Isaiah 31 as a response to rebellions against Assyria in Philistia

Isaiah 31 has been a source of great difficulty for interpreters through the centuries. The chapter contains multiple examples of unusual syntax, vocabulary, and imagery. Tese difficulties can be solved if the chapter is understood as the prophet's response to a speciffic episode in the late eighth-century conflict between the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the kingdoms of the Levant. It addresses the quandary the Judean elite faced in approximately 713 BCE in responding to the invitation of Yamani, king of Ashdod, to join a rebellion against Assyria. The chapter references specific fgures who took part in earlier anti-Assyrian rebellions in the southern Levant, including Re'u of Egypt and Azuri of Ashdod.