Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 22-25.

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Isaiah spoke of all of the preparations the people of Jerusalem made to defend against the siege they saw coming.  Then he condemns them for having the foresight to make these preparations but not once turning to God.  He tells them that God had called them to weep and mourn, but instead of doing so they had chosen to feast and party.  I take this to heart to some degree.  I am facing a serious problem that will take God’s intervention.  Have I failed to sufficiently mourn my circumstances?  Have I failed to follow God’s desire that I weep for my state?  I have prayed to God about my circumstances, but should I have done more?  I will strive to turn further towards God and reduce the time I spend on distractions.

In today’s passage, Isaiah prophesies that Tyre will be laid ruin for seventy years.  I am not sure why I never noticed it before, but I noticed that there are multiple prophecies which speak of something going on for seventy years.  I know that in the Book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah prophesied that the Babylonian Exile would last for seventy years.  Throughout the Bible the number seventy is used to indicate that something is complete.  So, Isaiah’s prophecy here that Tyre would remain desolate for seventy years was not meant as a literal seventy years but rather as an indication that it would remain desolate until its time of desolation was complete.  I am not going to do more to interpret this prophecy, because I am not sure that is the point we should take from them.  Instead I just want to bring up the point that when the number seventy appears in the Bible the indication of completeness or fullness carries more significance than the actual number.  A couple of examples of this: In Genesis we are told that the number of Jacob’s family who settled in Egypt was seventy.  This does not mean that the count was seventy (although it may have been), rather it indicates that it was an entire, a complete, people who settled in Egypt for a time.  When Jesus sent out seventy disciples it represented the complete number of the nations of the earth.  In this case, I do believe it was actually seventy whom Jesus sent out, but I think He chose that number for its symbolism.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 17-21.

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Isaiah continues his prophecies concerning the downfall of nations of the world.  I was really struggling with what to write about this when I noticed that in the first of the prophecies in today’s passage he prophesies the fall of both Syria and Israel (the Northern Kingdom) together.  It reads as if they are a single nation.  Interestingly, he says that Jacob will be brought low, but a small number will remain.  In this prophecy he seems to use “Jacob” to refer to just the Northern Kingdom.  He speaks about how the remnant will look to God and not to the idols they had been worshiping.  We see that fulfilled during both King Hezekiah’s and King Josiah’s reign when they restored worship of God throughout all of the land which had been controlled by the Israelites.

I want to address an idea of which many Christians speak.  Christians often refer to the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel”.  When they do so, they are referring to the ten tribes which we perceive as rebelling against Rehoboam.  People think that they disappeared from history when Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom and took many of its people into captivity.  However, the biblical record indicates that many them had migrated from the Northern Kingdom to the Kingdom of Judah when Jeroboam implemented his religious practices.  Additionally, many of them responded to King Hezekiah’s religious reforms and many more responded to King Josiah’s religious reforms a few generations later.  So, we see that a significant number of the northern tribes were part of the Kingdom of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar took them into Exile.  The Ten Tribes were never lost.  Isaiah’s prophecy here speaks of this fact.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 13-16.

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I’m not sure if I have a spiritual lesson from today’s passage, but I have some thoughts about the history that relates to it.  So, for a long time I wondered why the writer wrote about the fall of the Babylonian Empire and then about the fall of the Assyrian Empire which preceded the Babylonian Empire.  Or so I thought.  Over the last few years I have learned that the Babylonian Empire which is spoken about in biblical prophecy was a continuation of the Assyrian Empire where the capital of the Empire moved from Nineveh to Babylon.  A simple overview is that a member of the royal house of Assyria had been appointed governor of Babylon under the authority of the king of Assyria.  After the death of one of the kings of Assyria, the throne of Assyria became disputed, weakening the power of eventual successor.  The Assyrian governor of Babylon rebelled against the king, defeated him and began to rule over the Assyrian Empire from Babylon.  For various reasons the King of Babylon had to reconquer many of the subordinate lands, leading to the Bible generally presenting this as a new Empire.  Nevertheless this Babylonian Empire was really a continuation of the Assyrian Empire in much the same way that the Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire.  Which brings me back to today’s passage.  When Isaiah speaks of God breaking Assyria after he speaks of the fall of Babylon, he is doing so because Assyria did not completely fall until Babylon fell.

Now I come to the second interesting historical fact contained in today’s passage.  In his prophecy concerning Philistia, Isaiah tells them not to rejoice at the fall of Assyria because “from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder…”   This seems to me to be a reference to what I mentioned in the previous paragraph: Babylon was a successor state of, or continuation of, Assyria.  Babylon destroyed Philistia, and removed Philistia from history a few years before sacking Jerusalem and taking the people of Judah into Exile.  After its conquest, Philistia and the Philistines disappeared from history, but, just as Isaiah prophesied here, Israel and the Israelites remained and was rebuilt.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 9-12.

