Reading for May 16th

Read Isaiah 22.1-14. In 22.1-25: Warnings to Jerusalem and its leaders. In verses 1-4: The valley of vision is Jerusalem, apparently because Isaiah's call-vision took place there (ch. 6). The prophecies refer to the events described in 2 Kings 18.9-12: The northern Israelite city of Samaria was to besieged, captured, and destroyed by the king of Assyria. Jerusalem's escape from a similar fate by the timely, but humiliating, surrender of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18.13-16) may refer to. In celebrating their own escape, the citzens of jerusalem ignored the suffering of their sister nation. Isaiah strongly believed that both Judah and Israel (Ephraim) were two houses of one people before God (see 8.14; 9.21). Inverses 5-8a: The fate that had so recently overtaken their compatriiots wouldbefall the citzens of jerusalem. A century later Babylonian forces captured Jerusalem in 598, destroying it in 587 BCE. In verses 8b-11: Instead of trusting the Lord, the beleaguered citzens trusted their own human defense system. It would fail them, just as surely as the defenses of Samaria had failed. Comments or Questions..