According to Robert Frost, poetry is a form of communication by which one says something different from what he means. One reads the stock market report one way, the sports page another, and the news page yet another. If one deals with poetry as he deals with prose, he likely will misinterpret it. The figures of speech of the poet must be taken as they were intended, not as scientific statements. At the same time, truth expressed in poetic images is still truth the same as prose is truth.
The book of Isaiah has come down to us partly in prose and partly in poetic form. The editors of a scientific Hebrew Bible like Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia attempt to print the poetic material in poetic form to aid the reader, and the same is done in English translations made since the middle of the twentieth century.
The King James Version, on the other hand, prints the whole book in prose form, for the essence of Hebrew poetry was not understood in 16ll. Josephus, Origen, and Jerome discuss Hebrew poetry, but most of what they say is incorrect. The Masoretes, who preserved and transmitted the text between A.D. 500 and 1000, show signs of knowing that some material is in verse form. Deuteronomy 32 was copied in two columns, but the system breaks down at verse 14. Jerome in the fifth century had said that there is no meter in any prophet (Praef. in Isa. [PL 28:771]), and that opinion prevailed until modern times. With the discovery of the Qumran Psalms (1QH) we now have ancient Hebrew poetry outside the Bible.
Hebrew poetry does not consist of rhymed syllables as English poetry does: "The rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in air." Robert Lowth about 1756 projected that Hebrew poetry consists of various sorts of parallelism and that it has certain types of rhythm. Some details continue to be debated, but there is general agreement on broad lines. You will be able to deal with Isaiah better if you study it in one of the twentieth century translations rather than in the King James Version.
Knowledge of the Hebrew text has advanced in the past 400 years. Hebrew study was in its infancy in the English-speaking world 400 years ago. Two important manuscript discoveries are the Cairo Geniza find made at the end of the 19th century and the Dead Sea Scrolls of the twentieth century. The Dead Sea (Qumran) Isaiah scroll (1QIsaa) is a thousand years older than materials on Isaiah previously known.
If you buy yourself a Stuttgart Bible, you will have printed in the text the St. Petersburg Codex that dates about A.D. 1008. The notes cite variants from other available sources. A fourth edition of that work is now underway. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem is issuing a Bible that prints the Aleppo Codex that also dates about A.D. 1000. The book of Isaiah of this work has already been issued. Each of these two manuscripts represents the culmination of Masoretic activity. We do not have accurate information about what manuscripts would have been available to the King James scholars. Use of these manuscripts we now depend on was undreamed of in 1611.
There has also been progress in vocabulary study both in Hebrew and in English. Numerous words encountered in the King James Isaiah no longer have the meaning they had four hundred years ago, making the translation to appear to say what the Hebrew text will not support.
The poetry of Isaiah makes abundant use of the synonymous parallel in which lines say the same thing with vocabulary variance. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; / though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Isa. 1:18). One would not build a sermon in which he makes this statement have two points. It has one point stated two ways.
Other examples are "Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, / who draw sin as with cart ropes" (Isa. 5:18). "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, / and shrewd in their own sight" (Isa. 5:21). "He will raise a signal for a nation afar off, / and whistle for it from the ends of the earth" (Isa. 5:26). "I will make men more rare than fine gold / and mankind than the gold of Ophir" (Isa. 13:12). "And like a hunted gazelle, / or like sheep with none to gather them" (Isa. 13:14), "She despises you, she scorns you--the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you--the daughter of Jerusalem" (Isa. 37:22). These are only a few of the examples.
There is also the antithetic parallel in which the opposite is stated in the two lines. "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; / But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword" (Isa. 1:19-20). Here you do have point 1 and point 2. There are also other types of parallel.
Another significant feature of Hebrew poetry is its rhythm. A Hebrew poetic line is most often divided into segments each of which has a number of stresses. These may be two, three, or four, and then there is the dirge rhythm with its three stresses followed by two. This last rhythm is like the wail of the bagpipe in our funerals. Isaiah 15:1-8, which deals with Moab, has a series of lines in the dirge meter. Hezekiah's statement when he had recovered from his sickness is in the meter of lament (Isa. 38:9-20). There are other examples.
All of this is based on stressed Hebrew ideas not on the count of words either in Hebrew or in English. Something is always lost in translation because the receptor language may require either less or more words than the original did.
