The Period of Yarovam, Uziyahu, Pekach, and Achaz (3)

The rebellion coalition under Pekach ben Remalyahu

It would seem that Pekach and his Gil’adite supporters sought to secure the standing of the tribes on the eastern side of the Jordan by means of economic and political cooperation with Aram-Damesek, which lies to the north of Gil’ad. There is good reason to assume that Pekach already controlled Gil’ad, as a sort of autonomous region, in the days of Menachem and Pekachya:[1] the rebellion against Assyria and the elimination of Retzin and Pekach were separated by no more than three years. (The second child born to Yeshayahu would not yet be old enough to “know to call ‘My father’ and ‘My mother’” when “the riches of Damesek and the spoil of Shomron shall be carried away before the king of Assyria.”[2])

It is also possible that Pekach was appointed an officer of the king as part of the attempt by Pekachya ben Menachem to reach a compromise with the Gil’adites, but then exploited the situation and overthrew the king. The first step taken by Pekach was to join a coalition with Retzin, king of Aram, in a final attempt to set up a protective wall against Assyrian domination.

The war between Israel and Yehuda

Retzin, king of Aram, moved his army from Damesek all the way down the eastern side of the Jordan to Eilat, with the stated goal of gaining control of the entire eastern bank (Amon, Moav and Edom) and mobilizing its peoples for the coalition under his leadership. His domination of the eastern side of the Jordan also gave him control of the trade routes and a point of contact with Egypt – the regular “backup” in times of trouble in the eyes of many leaders, including those in Israel and Yehuda.

Pekach, king of Israel, for his part, also headed southward out of Shomron on the warpath against the kingdom of Yehuda and its king, Achaz, with similar aspirations. Pekach’s dream was for his reign to include Yehuda as well.

The joint assault by Israel and Aram shook all of Yehuda, which until that time had not suffered this sort of direct attack. The neighboring peoples – Edom and the Pelishtim – did not hesitate to join in the military incursions deep into the south and the lowlands of Yehuda. Uziyahu’s kingdom disintegrated.

The text describes Retzin and Pekach going up to wage war against Jerusalem, but they “could not prevail against it.”[3] While Jerusalem itself was beyond their strength, they had no problem conquering the surrounding areas. This is merely hinted to in Sefer Melakhim, but Divrei Ha-yamim describes in detail the attack by Israel on northern Yehuda, and the blow to Achaz:

So the Lord his God delivered him [Achaz] into the hand of the king of Aram, and they smote him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damesek. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekach ben Remalyahu slew in Jerusalem a hundred and twenty thousand in one day – all valiant men – because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. And Zikhri, a mighty man of Efraim, slew Ma’aseyahu, the king’s son, and Azrikam, the ruler of the house, and Elkana, the second to the king. And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away from them much spoil, and they brought the spoil to Shomron. (Divrei Ha-yamim II 28:5-8)

Aram conquers Eilat from Yehuda

The kings of Aram-Damesek (Syria of today) had always dreamed of seizing control of the eastern bank of the Jordan and crossing over Gil’ad, as well as Amon and Moav, to reach Edom and all the way down to Eilat in order to open up a route to the Reed (Red) Sea and Egypt. Military and commercial control of this route was the key to wealth, might, and establishment as a regional power – as proven in the time of Shlomo, in the time of Yehoshafat, and in the time of Uziyahu, when Yehuda ruled over Edom and in Eilat. Now, in the midst of the war on Yehuda, Pekach ben Remalyahu, king of Israel, whose power base was in Gil’ad, handed this gift to Retzin:

At that time Retzin, king of Aram, recovered Eilat to Aram, and drove the people of Yehuda from Eilot, and Arameans [and Edomites] came to Eilat and dwelled there, to this day. (Melakhim II 16:6)

The Aramean army did not go up to fight against Jerusalem; it did not make any appearance at all on the western side of the Jordan. When Pekach went up against Jerusalem, a large Aramean force crossed over Gil’ad, which was controlled by Israel as the main expression of the pact with Pekach, in order to attack Yehuda from the south, to loosen its grip on Edom, and to take Eilat out of the hands of Yehuda. Retzin’s army banished the military guards of the kingdom of Yehuda who were still encamped in the cities of Edom and in Eilat,[4] and brought back the local Edomites to rule Eilat under his patronage (according to both the “ketiv” and the “keri” here – i.e., the text as written and as pronounced). After the Aramean soldiers left, the Edomites were left there alone, and Yehuda did not come back to Eilat. It is easy to imagine the fear that seized Achaz, king of Yehuda, upon hearing of this defeat. The shifting of the southern border of his kingdom to the northern Negev effectively blocked the main commercial routes and rendered Achaz a “tail of a smoking firebrand” (Yeshayahu 7:4) – effectively, a has-been.

