Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. – Micah 1:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 31, 2020): Micah 1

What if you were never born? What difference would your absence in the world make? It is an impossible question for any of us to answer, and yet one that we like to ponder, especially at Christmas as we watch Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” George Bailey struggles to understand his purpose in life and contemplates ending his existence. But as the movie progresses, he begins to understand the difference that he has made in his little corner of the world. And that is the hope of all of us. That somehow, in some small way, we will make a difference. It is this idea that is also at the heart of the Christian faith. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his followers to be salt and light in a bland and dark world. They were to go and make a difference. Maybe one of the saddest situations is that we live, but never touch anyone else’s life; that we never make a difference.

At the heart of a mountainous region, there was an elongated hill with a long, flat top. The sides of the hill were steep, but far from being inaccessible. The hill was called the “Hill of Shomron” or the “Hill of the Watchtower.” Maybe at one time, there were vineyards on the flat part of the hill, or a garden, or a working farm, and a watchtower had been erected to watch over the events that took place on the top of the hill.

But in the ninth century B.C.E., maybe around the year 870, a king looked at the oblong hill and decided that it might be the perfect place where he could build his city. The king’s name was Omri, and he purchased the hill for two talents of silver. Then Omri began to develop his city. He allowed Aramean merchants to ply their trade on his streets, and the people started to come to live on the top of the elongated hill. Because the city was built in the center of an area known as Samaria, he called the city by the same name. And Samaria, the capital of Israel, was born.

Samaria had a troubled history. Much like the nation, the city seemed to be continually under attack. The hill gave the town a bit of an advantage, but the Kingdom of Israel was small, and it existed at the crossroads of the known world. And conquerors seemed to be continually led to its doors.

Micah prophesied about a hundred and thirty-five years after the city had been planted on the top of the “Hill of Shomron.” And what Micah saw was the dream of Omri being returned to its original state, a place where vineyards grew under the examining eye of a watchtower. If something didn’t change, it would be las if Israel had never existed. All that had transpired would disappear in the rubble of Samaria. And the city would go back to its’ original purpose, a vineyard on top of an elongated hill in the heart of the Samarian mountains.

Thirteen years after Micah’s prophecy, the Assyrians came and destroyed the city. For the next few hundred years, nothing existed on the top of the “Hill of Shomron.” Omri’s dream disappeared, never to be resurrected again.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Micah 2

In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also. – Isaiah 7:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2020): Isaiah 7

I remember being forced to go to the barber. It was never a happy time for me. It still isn’t, but the reasons have changed over the years. As a kid, my hair was never long enough. I wanted to have long hair and felt an internal pride over the length of my hair. I had friends who had short hair, but if my hair was too short, I felt embarrassed. I had a friend, Trevor, whose blond locks extended down past the middle of his back, and I always wanted to have hair like that. But my parents and I seldom agreed on the topic of hair length. And so, while I did have long hair, it was never allowed to get as long as Trevor’s. And, every once in a while, a forced march was made to the local barbershop. Now it is more of a matter to time. Much to the frustration of my hairdresser, I wait until I can’t stand the state of my hair before I make an appearance at her door. It is usually three or four months between haircuts, and even that seems too often.

If Ahaz had believed what Isaiah was telling him, he would have been terrified. The Assyrians delighted in the humiliation of their enemies, and Israel would have had little use for barbers. They prided themselves in their hair. Letting the hair at the sides of the head go untouched, and basically trimming other areas. To be shaved from head to foot would have been humiliating. And if a soldier were forcibly shaved and then released, he would often go into hiding, not appearing in public until the hair had grown back.

And this was precisely what Isaiah was prophesying. God had hired the Assyrians to be the forced barber of Israel. The Assyrian army was on their way, and they were coming with their razors in tow. Judah would first be defeated, but then the nation would be humiliated. Their heads, beards, and private areas would be shaved for no other reason than that having to walk around with a lack of hair, resembling the hairless state of a young child rather than a full-grown man, would have been deeply embarrassing.

