7th December
Read Psalm 138
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
What a lovely Psalm this is. It is a heartfelt song of praise to God and a prayer that others who hear of what he has decreed – his laws and his ways – may also join with him in this. Though God is high and exalted he sees the lowly and preserves them because his love endures forever. We ought to respond “I will praise you Lord with all my heart”(v1)
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Isaiah 14:28-32
Having spoken of things in the future – Assyria and Babylon – these verses turn to the much more contemporary problem of the people and that is their nearby neighbours, the Philistines, who had always been a source of trouble for them. The prophesy says that they will feel the gale of the Big Northern Empires too when they sweep down. The “cloud of smoke” (v31) will melt away the Philistines and so they should not rejoice when they see God’s people under the cosh of these fierce Northern foes.
The prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died, a time when the people would be nervous about what was going to happen in their future just as people today worry how tings will change with a new government. The message of the prophecies is always that God is in charge.
Tuesday Isaiah 15:1-9
In chapter 15 we turn to Moab, the small but significant country to the East of the Dead Sea but which has a long history with the people of Israel. Moab is descended from Abraham’s cousin, Lot, by his incestuous relationship with his daughter. The Moabites caused a resistance to the people under Moses who had escaped from Egypt by refusing them access across their land and some battles ensued. The most memorable issue was Baalam being brought to curse the people – which didn’t work, the ass speaking to him – but the people engaged in sexual infidelity with the Moabites thought to have been by the advice of Baalam. Thereafter the people were viewed as enemies although Alimilech’s wife Naomi was supported by Ruth, a Moabitess, who became the grandmother of King David and therefore ancestor of Jesus.
Anyway this prophesy of Isaiah’s tells of the Moabites being crushed also by the invading powers of the North and being left destitute. It is a prophesy of destruction yet we see the prophet saying, “My heart cries out over Moab” (v5) as they lose their home and their wealth.
If there is a word to us in our modern time it is to have compassion even on those who have been enemies and have given us a hard time.
Wednesday Isaiah 16:1-14
Chapter 16 continues about Moab telling it to send tribute to Judah which it used to do. At times it sent tribute but when Israel was weakened it stopped yet when Moab was under pressure the prophet says “let the Moabite fugitives stay with you” (v4) in other words don’t hold a grudge against them but give them the support they ought to have given Judah in her hard times.
In v5 we find the prophet saying that in love a throne will be established and a man from the house of David will sit on it. The reference could be to good King Hezekiah but it could also refer further into the future to Jesus. The sin of Moab is characterised as pride and arrogance but their boasts are empty, joy and gladness will be removed from them. The question remains with us, do we give aid and support even to those who have not been good to us?
Thursday Isaiah 17:1-14
In chapter 17 we find a prophecy against Damascus, one of the enemies to the North of Israel, the capital of city of Aram (present day Syria) but we also find words against Ephraim (v3) which was the fractured part of Israel after the split from Judah. Ephraim often allied itself with Aram against the smaller kingdom of Judah.
Isaiah pronounces judgement on Judah but also mentions others like Assyria and Babylon – “Woe to the many nations that rage” (v12) showing that none escape the glance of God. As Peter says in 1 Pet 4:17, judgement may start at the house of God, namely his people, yet it doesn’t stop there. Cruel and proud men will be judged in God’s own time.
Friday Isaiah 18:1-7
The “land of whirring wings” this chapter begins with probably referring to locusts who would come from that region. Cush is Southern Egypt and Northern Ethiopia or Sudan. It was on the Nile from which papyrus boats travelled (v2). The people who lived there are described as tall and fair-skinned but aggressive. The word of God about this people is not voluminous and he says “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place however the prophecy tells of this land becoming left to birds of prey and wild animals.
However the close of the chapter says that this people will bring gifts to the Lord Almighty, to mount Zion and it is interesting that this area was Christianised centuries later beginning with the Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts and becaming one of the earliest Christian Kingdoms in the 4th Century
Saturday Isaiah 19:1-25
Chapter 19 begins a lengthy section about Egypt beginning with Egyptians losing heart. At the end of the 22nd Dynasty (750/760 BC) there was much instability and infighting within the land and the people turned to their many idols to save them but they were going to be handed over to a cruel master, probably the Assyrians and later the Babylonians. The agricultural life will be brought to nought and the industrial workers despairing and sick at heart (v10)
Various ‘wise men’ would spring up but their advice to Pharoah would be worthless.
From v16- 25 much comment has been made from various theological quarters about the land of Judah being a terror to the Egyptians, five cities becoming Israeli (v18) then an altar being seen in the centre of Egypt and more. I would say, particularly referring to the last verses about Assyrians, Israelites and Egyptians worshiping together, that the prophecy must be a kind of Messianic prophecy towards the end of time but it could be before that. Ponder and pray.