ISAIAH - Weeks 3&4

Things have certainly gone up a notch in these last two week’s readings!

Being confronted with such visceral descriptions of the judgement of God is exacerbated by this being repeated again and again this week. Oracles or proclamations are made against Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia and Egypt.

There is a lot going on in these chapters; some powerful imagery, some unfamiliar geography and some outright bizarre goings on (did anyone else catch the mention of goat-demons?!). There’s only so much we can cover here, but let’s just get stuck into the root of these messages – what is going on here?

Though they are framed in different ways, there are two key reasons for these nations finding themselves on the receiving end of God’s judgement;

Arrogance and Opposition.

We’ve read, up to this point, lots about the sins of Judah and the consequences of those, but here we are fully reminded whose side God is on. These neighbouring nations who form political alliances against Judah or Israel and those who are hostile towards Judah are found to be opposition. In the case of Egypt, they are called out for their idolatry, or religious opposition.

In spite of the punishment that Judah has received, these passages communicate that God is still with them, and is still for them.

As an aside, we read of both Babylon and Assyria being judged for being too cruel in their actions against Judah and Israel. I know they aren’t natural targets for sympathy, but it seems a bit unfair that these powerful empires are being used by God to punish Judah but then are reprimanded for going too far.

‘I know I told you to be destructive, but that was a bit much’.

 Ultimately, I think that God knows our hearts and motivations so, for me, it’s conceivable that they got carried away with this pursuit of power and brutality, rather than enacting judgement and justice, if they ever knew that’s what they were doing. But it does raise a question around how we think about God’s activity on earth. These stories certainly portray God as the chess player, and these powerful nations are just pawns being controlled and sacrificed at the will of the grandmaster.

Outside of these stories, however, you might more naturally make a case for God weaving into what humanity is doing. It isn’t, perhaps, that God is making the Assyrians attack, but that it is through this attack, which was already happening, that God is speaking and being understood.

In this way of thinking, God is not implicated in the same way in these acts of apparent cruel judgement, but comes across more like a teacher, explaining cause and effect, consequence and action.

There is so much more that could and will be said about these things, but rather than try to explain and explore all possibilities, let me finish by extending an invitation.

What happens when you simply sit with these stories? How do they make you feel about yourself, our world and God?

Often, when we encounter challenging things in the Bible, we try to find solutions to our problems. There is absolutely a time and place for that.

But we also need to listen to ourselves. It is in discomfort that we grow and learn.

So if you’ve been reading these chapters on judgement and destruction, don’t skip over them or rush to explain them away, but take the opportunity to let it unsettle you. Explore those feelings in the context of your faith.

And see what happens.