The era of the kings is over. From where I sit, it almost looks like it was intended to show, let’s call it the dark side of the force, as the Jewish population turned to secular rulers rather than following their spiritual ones, particularly, the visions of the prophets. The original Isaiah was a 9th century BCE prophet whose role was to initiate God’s plan to wipe the slate clean in the kingdom of Jerusalem – i.e., Israel and Judah, and start fresh, rebuilding the core of the world according to Torah principles. The book itself is, based on historical studies, a compilation of his writings, followed on by two later Isaiahs, both in the 6th century BCE, providing historical commentary on how that three century process went. Isaiah is considered the first of the “latter day prophets” within Judaism, and the first of the major prophets in the Christian Old Testament (which isn’t identical to the Hebrew Bible in its composition).
- The book opens with what amounts to ode by Isaiah on behalf of God, lamenting that his chosen people have turned away from his precepts. He’s not interested in pro forma sacrifices and prayers, in lip service to the rules. He admonishes them to wipe the slate clean, start over, devote themselves to justice, good deeds, and healing the world. If so, they will be returned to prominent, chosen status, if not, he will ignore them, and the rest of the world will treat them as scapegoats. Hmm… given where things are today, what might that indicate?
- Continuing his ode to God, Isaiah prophesizes the day in the future when men will stop worshipping other men and other gods and live in the light of the one and only real God. This passage is where we get the famous swords into plowshares poetry. We will throw our idols of silver and gold to the flying foxes and bats! I find myself questioning that specificity of idolatrous recycling. The whole thing is a bit unicorns and rainbows.
- Damn this guy goes on. He’s still ode-ing about people being wicked, following false leaders, and all the woes that will befall them if they keep down this path, and how everything would be so much better if they just got it together, followed God, and were good people.
- It’s beginning to feel like this whole book is going to be one long poetic screed. There will be, he cries, a long period of debauchery, hell will swallow up the wicked, those who remain, presumably chosen by God, will be redeemed. Drinking heavily is frowned upon.
- The ode continues. Having dispensed of heavy wine drinking, he now disparages heavy liquor drinking, particularly, wine based liquor, i.e., grappa. He threatens non-believers, and, it appears, grappa drinkers, with the apocalypse.
- Finally, the ode is over. Isaiah recounts his anointing as a prophet. He had a vision of God on his throne with two six-winged Seraphim hovering above. One of those picks up a coal from the altar, using tongs, and burns Isaiah’s lips. God asks for a prophetic volunteer. Isaiah, burned mouth or not, volunteers. God tells him to spread the message to the people, but assures him they won’t listen, and he has to remain steadfast. One assumes God sees further into the future when it will all work out, versus not wanting an interruption of his plans. The big question here is why the flaming, nearly all-powerful Seraphim need tongs to pick up a coal. I mean, they’re practically made out of fire. Maybe it’s the coal that needs protection from the touch of the Seraphim.
- The king of Israel joins up with the king of Aram to challenge Assyria. They want Ahaz, the king of Judah, to ally with them as well, but he, a youngster, dithers about and won’t commit. They challenge him to what amounts to a battlefield duel. Isaiah shows up and tells Ahaz that the alliance is in his best interests, but Ahaz doesn’t trust him. Isaiah tells him to ask God for a sign, but Ahaz says that that would be like challenging his faith, God would provide a sign if he wanted to. Isaiah basically tells him that both he and God consider Ahaz to be an exasperating twit, and it’s about time he started acting like a king instead of petulant teen.
- This is a little hard to follow, but if I’m reading it right, Isaiah first prophecies that Israel and Aram will lose to Assyria, but that will be temporary, because they’re in the right, while Judah, whose king is still dithering about, will descend into darkness. Or something like that. Meanwhile, God tells Isaiah that he will have a son with a virgin prophetess, who will one day be important. As long as he stays steadfast, and doesn’t follow the example of the people of Judah and not commit to anything. Then there’s a bit about necromancy. Which, we are reminded, is a bad thing.
- We’re back to poetry instead of prose. But we’re also at a turning point, as Isaiah’s litany moves from judgment to promise, with the vision that those who have walked in darkness will see the light, and that a king worthy of representing God has already been born. Now, apparently, this passage has been adopted and/or adapted by folk of that “other religion”, you know, the big one with the guy on the plus sign, to indicate that Jesus had been born and was to become king overall. The Aramaic and Hebrew, however, apparently, are really clear that this is not a divine being, but a man who will lead the people as king, not as messiah. English versions of the “Old Testament” read differently from the “Hebrew bible”, in order to justify a differing viewpoint.
