Reading the Bible Together

Passage for the Day

 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 
       from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

    2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— 
       the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, 
       the Spirit of counsel and of might, 
       the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

    3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. 
       He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, 
       or decide by what he hears with his ears;

    4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, 
       with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. 
       He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; 
       with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

    5 Righteousness will be his belt 
       and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

    6 The wolf will live with the lamb, 
       the leopard will lie down with the goat, 
       the calf and the lion and the yearling together; 
       and a little child will lead them.

    7 The cow will feed with the bear, 
       their young will lie down together, 
       and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

    8 Infants will play near the hole of the cobra; 
       young children will put their hands into the viper’s nest.

    9 They will neither harm nor destroy 
       on all my holy mountain, 
       for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD 
       as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia,  from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

    12 He will raise a banner for the nations 
       and gather the exiles of Israel; 
       he will assemble the scattered people of Judah 
       from the four quarters of the earth.

    13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, 
       and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed; 
       Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, 
       nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

    14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; 
       together they will plunder the people to the east. 
       They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, 
       and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

    15 The LORD will dry up 
       the gulf of the Egyptian sea; 
       with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand 
       over the Euphrates River. 
       He will break it up into seven streams 
       so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

    16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people 
       that is left from Assyria, 
       as there was for Israel 
       when they came up from Egypt.

Points of interest:

·         ‘from the stump of Jesse’—Jesse was David’s father.  So, the tree here is the royal house of the kingdom of Judah (the half of Israel that stuck with David’s family during the Israelite civil war).  God had promised David that David would always have a descendant on the throne, as long as those descendants continued to rely on him.  They didn’t.  So, David’s family tree will be chopped down.  But even that won’t be the end; a new tree will grow out of the stump.

·         ‘The Spirit of the LORD’—in Genesis 1, we read that the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the empty world.  Now, that same Spirit is hovering over this Branch.  It fills him with all of the best qualities of David (might, fear of the Lord) and Solomon (wisdom, understanding).  In other words, this Branch is the ideal king.

·         ‘with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked’—he doesn’t even need to wield a weapon, because his words alone are so strong and effective.  By the way, ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are related words in Hebrew; this Branch is taking in God’s spirit, and then breathing it out.

·         ‘the leopard will lie down with the goat’—creatures that are naturally predator and prey will act like members of the same herd. Like with the ‘desolations’ of the Lord in Psalm 46 (last Monday), the Branch uses his tremendous destructive potential to destroy war.  You may remember from yesterday’s introduction that Isaiah lived during a conflict-ridden time: there were constant local skirmishes, overlaid by major wars among competing empires.  Isaiah foresees a time when, by the work of this future king, there will finally be an end to these conflicts.

·         ‘on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled’—it sounds like God is calling the whole earth his ‘holy mountain’ here.  The whole earth will become like Jerusalem: a place where people can go to meet God and learn about the benefits of following him. If not that, then God is saying that he will bring about peace for Jerusalem, by bringing about peace for the whole world.

·         ‘the Root of Jesse’—strangely, this shoot from Jesse is somehow also his root.  I think this means that the mysterious, future king is in David’s family tree, but his greatness isn’t derived from David.  Actually, it’s the other way around: he’s the original model after which David was copied.  This odd shoot-and-root image uncannily captures Jesus’ situation (Jesus lived about 1000 years after David and 700 years after Isaiah).  Jesus, through his stepfather, was in fact a member of David’s family.  But it’s not as if Jesus’ greatness came from his family connections; David’s family was actually pretty unimportant by Jesus’ time.  On the contrary, it turns out that Jesus is the greater king of whom David was just a foreshadowing.

·         ‘will stand as a banner for the peoples’—a banner was a clear, visible rally point for an army.  The army being rallied here seems to be absolutely everyone.

