She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks. – Isaiah 13:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 6, 2016): Isaiah 12 & 13 

            

Babylon was the most famous city of ancient Mesopotamia. It was the site of the building of the tower of Babel. The name Babylon means “Gate of the Gods.” The city was built along the Euphrates River and was probably a major port town in its early days. Its claim to be the successor of an even more ancient city, Eridu of the Sumero-Akkadian Empire, made the city of Babylon one of the holiest places on the planet in its early years. But the precise role that Babylon played in antiquity is lost to history. The water of the Euphrates rose and washed away most of the ancient city. The ruins that we have uncovered from the city date to at least a thousand years after the town’s more humble beginnings.  

But later, Babylon grew into an empire. Isaiah’s prophecy, almost a hundred years before the rise of Babylon as a global power is amazing, but this verse may be even more amazing. The Babylonian Empire actually had a relatively short lifespan. The prophet Daniel was taken into captivity early in the Empire’s period of world domination. But he also lived long enough to see the Empire fall to the Medes. The Medes were the reason for the end of the Empire, but unlike what Babylon did to Jerusalem, tearing the city down stone by stone, the Medes left the city of Babylon standing. The city just gradually decayed becoming more and more insignificant as time passed. Finally, around 650 C.E., Muslim tribes swept away everything that was left of Babylon. But by that time, Babylon had become so insignificant that no one really noticed.

And Babylon has never been rebuilt. Saddam Hussein, who considered himself the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar II, the great Emperor who presided over most of the days of the Babylonian Empire, had plans to rebuild Babylon and even built a summer Palace overlooking the ruins of the city. But as of yet, Babylon the neglected has not risen again.

Today, the prophecy of Isaiah is as much in effect as it was a thousand years ago, although the full impact of Isaiah’s prophecy did not take place until more than 1300 years had passed after the utterance of the prophecy by Isaiah. And as far as I know, there are still no credible plans to rebuild the city. Iraq, where Babylon is located, is struggling for its survival with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The question of Babylon will have to wait for another time, and likely another generation, to see if there is someone with the courage to go against Isaiah’s prophecy and attempt to wake the city from its slumber.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 14

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. – Isaiah 11:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 5, 2017): Isaiah 11

Maybe something good can come out of any situation – even World War II. It is hard to imagine something that could be considered good emerging from the reign of a megalomaniac who destroyed a people (the Jews) and a good nation (Germany). How can good come out of the murder of thousands of innocents? The Second World War stole much from us. From the lives of people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer to young imaginative writers like Anne Frank – list of too many valuable lives that were extinguished. Our planet would have been a much better place if they had lived.

Yet, the Second World War also provided the world with a reason to attempt to re-establish the nation of Israel. I am not saying that the re-establishment of Israel was not a priority for the Jews – it was. But the much of the world began to understand the need for a Jewish State following the atrocities of World War II, and they were willing to make it a priority. Finally, there would be a place where Jews were welcome, with absolutely no population limits or immigration requirements. A Jewish State in Palestine would exist that had not existed for almost 1900 years. The reality is that without World War II, the reimagining of Israel still might not have happened.

In 1948, because of the dream that began in the final days of World War II and the world’s discovery of the unthinkable – the concentration camps where countless Jews had been murdered, a highway was built for the remnant of the people back home in Palestine. All the obstacles to residency in the Holy Land had been removed. There would be no more population limits placed on Jewish immigration. The Jews were welcomed home once again.

I am not saying that this was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. But it was possibly a forerunner of the event of which Isaiah was speaking. Isaiah saw a time when all of the Israelites, and not just the Jews who are primarily the descendants of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, would be welcomed home. In that day, all of the obstacles would be removed, and all the tribes of Israel would be reunited in their homeland. A hundred years ago the reuniting of Israel might have seemed impossible. But now we have the model sitting in front of us, and we can see exactly how that highway might be built.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 12

What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? – Isaiah 10:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 4, 2017): Isaiah 10

I recently watched an interesting interview with 90-year-old Jerry Lewis. Lewis has a well-earned reputation for being – well, acerbic and surly. And he lived up to every ounce of his reputation in the interview. Apparently, Lewis was mad even before the interview began because of the amount of equipment that the interviewers had to move into his house. When he was asked if he had ever, even for a fleeting moment, considered retirement, he had a one-word response – why? From there Lewis simply gave short answers to the questions asked of him, often just parroting the interviewer’s question in his reply. He refused to elaborate on anything. He was unwilling to engage in any story telling. No memories were shared. Maybe the most poignant moment of the whole interview was when he was asked if there was a favorite time in his career. Lewis’s answer – when my partner was alive, referencing Dean Martin who died on Christmas Day twenty-one years ago. The interview was painful, but I have the suspicion that maybe that was exactly what Jerry Lewis had intended for the discussion to be. But the final thought in the article by the interviewer, Andy Lewis (no relation), caught my eye. “As awkward and funny - and it's pretty funny - as the interview is, it weirdly proves the point of the entire package: 90-year-old Jerry Lewis is vital and completely engaged. He's just engaged - almost happy - in being difficult.”

Isaiah 10:1-4 belongs at the end of Isaiah chapter 9. These verses form the conclusion of God’s judgment against Israel. And I have to admit that reading through the writings of the prophets seems to give the same message over and over. It is a warning that Israel only exists because of a move of God. And yet, they also seem to refuse to acknowledge that fact. And so they go off chasing after non-gods and the prophets come asking what is basically the same question – in your day of distress, who is it that you are going to run toward – your God or some other idea that you have dreamed up in your head?

But as I watched the Jerry Lewis interview, something else occurred to me. For some reason this disobedience, although I am not sure that the people saw it as disobedience, placed Israel in a place where they were – well, happy. The people liked to be difficult. They wanted to be put in hard situations. I am not sure if it is some kind of national memory, but they seemed to long after the life that they had lived in the time of the beginnings of the nation in Egypt. Even in the wilderness with Moses, there were moments when the people seemed to want nothing more than to go back to Egypt. They were the happiest when they were complaining.

What adds to this thought is that I know people who are like this. Their happiest moments in life occur when life hands them lemons, and no, they do not make lemonade – they complain. Some people seem to go to great lengths to make sure that there are things in their lives about which to complain. This is the picture that we get of Israel. Who will they run to – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is never really in question. But when they run it will be with complaints about the God who has left them, not even realizing that it was actually they who left God. But in the end, this is what will make them happy. And because they are happy, the behavior never changes.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11