I’m struck this morning at how Isaiah’s message is inseparable from resurrection hope. I’m thinking particularly of Isaiah 10. Isaiah’s message to the faithful remnant cannot be understood as “after a little suffering God will make your life great again” — not if “your life” means this life. Isaiah calls for allegiance to Yahweh in and through immanent death.

I want to unpack that thesis, but there is an obstacle in the way. This post focuses on the obstacle: Assyria as a tool in the hand of Yahweh. Before we can get to Isaiah’s resurrection hope, we have to deal with Isaiah’s portrait of Assyria as a tool in the hand of Yahweh.

Assyria the Tool

Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger! The staff in their hands is my fury! (Isaiah 10:5)

Isaiah 10 portrays Assyria as a mere tool. The point is supposed to be hopeful: Assyria is not ultimate, Yahweh is. But the way the point is made is challenging. Doesn’t this put evil in the hand of Yahweh? Yes and no. Assyria did evil, and they are in Yahweh’s hand, but according to Isaiah, this does not make Yahweh the doer of evil. Yahweh allows the disaster, but he doesn’t do evil. You might very well reject this as incoherent, but I do not believe it is because of the way the Old Testament authors portray the connection between human rebellion and decreative consequences.

The Flood as Decreative Consequences

Genesis 1–11 provides a perspective on human rebellion, creation, and judgment that is, I think, very helpful for navigating our obstacle of Assyria as a tool. There are multiple passages that we could turn to, but I want to highlight a passage that makes the connection between rebellion, creation, God, and judgment really clear: the flood in Genesis 6.

In Genesis 6, the flood happened because creation broke (decreative consequences), and the text explicitly says that creation broke because humans had ruined/corrupted (שׁחת) creation. Humans broke creation, and as a result creation broke and the chaos waters returned. The author of Genesis has no problem also saying that Yahweh himself wiped out (שׁחת) humanity (Gen 6:9–11).

In Genesis 1–11, the author’s portrait of the world goes like this:

• The “created order” is sustained by Yahweh and his life giving Spirit. Creation, in its ordered state, is not in any way self-sustaining apart from God’s Spirit and presence.
• Human rebellion is organically connected to the undoing of the created order.
• Human rebellion is, therefore, like pushing away life. Pushing away God through persistent rebellion pushes away the source of life that maintains creation. We see this in Eden, the flood, and every other scene of violence and disorder in Genesis 1–11.
  

“But I will be with you” (Exod 3:12) has always been the hope of God’s people, and Genesis shows us that it’s the hope of creation, too. I think this helps explain how Assyria, in Isaiah, can be described as a tool in the hand of Yahweh. Isaiah’s repeated use of creation metaphors (tree, flood, fire, etc.) points the reader towards making this connection.

Assyria the Flood

In Isaiah 10, Assyria is nothing more than godless, decreative chaos waters.

Though your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea, a remnant will return. Destruction is decreed, a flood of justice (שׁוֹטֵף צְדָקָה). It’s over; it’s determined. The Lord, Yahweh of armies, will do this in the midst of all the land. (Isa 10:22–23)

Assyria in 10:22–23 is, therefore, like the waters of the flood, and in 10:26, they are like the chaos waters of the Red Sea:

His staff will be over the sea (הָיָּם), and he will lift it like he did with Egypt. (Isa 10:26)

Isaiah’s portrait of Assyrian exile is explained on analogy to the flood and Egypt’s destruction in the Red Sea. Israel stiff-armed God through their rebellion, and God pulled back his protective presence. Without God’s protective presence, his people cannot stand before Egypt, the Canaanites, Assyria, or Babylon. They can’t wade through the waters of the flood without the ark of his presence. This is why Isaiah repeatedly portrays rebellion as foolishness. “Even an ox knows to come to its owner for food” (Isa 1:3). To stiff-arm God is to let in the flood—whether literal waters of destruction or Assyria.

Conclusion

Did God bring the exile or did Assyria? Isaiah says, “Yes.” The evil was the doing of Assyria, the ultimate cause was the rebellion of his people, but yes, Yahweh still stands over literally everything. Yahweh allows humanity to come to him for life or to push him away and fall into decreative chaos. I think Genesis and Isaiah share this view of God, human rebellion, and judgment.

That is how I think about the obstacle, the challenging idea that Assyria is a tool in God’s hand. With that obstacle out of the way, I would like to move on to how Isaiah 10 points toward resurrection hope, but this post is already too long. My conclusion is, however, clear in the first paragraph. The call is to trust Yahweh in the face of death, whatever its form and causes, and walk through it in faith, like Jesus.

Lord, help us and have mercy.