Reading for May 12th

Read Isaiah 19.16-25. In verses 16-25: In spite of these failures, Judah's relations with Egypt were proplonged and often close. The prophet looks beyond the turmoil of Mesopotamian rule to the time when a community would dwell there who spoke the language of Canaan (v. 18) and swore allegiance to the Lord of Hosts. Even Assyria would one day become with Egypt and Israel a blessing in the midst of the earth (v. 24). This series of remarkable short prophecies builds on the aftermath of the disasters that befell Jerusalem at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonnians. Many citzens fled to Egypt, and, from the sixth century BCE onwards, substanial settlements of exiled Judeans took refuge there. In this bold look across the spiritual boundaries of the ancient world, a genuine religious universalism begins to appear (vv. 23-24). The knowledge of God revealed to Israel would be shared among other peoples, replacing the failed learning of the Egyptian sages (v. 11). Comments or Questions..