INTRODUCTION In the center of Isaiah’s “little apocalypse” is a vision of a ruined and restored city, and at the center of the center is a promise that the Lord will prepare a table for His people, and a series of songs of praise (25:1-2, 9; 26:1-6). THE TEXT “O Lord, You . . . . Continue Reading »
Following up some suggestions by Toby Sumpter on Isaiah 24:2, which lists six pairs of social/religious classes that will be caught up in the devastation that is coming. There’s a sociology assumed and manifested in the verse. The six pairs are organized into three groups, with a 1 + 2 + 3 . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah’s vision of the procession of nations to Jerusalem includes this beautiful image: “Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like the doves to their windows” (Isaiah 60:8). A cloud - Yahweh’s glory, which is the nations. A cloud coming to a house, consecrating it. A . . . . Continue Reading »
The last five words of Isaiah 24:16 are all from the same root, bagad , which means “to deal treacherously.” The Hebrew sounds something like this: bogdim bagadu ubeged bogdim bagadu , and might be translated like this: “traitors do treachery and treachery traitors do . . . . Continue Reading »
After the desolation of the city, Isaiah holds out the hope that there will be a remnant left, pictured as the gleanings of olives and grapes (Isaiah 24:13). The following verse suddenly uses third person plural verbs: “they raise voices, they shout, they cry.” The only evident . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah is the great prophet of tohu , formlessness. Of the 20 uses of the word in the Hebrew Bible, 11 are in Isaiah. Isaiah is the great prophet of the dissolution of form, and its re-establishment. Cities are cities of tohu (24:10). Nations are tohu before Yahweh, and so too are their princes and . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 24:7-8 consists of six clauses, each of which begins with a verb, most of them verbs of lamentation: “mourns the wine, languishes the vine, sighs all joyful-hearted ceases mirth of tabrets ends noise of rejoicers ceases joy of the harp.” The parallel clauses highlights the links . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 24:1-6 has an intricate structure, much of it with a numerological thrust. In the opening verse, Yahweh devastates the earth in a fourfold act - emptying ( baqaq ), laying it waste ( balaq ), twisting (’ avah ) its face, and scattering ( putz ) its inhabitants. The four verbs reinforce . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Isaiah 24-27 constitutes a section of the prophecy often known as the “little apocalypse.” Isaiah sees the whole world devastated and ruined. Not only earth, but the whole of creation is coming apart at the seams (cf. Isaiah 24:21-23). THE TEXT “Behold, the Lord makes . . . . Continue Reading »
For the Greek philosophers, working with matter was menial, a task for slaves and other non-citizen workers. Commerce was dirty and repulsive. The only true work of a gentleman, the only true work of a prince or nobleman, was intellectual, philosophizing, which is to say, doing nothing. That is not . . . . Continue Reading »
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