- A long litany about how powerful God is, and how he’s using the unwitting Assyrians as a tool to punish his people, but he’s doing it so surreptitiously that no one notices, and isn’t he cool for doing it that way? Seriously, I’m back to God being a teenage nerd dungeon master in an AD&D game.
- Our prophet envisions a future where the young child spoken of on page 9 learns, grows, and becomes the leader who will reunite the various factions of Judaism into one, and restore Israel and the Jews as the chosen people, living in peace and harmony. It’s interesting that much of Christian theology and the coming of Jesus, is rooted in this book of the bible, as it seems to miss the key points of a) this leader is neither divine nor the messiah, and b) that Judaism, as enumerated in the Torah, is the righteous path.
- Thanks God! Yay God!
- Isaiah launches into the “Babylon Proclamation”, which is basically a horrifically graphic description of the coming destruction. It will, apparently, be a two-pronged assault, with foreign armies marching from one direction, and celestial warriors from another. Most Babylonians, being almost universally wicked, will be wiped out. Children, infants, women will not be spared, the first two being dashed to death on rocks, the last being raped to death. If that wasn’t all gruesome enough, he adds the threat of owls and ostriches taking up residence in the now ownerless homes, satyrs will dance in them, jackals will take over the castles, and dragons, yes, dragons, will take over the “pleasure palaces”. Although we haven’t gotten to them yet, this somewhat odd grouping of animals is a recurrent theme, showing up in Isaiah again, and in Job, and Micah. This is, perhaps, deserving of some research.
- God really has it in for the Babylonians, and in particular the king and nobles. Isaiah prophecies them being cast down to Sheol, the bottomless pit, there to be confronted by various wicked ancestors and the like. There’s a promise of the resurrection of the Jewish community, and that the wicked folk from Babylon will end up their slaves. And also, back on yesterday’s animal theme, that the palaces and mansions will be turned into ponds and populated by bitterns, or herons, or hedgehogs.
- While Babylonia may be the primary target of God’s wrath, he’s not leaving out Moab. In today’s passage, Isaiah predicts its fall as well, with the local rivers running with the blood of Moab’s warriors, and people wailing in the streets. We don’t, however, have owls, ostriches, satyrs, jackals, dragons, or hedgehogs this time. Just a solitary lion, lording over the remnants of Moab’s civilization.
- As the nation of Moab crumbles into ruin, Isaiah predicts that the fallen will wail and moan over the loss of access to the “raisin cakes of Kir-Haresheth”. Presumably this is intended as a metaphor over the luxuries that will no longer be available. At the same time, it has me wondering just exactly what was so special about Kir-Haresheth’s raisin cakes??? And, does anyone have the recipe? Were they like fig cakes, just a big wheel of dried fruit stuck together, or were these like the good ones, with chocolate and rum?
- He turns to Damascus, where, while prophecies the region’s demise, he doesn’t make it sound so bad. Crop yields will fall, you know, like each olive tree will only produce a few olives, and trees will only have a few boughs with leaves. People will leave the cities. Surely there must be more death and destruction than this?
- Messengers are to be sent to the lands beyond Nubia, north of the Nile. It is unnamed, and their speech is unintelligible, but they are threatened with scorching hot rains that will destroy their agriculture. Apparently, Elton John and Tim Rice were wrong. At the least, this particular God does not love Nubia. Then again, perhaps he skipped over Nubia, the messengers are bound for further reaches.
- It’s Egypt’s turn in the spotlight, and Isaiah starts out much the same. He prophecies, in particular, a vast drought, with crops failing and fish disappearing from the dwindling rivers. But then, he suddenly takes a different tack. When all Egyptians are cowering in the face of God’s wrath, “like women”, God will appear to them and they will embrace worshipping him. Not only that, but the Assyrians will come join them in worship, and then, yes, the Israelis too! Everybody in a big Jewish lovefest for God!
- Finishing off Egypt and Nubia, where we find that Isaiah has spent the last three years prophesizing, buck-naked. Apparently a lot of the serving class in Egypt were wandering about naked too. Perhaps this is why the rich and ruling class paid little attention to him?
