Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.” – Isaiah 48:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 20, 2013): Isaiah 48

In the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Infinite Regress,” Seven of Nine is confronted with a Borg version of a Multiple Personality Disorder. Voices begin to speak to Seven, and at times the voices threaten to overwhelm her. And she begins to respond to stimuli that are simply not present. The result is confusing – Seven simply is unable to understand all that is happening to her. It might be the most terrifying condition that a person may have to suffer through – finding yourself in a place where you can no longer even trust your own senses and yet knowing that you need to take some kind of actions.

We have discussed earlier in this blog the theory the chapters starting with Isaiah forty were written later than the first thirty-nine chapters of the book. There are a few reasons, and a few passages that seem to stick out as being written later. And again, part of the issue is with verses like this one. This command makes absolutely no sense if it was written to the pre-exilic Judean community who had no idea that they are going to spend 70 years in exile in Babylon. The passage in itself is a reaction to a stimulus that just is not there – yet. But it was a badly needed message for those who were taken to Babylon – a reminder that they would one day be redeemed by God and returned home.

But there would be another problem. After 70 years in Babylon, Babylon had become the only home that many of the exiled Jews knew. So when the moment of release came, many seemed to have no desire to return to Jerusalem and Judea. It was like they were suffering from a personality disorder – in this moment they identified more with Babylon than they did with their homeland – and more with the gods of Babylon than with the God who had promised to them the very land they were being invited back into.

So Isaiah instructs the people to scream the news from the rooftops. God has redeemed the descendants of Jacob, and he is calling them home. It was a message that needed to be continually repeated, as far as the Babylonian empire extended, until the children of Jacob heard the message and returned to their land, their homes, and their inheritance.

Sometimes we miss the obvious. Like a person who can no longer trust our own senses, we have tendency to forget who it is that we are – and that our Father loves us. And that he is still calling us to make a difference. And sometimes we need to find someone who is willing to remind us of what should be obvious – someone who is willing to shout the message from the rooftops on the hope that we will hear the message and be able to understand. We are the loved and valued of God – and God is calling us to a purpose, a purpose that can only be fulfilled by us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 49