The scriptures speak to eternal truth, but they do so within a temporal framework. That means the story is told, not just using people from the past, but also countries, peoples, geopolitical realities. All of these things have changed a lot in the thousands of years of known human history. The scriptures only give us snippets of information about people and cultures outside of the covenant people of Israel. That is mostly okay, as salvation is known only in right covenant relationship with the Lord of Hosts.
Even so, some portions of scripture are difficult to appreciate, as they spend a good deal of time on peoples and regions outside of Israel. This was the case in yesterday’s readings, and it is again the case today. It is okay to just plow through and try to understand what you can on a bare reading. It is also okay to spend a little extra time looking into why it is that ancient Israel would care about what happens to these places, or at least where they are. One cannot help but notice that many of these regions, like Tyre and Sidon, happy to be in a region that is still quite troubled. Gee, could that have anything to do with prophecies made thousands of years ago? Surely not.
Forgive me for the sarcasm.
Anyway, it isn’t all in that genre. Things get easier near the end today, as renewed promises are made to Israel, which are echoed in the language of Revelation to Christians. And Moab, oh boy does Moab get it. Enjoy!
Isaiah 21
This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.
A dire vision is declared to me:
“The traitor still betrays,
and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”
Therefore my body is filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am bewildered to hear,
I am dismayed to see.
My heart falters;
fear makes me tremble.
The twilight of my desire
has turned to horror.
They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,
they eat, they drink!
Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
For this is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout
and have him report what he sees.
When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
he must be alert, fully alert.”
Then the lookout shouted:
“Day after day, my lord,
I stand on the watchtower;
night after night
I stay at my post.
Look, here come the riders,
horsemen in pairs.”
And one answered, saying:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground!”
O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,
I tell you what I have heard
from the LORD of Hosts,
the God of Israel.
This is the burden against Dumah:
One calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
The watchman replies,
“Morning has come, but also the night.
If you would inquire, then inquire.
Come back yet again.”
This is the burden against Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water for the thirsty,
O dwellers of Tema;
meet the refugees with food.
For they flee from the sword—
the sword that is drawn—
from the bow that is bent,
and from the stress of battle.
For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone. The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.”
For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Isaiah 22
This is the burden against the Valley of Vision:
What ails you now,
that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
O city of commotion,
O town of revelry?
Your slain did not die by the sword,
nor were they killed in battle.
All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together,
having fled to a distant place.
Therefore I said,
“Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly!
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision—
of breaking down the walls
and crying to the mountains.
Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovers the shield.
Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the gates.
He has uncovered
the defenses of Judah.
On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.
You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.
You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.
You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts
called for weeping and wailing,
for shaven heads
and the wearing of sackcloth.
But look, there is joy and gladness,
butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing:
“Until your dying day,
this sin of yours will never be atoned for,”
says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:
What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,
roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master.
I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.
On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.
So they will hang on him the whole burden of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.”
Indeed, the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 23
This is the burden against Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste,
without house or harbor.
Word has reached them
from the land of Cyprus.
Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose traders have crossed the sea.
On the great waters
came the grain of Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre;
she was the merchant of the nations.
Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
“I have not been in labor
or given birth.
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”
When the report reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin is from antiquity,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
The LORD of Hosts planned it,
to defile all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer a harbor.
The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea;
He has made kingdoms tremble.
He has given a command
that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
He said, “You shall rejoice no more,
O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will find no rest.”
Look at the land of the Chaldeans —
a people now of no account.
The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures;
they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces.
They brought it to ruin.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed!
At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
“Take up your harp,
stroll through the city,
O forgotten harlot.
Make sweet melody,
sing many a song,
so you will be remembered.”
And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
Isaiah 24
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth
and leaves it in ruins.
He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants—
people and priest alike, servant and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
The earth will be utterly laid waste
and thoroughly plundered.
For the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and fades;
the exalted of the earth waste away.
The earth is defiled by its people;
they have transgressed the laws;
they have overstepped the decrees
and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;
the earth’s dwellers have been burned,
and only a few survive.
The new wine dries up, the vine withers.
All the merrymakers now groan.
The joyful tambourines have ceased;
the noise of revelers has stopped;
the joyful harp is silent.
They no longer sing and drink wine;
strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
In the streets they cry out for wine.
All joy turns to gloom;
rejoicing is exiled from the land.
The city is left in ruins;
its gate is reduced to rubble.
So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.
Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel
in the islands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!
Woe is me.”
The treacherous betray;
the treacherous deal in treachery.
Terror and pit and snare await you,
O dweller of the earth.
Whoever flees the sound of panic
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs from the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are open,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
The earth is utterly broken apart,
the earth is split open,
the earth is shaken violently.
The earth staggers like a drunkard
and sways like a shack.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
In that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven above
and the kings of the earth below.
They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon
and punished after many days.
The moon will be confounded
and the sun will be ashamed;
for the LORD of Hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before His elders with great glory.
Isaiah 25
O LORD, You are my God!
I will exalt You;
I will praise Your name.
For You have worked wonders—
plans formed long ago—
in perfect faithfulness.
Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin.
The fortress of strangers is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore, a strong people will honor You.
The cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
For You have been a refuge for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in distress,
a refuge from the storm,
a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like rain against a wall,
like heat in a dry land.
You subdue the uproar of foreigners.
As the shade of a cloud cools the heat,
so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
On this mountain the LORD of Hosts
will prepare a banquet for all the peoples,
a feast of aged wine, of choice meat,
of finely aged wine.
On this mountain He will swallow up
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
He will swallow up death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face
and remove the disgrace of His people
from the whole earth.
For the LORD has spoken.
And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
For the hand of the LORD
will rest on this mountain.
But Moab will be trampled in his place
as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
He will spread out his hands within it,
as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
despite the skill of his hands.
The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
cast to the ground, into the dust.
Psalm 145
I will exalt You, my God and King;
I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
and I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation will commend Your works to the next,
and will proclaim Your mighty acts—
the glorious splendor of Your majesty.
And I will meditate on Your wondrous works.
They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds,
and I will declare Your greatness.
They will extol the fame of Your abundant goodness
and sing joyfully of Your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion.
The LORD is good to all;
His compassion rests on all He has made.
All You have made will give You thanks, O LORD,
and Your saints will bless You.
They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom
and speak of Your might,
to make known to men Your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and Your dominion endures through all generations.
The LORD is faithful in all His words
and kind in all His actions.
The LORD upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You,
and You give them their food in season.
You open Your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways
and kind in all His deeds.
The LORD is near to all who call on Him,
to all who call out to Him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;
He hears their cry and saves them.
The LORD preserves all who love Him,
but all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD;
let every creature bless His holy name
forever and ever.
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