Reading the Bible Through

Isaiah 54 - 56   I am glad here to see foreigners who seek God will be found and accepted. I sometimes wonder if Christians have taken that we are the chosen people a bit too far. 

Isaiah 51 – 53   The end of this reading refers to the coming of the Christ. As I read today's words, I can begin to see how the Israelites thought that there would be 2 people coming: One to save the kingdom of Israel and another  to fulfill the guilt offering.

 Isaiah 48 – 50 I find myself wondering more of the concept of redeemer as I think of how Boaz was Ruth's kinsman redeemer, but not the closest one. 

 Isaiah 45 - 47 There is One God. God is One!

Isaiah 42 - 44 As we read here of the man who uses part of the tree for heat, part for cooking and another part to make an idol, my mind returns to having eyes, but not seeing, ears, but not hearing. I find myself wondering 2 things: What am I doing this with? What is my idol? 

  Isaiah 39 - 41 I don't know. My ears hear, but do not understand. I have eyes but do not see.  The voice of one crying in the wilderness refers to John the Baptist. How did they know that? How do they know what is a prophesy about Christ? The whole thing is a puzzle. 

  Isaiah 34 – 38 We have a little bit more story here about Hezekiah in particular. I feel that we might have read it already, perhaps in the books of Kings.  I find it interesting that the King of Assyria doesn't know that the altars the Hezekiah smashed were not altars to the Lord, but to false gods (as I understand it.) Hezekiah grew in the Lord's favor for this, not in the Lord's displeasure as the King of Assyria said. 

 Isaiah 31 - 33 The Lord is Judge and King. The Lord will bring righteousness. The Lord will bring our righteousness. 

 Isaiah 28 – 30 I find this difficult to understand. Why is Jerusalem, suddenly, apparently, called Ariel?  When it talks about ears without hearing and eyes without seeing, it reminds me of Jesus saying the same in the new testament. Today, it makes me think of what is called esoteric knowledge. Yet, as I type the words "esoteric knowledge" I immediately thing of Poe's The Purloined Letter in which the hidden is in plain sight. Just some of my musings for today.  

 Isaiah 25 - 27 Today, to me, these verses give hope. God cares for me, for us. He is to be praised. 

Isaiah 22 - 24   I'm still behind in the readings. However, I'm on vacation now, so I'm hoping to get caught up.  As I pulled up the reading today, I saw that was about an oracle regarding Jerusalem. I find myself curious if it will be easier for me to know if this oracle came to pass. What if an oracle doesn't come to pass? Does that make God out to be wrong or is an oracle a sort of warning, so that some consequences may be averted?  As I wondered who Shebna was I found this:  An example of how to receive God's discipline

Isaiah 19 - 21   When I hear about these ancient oracles, I find myself wondering if these things did happen. Today, I find myself wondering if that's the wrong question.  I don't understand it. That's what I get. I find the prophets difficult reading. 

Isaiah 16 - 18   I find myself wondering what this is about. I think a small part of it is about Jesus, when it talks about a coming righteous king. 

Isaiah 13 - 17   What's an oracle anyways?  An oracle is  a person or thing considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions , most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities.           Oracle - Wikipedia Why do we hear about all these other countries now? It seems to me the previous focus was on Israel. 

Isaiah 8 - 10   I still find the reading of the prophets difficult. This passage reminds me of part of Handel's Messiah and it instructs us to do good. To help the widow and the fatherless; the down trodden.