Reading for April 25th

Read Isaiah 8,5-22. In 8.5-22: The rejection of the prophet's message. In verses 5-8: The message of the names is refused. Isaiah becomes the bearer of a new message: Ahaz will indeed seek military help from Assyria (see 2 Kings 16.7-9), but it would open the floodgates to a torrent that would overwhelmn the entire land, immersing Judah as well as the sister kingdom in the north. In verses 9-10: The prophet proclaims: God will establish justice upon earth (the book's overall message; compare 14.24-27; 17.12-14; and see introduction to chas. 13-27). In verses 11-22: The prophet retires from public activity until the truth of his warning is eastablished. Verses 16 refers to the testiomony of the name inscribed on the tablet in 8.1, so the disciples are witnesses of 8.2. The pprophet's written "memoir" would orginally have ended at v. 18, reemphasizing the message of his children's names, the message the king had rejected. In verses 12-15: Isaiah, isolated and spurned, is accussed of conspiracy, although it was the king who had ommitted conspiracy against God. In verses 19-22: Short prophecies warn of the folly of rejecting the true word of God. When, in despair, the people turn to seek assurance and knowledge of the future from the forbidden pratice of consulting sorcerers and the spirits of the dead, they will simple plunge themselves into deeper darkness. Comments or Questions..