In today's section, we embark on the Prophets, and we read about:
God's rebuke to Judah and call for them to repent
The vision of God's future reign
The song of the Lord's vineyard
Isaiah's call
The coming Assyrian invasion as part of God's global plan
God's promise of salvation, the Messiah
Prophecy against Babylon
Some things that struck me today:
Ch 1 hits me with the self-delusion of Judah, who think that their sacrifices and observances will please God (v11-15, cf 1 Sa 15:22; Ps 50:13-14 etc). The rebuke is stinging, comparing Judah to Sodom and Gomorrah. What then does God actually want from us? v16-17 "Wash yourselves and be clean! / Get your sins out of my sight. / Give up your evil ways. / Learn to do good. / Seek justice. / Help the oppressed. / Defend the cause of orphans. / Fight for the rights of widows." Inward, personal purity, seeking the path of truth and then public acts of mercy and justice (Mic 6:8).
In the NLT, v18 says "let's settle this", but I miss the NIV's "come now and let us reason together." The section that follows screams of God's longing to restore us, if only we are willing, and then the unbelievable blessings will flow. v27 "Zion will be restored by justice; / those who repent will be revived by righteousness."
I find it interesting that 2:4 is quoted by the UN, yet they completely miss the context, that the only way in which this will happen, and yes it *WILL* happen, is under the dominion and rule of God, when the word has gone out to all nations (v3), who flock to obey God.
Ch 2 contrasts the arrogance of man with the glory of God - "they worship things they have made with their own hand" (8), "human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be humbled" (9,17), "[they] will crawl into holes in the ground" (19). The theme carries on in ch 3, with the people flaunting their sin, which provokes the Lord, who presents the charges in court (3:13). Yet there is a promise to cling on to - 3:10 "Tell the godly that all will be well for them. / They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!"
There are lots of tree images - Branch of Israel (4:2; 11:1), Vineyard (5:7), Israel's stump (6:13; 11:1), even 7:2 "So the hearts of the king and his people trembled with fear, like trees shaking in a storm."
4:5 - cf Ex 13:21 - God will provide cleansing from sins, shade, shelter and be a hiding place!
I found Is 5 as quite helpful is trying to get my head around all the problems of different time frames in the fulfilment of the prophecies over the coming chapters, since in v25, after all these terrible things have happened to the people, we read "But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied. / His fist is still poised to strike!" This phrase is repeated in 9:12 and 10:4.
Isaiah's response to his call is "then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”" Isaiah is cleaned and made ready for service in v7, but this cleansing is for a purpose - our salvation is for others as well as for ourselves.
The immediate promise in ch7 is that Syria and Israel will be destroyed by Assyria - 7:8 talks about 65 years, yet I think that it was less than 20 between the death of King Uzziah and the fall of Samaria. 7:14 is normally taken to refer to Jesus, yet v16 makes me wonder about the time frame. Chris can you help?
I like the comparison in the imagery of 8:6 "My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah" with v7 " the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel." It reminds me of Nu 11, when the Israelites want meat, and God sends them more quail than they can possibly eat.
So what are the messianic prophecies here - 7:14 (probably); 8:14, 9:2; 9:6-7; 11:1-5; 10. The theme is that he will be King, and that the nature of that kingdom is different from what we normally see - light in the darkness, justice, peace, yet a stumbling block to the high and mighty.
9:4; 10:27 cf Mt 11:29-30; 11:4 cf Jn 1:3-4
There are some wonderfully encouraging verses here: "In that day the heir to David’s throne / will be a banner of salvation to all the world. / The nations will rally to him, / and the land where he lives will be a glorious place." 12:1-6 " In that day you will sing: / I will praise you, O Lord! / You were angry with me, but not any more. / Now you comfort me. / See, God has come to save me. / I will trust in him and not be afraid. / The Lord God is my strength and my song; / he has given me victory.” / With joy you will drink deeply / from the fountain of salvation! / In that wonderful day you will sing: / “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! / Tell the nations what he has done. / Let them know how mighty he is! / Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things. / Make known his praise around the world. / Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy! / For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”
Ch 13 - I found it very humbling to think about 13:20, "Babylon will never be inhabited again. / It will remain empty for generation after generation. / Nomads will refuse to camp there, / and shepherds will not bed down their sheep." Babylon hasn't been inhabited since the second century BC. Ponder that!
1 comment:
I think it boils down to a matter of faith but let’s start with the size and the numbers.
First – size. In verse 6 you get to hear the plans of ‘men’. These two kings hoped that, as soon as they came into Judea, they would immediately terrify the whole nation by the size and strength of their army. In verse 7, having heard the plans of these men, we now hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. He is the “Sovereign Lord” and we shouldn’t skim over that too quickly. He is the one who makes faith possible, calls for faith in what would otherwise be considered dire circumstances – and leaves no room and no excuse for unbelief. He’s awesome and we have to respond with faith!
So let’s consider the “faith” issue here. Do you tremble at Damascus and Samaria and the collective wisdom of Rezin and Ramaliah or do you trust in the Sovereign LORD of the universe and cower at his might? You work it out! But Ahaz was more scared of R&R and more impressed with the power of their armies than by God. This sounds so familiar huh?
Now let’s think about the numbers - sixty-five years. I gather you wonder about the timing? Here’s my conjecture … It is certain that this calculation ought not to be made from the day on which Isaiah was sent to deliver this message, because it was only twenty years from Isaiah’s prophecy to the Northern captivity. But you need to remember that Amos had already prophesied about that captivity (Amos 3:11,). If, therefore, we reckon from the time when Amos makes his prediction, I think we’ll find the sixty-five years:
Amos’ prophecy to …
16 - Jotham reigned sixteen years, (2 Kings 15:33)
16 - Ahaz reigned as many, (2 Kings 16:2)
6 – then the Israelites were led into captivity (the sixth year of King Hezekiah),
27 - during which Uzziah reigned after the publication of the prophecy,
=
65
There’s sixty-five years. This conjecture is highly probable; and I don’t doubt that this was Isaiah’s meaning.
But let’s go back to what I started with: Isaiah’s message to Ahaz is an attempt to move him to faith (10-12). Ahaz doesn’t (12) so Isaiah denounces Ahaz as a traitor (13-15) and then forecasts the calamity that will come on the ten tribes (16-17). The sign will be kept, the king will live in poverty (curds and honey is shorthand for poverty) but he will come. Now, do you have faith in that?
OK, there’s a question of timing again. On one hand it seems Immanuel will be born immediately (14-16; see also 10:27-11:1) yet on the other hand he will be born in the undated future – that is before he is born Judah and Israel will be scattered and then re-gathered (8:11-22; 11:12f). There’s no doubt that the child will be born in the future (9:1) but this tension of exactly when is just left hanging by Isaiah. One thing’s for sure, because of Ahaz the promised Messiah would be born into poverty, the heir of a meaningless throne in a conquered land (and it was conquered by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome before the Messiah was born). Do you believe God’s Messiah could accomplish all he was supposed to? How long will you trust God?
It’s a question of faith.
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