Day 21

I don’t know what I can tell you about my good buddy Isaiah, here, though he had a lot to say. Here I am wading into the prophetic books and revisiting previous events I’ve read about in Kings, Chronicles, or Nehemiah. Except this time, I am hearing the other side of the conversation. In the historical books it would often boil down to: “This prophet appeared and decried what was happening!” Well, now I’m getting a glimpse into everything they said.

Isaiah is deeply familiar. It’s a book woven into our Western culture since it is of great importance to the Christian story. I found myself recognizing verses here and there — hymn tunes would pop into my head or I’d remember a Christian phrase that surely came from this book. I imagine if anyone read this book, they would be surprised at how much is recognizable.

This book is beautiful. It’s not my role here to interpret prophecy, to understand completely, or to judge whether or not the prophecies are true. Instead, I was moved by the poetry of lament, rebuke, and hope. Who are the poets of our age warning us of what is yet to come? Who warned us in the past? Who amongst us is the “eccentric” we ignore who might be sharing a grain of truth?

I don’t quite know what awaits me — other than Jeremiah being the longest book in the Bible — but I want to see the character of each prophet. Isaiah was a master at weaving imagery, but I learned nothing about him. Should that matter to me? I guess I’ll see with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the others.

One Word for Isaiah: Vineyard

Parts of the Text That Stayed With Me

1. Isa 3:18-24, Lists of Clothing & Accessories. I was struck by the specificity of this text. The Lord will take away all of the fine things the people have come to love — all of the excess! What would this list look like for today? iPhones, laptops, SUVs, Hulu subscriptions…
2. Isa 6, Call Story. Here is where Isaiah is called to be a prophet and he has a vision of God, who’s described as sitting on a throne, seraphs surrounding him, and the hem of his robe filing the Temple of Jerusalem. Basically, God is huge.
3. Isa 14:23, Hedgehogs! I love this line about the fate of Babylon: “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog…” Obviously, I am missing some important context to this imagery, but on it’s own it is delightful.
4. Isa 27:1-2, The Leviathan. I know the Leviathan was lifted up briefly elsewhere (Psalms, Job), but here it is being defeated. What is a Leviathan? It is a twisting serpent…the dragon of the sea. Yes. Dragon.
5. Isa 38, My Buddy Hezekiah. I love Hezekiah, I’ve made that much clear. He’s back and he offers a heartfelt prayer. Team Hezekiah!
6. Isa 51:6, Salvation is Forever. It’s a powerful image to point out that the earth will pass away but the salvation and deliverance of God is forever. With the realization that the afterlife is not a concern of the Hebrew bible, I wonder how this fits in? What does this say about God?

This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.