Today is Wednesday—writing day! All writers should read a lot. Today I’d like to bring the book of Isaiah to your attention.
Isaiah is considered a great writer of ancient works, using poetry, prose and personification. “The wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.” (35:1-2a)
In addition he wrote history…and prophecy. He penned detailed predictions about a coming Messiah which were fulfilled 700 years later in the life of Jesus.
The Book of Isaiah was a big news item about 60 years ago, when a boy stumbled across a cave…and found many ancient scrolls. (The “Dead Sea Scrolls”) Among them—a complete Manuscript of the Hebrew text of Isaiah. It is dated by paleographers to about 125 B.C. This old scroll was a copy…not the original. The original was probably written about 700 B.C. When this ancient scroll-copy of Isaiah is compared to the book of Isaiah we have today we find that it has been copied accurately over a period of 2000+ years. Wow!
A Glimpse Inside the Book
It was a turbulent time in Jewish history when Isaiah was writing. The Assyrian empire was expanding and had recently captured the northern kingdom! It was about 722 B.C., and now…the southern kingdom was in danger!
The Assyrian field commander sent a message to King Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ‘On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength—but you speak only empty words.’”
Then the commander called out in the Hebrew language—so Hezekiah’s soldiers would understand…
“Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you!”
What happened next?
“Come now, make a bargain with my master…the King of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!”
Isaiah adds interesting details, that give us a glimpse of what life and war looked like back in 700 BC.
Read Isaiah chapters 36 and 37 to find out what happens!
Isaiah
ancient literature
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Thanks for this insight & history of Isaiah! How I love that verse in 35:1-2. The wilderness will rejoice & blossom. Like the crocus..." I love that everything He has created rejoices in the Lord. No wonder my crocuses are so bright! They are 'showing their stuff' just for God. That I find joy in them is just a bonus!
PS My quad will soon have 'clothes'. It was in need of all new plastic (it got melted) and last night hubby won all his e-bay bids to get me plastic. Yippee!
Your quad is going to look so shiny and bright! They'll certainly see you coming!
Yeah, the plastic is mostly white but we may buy the 'plastic paint' and spruce it up to make it GIRLY. I haven't bought a helmet for ATV yet cuz I wasn't sure what color we'll do the plastic, but I did buy some Fox girl stuff. A riding jersey that is camoflage & hot pink logos with matching gloves. I really want the pink helmet but not sure yet. I like your yellow one!
We also have a Honda street bike so I just got a new helmet for that. (hubby drives, I ride) Couldn't afford two new helmets in one shopping trip but the kind I got is the one where the whole front lifts up instead of just the visor. Cuz when we go riding, hubby stops for me to take pictures, usually I have to take my whole helmet off (= crazy hair) but now the front lifts up & I can take pix comfortably. Can't wait for riding season. Waiting for them to finish street sweeping here in the valley.
Yes, helmets are expensive! The yellow one I wear is kind of a retro helmet. It's from the early 80's. I'd like a more updated one...but at least it has personality.
So here we are talking "helmets" in an Isaiah post! Typical bikers. But God loves us anyway!
Good stuff about Isaiah. I can't imagine the difficulty of being a prophet at that time. The people hated them, and they were chosen and compelled by God to speak the hard words to the people. Elijah and Elisha spent a lot of their lives running and hiding and trying to stay alive.
I watch an old Zola Levitt TV program years ago where he was given access to the Dead Sea Scrolls and walked up to their protective containers that still allowed them to be viewed and said, "Oh. This is Isaiah." and started reading the ancient text better than I would in English. I got tears in my eyes and goose bumps. The Word has that effect on me sometimes, but I was pretty awed by what he was so casually reading from.
I wanted to comment on your Maldives post, but don't see the comment link. Your friend was able to go to a beautiful place there. The photos are outstanding. I've always wanted to visit one of those places in which the water is so clear that the boats look as if they were magically floating in air.
Thanks for visiting.
I love the book of Isaiah. Some of my favorite verses in this book are in chapter 26 verses 3 & 4. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength." I have to keep reminding myself about the part that says "whose mind is stayed on God". It's easy to let my mind wander and start to get afraid... But when I bring those thoughts back on Jesus, I find peace. Thanks for sharing about a much misunderstood prophet and about the power of God's Word.
Jam--
Thanks for your story about Zola Levitt. I wish I could've heard him!
Susan--
I have a hard time keeping my mind "stayed on God" but I'm working on it! Kind of like how Peter had to keep his eyes on Christ...or he SUNK.
Post a Comment