In today's section, we read about:
Warnings of God's future judgment on Babylon (ch 14), Assyria (ch14), Moab (ch15-16), Damascus and Israel (ch 17), Ethiopia (ch 18,20), Egypt (ch19-20), Jerusalem (ch22), Tyre (23), Samaria (ch 28)
The future destruction of the earth (ch 24)
God's wonderful promises of salvation (ch 25) and restoration (26:20-21)
Some thoughts that occurred to me:
I am still trying to get my head around the whole issues of how to read the timings in these passages. Ch 14 is a judgment against Babylon, yet I am sure that I have heard some interpretations that v12-15 are in fact about Satan. I am grappling with the idea that we are meant to distinguish something much broader in scope from the immediate context (also 7:14).
The broader message is clear - God will established his rule, and those who set themselves up in God's place will be made to learn the error of their ways. Again, v23 the warning about God's judgment is there and can be seen to this day.
Amidst the warnings of judgment, there are some fabulous promises - 14:30 "I will feed the poor in my pasture; / the needy will lie down in peace;" 16:4-5 "When oppression and destruction have ended / and enemy raiders have disappeared, / then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king. / He will rule with mercy and truth. / He will always do what is just / and be eager to do what is right." 26:3-4 "You will keep in perfect peace / all who trust in you, / all whose thoughts are fixed on you! / Trust in the Lord always, / for the Lord God is the eternal Rock." 26:7-9 " But for those who are righteous, / the way is not steep and rough. / You are a God who does what is right, / and you smooth out the path ahead of them. / Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; / our heart’s desire is to glorify your name. / All night long I search for you; / in the morning I earnestly seek for God. / For only when you come to judge the earth / will people learn what is right."
The thing that really hit me was we often have the temptation to focus on the Messianic prophecies (16:5), but miss the wider point that God's plan for establishing his kingdom is not merely one of personal salvation, but encompassing literally everything, including political and military structures. It is not just about the powers in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12), but also about the powers on the earth in this world submitted to the power of God.
The reference to 3 years in 16:14 reflects a binding contract. God's judgment has the implication of a contractual obligation that cannot be avoided.
The reason for God's judgment can never be in doubt - 17:10 " Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. / You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you." Also 22:11-14; 24:5-6; 28:10-13.
I wonder about the timing for the fulfilment of 19:18-25.
25:1-10 is such a beautiful hymn of praise to the God who rescues us. v4 "But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, / a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. / You are a refuge from the storm / and a shelter from the heat." v6-8 " In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies / will spread a wonderful feast / for all the people of the world. / It will be a delicious banquet / with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. / There he will remove the cloud of gloom, / the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. / He will swallow up death forever! / The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. / He will remove forever all insults and mockery / against his land and people. / The Lord has spoken!" This is very similar to the picture in Rev 21:4. v9 " In that day the people will proclaim, / “This is our God! / We trusted in him, and he saved us! / This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. / Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”
26:19 - what a promise!! "But those who die in the Lord will live; / their bodies will rise again! / Those who sleep in the earth / will rise up and sing for joy! / For your life-giving light will fall like dew / on your people in the place of the dead!"
For God's people, the punishment has a purpose - to discipline and cleanse (27:8-9)
I like the contrast between 28:1(and v3) "Samaria - the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel" and 28:5 "Then at last the Lord of Heaven's Armies will himself be Israel's glorious crown". You can taste the irony and contempt. It is banged home in 28:10-13 where Israel says why are you treating us like children, but God has to speak to them in words of one syllable so they will understand through their sozzled state, and in the end they have to be taught the lesson by foreigners.
I had wondered how to make sense of 28:23-29, and why it comes just here. This is from Matthew Henry's commentary (http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=23&c=28):"the husbandman applies to his calling with pains and prudence, in all the works of it according to their nature. Thus the Lord, who has given men this wisdom, is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in his working. As the occasion requires, he threatens, corrects, spares, shows mercy, or executes vengeance. Afflictions are God's threshing instruments, to loosen us from the world, to part between us and our chaff, and to prepare us for use. God will proportion them to our strength; they shall be no heavier than there is need. When his end is answered, the trials and sufferings of his people shall cease; his wheat shall be gathered into the garner, but the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire." The important thing to remember is v29 " The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, / and he gives the farmer great wisdom."
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