Isaiah 8:2
2 And I took [`uwd] unto me
faithful ['aman] witnesses [`ed] to record, [`uwd] Uriah ['Uwriyah] the priest, [kohen] and
Zechariah [Zakaryah] the son [ben] of Jeberechiah. [Yaberekyahuw] KJV-Interlinear
2
"And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the
priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah." NASB
Now, here is another
point to make note of, regarding the authenticity of Isaiah’s prophecy.
Isaiah is a known
prophet. God is a known God. That should go without saying. Both have reputations that are widely known,
not only back in Isaiah’s day, but even in our current day. However, how many
people regard their words as authentic or sound or something beyond story
telling?
Well, back then,
apparently not many, just as in our current day, not too many folks regard the Bible
with genuine authority. Do you?
And here is Isaiah writing
down the word of God and ready to post it for all to see, but in order for
people to believe these words, that they are indeed from God, that they are
indeed a true prophecy before the fact and not a made up writing after the
fact, here Isaiah is giving the writing to two people of questionable
reputation, to authenticate and verify his writing.
Is God not good enough
for this? Is Isaiah not good enough for
this?
When a people lacks
spiritual resources within their souls, then they will look to lesser figures
for confirmation of something just to make sure it is valid. This leads to all sorts of misinformation
practices such as in the current state of many contemporary media outlets in
our day.
But here is Isaiah asking
Uriah the priest to confirm the writing.
Uriah is a disgusting sort of fellow, who was a joint conspirator with
Ahaz in other activities, 2 Kg. 16.
Likewise, Zechariah’s
identity is not certain to us today. He may
have been the same as was mentioned in 2 Kg 18, or 2 Chron. 29. And even though we are not certain of his
identity, that brings out another flaw in the thinking of the general public in
Isaiah’s day.
Looking to someone who
was high in government or in the priesthood, but who have questionable
identification and/or reputations is a spiritual character flaw of a negative
or dysfunctional people.
And yet the message was
written to the general or common person, but is authenticated in order to give
it even more credibility, by people who are either unknown or despicable.
Does this happen in our
world today? Are there leaders who
possess power, for which they have no truthful qualification, and yet the vast
majority will believe them over say, God?
God provides us all with
promises. God expects responsibilities
from us. God places obligations on
us. God gives us a proven and established
spiritual process for phenomenal success in our life.
But who among us accepts
these things without question. Who among
us pursue our spiritual life with legitimate aggressive vigor and passion as
God intends.
Most folks look to the Bible
with public approval, but with private reservation and conditions which they
place in their life, and ahead of Gods mandates. And then they look to other less
authoritative figures for approval and confirmation of life's truths. And of course that leads to poor decisions
based on poor facts or circumstances.
People listen to sales personalities
in politicians. Kids listen to the
lyrics of music for their philosophical truths.
Many folks will listen to strangers before they will listen to a known
source. The unfortunate result is that
even if some legitimate truth comes along, then it will probably get ignored or
overlooked unless something or someone supports it.
And so a spiritually weak
society, will disregard truth unless it is supported by substandard sources,
but even that support is not enough to sustain a society for very long.
God sent promises, even
prophetic statements of certain future events, but even that reassurance will not
sustain the people of Judah. They will
continue to fall away from God until it is too late.
God sends us promised and
certain results as a result of a pursuit of a legitimate spiritual life. But who believes it, who pursues it, who even
knows how to pursue their spiritual life, without making up their own rules and
procedures for life?
