Year 2, Week 6, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 6, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Isaiah 33-35.

Today’s reading continues Isaiah’s prophecy to Judah. Isaiah 33 is most likely written with Assyria in mind: “Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you” (Isaiah 33:1). Assyria was destroying the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and was beginning an assault on the Southern Kingdom of Judah (see 2 Kings 18; 2 Chronicles 32). Assyria’s threat will cease the moment that they have accomplished all that the LORD purposed for them to accomplish; and then they would be judged while Jerusalem would return to peace and stability: “Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken” (Isaiah 33:20). Isaiah 34 returns to an earlier focus (Isaiah 13-23) on the nations being accountable before the LORD: “Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it. For the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter” (Isaiah 34:1-2). Coupled with the judgment on the nations expressed in Isaiah 34, Isaiah 35 declares a great reversal and restoration: “Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you…And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:4,10). 

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the contrast in imagery. Isaiah 34 portrays judgment through the imagery of a parched wilderness or desert: “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever” (Isaiah 34:8-10). The imagery is reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah in the aftermath of its judgment (see Genesis 19:24-28). The imagery depicts a land that is totally uninhabitable, overrun by wild animals: “But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness” (Isaiah 34:11). The land has returned to the chaos of a hostile wilderness, which existed prior to the LORD forming and filling what He created as “confusion” and “emptiness” are the same terms as “formless and void” found in Genesis 1:2.

But the imagery of a desert or hostile wilderness shifts: ”The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God” (Isaiah 35:1-2). Judgment is never the last word; restoration is. The imagery of an uninhabited desert gives way to a well cared for flower garden. The imagery of a parched land gives way to a well watered land: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes” (Isaiah 35:5-7). The uninhabited land overrun by wild animals is transformed as a place of safe passage: “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there” (Isaiah 35:8-9).

While Isaiah’s words are pertinent to what the people of Jerusalem would soon face during the siege at the hands of the Assyrians, these words are also pertinent for God’s people today as He will transform all of creation and completely remove every last vestige of the curse that is upon the earth: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:20-23). In the meantime, the LORD will safely lead His people through the wilderness on the “highway” that He has established. Safe passage is through Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:7).

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

Pastor Joe