Isaiah 14:24-15:9.  My apologies for yesterday an d todays posts being so late.  I actually read the assignment for yesterday but didn’t have enough time to study it and I it was a little confusing because.  Worse yet though was I didn’t even up date the reading schedule for either day, I’m sorry if I messed any of you up..

You will want to keep some things to keep in mind as you read this part of Isaiah.  First the part of Isaiah we are in is a collection of messages that he gave over his lifetime.  Sometimes we can figure out when he gave them and sometimes we cannot.  If we can that can be good because it helps us figure out what he is talking about.  It’s very important to understand the general history or what is going on even if we cannot figure out the specifics of the events for each message.  The reason is that this collection has another reason beyond the specific predictions.  If you have been reading along you might remember back in chapter 7 that Ahaz was stressing out because of an alliance between Aram and Israel (the northern kingdom).  They wanted to fight Assyria and he didn’t so they were going to get together and replace him.  He, on the other hand, wanted to make a treaty with Assyria.  God wanted Ahaz to trust him for protection, an idea Ahaz did not want to listen to.  God had Isaiah offer proof to Ahaz, he could ask for any sign he wanted.  Ahaz didn’t want a sign he wasn’t into Yahweh, he liked to follow all the false gods.  But the false gods weren’t any match for the Assyrians so he wanted a treaty.  God gave a sign anyway, some woman would have some son whom she wold name Immanuel.  B the time he was about 12 the kingdom would be in trouble.  We have no idea who that child was in Ahaz time, but he did.  And I’m sure when things got bad there was that kid right there eating that unfinished cheese and wild honey.  For us the important lessons include trusting God when life looks impossible, the fact that God’s promises are for sure, and that we need be on God’s side if we are going to enjoy the kingdom that he has promised to build.  One other thing about that sign that Ahaz would not have known, Isaiah may not have even known it when he gave the prediction, that sign would also be a prediction about the future coming king of the kingdom, the ultimate Immanuel (God with Us), Jesus. So Isaiah put theses messages together for a slightly different reason or maybe a very different reason from what they originally meant.  Remember so far that the focus of the book has been on God punishing the proud and on the fact that he is the one who deserves to be honored.  Remember also that this third section of the book (Chapter 1 was one section and chapters 2-12 were the second) contains ten “oracles” (spoken messages) that Isaiah had previously given, but now he is putting them together for a new point.  Also we need to keep in mind that when he gave these messages that the ones about foreign nations probably were not given to those nations, they were probably messages about those nations given to Judah.  Also the collection was originally put together for Judah (and eventually for the rest of Israel and anyone else who would listen (Isaiah 6:8-10)).

So this section began with a message about Babylon and Assyria.  Actually it began with a description of “the day of the Lord”, a time in the future when God is going to take over the world, most of the book of Revelation is about that “Day”.  That first message , or “burden”, was probably given during the time of Hezekiah.  The Assyrians were putting some major pressure on the kingdoms in the area and Hezekiah was being tempted to join with them.  Unlike Ahaz he was resisting the temptation and trusting in God.  He did make a few mistakes though, on one occasion he did make a pact with Egypt which seems to have resulted in a bad illness, one from which he was going to die.  After he turned back to God he was cured.  On another occasion he showed some visitors from Babylon all of his treasures, at that time they were also trying to get him into a treaty against Assyria.  He got in trouble with God for the boasting about the treasures but did resist making a treaty.  That is the background for the predictions about Babylon and Assyria.  “Don’t rely on Babylon they will be defeated (Which ultimately happened in 539 BC but they were also defeated in Isaiah’s times by the Assyrian king Merodach-baladan in 689 BC,).  And don’t fear Assyria”.  The same God who has at his disposal legions of heavenly warriors who will be rushing to join the fight (Isaiah 13:5) on the “Day of the Lord” will fight for his people through out history.  There will be many little “days of the Lord” before the great and terrible “Day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5).

Today’s reading contains two more “burdens” one about Philistia and the other about Moab.  Philistia was a kingdom along the Mediterranean Coast, in land that Israel was supposed to rule, but they had been slack about getting rid of the Philistines (Maybe you know the David and Golaith story or perhaps you read through Judges and remember Sampson’s foes).  The Moabites were descendants of Lot and his oldest daughter.  Abraham was the grand-father of Jacob or Israel (See “What’s in a Name”) the ancestor of the Israelites.  Lot was his nephew making him a second cousin of Jacob.  So the Moabites were distant cousins of the Israelites but were often enemies.  The Moabites lived in the land east of the Dead Sea.  The Northern part of their territory was given to Reuben by Moses, Gad’s territory may have also overlapped with Moab.

We don’t really know the original reason for the message to the Philistines but if you notice they were celebrating the fact that one of their enemies had been defeated by someone.  The language may even suggest that the enemies king had died.  They felt that life would get easy (Isaiah 14:30).  What they didn’t know was that the enemy was coming back worse than before.  This may fit the history of Assyria at the time Tiglath-pilesar III was a great king and mighty warrior who originally conquered Philistia at the request of Ahaz.  A later rebellion by the Philistines was put down by Sargon II (III) who was a  successor to Tiglath-pilesar and was even more fierce.  At the end of the message Isaiah says that the answer to the messengers which they sent is, “Check out the destruction headed your way.  We don’t need you we have God.”  Man’s pride or God’s honor.

The message about Moab continues into tomorrows reading.  In today’s part of the reading we see a prediction of an invasion.  Ar and Kir were both cities but Ar can also refer to a region, like Los Angeles, it’s a city, a county, and a region.  Kir was in the region of Ar and was the capital.  In one night Moab would fall.  In response to the invasion they went to the temple of their god and also up on certain hills which were used for idol worship.  The land of Moab was divided by the Arnon River which runs east and west.  The further south you travel the dryer the land becomes until you are in the wilderness to the south (think desert here).  The places named in the message are major cities in the northern half.  They then pass over the river and continue south.  Zoar is south of the Dead Sea in the wilderness or desert area on the way to Egypt.  We have hear a picture of refugees running for their lives.  We will learn more about this tragic invasion tomorrow but you want to see that in the face of invasion that they turned to their local god’s and idols.

The theme of Isaiah continues, then, in this section.  We see that God is able and should be the one we turn to in times of trouble.  But instead people are prideful and rely on “their” gods or themselves.  It’s easy to say, How stupid” to pray to a god of your won making or to continue to trust in your own strength when your best warriors are shaking and crying out loud (Isaiah 15:4) but we do the same thing ourselves.  Also look at verse 5, Isaiah also is crying over the destruction of Moab.  As God’s representative he cares about them.  We need to see that God loves the Moabites, he does not want them to be destroyed.  Tomorrow we will see why they are suffering.  Lord thank you for loving me even though I am disobedient and stupidly trust my own plans way too much.  Help me see the way you want me to go.  Help me trust you more.  Give me courage to follow you.