Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 39-42.

Today’s passage starts with the account of envoys from Babylon visiting King Hezekiah and the prophecy Isaiah made concerning them.  I have never quite understood Isaiah’s response to Hezekiah showing all of his treasures to the Babylonian envoys.  It reads a little bit like a reprimand, but does not make clear what Isaiah was saying Hezekiah had done wrong.  Perhaps it is merely here as a reminder that God had revealed the rise of Babylon long before Babylon was more than just a vassal state of Assyria.  It may serve as an introduction to Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the uselessness of idols, which are made by human hands.  God has foretold what will happen and no other god has done so.  God is unique among gods, among the things which mankind worships.  So, this passage starts with Isaiah prophesying the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon when Babylon was just a vassal state of Assyria, then he prophesies about how only God can tell us about what has not yet happened.  But that is not the only way in which God tells us about what has not yet happened.  God goes on and gives Isaiah a prophesy concerning the coming of His Chosen One, Jesus.  Isaiah talks about how God will give sight to those who are blind who turn to Him, and cause those who turn instead to idols to be unable to see the way even though they are not blind.  It seems to me that through Isaiah, God is telling us that those who think they do not God will fail to recognize how they should behave, while those who recognize their inability to know what is right without God will be shown how to act.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.