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When I read in the beginning of today’s passage that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light I imagine a place which is dark like a cave* and suddenly a bright light springs forth from a man (I admit I am influenced in forming that image by the Christian interpretation applying this passage to Jesus) illuminating a large area where many people had been stumbling around.  *By the way, if you have never been in a cave with no lights, it is an amazing experience.  I imagine those whose only experience of light was of candlelight, torchlight, or firelight suddenly seeing the sun.  I think that is a great metaphor for when one first experiences a relationship with Jesus.

I realized as I move forward to my next thought on today’s passage that my thoughts about it are somewhat scattered.  Isaiah goes on to speak of those who plan to rebuild better after their neglect has led to the collapse of what those before them had built without ever once turning to God.  They do not even recognize that the buildings collapsed through their neglect of God’s commands.  They do not ask God for guidance on how to rebuild.  Instead, they fight one another for power, as the land falls apart around them.  They take advantage of those too weak to protect themselves and deny justice to those who cannot give them advantage.  If they do not turn to the Lord, the wealth and power they thought would protect them will be completely lost to them.  Once God has struck them down, He will raise up the One who will judge with righteousness, who will lead the predator to give up predation and live at peace with the prey.  All shall have knowledge of the Lord and serve Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 5-8.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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I have been reading the daily passage out loud for Youtube for a few months now, and doing so has really made the passages have more meaning for me.  Today even more so than previously.  Let’s see how well I can transfer that to words.

The vineyard at the beginning of the passage is clearly a metaphor about the kingdom of Judah, but I think it applies to every country which is part of Western Civilization.  God set them up and gave them all that they need to prosper, but all too often they fail to deliver justice.  Instead, the powerful, whom God gave position so that they could shepherd His people (and all people are His people in this case), took advantage of those weaker than themselves.  They used the power which God had given them to take advantage of others and to oppress those others.  They used the wealth which God gave them to throw parties and indulge themselves with never a thought to doing God’s will and serving others.  In response to their unwillingness to use what God has given them to serve others, God will destroy the productivity of the land.  They will experience the suffering which they inflicted upon others.

In chapter seven, God sent Isaiah to prophecy to King Ahaz.  Interestingly, King Ahaz was the one of the kings during whose reign Isaiah prophesied who was said to do evil in the sight of the Lord.  After I wrote that I realized that the last of what I want to write about is not part of that prophecy, but rather comes as part of Isaiah’s prophecy about the fall of the Northern Kingdom.  I want to call attention to what he wrote in chapter eight, verse twelve and thirteen.  There he said, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.  But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”  We must be careful and not let the concerns of the world around us shape our thoughts.  Let us not fear the conspiracies which those around us fear.  There may be conspiracies by powerful people to do terrible things, but those people do not have the power which people perceive them to have.  We should not fear what those who do not put their trust in God fear, because our God is greater than those fears.  Our God is greater than those conspirators.  If we truly understand God’s power and thus fear Him as we should, we will fear nothing  and no one else, because none of those can do anything which goes against God commands.  They may use their power to bring harm to us, the things of the world may destroy that which we possess, but if we truly fear God they will be unable to touch that which we hold dear.   

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 1-4.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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Isaiah preaches that the people of Judah were unfaithful to God.  His entire ministry was calling the people back to God.  Yet, right here at the beginning he records the kings who reigned during his ministry.  Elsewhere, the Bible records three of the four as righteous kings.  Until a few years ago, I had always understood that the people of Judah descended into wickedness because they had wicked kings.  I have come to realize that is the opposite of what the Bible teaches.  Judah had wicked kings because the people of Judah pursued wickedness.  The prophecies of Isaiah illustrate this.

Here in the beginning of his writing Isaiah addresses his prophecies to those who present themselves as righteous.  He speaks out against those who use religious rituals to obtain forgiveness for sins they intend to commit again tomorrow.  Burnt offerings will not cover over evil deeds.  Giving to charities which help the poor does not offset oppressing them in your day-to-day business.  God despises those who go to worship services yet mistreat others during the rest of their time.  Yet despite this, God promises that He will wash us clean of our sins if we willingly turn to Him and seek to obey all of His commands.  God will teach us His ways if we turn to Him and walk in His ways.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 64-66.

Isaiah calls on God to d wondrous things once more.  He tells us that in all of history no one has perceived any other god like God, who acts on behalf of those who remember His ways and gladly do right.  However, instead of doing so, Isaiah says that we sinned against God’s ways and made Him angry.  Despite this, He is the potter molding our clay, making us into vessels which serve His purpose.  Then Isaiah switches to speaking from God’s perspective.  God declares that He revealed Himself to those who did not seek Him.  He called out to those who refused to listen because they thought they were too good to associate with those He had chosen.  Isaiah speaks of the blatantly obvious sins committed by those who hold themselves too righteous to associate with others, but I think most of the sins he mentions are metaphors for sins which we all too easily dismiss as not a big deal.  Yet, for all of our sins, God is going to call some of us to be His servants.  He will call those whom the self-righteous think are too unholy to associate with.  God will call them from all nations.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 60-63.

