Our human reliance on weapons for survival is not a new idea - likely going back to the very first rocks and branches used by our earliest ancestors to make it through another day.
But is there more to what life’s all about beyond another battle won, another weapon used and yet another war with its own trail of tragic losses? Big ideas about the power of ideas to change the world more than the power of combat are still at the heart of so many of our debates.
For Isaiah, way within the crisis of the looming Assyrian siege on Jerusalem, the answer is consistent. Ideas come first. Spirit over flesh. Refuse reliance on foreign aid, find faith as the main weapon for bolstering the people’s spirit and following the directions for a sacred life - even at the cost of independence.
Is he a pacifist? Yes - but not exactly. Under some conditions he supports the need for defense and for a strong stand in front of enemies - but not at any cost. In today’s chapter he again rails against King Hezekiah’s plan to appeal to Egypt for support - a move that will indeed fuel Assyrian rage and will prove futile - and harmful. What does Isaiah’s viewpoint have to tell us today?
In his book The Prophets, Heschel goes back to this moment, linking his own reality in the 1960’s - still as relevant today. Heschel replaces the weapons with faith in God. And while that may be a high bar for many of us - what can we replace with Heschel’s theocentric use of ‘faith’? How do we decenter human reliance on industry and violence in favor of more hopeful and graceful paths? Heschel reminds us that Isaiah is talking to his people about the history of Israel in Egypt. It wasn’t weapons that got them out of slavery - it was a liberation that they had very little to do with:
“What did Isaiah propose in place of alliances? In returning to God and in rest you shall be saved; In quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15 Isaiah’s plea made little impression upon the government.
Threatened as the state was by the aggressive might of Assyria, “No” was the answer to Isaiah’s plea. “We will speed upon horses! . . . We will ride upon swift steeds!” (30:16).
“But Isaiah continued to insist:
וּמִצְרַ֤יִם אָדָם֙ וְֽלֹא־אֵ֔ל וְסוּסֵיהֶ֥ם בָּשָׂ֖ר וְלֹא־ר֑וּחַ וַיהֹוָ֞ה יַטֶּ֣ה יָד֗וֹ וְכָשַׁ֤ל עוֹזֵר֙ וְנָפַ֣ל עָזֻ֔ר וְיַחְדָּ֖ו כֻּלָּ֥ם יִכְלָיֽוּן׃
For the Egyptians are human, not God,
And their horses are flesh, not spirit;
And when YHWH stretches out a divine arm,
The helper shall trip
And the helped one shall fall,
And both shall perish together.
Isaiah 31:3
“Isaiah could not accept politics as a solution, since politics itself, with its arrogance and disregard of justice, was a problem. When mankind is, as we would say, spiritually sick, something more radical than political sagacity is needed to solve the problem of security. For the moment a clever alignment of states may be of help. In the long run, it is bound to prove futile. Is it realistic to expect that nations would discard their horses and look to the Lord instead? Indeed, it is hard to learn how to live by faith. But Isaiah insisted that one cannot live without faith.“
Isaiah, even according to Heschel, does not shy away from use of weapons, but insists that it is so much better to find solutions and insist on hope when there is surrender to the greater power of good in the world. In the future, he concludes this chapter, even Assyria will submit to the law of the real Lord:
“Then Assyria shall fall,
Not by the sword of mortals;
A sword not of humans shall devour him.”
One day in the future, military budgets will be half as big as education, not response but pre-responsibility will make sure that the vision of Isaiah and so many others will prevail. Put down the guns, find paths of healing, Mother Nature has enough in store for us and what is needed to survive is our real alliance - not with soldiers and missiles, but with patience, love, and trust.
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