For the LORD spake thus to me [Isaiah] with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.4The people of Judah and Jerusalem were in crisis. Assyria5 was a formidable power and Judah's neighbors, Aram / Syria and Israel were trying to force Judah into an alliance of defense against Assyria6 which king Ahaz of Judah opposed, being apparently pro-Assyria in his fear of the Aram / Israel alliance. Despite Isaiah's counsel, Ahaz appealed to Assyria for help against his neighbors and ended up becoming a tributary to Assyria.
SO, applying the prophetic purpose of Isaiah, who or what are we afraid of today? What is the latter-day way of this people – the ones crying for a confederacy – an alliance with some imagined savior? protector? (an alliance with pscience?7) Except Isaiah was instructed “with a strong hand” that he must not sanction a confederacy of any sort. He was not to go with the flow of worldly fear; he was to reject the way of the people; he was to say, perhaps with also a strong arm and voice: ”
“neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.”
Is this the message?
“Let [God] be your fear ... let Him be your dread.”
Why dread? Could trust in (confederacy with) those pursuing and protecting power, gain, glory, and total control under cover of COVID be as catastrophic as signaling the end of man8 as God created him / her, male and female? as catastrophic as becoming tributaries? serfs? eternal captives? of a latter-day, yet ancient Assyrian system?
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NOTE: For those who substitute conspiracy for confederacy in Isaiah 8:12, and thus disparage the science and extensive history of ubiquitous conspiracy, read here: https://voices-from-the-dust.blogspot.com/2021/03/003-conspiracy-in-scripture.html
1. Old Testament | Judges 2:1-4 ~ AND an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
Old Testament | Isaiah 31:1 ~ WOE to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
Old Testament | Obadiah 1:6-7 ~ How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
2. “You can read the whole of Isaiah in reference to his own day, or you can read it as a prophecy for the last days.” The Last Days: Types and Shadows from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Avraham Gileadi, Third Revised Edition 1998 © 1998 Book of Mormon Research Foundation, p. 5
“Isaiah consistently uses events in Israel's past as a framework around which to prophesy events in the future . . . Repeated descriptions of such events create patterns of things—things that “have been and shall be” p. 3 (compare 3 Nephi 23:3).”
Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 23:2-3 ~ For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.
3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259260?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekah
4. In Context: Old Testament | Isaiah 8:6-13 ~ Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even 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 pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
5. Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death By Erika Belibtreu at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f4af/bb82f1b7920fa9444e29eb128bd13832cd46.pdf ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259260?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekah
7. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/10/pscience.html
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NOTE: For those who substitute conspiracy for confederacy in Isaiah 8:12, and thus disparage the science and extensive history of ubiquitous conspiracy, read here: https://voices-from-the-dust.blogspot.com/2021/03/003-conspiracy-in-scripture.html
1. Old Testament | Judges 2:1-4 ~ AND an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
Old Testament | Isaiah 31:1 ~ WOE to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
Old Testament | Obadiah 1:6-7 ~ How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
2. “You can read the whole of Isaiah in reference to his own day, or you can read it as a prophecy for the last days.” The Last Days: Types and Shadows from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Avraham Gileadi, Third Revised Edition 1998 © 1998 Book of Mormon Research Foundation, p. 5
“Isaiah consistently uses events in Israel's past as a framework around which to prophesy events in the future . . . Repeated descriptions of such events create patterns of things—things that “have been and shall be” p. 3 (compare 3 Nephi 23:3).”
Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 23:2-3 ~ For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.
3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259260?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekah
4. In Context: Old Testament | Isaiah 8:6-13 ~ Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even 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 pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
5. Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death By Erika Belibtreu at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f4af/bb82f1b7920fa9444e29eb128bd13832cd46.pdf ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259260?seq=10#metadata_info_tab_contents | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekah
7. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/10/pscience.html
