Reading for April 7th

 Read Isiah 29.5-16. In 5-8: The visitation of the Lord of hosts. God would intervene to protect Jerusalem, but it is not clear what actually occurred in 701 to explain this report (see comment on 37.36). This assurance my go back to Isaiah, or it may result from subsequent reflection on the deliverance of the city and King Hezekiah's continuing reign. The survival of the Davidic dynasty in Jerusalem was of great significance when the destruction of Samaria and its royal house was recalled (see 2 Kings 18.10-12). In verses 9-12; The people's inability to discern God's purpose is like drunken staggering. The warning in vv. 11-12 witnesses to the way in which the spoken word of the prophet was preserved to become part of scripture. The reader of the book takes the place of the hearer of the word. In verses 13-14: The wisdom of their wise shall perish. The foolish policies of the royal counselors and advisers would prove ruinous. in Verses 15-16: The prophet mocks the secrecy and subterfuge by which the royal counselors seek to hide their policy with high risk military disaster, from the people. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 6th

 Read Isaiah 29.1-4. In 29.1-24: The siege and deliverance of Jerusalem. This chapter centers on the threat to Jerusalem by Sennacherib's campaign in 701 BCE (see chs. 36-37). These oracles attest to both the danger they city faced and its remarkable escape. Warnings explaining the near catastrophe occur in vv. 9-10, 13-14, and 15-16. Jerusalem's survival demanded further reflection on Isaiah's warnings, and Jerusalem's later destruction (587 BCE) posed further questions. these reflections are in vv. 5-8, with further messages of hope in vv. 17-21 and 22-24. In verses 1-4: Ah, Ariel, Ariel the city where David ecamped!Ariel, "altar hearth," refers to the sacred altar in the city' and the reference to king David recalls taking the city in 2 Sam 5.6-10, evoking its unique importance both the God and to Israel. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 5th

 Read Isaiah 28.23-29. In 28.23-29: The lesson of the farmer's year. This is one of the most instructive prophetic parables of the Hebrew Scriptures. The variety of activities that make up the farmer's year illustrate the force of vv. 21-22. To the question, "would not destroying the city where the Temple stands be a strange work for God the protector?" The prophet's answer is that, like the farmer, God has many varied tasks to perform--and judging a rebellious people is one of them. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 4th

 Read Isaiah 28.14-22. In 28.14-22: God's strange work. This powerful prophecy expresses the fundamentals of Isaiah's conviction: God alone is the defense and protector of the people of Jerusalem. Instead of trusting in God, however, these leaders has chosen a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol (v. 18). These titles may refer to a strange ritual with the god of death to make sure no harm could come to them. Or more likely, they may be a sharply ironic, description of the treaty with Egypt that Judah hoped would protect it against any Assyrian reprisal for rebellion. Egypt is caricatured as the kingdom of death (by constructing great pyramids and embalming national figures). In contrast, Isaiah insists that Judah's actions will simply hasten death's arrival. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for April 3rd

 Read Isaiah 28.7-13. In 28.7-13: God cannot be mocked with impunity. It is unclear whether this oracle is addressed to the revelers in vv. 1-4, or whether it is a rebuke to a group of Jerusalem's leaders (compare v. 14). The signs or excess are evident (v. 8) when they turn to mock the prophet and, by implication God (vv. 9-10). These leaders accuse the prophet of treating them like little children (v. 10). Instead God will teach them a lesson in the language of foreign invaders (v. 11). By rejecting and mocking the prophet's warnings (v. 12), and choosing rebellion against Assyria, they were playing with their own lives and those of the people and would pay the price (v. 13). Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 2nd

 The Lord is a refuge and protection.

In 28.1-29: The four units of this chapter (1-6; 7-13; 14-22, 23-29) condemn the foolishness of the leaders of both Ephraim (Israel) and Judah, who show by their drunken and mocking behavior that they neither understand their problems nor are able to remedy them. In contrast, Isaiah sets out the simple and direct message: "One who trusts will not panic" (v. 16).

