Isaiah 42-43

Isaiah 42:1-9 is the first of four poems in Isaiah that have come to be known as the “Servant Songs”. (The others are found in Isaiah 49:1–13; 50:4–9; 52:13–53:12.) We know from New Testament references that these Servant Songs speak of Jesus Christ. (For example, see Matthew 12:15-18, which quotes Isaiah 42:1-4.) But that does not mean that every use of the term “servant” in Isaiah points to Jesus. Sometimes, like in Isaiah 41:8-9, the servant is explicitly named as Israel or Jacob, meaning the nation of Israel as a whole. Sometimes, like in Isaiah 42:19 or Isaiah 43:10, it is only implied (but still quite clear) that the nation is the servant. Sometimes the servant may well be Jesus, or the nation of Israel, or both. So as we go through these chapters of Isaiah, pay attention to how the word “servant” is used and see what it might tell you about Jesus or about Israel — or about yourself. (By the way, the ESV translation always leaves “servant” uncapitalized — as in the original text — which forces us to think a bit on our own. The NKJV tries to make it easier and capitalizes “Servant” when the term refers to Christ. Although that may be helpful, such capitalization also imposes an interpretation that may or may not be correct, so I encourage you not to depend too heavily on it.)

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Behold My servant, whom I uphold,
My chosen, in whom My soul delights;
I have put My Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.

Isaiah 42:1-4

So what about this first Servant Song? Without the capitalizations and without Matthew’s telling us explicitly that Jesus fulfills these words, what might we think? If we were in exile and managed to perceive that this song points to the coming Messiah (which is a big “if”), what would we think of that Messiah? How would we hear these words? Of course, we have the advantage of knowing that Jesus does indeed fulfill this role. But is this how we think of Him? Three times we see the word “justice” here. What does that mean? (Hint: It’s not just talking about the court system.) What does it mean to say that a bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench?

Spend some time today with our Lord meditating on this Servant Song, and let Him speak into your heart about Who He really is.

Isaiah 40-41

If you are acquainted with G. F. Handel’s “Messiah”, you are sure to recognize Isaiah 40:1-5,9,11. (Go ahead, have a listen!) But even if you are not a fan of baroque music, I’m betting several verses here sound familiar, because we find them quoted in the New Testament. For example, all four Gospels quote Isaiah 40:3 in reference to John the Baptist’s preparing the way for Christ. (Mt. 3:3; Mk. 1:3; Lk. 3:4; Jn. 1:23) That should tell us that while the exiles of Judah may well find comfort in these words after the destruction of Jerusalem, the LORD ultimately has a wider audience in view.

Reading through today’s chapters (especially those bits that may not be so familiar) one thing that strikes me is that the LORD’s message of hope and salvation is rooted entirely in Himself. He depends on no one. He is without equal. All else is trivial before Him. Idols are utterly worthless. He is the One Who raises up another conqueror (whom we will later learn is Cyrus the Great — Isaiah 44:28) to deal with Israel’s captors. He is the One Who declares all this ahead of time. There is no one else. There is only the LORD, the LORD alone.

Isaiah 13:1-14:23; 21; 33-35; Daniel 5

Like Assyria before it, Babylon has been the LORD’s instrument of judgment upon the nations. As we have seen before (e.g., July 4 and July 21), the LORD now turns and holds Babylon responsible for the evil Babylon committed in the process. As part of the LORD’s declaration of judgment upon the king of Babylon, He says this:

How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15

Given the length of our reading today, I do not want to add many more words, but I must note that at least since Tertullian (around 200 A.D.) this passage has been interpreted as pointing beyond the king of Babylon to Satan himself. (The word translated “Day Star” in the ESV is “Lucifer” in the KJV, which is just taken directly from the Latin Vulgate — the Latin “lucifer” meaning “morning star”; i.e., the planet Venus…) This is somewhat similar to the “king” of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:12-19. (See August 10.) Just as Judah could rest assured that the Babylonians would one day “get theirs”, so we can all rest assured that Satan will “get his”, too.

