Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 5-8.
Usually when I read today’s passage I write about Isaiah’s calling because it is very powerful. And, of course, there is the prophecy about the virgin birth here as well. However, today I am drawn to some other things which Isaiah says in this passage. At one point Isaiah warns those who call for God to hurry and hasten His work so that they may see it. From the context he appears to be referencing those who do so sarcastically, those who are denying God. However, I think Isaiah’s prophecy here should give us pause when we desire God to bring about His judgement soon. Now to look at the context a little more. Isaiah goes on from there to warn of those (and to warn them) who say that evil is good and good is evil. We think we understand what he means there (and I believe we are mostly correct), but we tend to think what he writes after that is just an expansion on it. However, I think the next two comparisons are worth some thought. Isaiah warns against swapping light for darkness and swapping bitter for sweet (and vice versa in both cases). So, it seems to me that he is warning those who hide or obscure that which should be seen and shine a light or draw attention to that which should be left unseen. Or to put it another way, those who draw attention to something unimportant so that people will not pay attention to important matters. All of this can be summed up by this warning
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
All of those who do the things which Isaiah warns against in his list of woes are guilty of thinking that they are wiser and/or more clever than everyone else. They have forgotten, or never understood, that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Finally, I want to leave you with this from chapter 8 verse 12:
“Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.