Read Isaiah 28.1-6. In 28.1-6: The folly of Ephraim's leaders. It is surprising that the opening prophecy focuses on Ephraim, rather than Judah, which Isaiah usually addressed. Yet Ephraim suffered first and more severely, from the deportations of Assria. Judah should learn the necessary lesson: As a sudden rainstorm (v. 2) ruins the festival of those leaders who had already eaten and drunk too much so would God's judgment wreck the complacent peace of the kingdom (compare 9.8-10.4). A brief word of hope and relief (vv. 5-6) shows that God's judgmental ways has a way of escape for a penitent remnant. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 1st

 Read Isaiah 27.1-13. In 27.1-13: The new song of the vineyard. In verse 1: The assurance that the Lord will punish Leviathan reflects the ancient belief that the earth was created after a great battle between the creator God and a monster symbolizing chaos. In the Babylonian creation epic, the monster is called Tiamat, but other versions us the name Rahab (compare Isa 51.9). The power of God to impose order is needed not simply in the primary act of creation but in every natural disaster or historical catastrophe, when God's rule needs to be reestablished. In verse 2: A pleasant vineyard, sing about it! Reference to the vineyard parable of Isa 5.1-7 shows that the new song marks the end of the period in which the former vineyard (Israel) was reduced to a wasteland. In verse 4: The thorns and briers will at last be removed (see 7.23-25; 9.18; 10.17) In verses 7-11: The restoration has not yet taken place, and the field of Jacob still lie desolate and forsaken (v. 10). The people without understanding (v. 11) are those who hold back God's saving work. In verses 12-13: The promise of return to their homeland for the scattered survivors remains central to the hope for the future in Isaiah. Here and in 11.12-16 (compare 19.23-23), this return is the prelude to the restoration of Israel to its former glory, the completion of God's saving purpose. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 31st

 Read Isaiah 26.1-21. In 26.1-21: praise to the God of justice. The hymn of the praise to God for the justice of the divine judgments upon the earth in vv.1-15 indicates that chs. 24-27, and probably the entire scroll of Isaiah, were designed to be read, and prayerfully responded to, in acts of worship. The message of God was a call to penitence and faith, so that unresolved questions and doubts could be answered by trust, as in v.3: Those of steadfast mind keep you in peace-in peace because they trust in you. It is necessary to accept the purpose of God and to await salvation without fully understanding the violent wrongs of human history. This trust is expressed in the remarkable outburst of vv. 16-19: When the promises of God appear so far from fulfillment, a new vision breaks in, a vision of life beyond the grave and of life renewed for those long dead. The only other passage in the Hebrew Scriptures that compares with this visionary insight into the world beyond the grave in Dan 12.2. The prophet is attempting to reconcile the righteousness of God with the problems of suffering and conflict. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 30th

 Read Isaiah 25.1-12. In 25.1-12: The banquet of the Lord of hosts. The great festival to be celebrated in Jerusalem on the holy mountain gives pictorial expression to the praise of God (vv. 1-5). Even in the most violent trouble, God is a refuge to the needy in their distress (v. 4). The prophetic vision, however, recognizes that there are wrongs and sufferings on earth that cannot be put right by stilling the blast of the ruthless. The ultimate resolution of injustice can come only when God overcomes the power of death itself (v. 7: compare 26.19). In verses 10-12: The humiliation of Moab. This appears to belong with the other warnings in chs. 15-16. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 29th

The terror of the day of the Lord and the ensuing reign of blessedness.

In 24.1-27.13: Chapters 24-27 contain no clear indications of their time of origin and therefore are difficult to relate to known events. They contrast a time of fearful judgment upon the city of chaos (24.10) with a new era of blessedness, a spectacular feast on the mountain of God (25.6-10). These chapters may have been a separate prophetic book, but clear references to earlier themes and pronouncements, most notably the "New Song of the Vineyard" (27.2-6; compare 5.1-7), make it more likely that they are a sequel to the prophecies against foreign cities and nations in ch. 13-23. The great empires will be over taken by a fearful day of God's judgment, followed by a time of peace and justice. The evocative word pictures of doom and disaster, intermixed with hymns of praise and promises of a new age of great peace and blessedness, lift human history into the realm of a great spiritual "super-history" in which evil is overthrown and the faithful are vindicated. 

Read Isaiah 24.1- 23. In 24.1-23: The day of terror for the city of chaos. This remarkable picture of a tortured and pain-wracked earth view the sufferings of its inhabitants (vv.17-20) as a consequence of the curse-ridden state of the earth itself (v. 6). The very order of the world, disturbed and in turmoil, can only be put right by divine punishment of the evil in anew era of divine rule (vv. 22-23). Despair for the earth combines with trust that untimely God will prevail, which explains the praise of God in vv. 14-16. Judgment, as proof of divine justice, is itself a necessary part of God's created order. The city of chaos (v. 10) is a symbolic city, like Bunyan's Vanity Fair in Pilgrim Progress. Even though the host of heaven rebels against God (v. 21), this prophet believes God will prevail. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 28th

