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8 - Remnant Theology (Isaiah 10) |
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Read Isaiah 10 at Biblegateway.org
Interpreting the Passage
The Remnant: God’s Enduring PromiseIsaiah’s prophecies are incredible in their own right as oracles of judgment and salvation filled with advocacy for justice and faithful leadership. They depict and elicit hope in the face of crisis, and challenge our assumptions about the way power is gained and used. Importantly though, all these oracles find their context not just within the particular historical situations that produced them, but both within those contexts and the larger context of God’s ongoing relationship with his covenant people Israel. Isaiah refuses to relinquish the promises of God’s covenant with Israel in the face of their unfaithfulness, judgment and impeding destruction. Instead, Isaiah shows how God creatively and providentially secures the future and fulfillment of his promises while dealing with the unfaithfulness of his people.
Isaiah stands at a point in history when it seems as though the covenant between God and his people is going to be irreversibly shattered. While there is plenty of guilt to go around, Isaiah’s prophecies readily recognize that a portion of the people have remained faithful, or are at least responding to God’s discipline with repentance. This core of people importantly allows for the continuation of God’s covenant relationship with his people, even as he judges and punishes them as a whole. The faithful core becomes for Isaiah a “remnant” of God’s covenant people. They are leftovers, who preserve the potential and possibility of renewal in the future. God uses them to preserve his promises for Israel’s blessing, as well as the blessing that would come to the world through Israel.
The basic remnant motif has a simple plot:
1. Judah and Israel must suffer God’s judgment and discipline for their unfaithfulness.
2. However, God still remains committed to the covenant and its purposes.
3. The tension is resolved by God’s plan to separate a part of the people as a remnant who will survive the crisis of exile.
4. The remnant will remerge to receive God’s blessing and become a conduit of blessing for the nations.
The theme shows up often in Isaiah, sometimes explicitly, and sometimes in subtle ways. Numerous passages use the remnant term (Isa. 11:11, 28:5, 37:4, 37:31, 46:3, and the passages immediately surrounding each of these). Sometimes the term seems negative, as in “woe to Israel, only a remnant will remain!” Other texts seem to stress the positive aspect, “Have hope, a remnant will return with God’s blessing!” Isaiah even gives his son a name meaning “A remnant will return”, highlighting the importance of the motif. One of the clearest, most beautiful remnant passages is found in Isaiah 10, which we will look at more closely below.
Isaiah 10:20-23To put this passage in context, it comes as a counterpoint to a judgment theme that opens the chapter. In the first stage, God will serve justice to those who have abandoned just dealings themselves. He will avenge the oppressed among his people by bringing judgment to Israel/Judah through the Assyrians. After that though, the Assyrians themselves will be destroyed, because of the arrogance that makes them think that their power over God’s people comes from themselves and not God. The words in this chapter that depict that arrogant blasphemy are mirrored in the narrative of chapter 36, there spoken by the Assyrian Rabshekah, a military general, during Assyria’s siege of Jerusalem.
There is an artful word play at the end of the section regarding God’s judgment of Assyria, in 10:18-19, where Isaiah writes metaphorically of the Assyrian forces that they will be so decimated that a child could take a count of the ones left over. His description of them as a “remnant” in the negative sense sets the stage for verse 20, where Isaiah turns to the idea of the remnant of Israel, the “survivors of the house of Jacob”, in a positive sense. The remnant of Israel experiences two things that allow work of God in Israel to be ongoing and fruitful in the future.
SurvivalThe remnant’s identity is defined by their status as survivors. In the face of crisis and confusion, some of God’s covenant people are going to refuse to give up and will survive the tragedy of those around them. In Isaiah’s circumstance, their survival may seem a passive phenomenon. In other words, the remnant isn’t determined by the will of the survivors as much as providence or the accident of the realities of the Assyrian invasion and the subsequent Babylonian exile. In such circumstances, we might be tempted to believe that there are victims and there are survivors, and the individual only has a limited amount of say in the matter. There may be some truth to that, but there is still something to be said for the individual or community who makes a decision that no matter what happens, they simply will not give up. In fact, if we look at Isaiah’s whole text, we can’t help but perceive that a major purpose behind the entire work is to persuade its readers to firmly decide that they will not give up. When the obstacle to survival is sin, Isaiah says “repent”. When there are internal forces oppressing the righteous in Israel, Isaiah says, “God will deal with them.” When the Assyrian threat seems too incredible to survive, Isaiah says, “This too will pass.” When the people have experienced exile at the hands of Babylon, Isaiah says, “Be faithful, God is still with you,” even though all the visible evidence points to the contrary. Isaiah answers and counters every reason the faithful might think of to give up. Isaiah stubbornly makes the case through poetry, narrative, visions of the future, and echos of the past that the community can and must remain faithful. They must refuse to give up if they are to lay hold of a real and incredible destiny as God’s people. To give up is to miss out on the destiny of God’s faithful people.
Survivors and victims share the experience of pain and loss. Victims are defined by the loss, but survivors are defined by the victory of overcoming the loss. Their emergence defines them as something different. Isaiah’s prophecy here foretold that while many would suffer, there would be a part of the community of faith that would emerge as survivors, as improbable as it seemed.
RepentanceThe remnant’s survival is dependent on their will to survive, but it was also dependent on God’s deliverance, which in this case was conditional upon their repentance. The way this is described in Isaiah 10 is striking in a couple of ways. The remnant would be made up of those who “return to God”. What’s more, they “will no more lean on him who struck them, but lean on the Lord.” That is an extremely rich and very teachable concept. It refers to the episodes recorded in places like Isaiah 7, where in the face of a conflict between Judah (southern kingdom) and the alliance of Israel (northern kingdom) and Syria, Judah’s leadership chose to depend on Assyria for help rather than trusting in the Lord alone to deliver them. Eventually it would be this very Assyria who would come to wreak havoc in Judah after destroying Israel. In other words, Judah was nearly brought to ruin by the very force they had turned to for help. They very much brought the suffering down on themselves. Isaiah is saying in chapter 10 that the remnant would be those who repented, and leaned on the Lord alone. Their trust wouldn’t be given to other powers, but only to God.
Teaching the LessonThe two sub-points of the lesson are very teachable, and offer a range of contact and application for modern readers of Isaiah. Begin by describing the remnant motif, providing as much background detail as you feel is necessary, before moving into reading and interpreting this particular passage in chapter 10. After you have done the basic interpretive work, Here are some ideas for different directions that the class discussion could move towards in terms of how this text/motif offers us a different perspective on our lives as a community seeking to be faithful to God.
How differently do you respond to the terms “survivor” and “victim”? Why does one sound more preferable than the other? In broad strokes, without being too negatively personal, can you think of people who you imagine as examples of either category?
What kind of mentality does it take to become a “survivor” when faced by a challenge? What are things that help you develop and maintain that kind of a mentality? How can the community around you help you become a survivor instead of a victim?
What are circumstances that tempt us to give up? What obstacles are we facing right now that we need to survive, or that threaten to make victims of us? Financial stress, relationship issues, Work or social stresses? Emotional issues or spiritual conflicts? What I the closest you’ve ever been to giving up?
What are stories of survival in our community? What have we seen or experienced first hand that demonstrates what it means to survive a crisis in order to experience a new life, to come back and thrive?
On the other side, what are some things that we turn to in order to get by, in order to cope with momentary troubles, only to later realize that they end up hurting us?
Has anybody ever had to go through some bad times before they were willing to give up something that was hurting their relationship with God? Why do we resist repentance? What does it take for us to move towards repentance? How can we cultivate the repentant hearts, who are ready to respond and repent whenever we find ourselves in need?
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