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One more thing…

We should note that our “chronological” Bible now has us reading Isaiah, who lived over 100 years before the Fall of Jerusalem. The editors’ decision to place these readings here may (or may not!) help our understanding, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that Isaiah prophesied well before “now” in the historical timeline — and let’s recognize the bias that can creep into our interpretations when we forget that.

Ezekiel 29:17-30:19; II Kings 25:27-30; Jeremiah 52:31-34

Today we see that King Jehoiachin (aka Coniah or Jeconiah) ends his days in relative peace and comfort. He is still in exile in Babylon, of course, but he is no longer imprisoned and is treated well.

It has been a while (a month ago, in fact) since we have heard anything about Jehoiachin, so perhaps it is time for a bit of review. Jehoiachin’s father was Jehoiakim, the one who burned Jeremiah’s scroll. When his father died, Jehoiachin came to the throne of Judah at the age of 18, but reigned for only 3 months before surrendering Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin (and many others, including Ezekiel) into exile in Babylon and placed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, on the throne back in Jerusalem.

At that time the LORD gave Jeremiah a vision of good and bad figs — the good figs representing those sent into exile and the bad figs those left behind. (Jeremiah 24) As we know, those left behind went from bad to worse, resulting in the Fall of Jerusalem in 587/586 B.C. More people were then taken into captivity in Babylon, but the poorest were left to tend the fields. Although Jeremiah counseled otherwise, all those left behind still refused to submit to Babylonian rule and fled to Egypt, but Egypt was no haven and would likewise be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

I am quite sure that when Jehoiachin was first hauled off into exile, he did not feel like a “good fig”. I am sure he was not happy about captivity. It must have been crushing for him to know that his uncle occupied his throne and to recognize that none of his own sons would ever rule. But even though he had to endure 36 years of imprisonment, in the end we see that Jehoiachin’s path of exile was far better than that of the “bad figs” left behind, and that signals hope for God’s remnant.

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One more thing…

Jeremiah 22:30 declared that Coniah (Jehoiachin) was to be considered childless, that none of his descendants would sit on the throne of Judah. Seeing as how Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, held the throne until the kingdom came to an end with the Fall of Jerusalem, we can see the truth of that statement. However, in exile, Jehoiachin did have sons and further descendants (I Chronicles 3:17), and we see in Matthew 1:12-16 that those descendants included Joseph, the “father” of Jesus.

Ezekiel 43-48

Today the glory of the LORD enters the Temple, not the old, defiled and destroyed temple that the LORD previously abandoned, but this new Temple of Ezekiel’s vision. As we noted yesterday, this new Temple has yet to be realized on this earth. Similarly, it is clear that Israel as a whole has yet to realize the fullness of the LORD’s Covenant of Peace, with Israel dwelling securely in the Promised Land under the Kingship of the Messiah. (Ez. 37:24-28) Because no one can point to an obvious literal fulfillment of these prophecies in history, interpretations of Ezekiel’s vision vary widely. I can’t possibly sort it all out here, but you might want to see this reasonably balanced (and quite readable) overview.

Regardless of how one parses out all the details, a few things should nonetheless be clear:

• The LORD cares about holiness.
  • He Himself is holy, and He calls His people to be holy.
• The LORD is not finished with Israel, not in Ezekiel’s day, and not now.
  • Various people down through history have asserted that God has permanently rejected Israel in favor of the Church, but one must ignore or seriously twist a tremendous amount of Scripture to come to that conclusion. Sadly, though, large swaths of the Church have fallen prey to such thinking over the years, resulting in terrible antisemitism in the name of Christ, from pogroms of the Middle Ages through the Holocaust and on to today.
  • In the face of such long-standing persecution, the fact that Jews continue to exist at all should testify that God still has a plan for Israel.
• The LORD intends life, not just for Israel, but for the whole world.

Ezekiel 40-42

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me to the city.

Ezekiel 40:1

Thus begins the final section of the Book of Ezekiel, which presents one long vision covering the last nine chapters of the book. (Chronologically, though, there is yet one more vision after this.) This vision occurs 14 years after the Fall of Jerusalem, and it stands in marked contrast to Ezekiel’s prior vision of the departure of the glory of the LORD from the Temple.