The Pelishtim attack Yehuda from the west

Following immediately on Pekach’s war against Yehuda, Divrei Ha-yamim describes how the Edomites and Pelishtim exploit the situation to attack from the south and the west:

For again the Edomites had come and had smitten Yehuda, and carried away captives. And the Pelishtim had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the south of Yehuda, and had taken Beit Shemesh and Ayalon and Gederot, and Sokho with its towns, and Timna with its towns, and Gimzo and its towns, and they dwelled there. For the Lord had brought Yehuda low because of Achaz, king of Israel, for he had cast away restraint in Yehuda and acted treacherously against the Lord. (Divrei Ha-yamim II 28:17-19)

This was the most intensive series of attacks by the surrounding nations on the kingdom on Yehuda, which had previously dominated the region. From the high point marked by Uziyahu, Yehuda was now left diminished, battered, and weak.

Aram, Assyria, and Israel: Three simultaneous campaigns from north to south

Along with the campaigns of conquest undertaken by Aram and Israel, Tiglat-Pileser also set out southward on the western route, against Peleshet, in the 12^th year of his reign (734 B.C.E.). We learn from an Assyrian inscription that the campaign against Peleshet was undertaken for the purpose of waging war on Chanon, king of Aza. The inscription describes Chanon’s flight to Egypt.

Thus, in the same year, three distinct military campaigns were moving in parallel from north to south. The easternmost route was taken by Retzin, leader of the new coalition against Assyria. The central route, from Shomron to Jerusalem, was taken by Pekach ben Remalyahu, Retzin’s ally. On the western route, from the coastal cities that had been conquered in Lebanon to the cities of Peleshet, the great Assyrian conqueror continued his campaign.

Would it have been possible to know then who would emerge as the ultimate, overall victor? Did the coalition of Retzin and Pekach stand any chance of putting up a real fight against Tiglat-Pileser? Perhaps in real time the answer was not clear to everyone, but Yeshayahu declared it clearly, by means of his two children and their surprising names, given to them as a sign.

Yeshayahu and Achaz

The birth of Immanuel as a sign of the impending defeat of Pekach and Retzin at the hands of Assyria

Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Curd and honey shall he eat, when he knows to reject the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows to reject the evil and choose the good, the land, which you loathe because of its two kings, shall be forsaken. The Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father’s house, days such as have not come from the day that Efraim separated from Yehuda: the king of Assyria [Tiglat-Pileser]. (Yeshayahu 7:14-17)

Some commentators maintain that the “young woman” referred to is Achaz’s wife (Radak), and that the prophet is giving Achaz a sign inside his palace. However, it seems more reasonable that the prophecy refers to the prophet’s own wife, who is about to bear him a son.[5] His eldest son, She’ar Yashuv, had already accompanied him on his first visit to Achaz, for the prophecy that he uttered “at the end of the conduit of the upper pool.”[6]

This timetable matches exactly the information we have from Assyrian sources, which document Retzin’s rebellion against Assyria in the 12^th year of Tiglat-Pileser’s rule (734 B.C.E.) and his defeat and elimination in the 14^th year of his rule (732 B.C.E.).[7] This prophetic fragment was therefore uttered at the beginning of Tiglat-Pileser’s campaign to Damesek (in his 13^th year, 733 B.C.E.).

In his first prophetic message to the king, Yeshayahu had told Achaz that Retzin and Pekach – “those two tails of smoking firebrands”[8] – would hold out no longer than a mortal lifetime (“sixty-five years”[9]), but that prophecy did not encourage Achaz, perhaps because their demise did not seem close enough. Now the prophet visits again, with a date for the downfall of Retzin and Pekach, Achaz’s enemies: within a short time, they will collapse and their land will be forsaken. Radak explains as follows:

He said that before this child would start talking, which would be at the time when he was able to choose what was good [palatable] and to reject what was bad, like other children – which is by the age of three, or even earlier – the land of Shomron would be forsaken, and Damesek would be desolate. (Radak on Yeshayahu 7:16)