Just a note on the translation of this passage. The King James Version translates the latter part of the verse saying that the King of Assyria would shave “the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard” rather than the NIV’s assertion that the King would “shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also.” At issue is the Hebrew word ‘regel,’ which literally means feet. But the word is euphemistically used to indicate the external genitalia of a person or their private parts. The King James Version translators have chosen to observe the literal meaning of ‘regel.’ The New International Version translators have chosen the euphemistic meaning. And while the King James Version is technically correct, because humiliation is at issue here, it is likely that the softened, politically correct meaning that was the one that Isaiah had in mind as he spoke to the king. To shave someone’s feet might be a little embarrassing, but not nearly as awkward as shaving their private regions.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Micah 1

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” – Isaiah 6:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 29, 2020): Isaiah 6

We resemble the people with whom we share time. I remember being on a health kick a few years ago, and a well-meaning gentleman offered some nutrition advice that had “worked for him.” I listened intently to my acquaintance until I realized that, as impossible as this might sound to those who know me, what he was feeding his body was worse than what I was feeding mine. Why would I take dieting advice from someone who was worse off than me?

Yet, the truth is that we do this all the time – and not just in the area of our diet. Too often, we place our trust where it really doesn’t belong. Even the counselors that we pay to help us get our lives straight are actually just theorists working out their own imperfections. I remember talking with a professional marriage counselor who was working and often seemed to be failing at his third marriage. It probably isn’t that he didn’t know how to build a healthy marriage, but the application of the principles seemed to escape him.

As Christians, we are not experts at spiritual life. In fact, if you find a teacher who prides themselves in their spiritual knowledge, run in the other direction. We are all daily working out our own salvation. One of my favorite quotes continues to be from a Ceylonese Pastor named D. T. Niles; “Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.”

Isaiah comes before the living God, and the panic wells up from inside of him. In the presence of God, he realizes how beggarlike he really is. Isaiah is not God, not an equal to God, not even someone who deserves to be in the presence of God. In the presence of the angels, he recognizes that he does not measure up to them either. The angels came before God in great humility, with wings that covered their face and their feet. But the angels were pure enough to cry out Holy, holy, holy” in the presence of the living God. Isaiah was a man of unclean lips. The words “Holy, holy, holy” directed at the God of the universe sounded perverse coming from his mouth. I love Isaiah’s description of himself. “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” I don’t mean to, but I know that this is true; I have come to resemble the people with whom I live. I am nothing more than a beggar. I don’t deserve to be in the presence of the king, someone who is so different from me that we couldn’t even find a starting point for our relationship.

I am undone. But believe it or not, being “undone” is not actually a bad thing. With God, it is a good starting point. Being undone means that all of the illusions have been removed, and we are laid bare. In the presence of God, our identity as a beggar is confirmed in a way that is not revealed when we stand in the presence of each other. But, lucky for us, our God is the king who welcomes beggars and calls them his sons and daughters.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 7

What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? – Isaiah 5:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 28, 2020): Isaiah 5

A few years ago, some ladies decided that what my office desperately needed was a plant. But that decision came with an important question; what plant could survive the best in the desert wasteland known as my office? I don’t remember the species of green thing that they decided on, but I remember the day that my new friend arrived in my office. It was placed gently in one corner, and then one lady promised to come twice a week and care for it (because no one thought that I was capable of doing something that complex). And it worked, probably until the lady in charge of caring for the plant passed away. And the plant soon followed the fate of its caregiver. It appears that the ladies were right about my capabilities all along.

In most agricultural endeavors, there is an expectation. If the one who cares for the garden does everything right, and if the weather is good, then the garden should grow. (Unless I am the gardener. And even then, it is ‘me’ that is the problem, not the garden.) Growing a plant should be a smooth operation, provided that the seed is good and that the gardener understands what it is that the plant requires.