 Read Isaiah 23.1-18. In 23.1-18: A prophecy concerning Tyre. In verses 1-12: The Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were famous in antiquity as as the seafaring and mercantile trading centers of  the Mediterranean world. The pride of Tyre was its fine buildings, wealth, and honor. In 701 BCE, the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib laid siege to the Phoenician cities forcing Luuli, king of Sidon, to flee to the island of Cyrus (v. 12). In verses 13-18: A brief editorial note (v. 13) points out that Babylon (from 604 BCE) had replaced the threat from Assyria (compare the book of Nahum, which celebrates the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE). This succession of Mesopotamian oppressors led the later compilers to supplement earlier prophecies to provide a fuller picture of God's purpose. Tyre, like an aging prostitute (v. 16), will shamelessly pursue wealth (a refence to the rich merchants for which Tyre was known). In contrast, the final note (v. 18) recognizes that wealth, rightly earned, can be used in the service of God. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 27th

 Read Isaiah 22.12-25. In verses 15-25: Three short, but related, condemnations (vv. 15-19, 20-23,24-25) concern Shebna, the master of the royal household (v. 15), and Eliakim son of Hilkiah (v. 20) who had briefly succeeded him (v. 21). These officials are mentioned in 36.3, 11, 22 and played a prominent role in the negotiations for Hezekiah's surrender to Assyria (see 2 Kings 18.18). Their personal ambitions and folly, which affected their roles informing national policy, are condemned. Isaiah also condemned the king for relying upon Egyptian promises or support (see Isa 30). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 26th

 Read Isaiah 22.1-11. In 22.1-25: Warnings to Jerusalem and it's 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 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 also be referred to. In celebrating their own escape, the citizens of Jerusalem ignored the suffering of their own sister nation. Isaiah strongly believed that both Judah and Israel (Ephraim) were two houses of one people before God (see 8.14; 9.21). In verses 5-8a: The fate that had so recently overtaken their compatriots would also befall the citizens 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 citizens trusted their own human defense system. It would fail them, just as surely as the defenses of Samaria had failed. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 25th

 Read Isaiah 21.11-17. In 691-689 BCE the Assyrian King, Sennacherib, extended his campaigns further to the south and west, penetrating the Dumah (Edom and the northwest tip of Arabia where the famed caravan cities of Kedar and Dedan were located). This brief, inclusive prophecy may be reporting the  ineffectual nature of this particular foray. In verses 13-17: The campaign of Sennacherib to plunder the desert cities of Dedan and Tema is reflected in vv.14-15, with vv.16-17 adding an additional note reflecting later attempts to exploit the region, probably by Babylonian forces. Comments or Questions.

Reading for March 24th

 Read Isaiah 21.1-10. In 21.1-17: Prophecies concerning Babylon, Edom, and southern desert lands. In verses 1-10: This anguished warning concerns the fall of Babylon (v. 9). The heading (v. 1 addresses the southern desert of the Negeb, but the content points to Babylon. The oracle may date from the time of the attack on the city by Elam and Media (538 BCE), when the Medo-Persian overthrow of Babylon marked its end as a world power. This prophecy would provide a framework for the series of prophecies against the nations that began in ch. 13 with the threat to Babylon. It may also date, however, from 73 BCE when the Assyrian king Sennacherib captured the city of Babylon after it had rebelled against Assyrian's rule. At this time, the Babylonian ruler Merodach-baladan sent emissaries to Hezekiah of Judah to coordinate rebellion against Assyria (compare Isa 39.1-8). Comments or Questions..

A reading for March 23rd

 Read Isaiah 20.1-6. In 20.1-6: A lesson from the past. A brief narrative reports an event of 715 BCE; A Philistine rebellion against Assyria led to a campaign against Ashdod, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. The Egyptians promised help for the rebellion and Judah was tempted to join. Isaiah's strange action of appearing naked and barefoot, like a prisoner of war being sold into slavery (v. 2), warned against such complicity. Egypt's help would prove to be unreliable and worthless (v. 6). This warning was reaffirmed when Hezekiah trusted the Egyptians promises in rebelling against Assyria in 703 BCE. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 22nd

 Read Isaiah 19.16--25. In verses 16-25: In spite of these failures, Judah's relations with Egypt were prolonged 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 host. Even Assyria would one day become with Egypt and Israel a blessing in the midst of the earth (v. 24). The series of remarkable short prophecies builds on the aftermath of the disasters that befell Jerusalem at the hands of Assyrians and Babylonians. Many citizens fled to Egypt, and, from the sixth century BCE onwards, substantial 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. 21-24). 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..

