Saturday, November 9, 2013

Isaiah: Chapters 34 to 39

Click here for the previous bit of Isaiah.



CHAPTER 34

Isaiah here talks doom for Edom.  Sure, why not?  He’s done likewise for everyone in the area.  These things are pretty mean individually but overall it’s a really nasty effect.  This is a God of wrath and vengeance.  Sure, there is the happy ending that Isaiah tells us at the beginning, but mostly God is really into killing people.

CHAPTER 35

Remember how I said Isaiah does have his happy moments?  Well, this is one.  After discussing the death of many last chapter, Isaiah alternates back to the happiness of those who survive here. 

This chapter is about Israel.  (Naturally – sure would be unexpected for Isaiah to joyfully think of surviving Edomites. 

The best passage: “Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened.  Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy.”  I like the image of the lame leaping like a stag.

CHAPTER 36

The next four chapters are the last four chapters of Isaiah I.  (Chapter 40-onward is widely agreed to be a much later prophet.  More on that later on).  And these chapters, 35-39, are all about the siege of Jerusalem described in Kings II.  This is stuff we’ve already seen.  It’s a good story, but it’s stuff we’ve already seen.

Let’s see, Chapter 36 is the Assyrians showing up and making their threat: surrender….or else! 

CHAPTER 37

This continues the story. King Hezekiah of Judah freaks out, just as he did in Kings II.  He calls on the prophet Isaiah, just as he did in Kings II.  Look, it’s the Kings II story all over again.  Isaiah tells him to chill – God has it all covered.  And God does, killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.


CHAPTER 38
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  It’s King Hezekiah near death, praying to God for help, and learning that he’s been given an extra 15 years of life.  It’s a powerful and wonderful story – but I’ve already read it.  This is Chapter 20 of Kings II.  That is great.  This is just retelling a tale and not offering anything new.  Oh, that’s not fair.  There is a prayer of thanksgiving by Hezekiah that’s new.  But the heartwarming part is already here. 

CHAPTER 39

King Hezekiah, now recovered, has ambassadors from Babylon and they ask to see the palace.  So Hezekiah shows them the palace and all the gold.  After they’ve left, Isaiah finds out, and upbraids the king.  You moron!  They’ll be back.  Clearly, this chapter is served to foreshadow the rise of and conquest by Babylon later on.  Again, I’ve read this before in Kings II.
 
Click here for the next bit of Isaiah.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Isaiah: Chapters 28 to 33

Here is the previous chunk of Isaiah.  Now for this chunk.


CHAPTER 28

And we’re back to more specific prophecies.  This one is about Samaria, and – you’ll never believe this – it’s a prophecy of doom for them.  There will be hail.  And there will be a flood.  And all that. 

Also, Isaiah seems to have a problem with drunks.  There isn’t much against booze in the Bible so far.  Oh, you shouldn’t have too much, but that is about it.   Technically, that’s the case for Isaiah as well. He never denounces all alcohol, but he does keep going back to drunkards.  He denounces the “drunkards of Ephraim” twice early on here.  Later, he also paints a picture of “priest and prophet stagger from strong drink, overpowered by wine; they are confused by strong drink.  They stagger in their visions.  They totter when giving judgment.  Yes, all the tables are covered with vomit.” 

For Isaiah, the downside of drinking booze is dwelt upon.  He never says, “Ban the bottle!” but he clearly has a negative view of it.

CHAPTER 29

This one is about Jerusalem, but it’s the same basic themes as before.  You can a continual back and forth between the dark and sunny sides of Isaiah’s vision for the future.  Blindness and perversity will reign, but then it will be redeemed, and it’ll all come back to the Lord. 

Being drunk makes another appearance, sort of. Isaiah says, “Stupefy yourselves and stay stupid!  Blind yourselves and stay blind!  You who are drunk but not from wine, who stagger, but not from strong drink.  For the Lord has poured out to you a spirit of deep sleep.” 

