Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 17-21.

In today’s passage, Isaiah prophesies about the fall of several nations, nations which were firmly established in his day.  In a way it was similar to prophesying the fall of Canada, the UK, and China today.  Isaiah spoke of the suffering and violence which would be part of the fall of these nations.  However, he also prophesied that the experience would turn people to God.  In response to what they would experience, people would turn to God and alliances would form between those who had been enemies for generations.  Isaiah prophesied that there would be a period of suffering, but that people would turn to God and work with one another to serve God.  As people turned to Him, God would work on the earth to bring about blessings on all people.  So as we look at the world today and see people acting in ways which seem likely to bring God’s judgement, we need to remember that God will use that judgement to bring people to Him and thus to transform the world into a better place.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 17-21.

When I read today’s passage I decided that I wanted to write about chapter 17 verses 7-8 and verses 10-11.  However, I have struggled with how to connect verses seven and eight with verses ten and eleven.  In verses seven and eight, Isaiah says that in the day when only a remnant of the people will remain that the people will look to God.  Then in verses ten and eleven he says that, because we have forgotten God, our attempts to cultivate crops will fail.  I finally realized that verses ten and eleven tells us how the circumstances which led to seven and eight came to be.  When we forget God, things go very bad.  So bad that eventually those that remain finally turn to God for deliverance.  Then we have verses twelve through fourteen which tell us that if we turn to God before things go bad, terror will surround us at nightfall, but by the morning it will be gone.  For those who serve the Lord, we may feel like we are surrounded by troubles which cannot be overcome, but, if we continue to trust in God, those troubles will vanish with a new dawn.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 17-21.

I am not quite sure how this fits together as the prophet wrote it, but I am going to write about it as it struck me today,  While prophesying the fall of Damascus, Isaiah also prophesies that the people of Israel will become relatively few in number.  He uses the metaphor of the few olives which the harvesters leave on the tree as too much work to retrieve.  Isaiah writes that this will happen because the people have forgotten their savior, God.  He tells us that as a result of forgetting God we will plant the finest plants and care for them until they start to bear fruit, but, in the end, we will harvest nothing.  This is where I start to wonder if I am following the prophet’s thinking or not.  He goes on to write that nations will rage, and people will roar against God, and those faithful to God. Those raging and roaring will strike terror in the hearts of many, but suddenly they will be gone.  As I read this, those who remain faithful will be as the gleanings after the harvest.  The wicked will terrorize them for a short moment as night falls, but then, with the dawning of a new day, those who terrorized them will be gone as if they had never been.  The result will be that people from many lands, people who had no knowledge of God, or, perhaps were His enemies, will come to worship and serve Him.

You have forgotten God your Savior;

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 17-21.

Part of me would like to spend some time writing about Isaiah’s prophecy of doom on Egypt and Cush (more or less modern day Ethiopia), but I cannot quite get my head around what to write.  So, instead I want to look at what Isaiah says at the end of his prophecies against both countries.  He tells us that, after a devastating defeat, the remaining people in both lands will come to worship the Lord.  In fact, the Egyptians will partner with Assyria and Israel in an alliance which worships the Lord.  In addition to these prophecies against Egypt and Cush, there is a prophecy against Israel.  That prophecy also ends with God’s promise that the people will finally abandon their idols and turn to God.

I want to put some special attention to verse 14 in chapter 17:

In the evening, sudden terror!
    Before the morning, they are gone!

I think the New Catholic Bible translation makes this clearer:

In the evening terror has spread,
    but by the morning it has disappeared.

We should learn from this not to give in to terror.  God is in control.  No matter how bad things may seem, God will make things better for those who put their trust in Him.  I still remember a time a few years ago when I came across this passage just as my wife and I were facing a terrible financial crisis.  We had debts and bills that there seemed no way we would be able to meet.  The day I had published my blog on this passage, it all came together to seem like we would be out on the streets in a matter of weeks.  There was no conceivable way that we could find a way out.  Yet, God had provided me this message of hope.  My wife was initially skeptical that even God could solve our problems, but before we went to bed she had peace that God would rescue us.  I do not remember how that incident was resolved, except that the next day we were no longer in danger of being homeless.

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

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 17-21.

Today’s passage begins with a prophecy against both Damascus and Israel (the Northern Kingdom), but which focuses mostly on Israel.  To a large degree this prophecy can be applied to many times in history.  Isaiah prophesies that the land will be devastated and only a few people will remain.  Only then will those who remain recognize their sin and turn to God.  Then they will give up their idol worship and seek to follow God’s commands.  To me this is especially relevant to this year.  People ask, “Why is 2020 so bad?” and the answer Isaiah gives here certainly applies.  The answer is because we have turned from God who can save us, we have forgotten the Rock who can hide us.  Things seemed to be going so well and then disaster struck.  That is what happens when people turn from God.  The scary part to me is that people do not yet seem to be turning to God.  They appear to still be relying on their idols (in this case, the government) to save them.