Poetry makes an abundant use of similes in which a thing is said to be like another because it resembles it in some way. Describing the invading Assyrian army, Isaiah says, "Their roaring is like a lion" (Isa. 5:29). Amos had earlier used the lion image (Amos 3:8) without identifying the nation. One has to try to enter the image world of the poet's day. There were then lions in the wild. His audience, with no high-powered rifles for protection, had heard a roar. Your audience probably has not, other than in a zoo. Other similes include "sins like scarlet" (Isa. 1:18), "anguish like a woman in travail (Isa. 13:8; 26:17; 37:3), and "the earth staggers like a drunken man" (Isa. 24:20).
With the book of Isaiah rich in similes, among the several possible points of likeness in each case, one has to choose the one the poet likely had in mind. If I quote, "My love is like a red, red rose," some might center on the thorns on the stems; but be assured that is not what the poet was thinking of. But we have another communication problem. Our world is not that of "a lodge in a cucumber field" (Isa. 1:8), nor is it that of "a flagstaff on the top of a mountain" (Isa. 30:17). In the first instance just cited the poet explains himself when he tells us he is speaking of a besieged city (Isa. 1:8); but not all similes are so explicitly explained. "For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water" (Isa. 1:30).
Metaphors in which a thing is said to be another thing because it resembles it in some way are also abundant. "Rulers of Sodom . . . people of Gomorrah" (Isa. 1:10). If your audience does not know the Genesis story of these cities, no communication takes place. "The faithful city has become a harlot" (Isa. 1:21). In fact the harlot metaphor is used more than once (Isa. 23:16). Tyre after its desolation takes up the song of the harlot. "The strong shall become tow" (Isa. 1:31). Have you any idea what tow is? "Silver has become dross that must be smelted away" (Isa. 1:22, 25). "The Syrians devour Israel with open mouth (Isa. 9:12) and "each devours his neighbor's flesh" (Isa. 9:20). While there are narrations of cannibalism in times of famine (2 Kings 6:28-29; Jer. 19:(), one can be sure that is not the allusion in these metaphors.
"Smoke comes out of the north" (Isa. 14:31). "The key of the house of David" (Isa. 22:22). "The Lord God is an everlasting rock" (Isa. 26:4). "Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts" (Isa. 33:20). Isaiah speaks of "With joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation" (Isa. 12:3). There are few running streams, springs, standing pools or lakes in the land, and no piped in water. Most water was drawn from wells. "All flesh is grass" (Isa. 40:6-8; 51:12). But this image is different in "They shall spring up like grass amid waters (Isa. 44:4), and in "Your bones will flourish like grass" (Isa. 66:14). There is "treading the winepress" (Isa. 51:17), and "worm Jacob (Isa. 44:14). "The day of the east wind" (Isa. 27:8) requires a knowledge of wind conditions in Palestine. Beneficial wind blows off the Mediterranean; destructive wind comes from the east off the desert. With all figures of speech, one must strive to determine the point of contact with the prophet's thought.
Worth special notice is the metaphor of the potter and the clay that is used with three different significances. The first is the rebellious clay (Isa. 29:16; 45:9; cf. Rom. 9:20), the second is of Cyrus trampling nations (Isa. 45:25), and the third is the yielding clay (Isa. 64:8) that Jeremiah (Jer. 18:1ff.) develops and of which we sing.
Also noteworthy is the shepherd metaphor, which already used in 2 Sam. 5:2 for a king, is older than Isaiah. Cyrus is the Lord's shepherd (Isa. 44:28), and other leaders are shepherds (Isa. 56:11). Shepherd also is used literally (Isa. 13:20; 31:4).
The poet uses personification. Inanimate things are addressed as though alive and present. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth" (Isa. 1:2). In Isa. 1:4, Judah is personified four times: as nation (goy), as people (`am), as offspring (zera'), and as sons (banim). "Wail, O ships of Tarshish" (Isa. 23:1). The prophet speaks of "the daughter of Zion" (Isa. 1:8; 10:32), "the daughter of my people" (Isa. 22:4) "the daughter of Tarshish" (Isa. 23:10), "the virgin daughter of Zion" (Isa. 37:22), "the virgin daughter of Sidon" (Isa. 23:12), and "the virgin daughter of Babylon" (Isa. 47:1). "Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it!" (Isa. 44:23). "Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem" (Isa. 52:9). "The mountains and the hills before you shall burst forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Isa. 55:12).
The figure of speech known as "merism" where two points include all in between: "from the sole of the foot even to the head" (Isa. 1:6), and "far and near" (Isa. 57:19). Word pairs like "poor and needy" (Isa. 25:4; 26:6; 41:17) and "light and darkness" (Isa. 5:20) are found.
