Isaiah 8:7
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord ['Adonay] bringeth up [`alah] upon
them the waters [mayim] of the river, [nahar] strong [`atsuwm] and many, [rab] even the king [melek] of
Assyria, ['Ashshuwr] and all his glory: [kabowd] and he shall come up [`alah]
over all his channels, ['aphiyq] and go over [halak] all his banks: [gadah] KJV-Interlinear
7
"Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and
abundant waters of the Euphrates, Even the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. NASB
The invasion of Assyria
is compared to a mighty flood. Typically
the Euphrates River is used as the example, since it is the largest and longest
river in the region of Assyria or the ancient region known as Mesopotamia,
paralleling the Tigris River. Beginning
in the mountains of Armenia and fed by many tributaries in Turkey the river
continues for a length of over 1700 miles southward through Syria and Iraq and
empties into the Persian Gulf.
When its waters are low,
it is not a very wide river, but when it is at flood stage in ancient times,
then its waters spread out over a huge region.
And in ancient times, due
to its length, there would be no warning that the flood was coming. People would simply wake up to find the river
rising rapidly and overflowing its banks, where there would be nothing that
they could do to stop it.
And this analogy is used
to describe the invasion of Assyria, which was coming.
It would be by surprise,
for the greater population.
It would be rapid, they
would have no time to prepare or even get out of the way to safety, and it
would be massive. The flood would be so
vast that no matter what direction you might try to go to escape, you would
only run into more of the flood, and you would get caught up in it.
The invasion would be
mighty and intimidating and it would strike terror in the hearts of those being
invaded.
Death and destruction, torture
and enslavement, brutality and humiliation would be the result.
And this, all because the
nation, which by the way is only the collective expression of the many people
that lived in the nation, but the nation, its people, were not interested in
truth, in God, in the Messiah, or anything of a legitimate spiritual nature.
They were too busy
pursuing the more important things of their daily lives, which did not include
truth, but did include subscribing to the many lies and religions and
philosophies and beliefs that were popular of their day.
They invested their livelihood
in the world and what it had to offer, and disregarded Gods promises and what
God has to offer. And they lost
everything that they had, including their lives.
