Isaiah — Chapter 17
"The Day is coming when people will notice The One Who Made Them, take a long hard look at The Holy of Israel. They'll lose interest in all the stuff they've made—altars and monuments and rituals, their homemade, handmade religion—however impressive it is. And yes, the Day is coming when their fortress cities will be abandoned —the very same cities that the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when Israel invaded! And the country will be empty, desolate." Isaiah 17: 7-9
Darned if you do, darned if you don't...or something like that.
It's easy for us to see that if Israel placed their trust in anything their hands had made, the trust was misplaced. We have the benefit of history.
This passage deals with rituals, altars, and monuments. We'd mostly assume these religious accouterments to be of a non-Yahweh variety, like Asherah, or Baal, or some other such nonsense, which they probably were. But nowadays we're pretty good at using our physical and proverbial "hands" to create baggage for the one true God, aren't we?
We must open and close our prayers just right. Eyes closed.
We must read the correct translation of the Bible, which is obviously the New International Version.
It used to be that we needed our hymnals a certain way...how long before we need our Power Point a certain way?
We fabricate a religious grid that we need to operate within, and then we start to shrink the parameters of that grid, to ensure everyone is safely within it, like a religious fortress. But a day is coming (has come, and yet is still coming) when people will lose interest in what is either totally or merely partially fake, and look to the One who made the ones who are able to make the fake.
To me, the most interesting part of this passage is nearer the end, though, when it describes the abandonment of the fortified cities. I tried to look into it a bit, but I couldn't find much info about it. Some translations (NIV and NAS) don't reference it this way at all, whereas others (Amplified and KJV) don't expand on it, and Google let me down. What I take from it is that when Israel made their way out of the desert, right after they bade farewell to Moses, they strolled into these fortified towns, mowed down the inhabitants, and then moved in. They lived in these cities, but they didn't build these cities. Technically, these were not the works of their hands, but they obviously couldn't trust in them, either.
Darned if you do, darned if you don't.
Clearly, the warning here is not a strictly personal warning. We don't merely need to keep guard against pride in the work of our own hands, but in human hands in general. Or gorilla hands or crocodile hands (do crocodiles have hands?) for that matter. Human kind and Creation are beyond understanding and belief in their beauty, in their...complexity. We're wonderful. We really are. God said so. But we didn't make ourselves, and we cannot save ourselves. We might be able to break ourselves, but we don't have the right to do that either.
If we don't want to be "darned". it's time to "take a long hard look at The Holy of Israel", and see Who's looking back.
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The whole thing about Israel living in those cities...I feel like I've heard it somewhere before, but I don't know if it's true. If it is, though, doesn't it spark a lot of other interesting thoughts? I mean, obviously God thought the people in these cities were beyond repair, but what about the works of their hands? Those things were good enough for God's chosen people? What if Charles Manson designed the photocopier used in your local church? What if Anton Levay distributed the coffee that we sipped during "Fellowship Time"?
Isaiah — Chapter 16
"When Moab trudges to the shrine to pray,
he wastes both time and energy.
Going to the sanctuary and praying for relief
is useless. Nothing ever happens." Isaiah 16: 12
Can it ever get this bad?
A few years back, I decided I should read Bunyan's classic "Pilgrim's Progress", to see what all the fuss was about. In general, it was a hard read, and...well, to be honest, I didn't really get that much out of it. I was, however, struck by one passage. A man cleverly named "Interpreter" brings the protagonist (also quite cleverly named "Christian") into a house that has several visual parables or object lessons to teach the boy things he needs to know before setting out on his journey. One of the rooms in this house contains a man locked in a cage. His name? "Backslider". BS, as I call him for short, is locked in a cage because he was once a believer, but he let his guard down, made too many mistakes, and now he's beyond the reach of salvation. He says "I have provoked God to anger, and He has left me. I have so hardened my heart that I cannot repent...God hath denied me repentance."
This is the only part of the book that I remember.
Can it ever get that bad?
This chapter of Isaiah answers at least one of the questions that the preceding chapter created. Moab's sin? Pride. Overwhelming, blistering pride. That nation was walking around with heads so large that, apparently, they could no longer fit into God's good graces if they squeezed with all their might. But is that really possible, or is Isaiah overstating the point here? God said He'd spare Sodom if only 10 righteous people turned up, and He's constantly saying that if people will humble themselves and seek Him, He'll forgive. Is Isaiah really saying that forgiveness is impossible, or is he saying that the likelihood of Moab humbling themselves and seeking forgiveness makes it impossible in theory? Can we actually move out of the reach of God's mercy?