Isaiah poses an accusation at his garden. It is a ridiculous indictment, and the prophet knows it. The charge is that even though Isaiah has planted the proper seed and has cared for his garden, doing everything right, the garden will only produce bad fruit. Isaiah demands that his readers judge between him and his garden. Logic insists that the problem has to belong to the gardener. A garden, or vineyard, can only produce in such a way that is in keeping with the seed planted and the care and weather provided for the plants and fruit to grow. If there is a problem, it doesn’t lie with the garden. Plants do not have the power to choose what to produce. They produce only in keeping with their genetic makeup and the care that is given to them. As posed, the judgment can only go against the gardener.

Of course, that is not the real problem that Isaiah has laid in front of his audience. The vineyard that Isaiah has in mind does have the ability to choose what kind of fruit it wants to produce. And if you had a garden in which you had fully invested yourself, and all the garden would give to you is pain and thorns, what would you do.

The answer is relatively simple. You would dig up the garden and start over again with fresh seed. Judah was not ignorant of the morality play that was taking place in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God looked like he was digging up that part of the vineyard and was getting ready to start over. Could Jerusalem honestly believe that their fate would be any different if they chose to only produce bad fruit for the gardener who had planted them?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6

In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!” – Isaiah 4:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 27, 2020): Isaiah 4

Marriage was always intended to be a team project. It doesn’t matter if you are more traditional and believe that Eve was made as a helpmate for Adam (Genesis 2:18) or if you are more egalitarian in your views and have thrown away the traditional marriage concepts and roles. In the end, marriage is intended to be a union that is worked at by two. In the Christian community, we often speak of marriage as being between one man and one woman, this even though the cultural reality through most of biblical history was that marriage was between one man, and one to a thousand women and that polygamy is still practiced in some places today. But what is essential to the Judeo-Christian concept of marriage is that it is a venture, and the work resulting from the project is meant to be shared between the participants. Again, traditionally, the man supported the marriage through some kind of work, while the household duties and the care of children were offset to the woman. More often, in contemporary society, the responsibilities of the man and the woman are set through a decision that is made by the couple involved in the marriage. And no two marriages are exactly alike.

Isaiah 4:1 actually belongs at the end of Isaiah 3. (It is important to remember that the chapters and verses which break up our Bible are arbitrary and human-made.) Isaiah’s prophecy here is a direct result of a statement that Isaiah makes earlier in Isaiah 3. “Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle” (Isaiah 3:25). The result of the battle is that the society in question will be made up of many women and a few men. In that day, Isaiah argues that women will be willing to enter into marriage for the sake of respectability or status, and will not ask for the man to contribute anything to the relationship. And in the mind of Isaiah, this is a perversion of what marriage is supposed to be.

And, while Isaiah is speaking of a situation that results from war, it is crucial to recognize the warning here for all of us. The reasons for marriage are essential. Too many young people in our society marry to escape something rather than because of love or the strength that marriage can bring. These marriages usually don’t last. Isaiah probably couldn’t understand some of the reasons we give for getting married. Isaiah believed that marriage was a connection and the basis of a co-operation that was meant to last a lifetime.

A marriage that was born out of the idea that someone wanted to be married and, at the same time, the person agreed to remain independent was a perversion of the concept of marriage. And that perversion could only become a reality in times of high stress and at the degradation of society.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5

People will oppress each other—man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored. – Isaiah 3:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 26, 2020): Isaiah 3

I have never been a fan of “End Times Theology.” It is not that I do not believe that the world is going to end. Even secular theorists believe that this planet has a “best before date.” At some point, we will run out of resources, or our sun will collapse, or the Big Bang will reverse itself, and all that is will collapse back into the original cosmic filament, ready to explode once again. Or maybe the aliens who have been visiting our earth will finally get the better of us.

Or Jesus will return and bring to an end the grand experiment which began in the Garden of Eden. Everyone agrees that this world has an expiration date. The primary question is when, and the answer to that question ranges from tomorrow to billions of years from now. Some religions even believe that it has already happened, and what is left is some sort of a cosmic aftertaste or divine joke. But, at some point, all of this will come to an end.

