Year 2, Week 6, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 6, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Isaiah 28-29.

Today’s reading resumes with the words of Isaiah’s prophecy to Judah and Israel. It has been a couple of weeks since we have been in Isaiah. Our readings have taken us to the historical Books of Kings and Chronicles as well as Hosea, a prophet ministering during the same time as Isaiah. In fact, like much of Hosea, Isaiah 28 particularly addresses the Northern Kingdom of Israel: “Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand” (Isaiah 28:1-2). Like Hosea, Isaiah frequently refers to Israel by the name Ephraim, which was one of the larger regions of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. A mighty storm would destroy Israel and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah) would need to pay attention and learn from what would soon fall upon Israel: “Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!” (Isaiah 28:14). Isaiah 29 particularly zeros in on Jerusalem (Ariel seems to be another name for Jerusalem): “Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you” (Isaiah 29:1-3). Isaiah is describing a siege that will surround Jerusalem. Such a siege occurred at the hands of the Assyrians in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s destruction (see 2 Kings 18; 2 Chronicles 32). This warning comes at a time when Judah was heartlessly engaging in “worship” of God: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was how a passage from Isaiah is deployed in the New Testament as it is applied specifically to Jesus. Luke informs us that Jesus drew from a passage in today’s reading, as Jesus was defending His authority: “But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him” (Luke 20:17-18, see also Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11). Jesus speaks of Himself as the cornerstone. Peter also uses the same passage from today’s reading as he too makes the case of Jesus being the cornerstone, but with special regard to the church: “For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6; see also Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20). But before we say much more about the New Testament’s use of this passage, we will first look at its context in Isaiah.

Isaiah rebukes the inhabitants of Jerusalem for being out of touch with reality. Judah had made an alliance with Egypt for protection, rather than cry out to the LORD. But such an arrangement would be pointless: “Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter” (Isaiah 28:15). The leaders of Jerusalem were trusting in lies that would result in their demise. But the LORD issues a promise: “therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste” (Isaiah 28:16). Instead of trusting in the false hopes of political alliances, the LORD would provide a source of true security and protection, “a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation.” Those who embrace the LORD’s offer, which will be established in justice and righteousness, will be protected, while those who reject it will be destroyed: “And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter” (Isaiah 28:17).

The Gospels place Jesus’ use of Isaiah 28:16 in the context of the religious leaders challenging Jesus: “One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority” (Luke 20:1-2). In other words, they were rejecting Jesus, but Jesus applied Isaiah’s words to Himself for He was the cornerstone, the foundational One upon whom God would establish His Kingdom and the only One upon whom one could build his life upon. Those who reject Jesus as the cornerstone will face judgment, just as those in Isaiah’s time would be destroyed if they rejected the LORD promise. Tragically, but in fulfillment of the Scripture, the religious leaders flatly rejected Jesus: "The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people” (Luke 20:19). But out of their rejection emerged God’s cornerstone: "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe