If you’ve heard the sermons we’ve had throughout this series on the prophets you surely recognize that what we read today (Isaiah 40) is totally different. The prophets have all been harshly critical. They condemn the people up one side and down the other.
The
people are criticized for:
following
false gods,
ignoring
needs of others,
manipulating
economic systems,
not
trusting God,
not
following God’s laws,
thinking
they can get away with things,
being
lazy
and
on and on.
All
of the prophets seem to be saying that God is frustrated, mad, disgusted; and
ready to do the people in because they deserve it. Even a prophet like Jonah, if understood as a
satire, is a judgment against the Israelites.
And
then there is Isaiah 40. “Comfort, O
Comfort my people says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her time, that her
penalty is paid…” What’s happened!?! This is gentleness, kindness, and mercy.
What’s
happened is the fall of Jerusalem, the burning of the temple, and the exile of
the Jews to Babylon. Last week we talked
about how the book of Isaiah appears to come from three different time periods
and from more than one author. “Isaiah
of Jerusalem” is the man behind it all, but all of his original work is in the
first 39 chapters. Isaiah lived in the 8th
century B.C.E. during a troubling time as the northern kingdom of Israel fell
to the Assyrians.
What
we read today is the beginning of what is often called 2nd
Isaiah. Many of the same thoughts and
themes from the original Isaiah are continued but the time is more than a
century later. Internal evidence
suggests that 2nd Isaiah, which is chapters 40-55, is written between
the years 545 and 539 B.C.E. by an anonymous Jew living in the city of Babylon.
An
amazing thing happened to the Jewish faith when Jerusalem fell to the
Babylonians in 587 B.C.E. You’d think
that when the Babylonian conquest basically nullified ALL of the promises that
God had made to the Jews that they would have lost their faith. How could it have happened? God must have been too weak to follow through
on the promises, or maybe God had lied; or maybe God didn’t even exist and all
of their faith had been foolish beliefs. Whatever they were feeling, everything
suggests they should have abandoned their faith. That exact thing happened to every other
nation and religion when they were conquered.
How many ancient near eastern religions can you list? Unless you’re a bronze/iron age scholar I’m
guessing you can name zero. That’s
because they’re all extinct! But not
Judaism.
Instead
of falling apart or fading away, the total loss of everything strengthened
them. And instead of seeing God as
weaker it’s like their eyes were opened to realize God was stronger than they
had ever thought. Indeed, the most ancient
Jewish writings show that they believed there was only one God. And that God was the creator. And that God was all powerful. But they do not seem to have recognized that
God was so great and so powerful that God was absolutely beyond all human
comprehension.
For
centuries the prophets had warned that they might be destroyed. And for centuries their words were
ignored. But now it had happened. And instead of dying out, hope for restoration
was sprouting.
Isaiah
40 is among the warmest texts in the Bible.
It is easy to feel that. But it
is also a text rich with subtle meanings and I don’t want us to miss them. Let’s get more of the context to appreciate
it.
In
verse 3 we read, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made
low.” These words lead to scenes that
are grand in our imagination. But let’s
remember that behind this imagery are the roads especially prepared by the
Babylonians for the festive processionals of their gods. That the road is in the desert means that it
will extend across the desert from Babylon back to Judah, specifically
Jerusalem. The whole nation will travel
this grand highway; the glory of the Lord along with them.
In
verses 6-8 we read, “A voice says , “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All the people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the
field…” The voice is God’s eternally
reliable voice speaking out across the transitoriness of human existence. God has been.
God is. And God will be forever. The Jewish people are part of something VERY
big! We are too. We need to remember that as our lives often
appear to be so small and insignificant.
In
verse 9 we find, “O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings.” Jerusalem is to be the center announcing the
good news of God’s return to the rest of the cities of Judah, and to the whole
world.
Verse
11 is a cultural slam on Babylon. When
we read, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd…” we think Christian imagery
of God as a shepherd, which is also ancient Israeli imagery of God or the king
as a shepherd. But listen as the text
goes on in verse 11, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather
the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother
sheep.” Sweet images, but again,
actually a slam on Babylon. The Code of
Hammurabi is the oldest significant writing in existence from the ancient near
east. Sure, there are lots of fragments
of writing, but the Code of Hammurabi is the oldest that is sizeable, pretty
complete – like you’ve got the whole thing.
And the Code of Hammurabi is Babylonian.
Several of the Old Testament authors show they are aware of it. 2nd Isaiah among them. Isaiah 40 picks up on it and kind of makes
fun of it. In the Code of Hammurabi,
Babylonian King Hammurabi describes himself as the beneficent shepherd and
says, “In my bosom I carried the peoples of the land of Sumer and Akkad.” (Code of Hammurabi, Prologue)
So,
you see how the Babylonians -who are about to be conquered- saw themselves as a
great cradle and caretaker of civilization.
Funny thing Isaiah 40 points out - it is really the God of the conquered
Jews who is the true caretaker.
Isaiah
40 also uses rhetorical questions to express God’s grandeur:
“Who
has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand…?” (vs. 12)
“Who
has directed the spirit of the Lord…?” (vs. 13)
“Whom
did he consult for his enlightenment…?”
(vs. 14)
“Who
taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (vs. 14b)
And
it goes on,
“To
whom then will you liken God?” (vs. 18)
And,
“To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?” (vs. 25)
Isaiah 40 expresses that God is
beyond human understanding. Our
imagination just cannot grasp the fullness of God. Our Creator is simply beyond us. Even the best philosophy, or sociology, or
scientific thought, or whatever discoveries or developments we humans ever come
up with, are still limited by the limits of the human mind. But God is simply bigger. God is more.
The ancient Jews suffered the loss
of all things. And in so doing they
discovered just how big and majestic God is.
They discovered just how dependable God was and how safely they were in
God’s care. That’s learning things the
hard way, but it was a big thing to learn!
I know that when all seems lost, or
when we are hurting without hope, all of what we learn from Isaiah 40 is hard
to believe. But remember, it comes to us
precisely from the perspective of all being lost. God sees.
God knows. God cares. God will carry us through all things, and do
things through us.
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