Today we get three chapters describing a new, pristine Temple. Ezekiel is careful to give us all the detailed dimensions. (For help visualizing this blueprint and Ezekiel’s guided tour, see this illustration.) As for the significance of all the different dimensions, and what they may mean spiritually, that has been the subject of debate for over two millennia and is well beyond my ken. We should note, though, that this new Temple does not correspond with any historical earthly Temple — not yet, at least. Given that so much of what Ezekiel prophesies points toward that future period when Israel will dwell securely in the Promised Land under the Kingship of the Messiah, I’d say that is when this Temple will be realized, but that is also a subject of ongoing debate.

Though we may not understand (or appreciate) the mysteries behind all this dimensional data, it would be a mistake to then just breeze by it as unimportant or irrelevant. It clearly matters to the LORD! Think about it. How many chapters of the Torah are devoted to first specifying and then describing the construction of the original Tabernacle? How many chapters are similarly devoted to describing Solomon’s Temple? And now we have three full chapters today for this new Temple, let alone tomorrow’s reading. How can we possibly then conclude that these things do not matter? At the very least we should recognize that the LORD is again emphasizing His holiness and that He is the One Who decides how we are to relate to Him.

Are we so quick to accept God’s lovingkindness that we consider Him our Buddy but forget that He is the King of the Universe? Do we take God’s grace so for granted that we forget His holiness? Within our church buildings, do we make any real effort to regard the sanctuary as just that — a place that is “set apart”? Or is the sanctuary just yet another usable space? Within our lives, do we actually hallow one day per week as a Sabbath? Or does every day look just like all the rest?

Ultimately, is it the LORD Who is calling the shots? Or are we still the ones designing our own temples?

Ezekiel 38-39

My life in Christ got a tremendous boost when, as a teen, I developed a keen interest in end-times prophecy, or “eschatology” — more precisely, “apocalyptic eschatology”. I read the book, The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey, then went on to read There’s a New World Coming, also by Hal Lindsey, and Come, Lord Jesus, by Watchman Nee. I was very enthusiastic about figuring it all out, which ultimately led me deeper into studying God’s Word. And for all of that I am eternally grateful, literally!

Today’s reading regarding Gog and friends fits squarely into the “apocalyptic eschatology” arena. (This Gog does not show up much in the Bible — only here and Revelation 20…) So now is my chance to dive in and sort it all out for us all, right? Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, yet again, but here are a few things I have learned over the years:

• Opinions vary widely, from the obviously kooky (along the lines of asserting that Jesus is definitely coming back next Tuesday at 3:18pm) to the very scholarly camp A to the also very scholarly camp B, or C, or D — which cannot all be true;
• It is easy to get so focused on details that one can lose sight of the big picture;
• We humans do not have a good track record of interpreting such prophecy — just consider how well Jesus’ humble First Advent fit the Messianic expectations of His day.

So, no, I’m not going to make any attempt to determine who Gog is or when in the grand sequence of latter-day events the LORD will hold this feast for carrion fowl. But I will say this: God wins. That is what Israel needs to know. And so do we.

Ezekiel 34-37

Today’s reading covers a lot of ground, and I cannot possibly do it justice here. (Of course, that is true every single day, but it seems especially true today!) Here we go, nonetheless!

In Ezekiel 34, the LORD delivers a searing indictment of Israel’s leadership, the “shepherds”, who instead of caring for the “flock”, destructively exploit the people for their own gain. Unfortunately, the same might be said of any number of political and spiritual leaders today. But let’s not just consider all those “out there”. What about we ourselves? How might we exploit others for our own gain? Something to think about…

The LORD promises to replace the evil shepherds, with a better One. He declares that He Himself will be Israel’s Shepherd. (Ez. 34:11-16) He then says that He will establish David as the Shepherd. (Ez. 34:23-24) Clearly, the LORD does not mean David himself but one of his descendants, the Messiah, the Christ. (Reading between the lines, if the LORD is the Shepherd and this “David” is also to be the Shepherd, then the coming Messiah must be the LORD Himself…)