But, at least to me, “End Times Theology” seems to be concerned with two main things. First, that the world will end in a prescribed way, and that way is as they believe that it will end. The idea of a heavenly rapture is a dominant view in Christendom. So dominant that few understand that the removal of Christians from the earth is a reasonably new theology. The belief of a heavenly removal of people from the world seemed to find its traction with the ministry of John Darby in the mid-1800s. But the theory isn’t well attested to in scripture. There are passages which, when combined in a certain way, lead us to believe that a rapture will take place. But passages, arranged in a specific way, can argue for almost any belief that you might want to put forward. The second “End Times” belief is when the world will end. And if not a specific date, the view can be summed up with the word “soon.”

The problem is that we don’t know. There are clues to when this story will expire, but they are only clues. And every generation since the time of Jesus has believed that their generation would be the last. I have known and still know many, who believe that they will not die because Jesus's return is imminent. Many have been wrong. The reality is that Jesus might come back tomorrow, or he might come back a thousand years or more from now. The point is that the date is in the hands of God. And Peter seems to indicate that the time for his return is not set but in constant flux. (Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).)

For those who believe that the world is coming to an end and Jesus’s return is near, they often quote the big items like “there will be wars and rumors of wars” and “earthquakes and famines” (Matthew 24:6-8). But might I suggest some of the smaller items might have more impact.

For instance, Isaiah says that in the last days that people will oppress each other, the young will rise up against the old, and the unimportant will go against the greatly honored. For Isaiah, the situation was upside- down. Neighbors were supposed to care for each other, the old and those with experience were valued in the culture, and the honored were revered for what they had done. As I look around me, I see the upside-down prophecy come true. Neighbors who feud with each other.  Young who believe that they know more than their elders, and nobodies who choose to dishonor gold star families. What was unbelievable for Isaiah has become our reality.

Maybe the time for the end is drawing near. Psychic Jeanne Dixon believed that the world would end in 2020. American Pastor Kenton Beshore (Mariners Church) argues that the end of the world will take place within a generation, which he defines as seventy to eighty years of the re-establishment of Israel. For Beshore, that means that the world will end by 2028, placing the absolute last date for the rapture in 2021. I guess now we just have to wait to find out if either of them was right.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 4

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. – Isaiah 2:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 25, 2020): Isaiah 2

Throughout history, there have been many world leaders who have sought to rule over the entire known world. They have set up their empires and tried to become the world’s chief influencers. Some of the most powerful of these empires are the Roman Empire, which reached its height in power just over 100 years after the time of Christ, the Mongolian Empire, which dominated or struck fear into significant portions of the world during the 13^th Century, the British Empire who ruled the seas (the sun never set on the British Empire) from the 18^th until the early 20^th century, The Soviet Union, who just based on their incredible size and resources, ruled the world during the middle part of the 20^th Century, alongside the current world powerhouse, the United States. These Empires were military forces to be reckoned with, and which struck fear into the hearts of many. The problem with each of these Empires is that fear often leads to resistance, and the downfall of every superpower, except for the United States, is written in the pages of our history books. No empire, regardless of how powerful they might be, lasts forever. Reigning over the world is hard work.

Isaiah sees a vision of what he calls “the last days.” Traditionally, this is understood as “the day of the Messiah.” Isaiah likely believed it would occur at the first coming, but as Christians, we know this prophecy as concerning the Messiah’s return. On that day, Isaiah says that Temple Mount will be elevated in importance, and all nations will flood toward Israel. On that day, Israel will become the reigning superpower in the world, and the Messiah and his government will reign from the Temple in Jerusalem.

But this superpower Israel is not the reality that Isaiah saw with his eyes. With his eyes, he sees the current threat of Assyria, the past threat of Egypt-, and he cautiously looks at the growing danger that is hiding in Babylon. They are the superpowers of Isaiah’s day. But in the last day, all of that will change, and Israel will enjoy the power and prestige that they had experienced during the reigns of David and Solomon.

With this understanding, it is no wonder that some could not accept Jesus as the Messiah the first time that he came. It was not this concept of a political superpower that Jesus had on his mind as he ministered throughout Canaan during the First Century.