Isaiah makes use of words of similar sounds though in most cases these can be known to the English reader only by the transliteration supplied in the footnote. The English words used in translation usually de not sound at all alike. Isaiah says to King Ahaz, 'im lo' ta'aminu ki lo' te'amenu (Isa. 7:9). Translators like George Adam Smith have struggled to give that to the English reader: "If you do not have faith, you will not have staith." But that is so obviously artificial. The RSV made no effort at all. The NIV/ NRSV, "If you do not stand firm, in your faith, you will not stand at all."
The plays on words are very impressive. In the Song of the Vineyard, the owner look for grapes ('anabim) but there was only stinking things (be'ushim; Isa. 5:4). The Lord looked in Israel for justice (mishpat) but there was bloodshed (mishpach). He looked for righteousness (tsedaqah) but there was the cry (tse`aqah) of the oppressed (Isa. 5:7). There is more point in this play if one remembers that Jerusalem had been a city of righteousness (tsedeq) in the past (Isa. 1:21-22).
Preachers sometimes used the alliteration in which a series of words contains the same letter, as: "sin, sickness, and sorrow." Isaiah says, "The Lord of hosts has a day of tumult and trumpeting and confusion" (ki yom mechumah umebushah, umebukah [Isa. 22:5]). "Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit; and he who climbs out of the pit; shall be caught in the snare" (Isa. 24:17-18). The first three words are pachat wapachad wepach where the first two letters of each word, apart from the conjunctions, are identical, and the "p" sound occurs nine times in the statement.
Isaiah makes use of assonance as he speaks of devastation and destruction (shod and shehir (Isa. 51:19).
Hyperbole is common in poetry. Your child says, "Everyone is doing it." He means he knows a few friends who are. Isaiah says, "everyone loves a bribe" (Isa. 1:23). "For everyone is godless and an evil doer, and every mouth speaks folly" (Isa. 9:17). "Seven women take hold of one man" (Isa. 4:1). Assyria is made to boast, "I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt" (Isa. 37:25).
The poet may use hendiadys in which two terms are joined by the conjunction "and" but the two form only one idea. We read that Isaiah's going naked and barefoot is "a sign and a portent" ('ot umopet; Isa. 20:3), or Isaiah and his children are "signs and portents" (le'otot ulemopetim [Isa. 8:18]).
He may use repetition for emphasis. "Holy, holy, holy" (Isa. 6:3) expresses the superlative in Hebrew. "`Now I will arise,' says the Lord, 'now I will lift myself up, now I will be exalted'" (Isa. 33:10). "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king; he will save us" (Isa. 33:22).
He may use euphemisms. "Feet" are the sexual parts. The seraphim cover their feet with two wings (Isa. 6:2). The king of Assyria will shave the "hair of the feet" which is the pubic hair (Isa. 7:20).
In Isaiah 28:23 the prophet uses four synonymous verbs meaning "to hear": "Give ear ('azan), and hear (shama`) my voice; hearken (qashab), and hear (shama`) my speech." Isaiah repeats the refrain, "For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still" (Isa. 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21 [11, 16, 20]; 10:4). This statement is to be understood only when one remembers that God brought Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm (Deut. 26:8). Isaiah is inverting this statement of confidence into a threat. God's hand can be outstretched for punishment. Jeremiah repeats this concept (Jer. 21:5).
Then there is satire. Of special interest is Isaiah's satire on the descent of the king of Babylon to the pit (Isa. 14); but also telling is the satire on the idol maker (Isa. 41 and 44).
The poet makes allusions to the past which he expects the reader to pick up without his giving explanation. If I say, "That will be another Pearl Harbor," and you are not clear whether that is connected with the war of 1812 or with the stock market crash of 1929, you are not going to understand what I am saying. When Isaiah says, "The yoke . . . thou hast broken as on the day of Midian" (Isa. 9:4) or "as when he smote Midian at the rock of Oreb" (Isa. 10:26), and you draw a blank, no communication takes place. You have to know in advance the story of Gideon's victory narrated in Judges 7:15-25. Some allusions require meteorological knowledge of the land: "He removed them with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind" (Isa. 27:8).
Isaiah astutely uses the same word in opposite implications: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat ('akal) the good of the land; / But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured ('akal) by the sword" (Isa. 1:19-20). It is a matter of eat or be eaten. Unfortunately the English translations do not make this feature of Isaiah's poetic technique visible to the reader.
