Part 8, King Ahaz (Part 7, Feb 17)
Back in Isaiah 7:3, God gave Isaiah specific instructions as to where he was to meet with King Ahaz: “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.”
Imagine being Ahaz and here comes Isaiah with his son, whose name means ‘A Remnant Will Return’ – which in itself had to be a hint, because why bring the boy along in the first place? And a lad with such a strange name too. So did God have Isaiah give this name to his son – or inspire the thought, perhaps – in preparation for this moment?
Because names really come into this story – which seems odd, though, because Ahaz didn’t pick up on any of them. But God went ahead and had all the details recorded anyway. As a trail of clues, perhaps, for us to follow?….
If so, the second clue was the name of the location. Did Ahaz even wonder for a moment, however, why he had to meet Isaiah “at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool”? The name “Upper Pool” meant “the blessing of the Most High,” so here was Ahaz standing at the end of a channel down which, in its name, God’s blessing flowed. Significant? Not to Ahaz, unfortunately. And there was more to come too.
The channel, for instance, verse 3, was “on the road to the Washerman’s Field,” or as other translations have it, the “Fuller’s Field.” It must have been a well-known landmark, because this was where the fullers gathered with their woven woollen cloth to scour it clean from oils, dirt, and other impurities, using the agitating water from the aqueduct. They would also shrink the cloth by pounding it, and they’d bleach it too (to ‘full’ means to ‘whiten’), the end result being a thicker, tighter, smoother, stronger and more water repellent duffel coat like fabric.
And Ahaz would have known that. Putting two and two together, then, he could have figured out why he was meeting Isaiah at this very spot. In the boy’s name was a promise that his nation would not be destroyed, and in the location a promise that God would pour out a blessing on him – like the water flowing down from the Upper Pool. And it would have the same cleansing, whitening and strengthening effect on Ahaz as the fullers were able to create in their cloth.
Three clues, all designed to give Ahaz confidence, but also to grow him up, because a fuller’s cloth went though quite a process to turn it into functional, lasting clothing for the wearer. God was offering Ahaz the chance, therefore, to become a great king and leader of his people….(part 9, March 3)
Buck To Basics 