And maybe we still need to be cautious with Isaiah’s words. After all, while Israel did not become a political superpower because of Jesus, it did become a spiritual one. And today, people of all nations flock to Jerusalem because of what the city means spiritually to them. Maybe rather than waiting for the political superpower Israel to emerge, we need to recognize the elevated importance of Jerusalem as it stands today; a city to which many people come, and a city that instills many emotions into the people of the earth. Jerusalem is the birthplace of our spiritual roots, especially for those who call themselves Jews, Christians, and even Muslims. And its importance today cannot be underestimated.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 3

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. – Isaiah 1:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 24, 2020): Isaiah 1

Canada. According to the anthem, the nation is the “true north, strong and free.” I am not sure where the idea of the “true north” came from, and I have a suspicion that other northern nations might question the assertion. But “strong and free” is essential to the country of north dwellers because, for Canada, “strong and free” is never easy. Canada has only one land border, and it is with the superpower United States. But it shares maritime borders with Denmark, via Greenland, and France, via two small French islands, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, just off the Atlantic Coast of the country. But maybe more importantly, as the rush for possession of the Arctic heats up, Canada shares a political border with Russia. We often look at a flat map and somehow believe that Russia is a long way away on the other side of the world. But the truth is that Australia is a long way away, on the other side of the world. Russia exists just a short trip on the other side of the Arctic ice cap.

Canada is a country that is literally “torn between two lovers,” or maybe more appropriately, torn between two superpowers. My American friends often wonder why Canadians get so obsessed with American politics, but the answer is quite simple. For a nation that neighbors two superpowers, whatever it is that they do effects Canada. And Canadians understand that better than any other country in the world. It is the political reality for a nation that wants to be “strong and free.”

The opening verse of the Prophecy of Isaiah clearly states the time and the political reality of the prophet. By the time of Isaiah, the children of Jacob had dwelt in Canaan for about 700 years. The nation had spent 400 years under the episodic leadership of spiritual and military men, and one woman, known as Judges. The next approximately 120 years were spent as a united kingdom under the reigns of three kings; Saul, David, and Solomon. And then a civil war split the nation into a Northern and Southern Kingdom. Isaiah, in his lifetime, would have watched the death of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at the hands of Assyria during the reign of the Judean King Ahaz.

But the reality of Isaiah’s life was that he lived during a time when Judah and Israel lived caught between three superpowers. The Assyrians reigned over the area from the north. But the Egyptians still carried influence from the South, and growing strong in the East were the Babylonians. Isaiah knew what it was like to live in a small nation dominated on every side by powerful countries who wanted to rule over the world.

One final note on the historical placement of Isaiah. The prophet list four kings in the introduction to his prophecy; Uzziah (good), Jotham (good), Ahaz (bad), and Hezekiah (good). But there is a strong tradition that says that Isaiah lived during the reign of a fifth king, Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. According to Rabbinic tradition, Manasseh was also the grandson of Isaiah. The tradition states that Hezekiah had married the daughter of Isaiah, Hephzibah, and it was through that marriage, the heir to the throne was born. But also according to tradition, Manasseh is believed to have executed his maternal grandfather, Isaiah, by sawing him in half. Many see the author of Hebrews mention of prophets who were “sawed in two” (Hebrews 11:37) as a direct reference to the martyrdom of Isaiah. If so, Isaiah's ministry lasted well over sixty years, and when he was executed, the prophet would likely have been in his eighties.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 2

And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. – 2 Kings 16:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 23, 2020): 2 Kings 16

What does your God look like? And exactly how do you know? It might be one of the most frustrating parts of religious life. As Christians, we want people to believe that we are people of the Book, the Bible. We wish to think everything that we do is based on the writings that we believe came from God. But that is just not true. Not really. What we believe is more often based more on the voices of tradition and our community than on a robust biblical exegesis. And when someone steps into our midst and offers another biblical view, we brand them as heretics and banish them from our midst. It is a process that played itself out repeatedly during The Reformation. Reformers stepped up with a message that was based on what the Bible said, and they were cast out; many were executed because their interpretation didn’t match with the voice of tradition or religious hierarchy. I wish that this was just a historical fact, but it is a process that continues to play out today. I know that people have stopped reading this blog because I read in the Bible a form of pacifism that says that we should turn the other cheek and love our enemies rather than take up arms against them.  I believe in the authority of the government, even a government has gone wrong, and believe that this grand democratic experiment needs to be protected.