The LORD reiterates His promise to restore the people to their land and to make them dwell securely as His own flock. (Ez. 34:25-31; 36:1-15) We know from Jeremiah that the exile in Babylon is to last 70 years, and (spoiler alert!) we shall see that the people do indeed return to the land. But although we can see that return from exile as a token of the fulfillment of God’s promise here, it is by no means the full package. After returning to the land, the Jews certainly do not dwell securely and they are dispersed among the nations all over again after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. Even with the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, most Jews remain abroad, and Israel is surrounded by enemies, not secure. The complete fulfillment is yet to come…

Like the Book of Obadiah, Ezekiel 35 focuses on God’s judgment on Edom (Mount Seir). We should not see this chapter as randomly stuck here in the middle of other material about Israel. Rather, the judgment on Edom is part of the promise to make Israel dwell securely in the land, unafraid of her neighbors. (Ez. 37:5)

The LORD makes it clear that His actions in renewing Israel are entirely for His own name’s sake. (Ez. 36:16-38) It is not because Israel deserves or earns any such favorable treatment. Instead, Israel should be thoroughly ashamed. (Ez. 36:32) We should not miss the LORD’s promise to give Israel a new heart and to make His Spirit dwell within them. (Ez. 36:26-27) But has Israel herself seen this renewal? No. Again, the complete fulfillment is yet to come…

I expect we’ve all heard of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. (Ez. 37:1-14) It is, indeed, an extraordinary vision in which long-dead bones are reassembled, clothed in flesh, and brought back to life to form a vast living army. We can, of course, see the whole idea of resurrection here. But our notion of resurrection — eternal life, going to heaven, etc. — is not really the point of this vision. Instead, the vision is meant as a metaphor for the nation, that although Israel has been devastated by two “nuclear blasts” (the first named “Assyria” and the second named “Babylon”), the nation shall yet live again and thrive. (Ez. 37:11-14) In other words, there is hope! But again, the complete fulfillment is yet to come…

Finally, the LORD declares that all these promises are for the whole house of Israel, not just Judah. (Ez. 37:15-23) The LORD knows those who are His, regardless of where they might be scattered, even if we think the “ten lost tribes” are lost. Indeed there are Israelites scattered all around the world to this day, but the LORD will one day gather them back to the Promised Land and forge them into one nation, no longer Northern and Southern Kingdoms, but one united Israel.

My Servant David shall be King over them, and they shall all have one Shepherd. They shall walk in My rules and be careful to obey My statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David My Servant shall be their Prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.

Ezekiel 37:24-28

I am looking forward to that day! How about you?

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One more thing…

I personally don’t find the commentary in The Chronological Study Bible to be all that helpful. Sometimes I don’t like what they say, but I squelch my criticisms. Today, however, it is just flat out wrong, and I can’t keep silent. In the section titled “The Sacred and Profane (Ezek. 36:22-26)” on page 845 in the NKJV edition that I have, they say that the Babylonian captivity caused Israel to “come into contact with the nations” and that this contact is what caused the LORD’s name to be profaned. “Contaminated by the nations, Israel had become impure…”

What?! That is pure bunk! It represents a complete misunderstanding of the situation. The exile did not cause Israel to become impure. Israel’s impurity is what caused the exile! Through her sin, Israel thoroughly misrepresented the LORD, profaning the LORD’s name. Israel’s sin brought about her destruction, but from the outside looking in (i.e., from the nations’ perspective), it appeared as though the LORD was weak, unable to protect Israel from stronger gods, and that further profaned His name. Then Israel’s ongoing unfaithfulness while in exile — continuing to misrepresent the LORD — profaned His name yet more. Any notion that Israel was just fine and that contact with Babylon is what made her impure is ludicrous!

So for anyone who has this study Bible, please do not just accept the commentary as authoritative. Use some discernment and filter out the error.

