Bible in 90 Days - Day 50 (Isaiah 14-28)

Lord God, we wish to see Jesus.

By your Spirit’s power, give us eyes to see his glory.

Through Christ we pray. Amen.

—based on John 12:21

Right out of the gate today our reading is peppered with grace. God will not only restore Judah (and the remnant of Israel), but also open the gates wider to accept the foreigner. Here we see the prophecies for the two big captors: Babylon the captor of Judah and Assyria the captor of Israel. This is followed by prophecies against most of the rest of their enemies.

Chapter 18 opens the doors again for foreigners to be in God’s presence (especially verses 3 and 7). It is a strong god who can defeat enemies, but only our God turns their hearts to him so he can call them his own. That is our story! (Can you even imagine how 19:25 would have sounded in Isaiah’s day?)

Isaiah 20 presents an interesting story. God tells Isaiah to walk around naked for 3 years to represent the shame of Egypt and Cush when they are exiled by the Assyrians. This is a stark reminder to the Israelites to not put their trust in Egypt and Cush. I would have been tempted to say, “God, can I just tell them the message? Maybe put up a few posters?” Frequently God has the prophets act out the prophecy.

Our reading today ends with judgment against the sin of the whole earth in chapter 24. Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” There is not a corner of the earth that can say, “That system may work for you and your God, but not here.” God’s “justice and righteousness,” his judgment and grace, are universal. 

Yesterday I knew we had to read through chapter 28, but somehow I stopped at chapter 24. I just want to add one thing to yesterday's notes. I've always been intrigued by the repetitions in Isaiah 28:9-13. In looking a little deeper, I found some interesting variations.

The NIV says, “Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.” There is a lot of debate over whether these words in Hebrew actually mean something or if they are simply gibberish to reflect how the word of the LORD will sound foreign to the people. Here are a few other translations of 28:13 –

NET: “So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there.

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,

and be injured, ensnared, and captured.”

NLT: “So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,

one line at a time, one line at a time,

a little here, and a little there,

so that they will stumble and fall.

They will be injured, trapped, and captured.”

In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 13,

“So God will start over with the simple basics

and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—

‘Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That’s a good little girl, that’s a good little boy.’

And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,

get bruised and confused and lost.”

The newest NIV (recently released) has this translation:

“So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.”

May the Holy Spirit allow Gods' Word to sound neither like empty rules nor like gibberish to us!