Can we ever get that bad?
I'm not the first to ask that question, and I won't be the last. Whether from an Old Covenant or New Covenant perspective, there are more than 359 degrees of opinion on whether or not we can be "saved" and then "not saved". My mind's always told me that nothing could "snatch" me out of the Father's hand (John 10: 29), but I could probably jump. I've always felt that, if I decided this wasn't for me, I can leave at any time, but no one would stop me from coming back, either. I'm not gonna bother making a list of why I believe this way, 'cause no one would care. Suffice it to say, I do. But even if I didn't; even if I thought that there was a point of no return, I can't imagine the stress of having to convey that to someone else. If Isaiah truly meant that Moab needed to just stop wasting their time, can you imagine how difficult it would be to proclaim that? "It's too late for you. Accept it! Move on." I think we'd catch him asking...
Can I ever get that bad?
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I also figured I'd mention that I'm well aware the "shrine" or "sanctuary" mentioned above may be that of an idol. If that's the case, obviously all is for nought (I can pray for deliverance to my Fisher Price record player all day long, but all I'll get for my trouble is a sweet melody). I was simply using the notion of Moab seeking the one true God as a springboard.
Isaiah — Chapter 15
"Oh, how I grieve for Moab...
...The banks of the Dibon crest with blood,
but God has worse in store for Dibon:
A lion—a lion to finish off the fugitives,
to clean up whoever's left in the land." Isaiah 15: 4-9
So...um...Moab will be destroyed. That's the gist of this chapter, I'd say.
I tried looking up some info on whether or not Moab was, in fact, destroyed, but the best I could get was a sketchy Wikipedia article. Let's assume the nation was wiped out, as this passage suggests. Why? This chapter doesn't deal with that, so neither will we.
The message of the 15th chapter of Isaiah, then, is that the nation of Moab will be destroyed. Almost case-closed.
Do you suppose this passage is written from God's perspective, or Isaiah's? I read a couple different translations, but none had quotation marks and you'll notice that "God" is referred to in the third person, which I'm guessing means that most translators consider this passage to have been written in Isaiah's own voice. Why does Isaiah "grieve for Moab"?
Is he being sarcastic?
Is he torn by having to deliver such awful news all the time?
According to most maps of that time, Moab and Judah were neighbors. Maybe he had friends there. Maybe he used to live there. I mean, what do we know about this guy other than what this book says? Here's the thing: whether it's Isaiah's words or those of the Lord Himself, we see the ability to have great compassion for someone about to receive great punishment. Regardless of who said it, we know where we read it.
The next time we're tortured by the thought of God rolling into town and mowing down nations without concern, remember that, though He's often allowed such things to happen, He always provides a way out, and that everything He's done since the dawn of time has been for our own corporate good. Remember that His love is what drives both His punishments and His elaborate means of avoiding those punishments. Remember that, as His ambassadors, we need both His justice and His compassion. Remember that someone wept for Moab.
Isaiah — Chapter 14
"'Now you are as nothing as we are!
Make yourselves at home with us dead folks'...
What a comedown this, O Babylon!
Daystar! Son of Dawn!
Flat on your face in the underworld mud,
you, famous for flattening nations!
You said to yourself,
'I'll climb to heaven.
I'll set my throne
over the stars of God.
I'll run the assembly of angels
that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.
I'll climb to the top of the clouds.
I'll take over as King of the Universe!'
But you didn't make it, did you?" Isaiah 14: 10-15
Where do you start with all this?
What I've been finding so fascinating recently is how thick the Bible is. Not just "thick" in the sense that if you dropped the average Bible on your foot you'd fracture a toe. And I'm definitely not saying the Bible's "thick" like I feel when I'm unable to pickup repeated hints that my wife has dropped. I mean it's "thick" like it's complex, multi-layered, rich. Sometimes it's easy to read but hard to understand. Other times, you understand it perfectly, but then the next time you read it, you'd think someone swapped the text on you. For some, it's words seem completely meaningless. For others, a single verse can contain enough brain food to keep you chewing all day.