- God’s not done just destroying the wicked folk of Israel and its neighbors, but now the prophecies continue, covering well into the southern reaches of the Arabian peninsula. In two poems with evocative, somewhat sexual imagery, Isaiah announces their downfall too.
- In Isaiah’s spotlight today, the “Valley of Vision”, assumed, by historians to be near to Jerusalem because of references in the text. It’s more of the same – tumult and destruction. A particular high palace official, Shebna, is singled out too. There is a prediction that he will be replaced by God’s anointed, Eliakim, though this comes into doubt at the end, where, it is thought, by historians again, an editor of this book knew that Eliakim had been killed before taking over, but didn’t get the continuity handled.
- Tyre (in Lebanon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) is on the chopping block next. Apparently a sort of Monte Carlo or Atlantic City of gaiety, gambling, harlotry, and carousing, it’s going to spend the next 70 years devoid of those things. But, it will return to its former glory after 70 years and all such revelry and wanton-ness will resume. The difference will be that the profits will not go to private, wealthy individuals, but to the Temple. Not becoming a less “wicked” place, just redirecting the profits.
- God has had enough of singling out different regional kingdoms. Today, it’s the whole earth in his sights. Earthquakes, wobbling, shifting, crumbling, destruction of all life, leaving “just a few people”. Basically, sounding like close to a do-over. Yet, when all that mucking about is done, all the faithful will gather back at Mt. Zion where God will reveal himself to them. So far, anyway, it’s not made clear how many “a few” is, nor how they will all get to Jerusalem.
- God promises that on the day when the remaining faithful arrive at Mt. Zion, he will make the world whole again, he will eliminate death forever, and he, personally, will prepare a lavish banquet of rich meats, marrow, and wine for them. That this hasn’t happened yet is a big part of the whole “end of days” mythos in both Judaism and Christianity.
- I am a bit confused here. First, Isaiah praises God for wiping out the wicked from earth, turning them into shades who shall never live again, and whose memory will be blotted out of humanity’s consciousness. Then he sings God’s praises for restoring the world’s shades to life, letting them live again, not letting the earth conceal its dead. I’m guessing that these latter shades are those of good folk, but he doesn’t specify. Plus righteous folk aren’t supposed to become shades.
- Leviathan, the “twisting serpent” , the “elusive”. Apparently, on that predicted judgement day, God’s going to kill the biggest, baddest dragon on the planet by striking him down with his flaming sword. We’re back to my Dungeons & Dragons analogies….
- If you thought we were on the mend, post-apocalypse, you were wrong. Isaiah now turns to Ephraim, a kingdom to the north, apparently known for its incomprehensible language, and its feasts of drunken debauchery. Yada, yada, more of the same castigation. No animals in the houses this time, but apparently, God’s going to shorten their couches (I assume the sort of divan on which one has the aforementioned debauchery) and/or short-sheet their beds.
- We’re back to Jerusalem, where Isaiah prophecies that on the day of redemption it will be like people awaking from sleep, from a nightmare. Like they have been blind but can now see. It feels a bit like he’s letting them off the hook. But then again, we’ve already been told that God plans to wipe out everyone who isn’t, deep in their heart or soul, faithful, so, hard to say….
- While he starts out ranting against idolatry, Isaiah quickly turns to political invective, warning the leaders of the Jewish people against allying with Egypt (after all, remember our history with them) against Assyria. He goes on to detail the horrors that will befall them if they pursue this course of action. Wild animals once again come into play. He does like invoking them – this time it’s the wild beasts of prey along the desert path to Egypt.
- The prophet finishes off (maybe?) his tirade against the alliance with Egypt, pointing out that the Israelites are allying themselves with other men, rather than with God, and that the Assyrians will be defeated by the latter, not the former. Why is it an either/or?
- When the day comes, Isaiah says, kings, ministers, nobles, leaders of all sorts will lead their people with the best of intentions in mind for the betterment of all. I’m going out on a limb and saying that this hasn’t happened yet.
- This has got to be the most tedious and repetitive book in the Bible (we shall see over the coming years). It’s poetic, yes, but basically, all Isaiah does is repeat the same doom and gloom and then the coming of God and all will be right with the world. Over and over.