So they aren’t actually drunk.  But the curse God places upon them will make them act like they are drunk. Even without booze present, Isaiah’s anti-booze attitude comes through.

CHAPTER 30

Isaiah has another target for his anger.  Apparently, Israel has an alliance with Egypt in an attempt to prevent Assyria from taking them over.  Isaiah is against it.  It sounds like God doesn’t do power politics.

I gotta side against Isaiah here.  So it doesn’t fit your theology?  Well, Judah is a small fish in a big ocean with a couple predatory sharks floating around.  Maybe allying with Egypt isn’t a good move, but you aren’t strong enough to do much else and you have got to play the hand your dealt.  I know how it ends up – Babylonian Captivity – but that wasn’t due to being unfaithful with the Lord.  That was just Israel not being a strong enough power.

CHAPTER 31

A short – nine verse –chapter just continues to denounce an alliance with Egypt.  Isaiah notes, “The Egyptians are human beings, not God; their horses flesh, not spirit.  When the Lord stretches forth his hand, he helper shall stumbled the one helped shall fall, and both of them shall perish together.” 

The helper is Egypt and the helped is Judah.  That sounds nice, Judah, but God no longer stretches his hand.  He doesn’t get involved in battles anymore.  The days of Joshua are over.  Even Isaiah can only say that the Assyrians are God’s instruments – because God doesn’t do it personally with his hand. 

So if God doesn’t fight in battles anymore or stall the sun in the sky, then the Hebrew need to rely on humans.  Like the Egyptians.

CHAPTER 32

Isaiah calls for justice.  There is no great ringing declarations of it, though.  The best he gets is: “The hasty of heart shall take thought to know, and tongues of stutterers shall speak readily and clearly.”  I like that.  When things go right, even those who stutter will talk properly.

But then Isaiah veers into another theme – woman-bashing.  He doesn’t think much of how the women of Jerusalem are so complacent and confident in the lives they lead.  Well, you shouldn’t be.  God will have his revenge on the Hebrew for their pride.

CHAPTER 33

Isaiah prophesies the overthrow of Assyria.  Boy, he sure likes to denounce the people and the lands around him, doesn’t he? 

I like this part: “Whoever walks righteously and speaks honestly, who spurns what is gained by oppression, who waves off contact with a bribe, who stops his ears so as not to hear of bloodshed, who closes his eyes so as not to look on evil – that one shall dwell on the heights, with fortresses of rock for stronghold, food and drink in steady supply.”  It’s just really well phrased.  And as always, these rolling introductions, that largely say the same thing but not exactly the same thing – you can hear echoes of this in the speeches of King and many, many other high quality preachers.  It’s just a nice technique to be able to master.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Isaiah: Chapters 20 to 27

Click here for the previous part of Isaiah.


CHAPTER 20

It’s another brief chapter – in prose, not poetry (alas).  It’s just Isaiah warning against trusting in Egypt and Ethiopia.  Again, it’s just focusing on international relations, circa 8th century BC.  Yawn.

CHAPTER 21

Now for a vision on the fall of Babylon. Sure, it’s about time we got to them.  We’ve checked the box for pretty much everyone else. This one is a bit oddly disembodied.  Once again, we get a long preamble, but there is no depiction of the ruined Babylon.  Instead, you just get a rider telling the news– “Here he comes – a single chariot – a pair of horses.  He calls out and says, `Fallen, fallen is Babylon!’”  There’s a little more, but it’s more a dimly heard third hand account.

Then we’re told of places called Dumah and “In the Steppe.”  These places are apparently in/by the Arabian desert.  Again, this is a case where the Bible is getting into details about a place we don’t know about and don’t really care about. 

CHAPTER 22

This is another vision – it’s called “The Valley of Vision.”  I wish I knew what to tell you about it, but it all seemed hazy and hard to follow.  The loss of a central narrative makes this portion of the Bible tricky. The fact that these visions are just jumbled together from over however many decades doesn’t help much either.