·         ‘and gather the exiles of Israel’—you may remember from our first week’s passages that God promised the land to Abram’s descendants, the Israelites.  The Israelites were warned that if they did not stick close to God, treat one another well, and welcome foreigners, the Promised Land could also be taken away from them, as it had been taken from the Canaanites before them.  In the passage from March 6^th, Solomon referred to this possibility when he mentioned there might be a time when God would send his people ‘captive to a land far away’ (2 Chronicles 6: 36-37).  Isaiah is predicting here that foreign captivity will indeed happen, but that it won’t be the end of the story.  God will re-gather the exiles.

·         ‘a second time’—I think the first time would be the exodus from Egypt during Moses’ time.

·         ‘from the four quarters of the earth’—verse twelve is basically a poetic repetition of verse eleven.  The nations mentioned in verse eleven were rather far away from Israel, in every direction.

·         ‘He will raise a banner for the nations’—this Root of Jesse goes out to find the scattered exiles of Israel, and ends up collecting all the nations.  There are many more ‘exiles’ out there than anyone ever expected.

·         ‘Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah’—Ephraim is the other nation that was formed in the Israelite civil war.  It’s often simply called Israel.  The Branch can bring peace between lions and lambs, and even between these squabbling sibling nations.

·         ‘They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west’—the scene shifts from the four corners of the earth, to being quite local.  Philistia and the other nations in this verse are Israel’s closest neighbors.  I wonder if the grand vision of every nation being gathered to Jerusalem was a little too much for Isaiah’s listeners—or even Isaiah himself—to understand.  So, toward the end here, the vision shrinks to a local and more immediate scale.  What they really want to know is whether or not they’ll defeat the enemies right in front of them as Isaiah is speaking.  Strangely, the answer given here is ‘yes.’ After the universal peace that’s described in the rest of the chapter, it’s a little confusing to read about these lands being plundered and subjugated.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these nations were the Israelites’ enemies during David’s time.  Perhaps Isaiah is saying here that this Root of Jesse will have his enemies just like David did, and that he will defeat them just as completely.  Or maybe, while God clearly has bigger plans in mind, he decides to speak to the Israelites in terms they can understand.  He’s basically saying here, ‘Things will someday be as good as they were under David,’ though in a way that sounds a bit violent and jingoistic to modern ears.

Taking it home:

·         For you:  Try telling God that you would like more of his spirit and presence.  I think you’ll find that he’s quite generous in giving it away. Specifically ask for any counsel, wisdom, might, understanding or knowledge you need today.  Then spend a moment waiting to receive this spiritual blessing from God.

·         For your six: Do any of your six need a ‘banner raised’ for them? Pray that God would give them encouragement today—that they would feel cheered on in life and sense an extra measure of support in whatever they may be facing today.

.      For America: I’m starting to think that God’s something of a local geography buff.  God seems very familiar with all sorts of countries, cities, rivers and seas.  I get the impression that if I were to tell him I’m from Bolingbrook, without missing a beat God would say, ‘What do you think about that new park they’re building along the river?’  God seems to know and love every corner of civilization.  Pick five American cities with which you’re familiar, and pray for God’s blessing on each of them.  Pray that each of them would be a city that prospers, and that God would create highways there—specific ways for the people of those cities to find and connect with him. 

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁷ where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. ¹⁸ A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or three and a half miles,  they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” ²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. ²³ Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

Jesus the Bread of Life

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Abraham Justified by Faith

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, the forefather of us Jews, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴ Now to anyone who works, their wages are not credited to them as a gift, but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to anyone who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

⁸ Blessed are those
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

⁹ Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹ And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹² And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

False Religion Worthless

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message:

” ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. ³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” ⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. ⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

⁹ ” ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

¹² ” ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. ¹⁵ I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’

¹⁶ “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. ¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

²⁰ ” ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on people and animals, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

² Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from the plots of evildoers.

³ They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.

⁴ They shoot from ambush at the innocent;
they shoot suddenly, without fear.

⁵ They encourage each other in evil plans,
they talk about hiding their snares;
they say, “Who will see it?”

⁶ They plot injustice and say,
“We have devised a perfect plan!”
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

⁷ But God will shoot them with his arrows;
they will suddenly be struck down.

⁸ He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.

⁹ All people will fear;
they will proclaim the works of God
and ponder what he has done.

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice in the LORD
and take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will glory in him!