King Ahaz has become fed up with a faith system that will not allow him to get what he wants. And so he decides to build his own religion. He reshapes the Temple, placing a new altar at the front entrance of the edifice. He repurposes the furnishings that had once been dedicated to serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he makes himself, essentially, the High Priest of this new religion. He is the one who will enquire of the god he is creating. He will be the face of this new belief system that he has decided to bring into Judah.

His grandfather, Uzziah, had made the mistake of trying to become a priest in the house of the God of Israel. It was a prohibited action. Under the Law of Moses, there was a division between what the political leader did and the duties of the religious leader. In Uzziah’s day, the priests did whatever they could to stop the madness of the king. That they failed was not on them.; they tried to stop Uzziah from burning incense in the Temple (2 Chronicles 26:17-18). But apparently, Uriah didn’t even try to stop Ahaz. If this is the same Uriah mentioned in Isaiah 8, then he was a good man and a “reliable witness” (Isaiah 8:2). But he had been compromised by a corrupt king.

David Guzik adds this note of conclusion to the actions of Ahaz and Uriah. “Corrupt political leaders have almost always been able to find corrupt religious leaders to help them.” But if our picture of God comes from our study of the Bible, maybe we can stop that from happening. Perhaps the question that we need to be asking is not “does this teaching match with the tradition that I have always believed or the voices that have gathered around me,” but rather “does it comes from the book.” And even if it is a new light, as a Christian, I have the responsibility to examine the light, struggle with it, and discern, with the help of God, with Christ in me, whether or not it might be true.

And maybe then we can escape the disaster of Ahaz and Uriah.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1

He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel. – 2 Chronicles 28:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 22, 2020): 2 Chronicles 28

Lewis Carroll asks the question in his 1865 classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The puzzle, or riddle, is this; “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” The book never gives us an answer to the riddle, and that became one of the central mysteries of a book that is classified as part of the “nonsense genre.” Because “Alice” is nonsense fiction, maybe the fact that the book asks a question and then refuses to give us an answer should be expected. But it wasn’t. The Mad Hatter’s riddle of a raven and a writing desk became the subject of many letters written to the author during the last part of his life. Finally, in the preface of the 1896 edition of the book, Carroll offers this answer to the question.

Inquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, "because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar (sic) put with the wrong end in front!" This, however, is merely an afterthought; the riddle as originally invented had no answer at all.

I think that my favorite answer to the Hatter’s Riddle was put forth by puzzle expert Sam Loyd. He answers the Hatter’s riddle this way; "because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes.” But, maybe, when a question is asked with no answer, then any response will do.

King Ahaz’s guiding principle in life seems to be political expediency. Unlike his father and grandfather, and even his son, Hezekiah, Ahaz has no grounding in the faith of Israel. Gods only matter if they will support you in war and times of distress. As a result, loyalty is a mysterious concept to Ahaz.

And so, the God of Ahaz’s fathers sends trouble on the king. But Ahaz is so disconnected with the faith that he cannot make sense of what is going on in his kingdom. In the mind of Ahaz, what is intended to get the king's attention and to bring him to the point of repentance, makes about as much sense as the Hatter’s riddle.

What does make sense to Ahaz is that he was defeated by a nation that followed a different god. So the answer to the riddle that was placed in front of him was to change his allegiance from the God of Judah to the foreign god of Aram, likely the pantheon of Mesopotamian gods including Haddad and Sin, as well as El, the supreme god of Canaan, and other miscellaneous gods that they had picked up along the way.