Reading for March 21st

 Read Isaiah 19.1-15. In 19.1-25: Threats concerning Egypt. In verses 1-15: Throughout the period when Assyria and Babylon were assaulting Israel and Judah, Egypt repeatedly promised protection, yet consistently failed to carry through. "For Egypt's help is worthless and empty" (Isa 30.7). The people famed throughout antiquity for learning and literary skill could offer no defense against a ruthless invader (vv. 11-15). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 20th

 Read Isaiah 18.1- 7. In 18.1-7: Prophecy concerning Ethiopia. In verses 1-6: This oracle probably refers to the situation described in 2 Kings 17.4: Judah sent ambassadors to Ethiopia (Cush) to negotiate an alliance against Assyria in 724 BCE. Isaiah warns that the Lord does not support such an alliance, it will fail. In verse 7: This anticipation of the hope in 45.14 shows how an observant editor has unified the message of the book. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 19th

 Read Isaiah 17.12-14. The defeat of a host of nations when they threaten God's people conforms to the warnings in 8.9-10 and 14.24-27. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 18th

 Read Isaiah 17.1-11. In 17.1-11: Prophecies concerning Israel and Damascus. In verses 1-6: The background is that of the alliance of Syria (Damascus) and Ephraim (Israel) against Judah, which is also present in chs. 7-8. The message is that expressed in the name of Isaiah's son Shear-jashub ("a remnant returns," Isa 7.3). Instead of the defeated remnant of an army, this time the image is that of gleanings after a harvest. In verses 7-9: The original threat gives only a general reason for the coming disaster (vv. 10-11); this added warning against trust in the power of idols intensifies the threat (see 2.8). In verses 10-11: Reference to the hyperbolic growth of plants reflects a form of fertility with religious (and probably also sexual significance). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 17th

 Read Isaiah 16.1-13. In verses 1-11: The appeal to Jerusalem to offer refuge to fugitives from this disaster is a sign of hope that Moab would renew allegiance to a Davidic king. This prophecy may allude to to the reign of Josiah, a link with the promise of 32.1-8. Verses 6-11 rebuke the pride of Moab. In verses 12-13: Subsequent to the disaster of 586 BCE, the relations between Judah and Moab worsened. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 16th

 Read Isaiah 14.28-15.9. In 15.1-16.13: Prophecies concerning the downfall of Moab In 15.1-9: Moab was one of the smaller kingdoms neighboring Judah in the south and to the east of the River Jordan. It covered much of the territory now occupied by Jordan. Moab, though once part of David's kingdom (2 Sam 8.20), had broken away and suffered Assyrian and Babylonian exploitation. In the course of one or another campaign, this fearful killing took place. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 15th

 Read Isaiah 14.22-27. Assyria will suffer divine punishment (see 10.5-34), and although out of chronological sequence, this warning to all nations who threaten God's people (vv. 26-27; see 8.9-10; 17.12-14). In the literary and historical structure of Isa 13-27, the historical rise and fall of great imperial powers was a preparation for God's rule. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 14th

Read Isaiah 13.1-21.  In 14.1-23: A mocking lament for the death of the king of Babylon.  In verses 1-2: The Babylonian threat occupies most of chs. 40-55, so this great world power takes on a symbolic role as the supreme example of oppression. This editorial note provides a summary of the message of hope (chs. 56-66; see also 11.12-16). In verses 3-11: A brillant, mocking lament for the death of the king of Babylon ironically contrasts the king's power in life and powerlessness in death and celebrates the passing of Babylon as a world power. No ruler is named, and, apart from the introductory heading in v. 4, direct identification with Babylon is lacking. The original subject maybe some earlier ruler's death, possible the Assyrian Shalmaneser V (whose death in 705 occurred during Isaiah's ministry and had a major repercussions for Judah's political stance). But this passage celebrates the down fall of tyranny rather than the death of a specific individual. Sheol (vv. 11, 15) is the mysterious underworld to which spirits descended after death. The spirits of other dead persons rise up in amazement that a figure once so proud and supreme could be brought so low (vv. 16-20). In verses 12-15: The Day Star, son of dawn is the morning star (Venus). In verses 16-21; In extensive royal households other sons were usually a threat to a crown prince (see 37.38). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 13th

 Read Isaiah 13.1-22. In 13.1-22: The overthrow of Babylon. In verses 1-22: It is a surprise that Babylon, rather than Assyria, is the great oppressing power to be punished for its excesses and cruelties. The reason lies in the importance of Baylon for the structure of the book. Chs. 40-55 reflect the period of Babylon imperial control over the nations dealt with in chs. 13-23. Reference to the attacking Medes (v. 17) points to this fierce prophecy as a forewarning of the defeat of Babylon in 538 BCE, later anticipated  so eagerly in chs. 46-47. Judah's bitter sufferings at the hand of Babylon explain the vengeful spirit in vv. 14-16 and the longing that such a great kingdom should become a perpetual ruin (vv. 20-11). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 12th

