Reading for June 19th

Read Isaiah 42.14-25. The references to the blind and deaf in vv.16,18-19 reverse the threatening aspects of the warnings given 6.9-10 by the eight-century Isaiah of Jerusalem (see further 43.8). The descriptions of the weak and distressed state of the pophet's own people in v. 22 (see 41.7) may indicate that he himself was suffering in Babylon. It seems probable, however, that the descriptions are typical of the misforturnes that had befallen the former inhabitants of Judah in many places. The mission of God's servant requires a recollection (v. 240 that Israel's present situation was a consequence of its own wrongdoing. Comments or Questions..