The opening is standard prophecy of doom stuff.  I get the feeling it refers to the siege of Jerusalem as it talks once about “the City of David.”  Yeah, that’s Jerusalem. 

And you get a very famous line midway through: “Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”  Yeah, the famous line is “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die” but it’s clear that line (from Shakespeare, I think) comes from this one).  I’d love to analyze it a bit more, but the context here is just so damn murky.

CHAPTER 23

Now we get visions of the towns of Tyre and Sidon.  Not surprisingly, the visions sound bad.  “On that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years.” 

Fortunately, this chapter seems to end this section of Isaiah.  I didn’t get much from it.

CHAPTER 24

This begins a series of four chapters on the apocalypse.  On the one hand, this feels a bit old, because we’ve already gotten the general gist of things from previous chapters: God will punish the world for its sinfulness, but when the horror show is over, it’ll be awesome.  The apocalypse will be a purifying experience that will create paradise on earth.  Yeah, I know.  We’ve already heard that.

But … Isaiah’s way with words is so great sometimes!  As always, try to imagine someone like Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in the following section: “People and priest shall fare alike: servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.”  It’s nothing deep and it’s just a basic description, but I just love the series of contrasting parallels.  Stuff like this has a big impact on many preachers, including King. 

Isaiah also says, “The earth is polluted because of its inhabitants” – Hey, an environmental bit in the Bible!  Well, maybe not, as the verse continues, “for they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, broken the ancient custom.”  Oh.  But it did sound mighty green there for a second.

CHAPTER 25

It’s more of the same.  Doom and gloom will come – but it’ll be the bad guys who suffer.  God is the guy who bullies the bullies.  Isaiah says of the Lord of Hosts: “For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress.”  He looks after the little guys.  He’s a supernatural Tom Joad.

Also, one thing I should note about Isaiah and Christianity.  Not only is Isaiah a forerunner of Christ because he prophesies of a coming messiah.  Also, the theology is similar.  A horrible time will come, but it will purify things and lead to a better world for all?  That’s the last book of the New Testament.  I’m shaky on the exact theology of Christ himself, but I think this is similar to what Jesus and/or St. Paul said would happen. So Isaiah doesn’t just say Christ is coming – he gives Christ some of his main ideas.

CHAPTER 26

Yeah, however well written it is (and even better I’m sure it sounds when spoken), it is repetitive. As near as I can tell, it’s the same message time after time in Chapters 24 to 27. 

It’s actually pretty nasty at times.  Isaiah says of God and humanity in the coming apocalypse: “Dead they are, they cannot live, shades that cannot rise.  Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them and wiped out all memory of them.”  Yeah, that’s pretty nasty. 

But, like all of these chapters, the moments of darkness are contrasted with moments of light.


CHAPTER 27

Another chapter on the apocalypse.  This time, God has his own pet monster, Leviathan.  Yeah, that just seems weird that God has his own pet monster.  But oh well. …

We’re told (again) that God will replenish things with the seeds of Jacob after the apocalypse.  Hold on a second – why does God thing that’ll work?  Why does God think he’ll get the happily ever after. 

He’ll have an apocalypse and it’ll all work out fine?  Guess what – he already had his apocalypse and it didn’t work out fine.  Noah.  The Flood.  All that.  That was an apocalypse.  He wiped out all the wicked people and started over with the God – just as he intends to do here again.  Fat lot of good that did him.  People moved away from him.

He tried to start over with just one chunk of humanity – Abraham and his kin.  Lot of good that did.  The first generations started out fine, but then they move away from him.  So now the plan is to blow it all up and pray it back together?   Well, given how that has never worked, why would he want to try it again?

He’s given people free will.  As one of those people, I say, “Thanks!”  But this free will thing pretty much ensures that the wonderful and majestic happily ever after Isaiah foretells will never happen.  People don’t do happily ever after.  