Birth of Chash-Baz as a second sign

And the Lord said to me: Take yourself a great tablet and write upon it in common script: “The spoil is speeding; the prey makes haste (maher shalal, chash baz).” And I will take unto Me faithful witnesses: Uriya the Kohen and Zekharia ben Yeverechyahu. And I was intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived, and she bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Call his name Maher-Shalal-Chash-Baz. For before the child will know to call, “My father” and “My mother,” the riches of Damesek and the spoil of Shomron shall be carried away before the king of Assyria. (Yeshayahu 8:1-4)

The prophet vs. two camps in Yehuda

Society in the kingdom of Yehuda was split into two camps. One was pressing to join the coalition with the surrounding kingdoms (Aram and Israel – and, it seems from Assyrian inscriptions, also Tyre and Gaza) in order to halt the ascent of Assyria. The other wanted to seek aid and even patronage from Assyria against the seditious coalition.

The prophet countered both of these parties, consistently warning that Yehuda should not become part of this war game.

The first encounter between Achaz and Yeshayahu[10] took place at the upper pool (on the northern side of the Temple Mount).[11]

It was there that Yeshayahu stood with his firstborn son, She’ar Yashuv, and pleaded with the king to be strong and steadfast against Retzin and Pekach, despite everything, and to keep out of this game of international politics. This was a very difficult path for Achaz to follow, considering his situation, and would require strong faith.

By the second stage, the seditious coalition had gathered more power, Yehuda was being battered from all sides, and Jerusalem was being choked. The voices in favor of joining the rebellion against Assyria were growing stronger; at the same time, the temptation to yield to the ascending power, even before Tiglat-Pileser set out on his campaign against Retzin, was likewise becoming more powerful. Achaz was opposed to the rebellious coalition, which had already singled out “the son of Tav’al” as successor to “the house of David.”[12] In view of the situation in which Yehuda found itself, Achaz tended towards the idea of surrender.

Yeshayahu tried to reinforce Achaz’s standing so as to prevent capitulation to Assyria. He assured him that within a very short time, he would see both troublesome kings fall – Retzin and Pekach – with no need for Yehuda to yield.

The third stage of Yeshayahu’s attempt comes in anticipation of the Assyrian campaign against Retzin. Here the prophet shows a final sign, with his third son,[13] whose name proclaims the great spoils that Tiglat-Pileser would take from Damesek and from the Galil and Gil’ad in Israel.

According to the framework set forth above (three stages in the polemic, and three children born to the prophet), it can be concluded that the brothers Immanuel and Chash-Baz were born a year apart from each other. Immanuel would not reach the age of two, and Chash-Baz would not be even a year old, when Tiglat-Pileser would put Retzin to death in his campaign to conquer Damesek (in the 14^th year of his reign; 732 B.C.E.). Likewise, Pekach would be killed in Shomron, seemingly at the instigation of the Assyrian conqueror, and Hoshea ben Ela would assume the throne as a client king of Assyria.[14]

Yeshayahu carried out God’s word, which was written like testimony on a “great tablet” in the presence of two “faithful” witnesses: Uriya the Kohen, and Zekharia ben Yeverekhyahu. It would seem that Uriya was the Kohen Gadol in the time of Achaz.[15] The name Zekharia ben Yeverekhyahu is surprising, since it appears at the beginning of Sefer Zekharia as the name of the prophet of redemption from the beginning of the Second Temple Period. It seems likely that the witness referred to here is an ancestor of one of the last prophets, such that Yeshayahu’s prophecy of doom (“maher shalal chash baz”) is linked to the redemption at the time of the Second Temple, in a manner that is well suited to Yeshayahu’s prophecies in general.[16]

The waters of Shiloach flow slowly

Following the principle of a slow current, Yeshayahu turns to the other camp – those supporting the idea of joining the coalition against Assyria – and thus finds himself in direct opposition to both parties simultaneously:

And the Lord spoke to me yet again, saying: Since this people has refused the waters of Shiloach, which flow slowly, and rejoices with Retzin and with the son of Remalyahu: Now therefore behold, the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the River, mighty and many – the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall sweep through Yehuda, overflowing as he passes through; he shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel. (Yeshayahu 8:5-8)

This prophecy may have been meant to relieve some of the public pressure on Achaz to join the coalition of Aram and Israel against Assyria. The party in favor of joining the coalition is presented as rejecting what the prophecy views as the proper path: slow but steady work that will bear fruit over the course of a lengthy process. The expression, “the waters of Shiloach, which flow slowly”[17] is parallel in meaning to Yeshayahu’s first prophecy to King Achaz:

Keep calm and be quiet; fear not, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands… (Yeshayahu 7:4)

The camp in favor of joining the rebellion was eager to fight along with Retzin and Pekach, instead of concentrating on building inner resilience.