- Hills drenched with blood. Sword sated with blood. Land drunk with blood. Streams of burning pitch. Soil of burning sulfur. Owls, ravens, ostriches, jackals, wildcats, hyenas, goat-demons, regular demons. I think Isaiah’s going for a theme here.
- After the day of redemption, deserts will bloom, the blind, deaf, and mute shall be cured, and wild animals will no longer inhabit civilized spaces. Isaiah gives much shorter shrift to the after party than to the devastation leading up to it. Stick more than carrot!
- Lights, camera, action! The king of Assyrian marches on Judah. On arrival, he challenges men guarding the fortified walls, asserting that their king will not be sufficient to protect them. They ignore him and go about their business, and report his words to their king.
- So the king of Judah prays on the news of Assyria’s approach. Isaiah counsels him to continue to pray, and promises God’s intervention. He then breaks out into more poetic verse, some intended for each of the two kings. Then God sends the Angel of Death to the Assyrian camp, wipes out 185,000 troops, and then during the Assyrian king’s retreat, motivates his two sons to assassinate him.
- The king of Judah has a rash, and apparently it’s terminal. He prays, God listens, sends Isaiah to tell him he’s heard the prayers and is giving the king fifteen more years of life, that he can be cured by applying dried fig cake to the rash. He also says that as a sign, he’ll make the sun shift back in the sky, a “ten step reset” so to speak, though it’s not clear how long that is. The king writes a poem of thanks, and then asks what the sign will be when his fifteen years are up and it’s time to die.
- The Babylonian king sends advisors to visit the now recovered king of Judah, wishing him well. Isaiah, however, is suspicious, and announces that they were just there to spy on the palace, and soon, they will return, cart off its riches and enslave the king’s sons.
- Voice change, scene change, apparently, without warning, we are in “second Isaiah”, a supposed later prophet of the same name, with a long poem that sums up to God is good, God is great, God is powerful, God created all, etc. Plus he knows the names of all the stars.
- The poem continues with its ode to God, switching almost more to first person. God notes that he has been around since the beginning of time, and the petty squabbles of humanity and nations that have come and gone are a mere blink of an eye, and irrelevant, to him.
- Isaiah gives a self-shout-out, asserting that God picked him, personally, to be the deliverer of all prophecy and news from on high. And he’s going to scream, pant, and gasp like a woman in labor to get people to pay attention!
- If you remember back to earlier in the Tanakh, God promised the Jews a huge, prosperous land, and ascendency over all. Conspiracy theories aside about us controlling the world, if one takes the bible as God’s word, perhaps this control is us fulfilling our destiny. In today’s passage, God re-promises the return of Israel and all surrounding lands to the Jews after the redemption. While no space lasers were mentioned, they would fit the theme.
- I mentioned at the beginning of this book that Isaiah is one of the core prophetic sources of Christian theology, though noted that the version of the book used, the Christian “old testament” has been rewritten, not just translated, from the Hebrew original. One could see why reading today’s page, as Isaiah, on behalf of God, denounces those who make images of God to wear and place in their houses of worship, using them as symbols to worship God through, and that they bake bread which they use as a symbol of God’s body. He denounces the idea that such manmade objects can be considered worthy of being representations of God, and used as symbols of worship, given the inherent… ungodliness of human beings.
- I feel like Isaiah has overstepped his mandate here, as he goes off on the Jews for arguing with or questioning God. That’s like the core of our religion. It’s one of the key things that’s different about Judaism from other religions. We question, we argue, with God!
- Continuing his prophecy about, well, himself, God’s chosen prophet, Isaiah predicts the idols of the Babylonian gods will be carted away and melted down. And, the instrument of God’s choice is the emperor Cyrus, of Persia, who will defeat Babylonia and free the Jews. I will just note, it is disturbing, on searching Google for bits and bobs about Cyrus, how many sites and articles there are that equate Cyrus and Donald Trump.
- Oooh, snap! Isaiah’s getting testy and throwing shade at other prophets. No one is named, but he makes it clear that he’s the only one who speaks for God, the rest are just straw in the window, and due to be consumed by fire.
- Jews are stubborn and ask too many questions rather than just doing what God tells them to. So says Isaiah, grumbling away. He’s clearly not happy that God doesn’t want to punish the Jews for this, but is just patiently waiting for them to come around.
- I can’t tell if Isaiah is job-hunting or just boasting. But he’s definitely polishing his resume. Not only is he the only real prophet of God, but, he asserts, he was designated that while still in the womb, and groomed for the job since before birth! God as Tiger Mom!