Isaiah makes effective use of the rhetorical question. "Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? / Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?" (Isa. 33:14). In this case, Isaiah proceeds to list behavior of survivors; but that is not true of every rhetorical question he asks.
The techniques of Hebrew poetry are not a goal within themselves. They are only of value as they aid us to understand in a clearer way what Isaiah was saying. Isaiah describes life in the 8th century B.C. images which he knew. "Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and ass range free" (Isa. 32:20). Presenting these images to our audiences has a lot in common with the problem I have in preaching to metropolitan audiences. I came from off the farm in depression times, and I lived through World War II and its sequel. Despite the television and DVDs, this is a fairy tale land to modern people. The dime store has become the dollar store. On the other hand, I know little of the life in the cement jungle and what in its experiences moves people. To make Isaiah's images have impact, we have to try to translate them as best we can into 21st century metropolitan images.
Surely one of the most preachable texts of Isaiah is his song of the vineyard (Isa. 5) which is his one true parable. I have repeatedly used this text for baccalaureate sermons, but the lesson need not be limited to those occasions. It is the sort of parable used by Nathan to rebuke David for his adultery (2 Sam. 12:1-9), by the wise woman of Tekoa to get David to bring Absalom back from exile (2 Sam. 14:4-7), and by the unnamed prophet to rebuke Ahab for letting Ben-hadad of Aram go (1 Kings 20:39-43). The hearer is asked for a verdict on a story not obviously relevant to his own situation. When the hearer has answered, he has opened his mouth and put his foot all the way in. There is no retreat; David could only confess to Nathan, "I have sinned."
Palestine is a vineyard country, and the vineyard metaphor is common in the Bible (Gen. 49:22; Deut. 32:32; Ps. 80:8-13; Ezek. 15:1ff.; 17:1-15; Hos. 10:1). In the Song of the Vineyard, the choice land was chosen and carefully prepared in which to plant choice vines. But instead of good grapes, it only produced stinking things. One might speak of "Grapes of Wrath." Isaiah asks the audience for a verdict; any farmer would say, "Abandon the vineyard." Then Isaiah springs his trap. Israel is the Lord's vineyard. The emphasis is more on the Lord's disappointment than on the fate of the vineyard.
In preaching, one can then apply the picture to his audience. People on whom parents have lavished all the possible love. People who have enjoyed the highest standard of living the world has ever seen. People who have had the best educational opportunities. People who daily enjoy the advanced technology of our age. What is to be expected? Is all of this so that we can change mates with the season? Is it that we can cop out in substance abuse? Is it all that so that we can have bigger mortgages for the houses in which we live? Or is it to produce thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and a hundred-fold (cf. Matt. 13:23)?
The vineyard metaphor is not unique to Isaiah nor is it limited in Isaiah to the Song of the Vineyard in chapter 5. Jerusalem is left like a cottage in a vineyard (Isa. 1:8). Isaiah accuses the elders and princes of the people of having devoured the vineyard (Isa. 3:14). Allusion to the vintage is found in Isa. 16:10; 24:13; 32:10 and to the vines in Isa. 7:23. Isaiah alludes to the vines of Moab (Isa. 16:8-10). Isaiah 63 has the Lord coming from Edom where he has trodden the winepress. From this passage Julia Ward Howe drew the words of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to displace the obscene words Civil War soldiers were singing to that tune.
With Palestine being a vineyard country, this metaphor communicated more directly than it does to most modern people who know of vineyards only second hand.
Isaiah has a second song of the vineyard in chapter 27 which has a completely different import from that of chapter 5. Rather than the abandoning and destruction of the vineyard, chapter 27 depicts the disciplined vineyard which the Lord protects. His purpose is discipline, not destruction. He has no wrath; it is a pleasant vineyard. The Lord is its protector and the one who waters it. He guards it day and night lest anyone harms it. He would be glad to deal with thorns and briars. He repeats the call, "Let them make peace with me." Israel and Jacob take root and fill the whole earth with fruit. Though this passage is not directly appealed to in the New Testament, one might remember the story of the vine and branches of John 15.
Another moving challenge of Isaiah is to be seen in his satire on idolatry found in chapter 46. Before an unnamed invading enemy, the worshipers of Bel and Nebo, chief gods of Babylon, hastily load their idols on animals to carry them to safety. The images cannot even save themselves. The contrast is with the Lord who has carried Israel from the day of its birth. Even to gray hairs and old age he will continue to carry. The Lord has no similarity to images made of gold before which one then falls down and worships. It can neither move nor does it answer when one cries to it. The Lord declares the end from the beginning. He will bring to pass what he has promised. It makes all the difference whether you are carrying your God or he is carrying you.