Take the above passage as an example. The first quote ("Now you are as nothing as we are! Make yourselves at home with us dead folks!") is supposed to be spoken by evil kings (who have already died) to the king of Babylon (who'll be joining them soon). This is an image of the Old Testament version of hell. It sounds bad (worms, maggots, and ghosts), but it also sounds a little different than the typical image we have these days. What strikes me are the words "Now you are as nothing as we are!" Now, he's nothing. Unimportant. Normal. But he was always unimportant and normal, wasn't he? So death has stripped him of his make-up, and here he sits, naked. Normal. Hell as an equalizer?
The passage definitely makes you think about pride, doesn't it? I mean, this guy had an internal, Beatlesque dialogue that went something like "Soon, I'll be bigger than God! I'll tell the sun when to rise and set, and I'll hold death and life in one hand. Mwahahahaha!!!" This megalomaniacal paraphrasing seems insane, which means...well...the guy was probably insane. But not just crazy; prideful and crazy. He wiped out whole nations. Why? Because he could, and because he was prideful enough to think he knew best. So, when God outlines his punishment, He hits him where it hurts:
"Other kings get a decent burial,
honored with eulogies and placed in a tomb.
But you're dumped in a ditch unburied,
like a stray dog or cat..." Isaiah 14: 18-19
No state funeral for this guy. That'd tick him off, eh? Punishment fits the crime, though.
Suddenly, after reading a few words out of just one of the many sections of this giant Book, we're struck with thoughts about the afterlife, about pride, and about justice. Is it simply that this is an incredibly well written piece of literature? Or is there something more? Could it be interacting with us?
Really, it seems like when we leaf through those pages, the Scripture actually reads us and then produces It's thoughts for us to see. That's why some people see so much and others so little. We only see what we're ready to see.
Perhaps this sounds just as crazy as trying to control the stars, but to me, the Bible is a living book. Thick and alive.
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***This may be quite out of context, but after my thought stream from Isaiah 13, I find it quite comforting:
"What does one say to
outsiders who ask questions?
Tell them, 'God has established Zion.
Those in need and in trouble find refuge in her.'" Isaiah 14: 32
Isaiah — Chapter 13
"Watch now. God's Judgment Day comes.
Cruel it is, a day of wrath and anger,
A day to waste the earth
and clean out all the sinners...
Proud humanity will disappear from the earth.
I'll make mortals rarer than hens' teeth...
Tough luck to stragglers—they'll be killed on the spot,
throats cut, bellies ripped open,
Babies smashed on the rocks
while mothers and fathers watch,
Houses looted,
wives raped." Isaiah 13: 9-16
Is it "toe the line" or "tow the line"?
I just Googled it, and unless the internet has steered me wrong...
I don't wanna just toe the religious line here, so I'm not sure how to approach this passage. The God of Love, who protects the fatherless and honors the sanctity of marriage, not only standing by but ordaining the brutal smashing of babies and the raping of wives? Our Heavenly Father, the One who we proclaim loved us while we were (are) yet sinners, watching a genocide with nods of approval? How far off in the distance is the line that can be toed?
Sodom and Gomorrah...The Great Flood...Expulsion from Eden...the Bible has its fair share of extremely harsh punishments attributed to the God it says is merciful and kind.
Two of the key words in the above passage are "proud humanity". What that means is that we're to understand these people deserved what they got. This violence was justified.
The line to be toed holds that we are all, in fact, deserving of such treatment, ever since the Fall of Man, and God extends mercy and grace to us. Before Christ, it was extended but occasionally expended, resulting in such judgments**. I'm still a little fuzzy on such policies post-Christ.
People use religious justification for murder all the time. If there were a UN in the days that Israel slaughtered Jericho, what would have been their defense? Would we believe it if they said "God told us to"? What are we supposed to do when we read passages like this? If we understand that it may be God's judgment/will to send famines and droughts and earthquakes and other natural disasters and diseases, then how do we react to the various crises in our world today?
When I hear the words "proud humanity", I think of 2 things: the Tower of Babel and the humanity of today. We are proud. Do we deserve what we have? Do we deserve what's coming? If Babylon had turned to Him, and renounced their pride, would they still be around?
**Perhaps "expended" is the wrong word. Suspended?