Year 2, Week 7, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 7, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Isaiah 44-46.

Today’s reading continues Isaiah’s prophecy to Judah. Isaiah 44 continues exploring the rescue that Israel would experience because of their relationship with the LORD: “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!” (Isaiah 44:1). Isaiah has been using the term “my servant” in two ways. First, Israel is termed the LORD’s servant. But Isaiah also uses the term to speak of someone in particular who would come from the line of David. Up to this point, Israel has been the primary focus of the term “my servant” and the emphasis has been on their failure as the LORD’s servant. Chief among Israel’s failures has been their idolatry. Isaiah 44 devotes a large portion underscoring the lunacy of idolatry such as how Israel related to a tree: “Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” (Isaiah 44:16-17). The last portion of Isaiah 44 and much of Isaiah 45 is devoted to how God would deploy Cyrus, a Persian King: “I am the LORD, who made all things…who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’…who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’” (Isaiah 44:24-28). Long before Cyrus even existed, little lone was a Persian king, even long before the Babylonians would take Israel into exile, the LORD had already announced that He would use Cyrus to release Israel from captivity and return to their Land. Isaiah 46 returns to the issue of idols, in this case, the gods of the Babylonians; but also how the LORD, who is God alone, will rescue His people: “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:8-10).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the extensive comparison between the LORD God and the false gods. Isaiah presents the false gods in a very negative light: “All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit” (Isaiah 44:9a). Idols are of no sense of worth or meaning or purpose, and those who fashion them show their lives to be just as profitless.  Isaiah asks what the point is of such worthless pursuits: “Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?” (Isaiah 44:10). It is sheer foolishness to make an idol that cannot do anything constructive. Isaiah emphasizes that the end result of making a god is that its creator will be filled with shame: “Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together” (Isaiah 44:11).

Isaiah illustrates, in several ways, how ridiculous it is to make idols. Idol making leaves the idol maker exhausted: “The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint” (Isaiah 44:12). Whereas the LORD gives strength to the weary (see Isaiah 40:28); idols only create weariness. Idol making requires an absurd belief that a common thing, used for common purposes in life, can all of a sudden become a divine and holy thing: “He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it” (Isaiah 44:14-15). An idol maker suffers from a willful blindness and refuses to notice what he is really doing: “They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” (Isaiah 44:18-19). An idol maker has a deluded heart: “He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:20).

In contrast to idols, there is one true God: “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me?” (Isaiah 44:6-8a). And the one true God offers pardon to all idolaters: “Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:21-22).

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

Pastor Joe