as the three interpretations of vv. 21-23 show. There would be a future nation, but shaped by suffering and loss. Only some of the nation would survive. Similarly, the interpretations in vv. 24-27a  of "the rod of their oppressor" (9.4) show that God would free Judah from foreign domination. In 27b-32 short passage probably refers to the march on Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BCE, the background for Isaiah's later prophecies (see ch. 28-30 and 36-37). It is out of chronological sequence with the events in chs. 7-9 (the reign of King Ahaz). However, its abrupt ending ending with the oppressor threatening, but not attacking. Jerusalem (v. 32) fits the Assyrian punitive campaign into Judah during the reign of Hezekiah, whose accession is foretold in 9.2-7. In verses 33-34: The out come of Sennacherib's campaign is presented as the cutting down of the forest foretold in vv. 18-19. The failure to complete the punitive attack upon Jerusalem in 701 was a judgment of God upon Assyria's blasphemous boasts. The events in chs. 36-37 are understood to fulfill the punishment on Assyria declared in 10.15-19. Comments or Questions.