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Isaiah 48
Remember how chapters 42-45 had this set of themes? God’s bumbling, blind, stubborn servant Israel Idols are stupid Yahweh is your REAL God who made everything and foretells the future After the side trip to Babylon in chapters 46-47, we are back to the 3 themes above. Only in this chapter they are interwoven and…
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Isaiah 46-47
BAD NEWS FOR BABYLON Right out of the gate we meet the father & son divine-duo of Babylon: Bel-Marduk and his son Nabu (Nebo). 😲 Wait… he had a dragon named Mushu? Like this guy? Well, technically, Marduk’s dragon was named Mushussu but it is kinda fishy. I recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on Marduk’s…
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Isaiah 42-45
This is a lengthy discourse. 😏 Thank you for warning us. I’ll get snacks. No… I meant Isaiah. This one discourse actually continues on, repeating the themes in this section, at least through chapter 53, (as far as I can tell). The main idea across these 11 chapters is Yahweh’s Two Servants. It doesn’t SAY…
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Isaiah 42
This prophecy stretches all the way through chapter 45. So I’ve decided to tweak the original schedule (yet again) to make it easier to cover all of that context in one go. You can go ahead and do the reading for Is. 42 if you want. But it would probably be helpful to read 42-45…
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Isaiah 40-41
Before we get into the text, I want to address the “Deutero-Isaiah Theory” which states that someone else besides the prophet Isaiah wrote the part from chapter 40 to the end. If you’ve never heard of this theory, you should at least have it on your radar in case you run into in the future.…
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Isaiah 38-39, 2 Kings 20, Psalm 76
Isaiah 38 records the incredible event of the shadow moving backward on the sundial. It’s also recorded in 2 Kings 20 so I am going to cover that content here. Psalm 76 celebrates the Lord’s power to overcome any adversary. Perhaps they sang it after the Angel of the LORD killed those 185,000 Assyrians and…
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Isaiah 36-37, 2 Kings 18-19
The time has finally come to pick up the remainder of 2 Kings 18:13-37. The narrative of Isaiah 37 is paralleled in 2 Kings 19 so I’m covering that too, even though it’s technically not on the schedule for another week. Recall that the Assyrians have already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and deported…
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Isaiah 34-35
TWO DESTINIES The contrast between these two chapters couldn’t be more dramatic. In 34 we have a description of Judgement Day. The sky actually IS falling. It’s blood, 🩸 fire 🔥 and brimstone, death ☠️ and destruction everywhere. But turn the page and in 35 there is singing and celebration as springs burst forth to…
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Isaiah 31-33
These chapters continue the warnings to the citizens of Jerusalem (and Judah). Here is a basic (conceptual) structure that I see: Egypt won’t help The LORD will fight for Zion A warning to the carefree women The SPIRIT will be “poured out” and the end result will be peace and a secure place to live…
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Isaiah 29-30
Jerusalem has more than one nickname. We’ve already considered the name Zion and what it implies. Here, Isaiah refers to Jerusalem as “Ariel.” 🤔 Ariel? As in The Little Mermaid? 🧜♀️ 🦀🪸 No. It means “lion of God,” implying “heroic,” but it also seems to be a homonym for “altar.” Here’s what the commentary by…
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Isaiah 28
There is a lot of booze in the beginning of this chapter. Booze and drunks and flower garlands. 🍷🍺🍸🍾🌼🌸🌺💐✌🏼☮️🧡🚌🎸🪘 It looks like a Hippie festival. “What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria— the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will…
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Hosea 11-14
In these final chapters of Hosea, we see an heroic triumph of mercy for Israel. The Lord reminds His people of their infancy- the days of the patriarchs and their deliverance from Egypt. There is a principle in biblical interpretation that is mainly used in the Epistles, but I think might also be appropriate in…
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