The rebels would be engulfed in a deluge of water from the Tigris River of Assyria. The overwhelming gush of water is a metaphor for the king of Assyria and his forces, which would “come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks.” This deluge would reach “up to the neck,” even in Yehuda. Yeshayahu adds to his vision an image of a bird of prey with an impressive wingspan. Eretz Yisrael is long and narrow, and the wingspan of the Assyrian vulture would fill “the breadth of your land, Immanuel” – the child who would grow up within the reality of Assyrian rule.

Here too, Yeshayahu offers a prophetic “midrash” on a verse from the rebuke in Sefer Devarim concerning the enemy who will come from the north:

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the vulture swoops down; a nation whose tongue you will not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, that shall show no regard for the old, nor show grace to the young. (Devarim 28:49-50)

“Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought” – mocking the coalition against Assyria

Sound a shout, O you peoples, and you shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you of far countries. Gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us. (Yeshayahu 8:9-10)

These verses speak mockingly of the nations who are eager to fight: “Sound a shout, O you peoples” – sound a battle cry – “and you shall be broken in pieces”; “gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces”; again, “gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.” The prophet observes all the careful preparations, the mobilization of forces, the girding, and the public atmosphere fanning the flames of battle – and he knows that it is all futile. In the face of all this preparation for war, the prophet cries out, “Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand, because of Immanuel” – i.e., the child whose name (“God is with us”) foretells the ascent of Assyria by the will of God.

The above verse is usually quoted as a way of declaring: “We will defeat” all the enemies who are plotting against us; we will remain steadfast, for “God is with us.” It is quite possible that even in the prophet’s time, this is what people were thinking. The prophet chooses this formulation in order to convey the opposite message: “God is with us” does not mean that we will always win. When God wants Assyria to rise to power (or Babylonia, Persia, Rome…), no counsel of any rebellious coalition will stop this from happening. Obviously, this polemic is not directed against Achaz, but rather against his opponents – the camp eager to join the rebellion.

The warning to Yeshayahu to distance himself from both camps

For the Lord spoke thus to me, with a strong hand, admonishing me that I should not follow the path of this people, saying: Do not say, “A conspiracy” concerning everything of which this people says, “A conspiracy” [against Assyria]; neither fear their fear [of Assyria], nor account it dreadful. The Lord of hosts – Him shall you sanctify, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. (Yeshayahu 8:11-13)

On one hand, the prophet is telling the rebellious camp: “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy’ concerning everything of which this people says, ‘A conspiracy.’” On the other hand, in response to those who are ready to surrender and subjugate themselves to Assyria (specifically, Achaz and his advisors), God tells the prophet, “Do not fear their fear, nor account it dreadful.” The message remains the same:

The Lord of hosts – [only] Him shall you sanctify, and let [only] Him be your fear, and let [only] Him be your dread.

Achaz and his cronies, who were not willing to put their faith in God and rely on Him, were certainly going to fail. However, the rebellious camp – those who vigorously maintained that God would deliver them from Assyria – were also going to fall. Here we find yet another surprising prophetic midrash on a verse from the Torah. Yeshayahu continues:

And He shall be for a sanctuary, for a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. (Ibid. 14-15)

The Torah describes in several places the disaster that awaits when a person disregards his proper boundaries. At Sinai, God warns that one who approaches the mountain “shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live.”[18] During the inauguration of the Mishkan, Nadav and Avihu exceed their boundaries and offer a strange fire, and they die.[19] When the Ark is brought up to Jerusalem, Uzza, son of Avinadav, reaches out to steady the Ark – and dies.[20] In each of these instances, we see that the sacred place, or the sacred Ark, demands special care and caution, as God tells Moshe at the burning bush: “Remove your shoes from upon your feet.” Similarly, the ma’apilim, who sought to head to Eretz Yisrael on their own initiative after God’s decree that they would wander for 40 years and die in the wilderness, fall into the hands of their enemies.[21] The Ark of God’s Covenant even fell into the hands of the Pelishtim, when Bnei Yisrael were not worthy of victory.[22]

Those seeking to break through their proper limitations and wage war against Assyria are given a similar message: all those who shout loudly “God is with us,” but hold a sharpened sword in their hand, may end up falling into a trap – because they try to grasp the throne of God’s glory in the world by force and to turn it in the direction of their own desires. Even the Sanctuary itself can become a “stumbling stone and a rock of offense.”

Translated by Kaeren Fish