Click here for the next chunk of Isaiah.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Isaiah: Chapters 13 to 19

Here is the previous chunk.  Now for this chunk:



CHAPTER 13

This is a prophecy of Babylon.  My Bible’s handy footnotes tell me that this is a red flag.  Around the time that Isaiah was stomping around, Babylon wasn’t any kind of power.  This is likely a prophecy from someone later on working in the Isaiah mold (part of the “Isaiah school” as Biblical scholars sometimes call it) and then postdated back to Isaiah when all the various prophecies were assembled into one.  Later in the prophecy, he mentions Medes instead of Persia, so the story likely comes from before 550 BC.

Anyhow, it’s a clear prophecy of doom, doom, and more doom.  For a while I thought it was a prophecy of the doom of the Hebrew with Babylon acting as God’s instrument.  (The prophecy is more about a general sense than a clear explanation of who is doing it).  But near the end, it becomes clear that the prophecy is OF the doom of Babylon, not doom BY Babylon.  The people of Medes will achieve it and destroy the Babylonians.  Babylon will become the new Sodom and Gomorrah. 

CHAPTER 14

And once Babylon has been destroyed, then it will be time for the Jews to restore Israel.  That’s the sunny side – the restoration after the purification. 

While it’s an upbeat chapter as far as it goes for the Jews, it’s a different kind of upbeat chapter.  The heart of it is the “Taunt-song” against Babylon. Yes, a taunt song.  It’s basically a conga line over the grave of Babylon.  It wasn’t nearly as harsh as I was expecting when I saw the Bible call it a “taunt-song” but it isn’t very sympathetic.

Then we get a bit on Assyria, which is really out of place given that Assyria is before Babylon.  God says for Assyria – and I really need to go in poetry format for this, because it sounds like song lyric:

As I have resolved
So shall it be
As I have planned
So shall it stand.

It’s rather basic, but I just love how it sounds.  It comes off like the beginning of a boastful rap song or something, doesn’t it? 

We get God tells Assyria to watch it, and then a bit telling the Philistines to watch it.  This is weird – it’s going back in time.  Most of the Bible goes chronologically, but that’s done when you get to the prophets.

CHAPTER 15

This is a prophecy of the destruction of Moab.  It’s well written as these things go, but it suffers from a fatal flaw.  It is full of all these proper nouns of places and peoples that are entirely unfamiliar to the modern ear.  So you don’t really know what the hell is going on.

CHAPTER 16

This is more about why Moab is doomed.  I’m not sure why it’s been broken up into two chapters. Chapter 15 is nine verses long, and this one is just 14 verses long.  Does it really need to be two chapters?

There is some nice imagery at times, most notably: “Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles.”  Yeah, those people of Moab are so doomed.

CHAPTER 17

Well, now that we’ve gone over the dooming of Moab, time for some new peoples to curse.  This chapter is about the doom of Damascus.  Isaiah says, “See, Damascus shall cease to be a city, and become a pile of ruins.”  2,500-plus years later, that still hasn’t happened.  To be fair, there is no time stamp on these things.  It could still happen any century now.

CHAPTER 18

Time to curse Ethiopia.  Wait – Ethiopia?  These guys barely appear in the Bible at all.  Why do they merit a cursing?  That’s never made clear, we’re just told that they are, “a people dreaded near and far.”  That’s said about them at the outset and noted again at the end, so I guess it matters.

As near as I can tell, this related to international diplomacy around the time, with Ethiopia siding with Egypt in some dispute that no longer matters.  So the issue here is anything but timeless.  We don’t even get much of a curse.  Not only is the chapter a mere seven verses long, but the first five verses are prologue.  It’s like Isaiah is more interested in describing what the weather will be like when they’re cursed than anything.  The curse itself is just one verse long: “They shall all be left to the mountain vultures and to the beasts of the earth.”  As curses go, that’s mild stuff.  Then again, the Hebrew have virtually no contact with them, so it’s hard to work up any scorn.  They are cursed by proxy because of who they’ve allowed to.

