Recapitulation in Prophecy, 3

The historical context of Isaiah is the Neo-Assyrian Empire of the eighth and seventh centuries before Christ.

In keeping with the prophecies regarding the threats out of Samaria and Damascus in Isaiah chapters 7 and 8, the Assyrian Empire had invaded Syria and Israel, destroying Israel's capital, Samaria in 722, under King Sargon II.

Now, the ungodly king of Judah, Ahaz, has been succeeded by his godly son, Hezekiah, and the new ruler of Assyria, Sennacherib was on the move against Judah.

When Sennacherib's representatives communicate with the representatives of Hezekiah, they shout out in Hebrew to the men on the wall in order to terrorize them (Isaiah 36:11-20).

In keeping with the curse section in Deuteronomy, whenever God's people had been surrounded by enemy armies, they experienced the omen that the curses recorded there were about to happen: "The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away . . . a nation whose language you will not understand" (Deuteronomy 28:49).

Isaiah has this in mind as he responds to the unbelievers in Jerusalem by repeating infantile gibberish twice: "Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze' er sham, ze' er sham" (Isaiah 28:10, 13). As with his earlier words to King Ahaz, Isaiah is warning the unbelievers they were about to hear people speaking in languages they could not understand, languages that sounded like baby-talk.

Reading what follows this omen is chilling (Deuteronomy 28:53-57).