 Read Isaiah 12.1-6. In 12.1-6: A psalm of thanksgiving. Isaiah has been constructed to form a series of "books within books." A psalm of thanksgiving for the salvation of God which will surely come to Jerusalem concludes the section that began in 5.1. These shorter collections display a broad editorial structure where hope and promise follow threats and warnings. Even the punitive fires of judgment are placed within this larger context of the saving purpose of God. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 11th

 Read Isaiah 11.1-16. In 11.1-16: The renewal of God's promise. In verses 1-5: The shoot from the stump of Jesse refers to the situation after Babylonians had removed the last of the Davidic rulers, Zedekiah (2 Kings 25.1-7). His predecessor and nephew, Jehoiachin, had been taken and held in prison in Babylon (2 Kings 24.10-12), and this prophecy reflects the hope that either he, or one of his descendants, would return to rule (see 55.1-5; 1 Chr 3.16-24). This hope was not fulfilled, and the promises of Davidic kingship became messianic hope. In verses 6-9: An addition that conveys a wider message than one of government and justice: a time of world peace extending throughout the natural order, witnessing the end of violence, not simply between nations (see Isa 2.4) but between wild and domestic animals. The violence and disorder that had confounded God's purpose since the beginning would be transformed by the fashioning of anew heaven and a new earth (66.2-3). As a prominent, and unique, hope in Isaiah, the message is repeated in 65.25. In verses 10-16: Chapters 5-12 form a connected series of prophecies, from the devastation foretold in 6.11-13 until the return of survivors to repopulate it and rebuild Jerusalem. This promise of return forms a significant feature of the book's overall message. Detailed promises of this return begin in chs. 40-55. Prophecies fulfill in that hope are included in chs. 56-66. as God's judgment had been heralded by a signal to a "nation far away" (5.26), so the ending of the period of judgment and dawning of the age of peace would begin with a further signal to all nations (11.10-12). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 10th

 Read Isaiah 10.20-34. "Shear-jashub" of 7.3, "a remnant returns," could be understood in more than one way, as the three interpretations of vv. 21-23 show. There would be a future nation, but shaped by suffering and loss. Only some of the nation would survive. Similarly, the interpretations in vv. 24-27a  of "the rod of their oppressor" (9.4) show that God would free Judah from foreign domination. In 27b-32 short passage probably refers to the march on Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BCE, the background for Isaiah's later prophecies (see ch. 28-30 and 36-37). It is out of chronological sequence with the events in chs. 7-9 (the reign of King Ahaz). However, its abrupt ending ending with the oppressor threatening, but not attacking. Jerusalem (v. 32) fits the Assyrian punitive campaign into Judah during the reign of Hezekiah, whose accession is foretold in 9.2-7. In verses 33-34: The out come of Sennacherib's campaign is presented as the cutting down of the forest foretold in vv. 18-19. The failure to complete the punitive attack upon Jerusalem in 701 was a judgment of God upon Assyria's blasphemous boasts. The events in chs. 36-37 are understood to fulfill the punishment on Assyria declared in 10.15-19. Comments or Questions.

Reading for March 9th

 Read Isaiah 10.5-19. In 10.5-34: Assyria will not escape the judgment of God. In verses 5-19: Assyria was the agent of God, but its ministers were arrogant and blasphemous (see 36.13-20). When God judged that the time was ripe (v. 24) Assyria would suffer a severe punishment from God (vv. 15-19), set out is a series of word-pictures related to other sayings. In verses 17-19: The tree imagery is related to the language of "briers and thorns" in 5.6 (see 7.23-23; 9.18; possibly also relates to the wooden rod of 9.4 and 10.5). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 8th

 Read Isaiah 9.8-10.4. In 9.8-10.4: No respite for the land of Ephraim. In 9.8-21: The Assyrian intervention proved ruinous. Judah fared less badly than Ephraim; 2 Kings 17.5-23 tells how Ephraim was destroyed (see also Isa 7.8). The prophet warns against pride and complacency (vv. 9-10) in trusting that ruin would be overcome. During the following half-century, persistent external interference and internal conflicts ruined the region of Ephraim-Samaria. Not till the reign of Josiah more than a century later were serious attempts made to reunite parts of this land with Judah. In 10.1-4: Verses belong to the condemnation of the leaders of Jerusalem in 5.8-24 (note also the use of the refrain from 9.8-21 in 5.25), while 10.4 clearly belongs to the warning against Ephraim (9.8-21). Comments or Questions..