CHAPTER 19

As long as we’re cursing everyone, may as well curse Egypt, that most traditional enemy of the Hebrew.  The most interesting part is this: “The Lord has prepare among them a spirit of dizziness.  And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.” 

That’s more a prank than a curse.  This is the Lord who inflicted 10 plagues and parted the seas – and did that to the Egyptians.  Now he’ll make them dizzy?  That’s more a pants-ing than a good old-fashioned curse.

But then we get an unexpected conclusion, as Isaiah tells us, “Although the Lord shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them, they shall turn to the Lord and he shall be moved by their entreaty and heal them.”  Huh.  Egypt and Israel will come together under the Lord.  Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming at all.

Click here for the next part.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Isaiah: Chapters 7 to 12

Click here for the beginning of the chapter.


CHAPTER 7

It’s the time of King Ahaz of Judah.  He’s the father of Hezekiah, the good king who endures the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem.  Well, thinks look bleak for Judah, with a war going on between Egypt and Syria, and them in between.  Isaiah tells him to stay calm and trust in the Lord.  Yeah, if I’m king, I want something more than that.

He also tells the king to have a son, who shall be named Emmanuel.  Give the kid curds and honey to eat (which the footnote tells me are food eaten by those living in a devastated land).  He says the child will know good from evil, but then Isaiah’s vision immediately turns quite dark, as he prophecies a terrible time in store for the people.

I have no idea what to make of this.  Ahaz has a son who will know good from evil, but his name is Hezekiah, not Emmanuel.  And I just can’t figure out the veering to bleakness by the end here. 

CHAPTER 8

Speaking of sons, Isaiah has one, who he names “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”  That’s a mouthful.  It means, “quick spoils, speedy plunder.”  That’s a terrible name for a child.  The child’s name is supposed to represent what Assyria will soon do in the north.  My, that’s an even worse name for a child.  He’s going to get so picked on at school with that name. 

Oh, apparently Isaiah has disciples.  That’s nice, and makes sense.  I’ll just point out that many scholars aren’t really sure how many prophets are being condensed into one here.  There is talk of an “Isaiah school” and breaking it into sections has perhaps gone too far; so far that there is no Isaiah left in Isaiah.  That said, there is likely 2 or 3, just because you have this guy living well before the Captivity.  One guy living later in the Captivity.  And one guy after the Captivity.  The last two can be the same guy, but one person didn’t live that long.

Anyhow, because people are unethical sinners, God will send doom their way, but never fear.”  We’re told that, “Where once he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphatali, now he has glorified the way of the Sea, the land across the Jordan, Galilee of the Nations.”  I’m sure the Galilee reference perks up the ears of Christians.  Matthew, after all, will have Jesus begin his public mission in Galilee.

CHAPTER 9

The prophecy we ended last chapter with keeps going here.  And boy of boy, is it ever some famous stuff.  Isaiah says of nameless Kid Galilee: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.  His dominion is vast and forever peaceful.  Upon David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!” 

Nice, huh?  That seems to set up Christ really well – except for one thing.  If you read it, this sounds like Isaiah is imaging an early leader.  He’s already prophesized that we’ll have an earthly wonderland after a period of purification, and this is it.  David’s throne is very much an earthly throne.  Now, this material can be – and will be – interpreted to mean we’ll have peace in heaven above, but there is also a reason why the Jews of the 1st century AD didn’t really see Christ as a savior.  The messiah was supposed to establish David’s throne here, not get crucified by some Roman soldiers.

Also, the Lord is upset at the northern kingdom of Israel.  Apparently, it’s still around in these early prophecies.  So they are so doomed.