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And another thing…

With Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, it’s time for another African American Spiritual, “Dry Bones”:

• Delta Rhythm Boys
• National Taiwan University Chorus (!)
• The King’s Heralds

Psalm 137; Obadiah 1-21; Jeremiah 52:28-30; Ezekiel 33:1-20

Obadiah prophesies against Edom, the descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau. These are people who should have at least some level of familial affinity for Israel, but who are instead consistently hostile, vengefully gloating over and abetting the destruction of Jerusalem. We have previously read other prophesies against Edom, including Jeremiah 49:7-22, Lamentations 4:21-22, and Ezekiel 25:12-14. You may have noticed in Jeremiah 48-49 that the LORD promises to restore some other nations, like Moab (Jer. 48:47), Ammon (Jer. 49:6), and Elam (Jer. 49:39), but He makes no such promise to Edom. Instead:

The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the LORD has spoken.

Obadiah 18

Why this finality for Edom and not for the others? I’m not sure, but I trust that the LORD is right in His judgments. It seems to me that we should take the certainty of Edom’s destruction as a warning for ourselves not to follow Edom’s (negative) example. We must not rejoice over the demise of others, especially those whom we ought to regard as family. We should recognize the universal truth of Obadiah’s words:

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.

Obadiah 15

See also, December 15 (2022) / Psalm 137.

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One more thing…

You might experience a bit of déjà vu reading Ezekiel today. The themes in today’s passage echo earlier passages: Ezekiel 3:16-21 (see July 22)and Ezekiel 18 (see July 30).

Ezekiel 26-28, 32

Together with Ezekiel 25 from yesterday, today’s reading speaks of God’s judgment upon the nations surrounding Israel. Even the bit that seems to center on Israel (Ezekiel 28:24-26, in which the LORD declares that Israel will dwell securely) is really a promise to squash all Israel’s neighbors. Of all these nations, Tyre gets the most ink. As with Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, the LORD condemns Tyre for its treatment of Jerusalem, for gloating over Jerusalem’s destruction and for seeking to profit from Jerusalem’s demise. (Ez. 26:2) So the LORD declares that, starting with Babylon (Ez. 26:7), He will send wave after wave of foreign nations to destroy Tyre. (Ez. 26:3-7) Historically, these nations would include the Persians, the Greeks under Alexander and the Seleucids, and the Romans. Once the world’s dominant center of commerce, Tyre would never again rise to any level of greatness.

The LORD’s attention turns from the city-state of Tyre to its leadership, in particular, the “prince” of Tyre (Ez. 28:2) and the “king” of Tyre (Ez. 28:12). Whether these two terms are meant to refer to the same individual is a bit unclear. The “prince” proclaims himself to be a god, but the LORD says otherwise, very clearly stating that he is a man, mortal like any other. (Ez. 28:2,6-10) The “king”, on the other hand, does not sound like a mere mortal. The LORD describes him as a guardian cherub, adorned with jewels in Eden, the garden of God and walking on the holy mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire. (Ez. 28:13-14) What all that means has been debated for centuries, but unless the LORD is using a high level of hyperbole or sarcasm, it seems (to me) difficult to conclude that we are still talking about a man. Hence, many conclude that the “king” is a fallen angel, perhaps even Satan himself, or some other ruler, authority, power, or spiritual force of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12)

Here’s some of what Origen has to say:

These statements from the prophet Ezekiel concerning the [King] of Tyre must relate to an adverse power, and they prove in the clearest manner that this power was originally holy and blessed, and that he fell from this state of blessedness and was cast down into the earth “from the time that iniquity was found in him” and that his fallen condition was not due to his nature or creation. We consider therefore, that these statements refer to some angel, to whom had been allotted the duty of supervising the Tyrian people, whose souls also were apparently committed to his care.

Origen, from On First Principles 1.5.4

However one chooses to interpret the description of the “king” of Tyre, it is clear that the leadership of the city is filled with pride that is driven by wealth and beauty (or splendor) (Ez. 28:5,17), resulting in violence and greed for yet more wealth. (Ez. 28:16)

Does that sound remotely familiar?