When I read passages such as the first part of today’s I understand why some people believe that Christ’s millennial reign has already begun and that eventually everyone will come to Him.  As I read chapter 60, Isaiah prophesies that as God’s people reflect His light they will draw all nations to Him.  My first thought is to interpret this as a prophecy concerning the people of Israel, but I can imagine it applying to the Church.  If it applies to the people of Israel, then we are still waiting for the day when they all turn to Christ.  It it applies to the Church, then we should be inspired to live so as to draw people to Him.  Of course, even if it does not apply to the Church, we should strive to live so as to draw people to Him.

Chapter 61 is the passage which Jesus read from in the synagogue.  He read verse one and the first line of verse two.  So, He stopped after reading, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”.  He did not read the next phrase, “and the day of vengeance of our God”.  I believe He stopped where He did in order to proclaim good things for those who choose to accept His witness.  However, those who reject Him will see the version expressed in chapter 63.  Those who refuse to embrace justice, who refuse to accept God’s gift, will be trod in the winepress of His wrath.  They will be trampled in His wrath.  He will save those who turn to Him, but those who choose to use others for their own ends will suffer His judgement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 57-59.

Isaiah speaks with God’s voice in condemning those who have worshiped idols.  He lists out their various offenses.  Those who have mocked God, and mocked those who believe in Him.  Those who “burn with lust” every place they can find to do so.  Those who have put pagan symbols behind their doors and their doorposts.  I think the prophet this refers to those who put up the symbols of godly worship for the world to see, but hide their unrighteous practices behind those symbolic acts of righteousness.  As part of the Passover, the Israelites marked their doors and doorposts with the blood of the sacrificial lamb, I think this reference to putting pagan symbols behind the door and door posts is a reference to people following the public Passover behavior, but behind it doing ungodly things.  The thing is that the prophet tells us that God has seen our terrible sins, our hypocritical unfaithfulness, but He will heal us anyway.

Isaiah then turns his attention to those who think they are faithfully serving God, but are not.  He speaks of those who wonder why God does not answer their prayers.  He explains that while we may go to Church on Sunday, sing of how much we love God, pray for others, put money in the offering plate, and follow all of the other forms of worship, we go home after service and do as we please.  He accuses us of exploiting our workers and ending the day of worship in quarrelling and strife.  Perhaps you think, “I am a worker.  I don’t have any workers to exploit.”  But, do you buy meat that you know was packed at a meatpacking plant which exploits illegal immigrant labor?  Do you buy goods which you know were produced in countries which essentially enslave the people who work in the factories?  It’s not as simple as saying that we won’t buy goods made in China (or whatever other country known for poor working conditions we might name).  And there is no good way to know which companies exploit illegal immigrants.  Fortunately, God gives us some pointers in positive actions we can take. “Do away with the pointing finger and malicious talk.”  “Spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 52-56.

I am going to start by writing about my first thoughts on Chapter 52.  To a degree, it reads as if the prophet is prophesying after Jerusalem has been sacked and its residents taken into exile.  Yet, Isaiah’s life ended while Hezekiah was king, well before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  Now, when I looked a little closer I noticed that the prophet also refers to the current oppressors of the Israelites as the Assyrians, not as the Babylonians.  Considering the wording of this portion of the Book of Isaiah, I could accept that this was written by a later prophet and appended to the works of Isaiah, but I see no reason to not accept that Isaiah wrote it.  It seems to me that, while scholars argue for a different author for chapters 40-66 based on literary style, their primary reason for believing it was a different author is because they do not believe that a prophet could have known about future events so accurately (such as Cyrus’ name).  Since I have no problem believing that God could give a prophet such knowledge, I do not see the changes in literary style being so convincing.  Which brings me to the next section which is often referenced as speaking of the suffering servant.  From a Christian perspective, it clearly speaks of Jesus and His redemptive suffering.  For anyone who accepts Isaiah as Scripture it is clearly a prophecy concerning the Messiah, the One whom God will send to redeem Israel.  Once someone has filled the role spelled out in Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant, there will be no room for another to supersede Him.

Finally, in chapter 56, Isaiah tells us that no foreigner who seeks to bind themselves to God should find themselves excluded, nor should eunuchs feel excluded.  As I read this, I am going to accept that this prophecy concerning eunuchs is intended to apply to those who are sexually attracted to those of the same sex, as many progressive Christians claim.  However, Isaiah tells us something important about those who fit that category whom God is calling:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever.”
That is followed with similar language concerning the foreigner.  So, we as the Church, as followers of Christ, should welcome among us ALL who seek to follow and obey Christ.  We should discipline those who struggle with the temptation to have sex with those of the same sex in the same way that we struggle those who struggle with avoiding sex outside of marriage, or with remaining committed to their marriage, or those who struggle with other sins.  Whatever temptation someone faces, we, as followers of Christ should walk beside them and, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, seek ways to help them overcome it, just as we should ask our fellow Believers to walk beside us and help us overcome our temptations.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.