Reading for March 3rd

 Read Isaiah 7.10-17. The king rejects a sign, showing that he had not abandoned his plan to seek help from Assyria. In verse 11: This sign indicated that the prophetic word would, in due course, be fulfilled. Sheol was the place to which the spirits of the dead descended and is here used for poetic emphasis. In verse 14; In spite of the traditional translation of the young woman as "virgin," the Hebrew noun implies no more than a woman of a marriageable age. The prophet's right to confer the child's name indicates that she is probably his wife.  In the context of concern about the future of the Davidic line, however,the child may be a royal heir, possibly Hezekiah who succeeded Ahaz on the royal throne of Judah. The later "messianic" interpretation of prophecies relating to the Davidic kingship belongs to the period after the royal dynasty ceased to rule in Jerusalem (9.2-7;11.1-5; 55.3-5). Immanuel, "God with us," is an exclamation used in worship to affirm God's presence and protection (see Ps 46.11). Ahaz had no need to seek help from Assyria when God was his true helper. In verses 15-17: Eating curds and honey and refusing the evil and choosing the good came at the time (1-2years of age) when the child would begin to take solid food and respond to parental discipline. Within less than two years Judah's present enemies would have been forced to flee home. The day that Ephraim departed refers to the time when the united kingdom of Israel over which David and Solomon had reigned, split over allegiance to the Davidic dynasty (see 1 Kings 12.1-9). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 2nd

 Read Isaiah 7.1-9. In 7.1-84: The message of the names of three children. In verses 7.1-3: For the political context, see 2 Kings 16.5-9. The threat to depose Ahaz was an attempt to force Judah into joining the anti-Assyrian coalition. The king countered by seeking assistance from Assyria (2 Kings 16.7-9), trying to secure his throne and gain an advantage over Ephraim in a territorial quarrel (see 2 Kings 14.25). Ahaz's overture to Assyria was disastrous. Isaiah coveys a message through children's names: Shear-jashub, Immanuel, and Maher-Shalalhashbaz. The first is already the prophet's infant son, whereas the third has not even been conceived when his name was given and is inscribed on a tablet (8.1-2). At the child's birth, witnesses would unveil the prescribed name (8.2). The name of the second child, Immanuel (7.14), may indicate a royal figure, an heir to the throne who would assure the future of the dynasty to the troubled Ahaz. It is more probable, however, that, likely the other two, the child is the prophet's and the unnamed young woman of 7.14 is the prophet's wife. In verse 3: Shear-jashub, "a remnant returns," implies the defeat of the armies threatening Jerusalem and their return home in greatly reduced numbers. It could be later interpreted in other ways (see 10.20-23). In verse 6: The son of Tabeel is not otherwise identified, and it is not even clear that he was from a Judahite family. The prophet's emphatic form of address to the king (v. 13) implies that the future of the royal dynasty was threatened. In verse 8: The not on the dissolution of Ephraim (Israel) reflects an editor's awareness that the veiled threat was fulfilled. Comments or Questions

Reading for March 1st

 Read Isaiah 6.1-13. In 6.1-13: The prophet's call and commission. In verses 1-8: The year in which King uzziah died is not precisely known, but his death occurred sometime between 742 and736 BCE. The king (also called Azariah, 2 Kings 15.1-7) had been stricken with severe illness (2 Kings 15.5), which meant that his son Jotham served for a time as co-regent with him before succeeding to the throne (2 Kings 15.7). This co-regent period must be included in the sixteen years ascribed Jotham's reign (2 Kings 15.33). It was in this time that the major conflict arose between an alliance of Syria-Israel (Ephraim) and Judah (2 Kings 15.37). The central issue was resistance against Assyria expansion in the region (see 2 Kings 15.17-20). Judah's neighbors intended to remove Ahaz from his throne and replace him with an otherwise unknown figure called Tabeel (7.6). Isaiah's call therefore came to cause sever political up heaveal in the region. In verses 9-10: The sharp irony of the commission given to Isaiah implies awareness of the popular hostility to his message and the people's refusal to accept it (see 8.11-15).  In verse 11: One of Isaiah's central warnings is that the entire land of Israel will be ruined because the rejection of God's message. The continuing relevance of these prophecies led to their preservation in this book. In verses 12-13: The cruel Assyrian policy of exiling whole populations (see 36.17) is reflected in this warning. The further threat that, even after severe devastation, the land will be burned again reflects later awareness of deportations by both Assyrian and Babylonian armies. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 28th

 Read Isaiah 5.26-30. This key prophetic declaration shows how clearly how judgment will fall upon the land of Israel and Judah and that, although a foreign nation will bring about devastation, the voice of God has summoned it. The image of God acting against Israel by raising a signal for the nation far away becomes a repeated theme showing how God' acts to control human destiny (see 11.10-12; 49.22). Although in this pronouncement the identity of the distant nation is not revealed, one quickly discovers that it is Assyria (see 7.17; 8.4). Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 27th

 Read Isaiah 5.8-25. In verses 8-24: The conduct of the ruling classes in Jerusalem involved greed, manipulation of justice, violence, and dishonesty. Divine judgment is therefore necessary. The concluding part of this indictment many occur in 10.1-3, with 5.25 correspondingly misplaced from 9.8-21. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 26th

 Read Isaiah 5.1-7. In 5.1-30: The song of the vineyard. In verses 1-7: The parable of an unfruitful vineyard is an apparently unremarkable story whose full meaning only becomes clear when the storyteller reveals that he is describing Israel and Judah. The verdict of v. 6 is valid also for this larger meaning: The land must soon suffer utter devastation and ruin. This is the theme-message which underlies all the prophecies of chs. 5-12 (see especially 6.11-13). The parable is made more complex by the opening address in which the speaker declares: Let me sing for my beloved my love-song. As a "friend of the injured vine owner, the speaker is an interested onlooker or perhaps the owner's supporter at a feasts. In this case, the claim to present a love-song suggest that the story will be about a disappointed lover (see the use of vineyard imagery for courtship in Song 8.11-12). In v. 7 The vineyard represents both Israel and Judah. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 25th

 Read Isaiah 4.2-6. In 4.2-6: The glory of the new Jerusalem. In verses 5-6: Judgment is the necessary path to the rewal of hope and to the dawning of a time of justice and world peace. Hence, the opening chapters conclude with the vision of a chastened and glorified Jerusalem in which the presence of God will be evident everywhere (vv. 5-6). The visionary presentation is filled with symbolic word pictures in which the title the branch of the Lord (v. 2) refers to the new Davidic king (compare 11.1). As God had led the ancestors of the nation through the desert (see Ex 13.21-22), so now the same presence would indicate the protection and blessing of the favored city. The picture of shade and shelter (v. 6) counter the warnings of the sufferings and trials in 3.1-4.1. Comments or Questions..