Text: Isaiah 40:27-31
Purpose: Encouragement
One of the most beautiful poetic passages of Isaiah comes in Isaiah 40:27-31. The writer addresses exiles who had adjusted to life in exile and who must be persuaded that a return home to Jerusalem is possible for them. The Lord can and will bring the new exodus about. People have been in exile for seventy years. Youths of ten have become people of eighty years. Dreams have faded.
Most of the living exiles have been born in exile. Exile is all they have ever known; they have never seen Jerusalem. It is a never, never land their parents have told them about. A three months' trip on foot or in a donkey carriage is not appealing. Assuming one survives the journey, it is to a country that has to be rebuilt from scratch. Economic gain is not to be expected. Why would one give up the security of built houses, businesses and work that adequately provides for needs? The Exile was not a concentration camp situation.
The emotional impact of the Exile seems to have been stronger than its physical discomforts. The Assyrians and the Babylonians with their gods had won the wars. Their gods appeared to be stronger than the Lord. Psalm 137 and the Lamentations describe something of the emotional impact of exile. Now Cyrus with the Persian gods is overrunning Babylon with its gods. The secular mind says, "Ideals may have their place, but facts are facts!"
First, the poet Isaiah has to persuade his readers that the Lord has the power and the fidelity to his word to accomplish his promises. He must overcome the lethargy of the readers who are saying in essence, "God has forgotten us!" "My way is hidden from the Lord!" (Isa. 40:27).
But to the contrary, the Lord is the everlasting God. As Malachi put it, "I the Lord do not change" (Mal. 3:6). Not only is he unchangeable, but he is the Creator of the ends of the earth (Isa. 40:28). The verb used is a form of the same verb used in Genesis chapter one for the creation; it is used in the Old Testament only for the Lord's actions.
Long before Isaiah, Elijah sarcastically mocked the worshipers of Baal when they could not produce fire, "Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened" (1 Kings 18:27). The idols of the exile also can do nothing either good or bad. Isaiah declares that the Lord is a God who does not know fatigue. He is not tired out. He has unlimited understanding. Keeping his promise of a return from exile is well within his possibilities. He has promised; he can accomplish.
The Lord is the one who gives strength to the weary. The parallel line in the text affirms that he increases strength to him who has no might. Ideals do give strength. During the bus strike in Montgomery, Alabama, one exhausted African American, dragging home on foot, said, "It is only my feet that are tired. My soul is strong!"
The writer Isaiah recognizes that there are limits to human strength. Not just old people who frankly admit that it takes them longer to rest than it does to get tired have problems; young people also get tired. They fall exhausted. Physical strength has its limits. There are goals impossible to reach. Idealism can play out. Most people in my age bracket openly admit that they have been able to accomplish only a small part of what they dreamed of.
Finally, the poet gets to his point--"Those who wait for the Lord." The verb "wait" (chacah) is used in Isaiah in eight passages, as well as its being used in other parts of the Old Testament. It has more than one meaning. It is used for the Lord's being ready to be gracious (Isa. 30:18). One does not have to get the Lord ready to save him. He has been waiting to do that all along. When "wait" is applied to people in the same setting (Isa. 30:18), it means more than just sitting idly by as time passes. It carries an implication of trust expressing itself in activity. Isaiah says of himself, "I will wait upon the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob" (Isa. 8:17). The coastlands wait for his law (Isa. 42:4; cf. 51:5; 60:9). The Lord promises, "Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame" (Isa. 49:23).
Those who trust the Lord, rather than falling in fatigue, shall renew their strength. The poet's beautiful simile is that they shall mount up with wings like eagles. When Moses came with Israel to Sinai, he went up on the mountain and was instructed by the Lord to say to Israel, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Exod. 19:4). Elsewhere the Lord's protection is compared to eagle's wings (Deut. 32:11; cf. Ps. 17:8; 36:(7)8; 57:1; 61:4; 91; 4). The Psalmist said of the Lord's blessing, "so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:5).
This beautiful figure of speech lies back of the term Nesher, the name of one of the leading taxi companies in Israel. It is the Hebrew word for eagle, and it suggests speedy transportation.