- He’s still going on about himself. After all, he announces to one and all, when God called him and gave him instructions, he followed them. So he’s better than all of you who didn’t.
- “Hey you! Yeah, you! Stop looking around for the right path in life, I’ve been standing here shouting the right instructions to follow God for, jeez, fifty pages now. Enough already, get right with God! I am so tired…”.
- Our long-winded prophet reminds the Jews that God promised them, long ago, that if they kept the faith, he’d be right by their side, or leading them, or backing them up, as they came to rule over all nations, as one by one those nations realized the true power of God. It’s that “keeping the faith” part that seems to have escaped a large percentage of the population, be they Jews or not.
- Continuing to talk about himself in the third person as the chosen one, Isaiah laments all the trials, tribulations, and deprivations that he has endured over the years as the mouthpiece for God. He makes it clear that somewhere down the line he expects recognition. Interestingly, I gather that this section of the last few pages, talking about himself in the third person, were a big part of the formation of the Christ Passion and crucifixion narratives, though historians and linguists since assert it’s clearly about Isaiah himself.
- He’s getting a bit racy with his poetry here. Isaiah compares the redemption of the Jewish people to a sexual experience, making it clear that “getting with God” is pretty damned intimate. He’s pushing cohabitation hard.
- Repent, re-embrace the faith, all will be forgiven, no questions asked. Once enough Jews have done that and the nation of Israel is reestablished on its ancestral homelands, and has been made secure by eliminating its enemies, it will never be threatened again. The hardliners will win as those who strayed return to the fold. It’s almost like Isaiah was predicting the early 21st century….
- May as well make it an open invitation. Isaiah asserts that even those not born of the Chosen People, i.e., the Jews, all will be welcome to come and worship God, convert, and live happily ever after. Those who don’t get with the program, well, use your imagination.
- Starting with yesterday’s text and through the end of Isaiah, the prose takes on a more sermon-like approach. Most biblical scholars assert that this latter section of the book was written about fifty years later (based on historical references in the book) than the last section, and reflect either a third prophet, or more likely, collected thoughts of those influenced by his prophecies. Most of today’s chapter is taken up by exhortations against pagan sex-magic rituals.
- You call that a fast? Sitting at home alone not eating? Nah, you’re gonna fast the right way. Invite some hungry, poor people into your home, give them food, shelter, and clothing, and don’t eat or drink while you make sure their needs are taken care of. That’s a fast.
- Take some responsibility for your own and your society’s actions. That’s the message of this new Isaiah’s preaching. If things aren’t going well, pick yourself up and make them right, stop moaning about it and expecting God to step in and fix your problems. Though, at some point, perhaps, if he gets pissed off enough at you, he will. But it won’t be pretty.
- We wax a bit poetic today as Isaiah prophecies the glories of Zion and the Temple reborn in splendor and riches. Israel’s radiance will light the world, God will come and hang out with one and all. Heaven on Earth and all that.
- Continuing in the vein of yesterday, this Isaiah offers words of comfort instead of castigation, reminds us of the Jubilee year, fine clothing and jewelry, and, more or less, promises rainbows and unicorns.
- The idea that knowing something’s name gives you power over it, or that a name itself is power, is not a new one that just popped up in fantasy literature. It stretches, at the least, to biblical writings, and today, Isaiah gives Israel a series of new names of power.
- Recounting of God as warrior-god, Isaiah waxes poetic in vivid and grisly imagery, with God leading the Jews into battle against enemy after enemy, and, of course, emerging triumphant. We end with the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. No doubt, more to come.
- Because we simply can’t have Israel be triumphant without reminding the Jews that they have faltered in the past, straying from the path, Isaiah inserts a bit of “just remember the wrath of God from when you screwed up”. You know, just to make sure they don’t forget.
- The prophet(s) point out that no matter how often the Jews turned away from God, strayed from the path, even when they prayed to other gods, he was there at their side, offering whatever was needed. Reminds me of the humorous story of all the rescue vehicles God sends to someone stranded in a flood, and the person keeps refusing the rescues, saying, “God will save me”.
- In a jumbled torrent of fragments of past evils and future goods, Isaiah wraps up in a scene reminiscent of Lt. Colombo ending a witness interrogation… “Just one more thing…”.