CHAPTER 10

Now it’s time for what Isaiah does best – give us a big sermon!  This once denounces those who pervert justice, and it kicks off the beginning of the chapter.  Remember – these things work best if you imagine them spoken out loud.  Here it goes:

“Ah!” – again, with the Ah!  That’s his signature move. – “Those who enact unjust statutes, who write oppressive decrees depriving the needy of judgment, robbing my people’s poor of justice, making widows their plunder and orphans their prey!  What will you do on the day of punishment, when the storm comes from afar?  To whom will you flee for help?  Where will you leave your wealth, lest it stink beneath the captive of fall beneath the slain?  For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand outstretched.” 

I don’t think Isaiah would support the Ryan budget plan at all.  His concern here is justice for the poor and downtrodden.  Plenty of this stuff in the Bible.  A lot more of this than, say, stuff on homosexuality.

Isaiah moves into more concrete details.  Assyria is coming and they’ll win – because they are an instrument of God. They are what God is using to punish people.  But – there is a but here, fortunately – then the Assyrians will get cocky and assume that they are the ones who did it, not God.  They’ll give themselves credit, and then God will turn his anger upon them.  Isaiah notes, “Will the ax boast against the one who hews it?”  That’s a nice analogy, with God the hewer and Assyrian the ax.

This is the process of purifying the Hebrew.  The remnant will come back stronger and more faithful than before.  And this is absolutely true.  Sometime between Isaiah and the end of the prophet period, the Jews did become very faithful to the Lord, more faithful than they ever were during the time of miracles.

Actually, let’s pause on miracles.  In the early Bible, if God wanted to punish a people, he wouldn’t send Assyria or some other army.  He’d do it himself.  He’d flood the earth and have the 10 plagues or whatever else.  He was very much involved.  Then he retreated to just doing miracle through prophets, like Elijah.  Now?  He’s pretty much entirely hiding his face from us.  While it sounds more impressive, it didn’t work.  He’d get involved, and people would build some damn golden calf.  So God is letting people be more involved – and strangely enough, that’ll work even better.

CHAPTER 11

Isaiah keeps going back and forth from doom and gloom predictions about the purification process, to sunny and light visions of life after the purification.  Here, we get more of the sunny vision, and it’s some more of the most famous lines in the Bible – largely because Christians point to it as a prediction of Jesus.

Isaiah says, “a shoot shall spout from the stump of Jesse.”  Jesse, of course, is David’s father.  Two of the gospels will trace Christ’s ancestry back through David, and Isaiah is the reason they feel it’s important to do that. 

There are all kinds of good things to be said about the sprout, but rather than just quote the entire first half of the chapters, let’s just cut to my favorite part (and the most famous part, too): “But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide fairly the land’s afflicted.  He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.  Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.  Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with the little child to guide them.”

The King James translation is more famous, but that’s what my Bible has. Isaiah himself has no idea exactly who he is clearing the way for – than unborn kid Emmanuel is as close as we’ve gotten to an identity, but that kid apparently never existed.  But if you’re used to Christian theology, this screams out for Christ to come.

It screams out even louder if you read on, “Him the nations will seek out.”  Yeah, Christianity begins among Jews but then goes to other nations.

CHAPTER 12

This is another short, six-verse chapter.  It’s giving thanks to the Lord for the salvation to come.

I’ll just note one thing before moving on.  This is the third time I’ve read Isaiah.  I have no recollection or retention of anything from those first two times.  I know about Isaiah from reading Biblical commentary, not the Bible itself.  Those previous times, my goal was just to finish the Bible, and once you got past Psalms and all that, I was just reading over it.  For the rest of the Old Testament, almost everything I know about it comes from reading about the Bible; not what I’ve read from the Bible.  Go figure.

I guess that points out the advantages of the approach I’m taking now.  Instead of trying to get through it as fast as I can, I’m trying to take my time.  And writing down my thoughts forces me to, y’know, actually pay attention and stuff.  My eyes still glaze over on occasion, but I’m retaining a hell of a lot more.