When the State of Israel was rescuing Jews from the lands of their persecution, they sent a plane for them. The people had never seen a plane and had never ridden in one. They asked, "You mean to tell us that if we board we can be in Jerusalem in x number of hours?" When assured that they would be, their rabbi read Isaiah 40:31: "They shall mount up with wings like eagles." They boarded the plane.
Isaiah, however, was not describing airplane transportation. Neither was he speaking of humans developing wings. When I was a pre-school child, the newspapers and radio spoke of Lindbergh "jumping off to Paris." Numerous young people came up with broken arms and legs from taking the expression literally and assuming that if they jumped off elevations they might have a like experience to Lindbergh. In figurative speech, a simile has to be recognized as a simile.
The poet concludes, "They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." He did not expect literalists to try to run the five hundred miles from Babylon to Jerusalem. The promise of the Lord gives strength that one does not have on his own. It is one of the most encouraging and beautiful pictures of the Bible. It says a lot more than if the poet had flatly said, "The Lord will give you the strength you need to get to Jerusalem."
The apostle Paul had embraced the truth of this passage of Isaiah when he affirmed, "I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). When Ananias was being sent to Saul in Damascus, the Lord said of Saul, "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (Acts 9:16). Ananias was not taking a VCR or DVD with him to show to Saul. Saul was to see and learn those things as he went through them. He was to find strength as life's problems came along, not in prior visions of his escaping them. He can speak of despairing of life as he faced some of them (2 Cor. 1:8).
"Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three time I have been shipwrecked; a day and a night I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship though many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart for other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" (2 Cor. 11:23-29).
Paul had mounted up with wings like eagles. He had run and had not grown weary. He had walked and had not fainted.
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
The exile you are called on to get out of is the exile created by your sin. Your sins separate you and your God. You heart may say, "I cannot!" "I can not give up the sins I love!" But the promise of the Lord is, "I will not fail you or forsake you" (Josh. 1:5). In him, you can find strength not your own. Using another of Isaiah's poetic images, when you go through "deep waters," he will be with you (cf. Isa. 51:10; 63:13; Ps. 69:14). But you have to start; you have to move!
God called Abram out of Ur and at Haran gave him the promises stated in Genesis 12:1-3. The promise is referred to numerous times in Genesis. Logically, the God of creation should be interested equally in all the people he created.
The book of Genesis, however, though telling of the choice of Abram does not explain why. It depicts a selection on the part of God as Lot is rejected, Ishmael is rejected, and Esau is rejected. In either of the last two cases the first born son is rejected. One has to ask why!
Israel was brought out of Egypt at the expense of the Egyptians. The seven nations, previous occupants of the land of Canaan, were subdued and their land distributed among the twelve tribes. Deuteronomy is explicit that the nations were expelled because of their wickedness (Deut. 9:5).
The writer of the book of Deuteronomy raises the question of why the choice of Israel. There is no dispute that Israel is a chosen people; she had not chosen the Lord, he had chosen her. No other people had been blessed with the experience she has had.
Israel was not chosen because she was more numerous than other nations (Deut. 7:7); she was among the fewest of peoples. The Lord made Abraham and Sarah a mighty nation (Isa. 51:1-2). It was not because she was more righteous than others (Deut. 9:4ff.); she was a stubborn and rebellious people (Deut. 9:6). It was not because she was smarter than other people. God loved the patriarchs and made promises to their descendants; but Deuteronomy does not explain why.
Israel is aware that she has been chosen. Her experience at Sinai is unique. God had given her a law unlike any other law. No nation had been like her, but why? Amos affirmed, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). Hosea declares that God had called Israel his son out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1). God's love does not change even in the face of Israel's stubborn rejection of him. Micah 6:3-4 surveys what the Lord has done for Israel in her past. If Israel understood why, it is not made clear in the earlier books of the Bible.
The Lord gives "water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise" (Isa. 43:21). Isaiah is explicit that God has chosen Israel (Isa. 41:8-9). Israel is the Lord's servant, not the Lord Israel's servant. Four passages explicitly call Israel a servant (Isa. 41:8; 44:1-2; 44:21; 49:3). The servant has the task of bringing Jacob back to the Lord (Isa. 49:5l). He is "to raise up the tribe of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel" (Isa. 49:6). He also is given as a light to the nations (cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6) that the Lord's salvation may reach the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:6).
Israel's having failed in this task of sharing his word to the world has brought on the Exile (Isa. 42:23-25). Israel is the Lord's witnesses of his existence and of his power (Isa. 43:10, 12; 44:8). Spiritual Israel with a mission to the world should take warning.
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