But the author of Chronicles adds correctly that these gods were of no help to Ahaz and his kingdom. The king had arrived at the wrong answer to the question posed about why he was defeated; he exchanged the truth for a lie, and instead of salvation, the gods Ahaz chose to follow brought about his downfall and the downfall of the people over whom he was given responsibility.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 16

Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz his son succeeded him as king. – 2 Chronicles 27:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 21, 2020): 2 Chronicles 27

One morbid part of my personality is that I seem to have a craving to know how or why people die. Was the death of a person just the natural end of life, or was some other force involved? With historical figures, sometimes we know, and sometimes we don’t.

Jotham of Judah lies in the latter category. We don’t know how or why Jotham died. All we know is that he died at approximately the age of forty-one, and rested in the City of David. But there are some clues as to what it might have been that ended his life.

Jotham was a successful King. The truth is that he inherited a good, well-run kingdom from his father and that Jotham was able to maintain, and in some ways, even expand, the inheritance that had been left to him. We know that Jotham waged war with the Ammonites and defeated them, bringing into Judah payments of tribute (2 Chronicles 27:5). It is quite possible that Jotham was more concerned with expanding the Kingdom of Judah than his immediate predecessors had been.

But Jotham’s desire to expand Judah also brought him into conflict with his neighbors. 2 Kings specifically mentions that Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel started to move against Judah near the end of Jotham’s life (2 King 15:37). It is possible that Jotham fell in battle against these kings, but the Bible does not mention that this is what happened.

Another theory is that Assyria removed Jotham in favor of his son Ahaz, who was more willing to submit to the growing Assyrian Empire. In fact, when Rezin and Pekah attacked Ahaz early in his reign, they could not overpower him because Ahaz had Assyrian help (2 Kings 16:5, 7). It seems to be inconceivable that Jotham would have paid tribute to Assyria, but that is precisely what Ahaz did.

So, when we are asking why Jotham seemed to die suddenly at the relatively young age of forty-one, there might be more than a little palace intrigue in the answer. But the one thing that we do know for sure is that Jotham died, Ahaz succeeded him, and this exchange of Kings lessened the Kingdom of Judah. While Jotham worked hard to continue and live up to the legacy of his father, Uzziah (also known as Azariah), Ahaz seemed to set out to undo everything his father and grandfather had worked hard to accomplish in Judah.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 28

Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. – Hosea 14:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 20, 2020): Hosea 13 & 14

It is an advertisement trying to sell you insurance. The opening scene takes place at night. Four teens burst out of the trees and onto a decrepit looking house. It is apparent that the teens are running away from something that has terrified them. The first speaker is one of the boys. “Let’s hide in the attic.”

One of the girls responds, “No, in the basement.”

A second girl, the one who seems to have all of the brains for the group, whines out, “Why can’t we just get into the running car?”

Good question. But the last person, a boy, also has the final say in the matter. “Are you crazy? Let’s hide behind the chainsaws.”

The two girls chime in with “Smart” and a whine of “Yeah, ok.” And then the voice of the commentator is heard with the moral of our short story. “If you’re in a horror movie, you make poor decisions.” Yes, apparently, you do. I still think running for the car was the right decision. But maybe the car was just too obvious.

Hosea has laid out his argument for Israel and for Judah. It is apparent in the writing that he believes that Israel is in the most immediate danger, but the prophet fears that Judah is not far behind their northern neighbor. Hosea thinks that the evidence stands firmly against the descendants of Jacob.

But he also believes that it is not too late. Israel’s prophet of doom still holds out hope that things can change. So he asks the question, “who is wise? Who is discerning?” Most of us want to stand among the wise and discerning. And Hosea understands that aspect of our personalities. He hopes that the question will cause everyone to stop and consider the evidence that he has put forward.

But Hosea also knows the answer. The wise and discerning person knows that God’s way is better than any other possible path; the righteous, and the wise and discerning, choose to walk in it. But the rebellious and the fool stumble over the same way. They do not seem to be able to accept the wisdom and path of God wholeheartedly. Instead, they choose was is right in their own eyes. They decide to hide behind the chainsaws. And their destruction becomes something of their own choosing.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 27

The LORD used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him. – Hosea 12:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 19, 2020): Hosea 11 & 12

I love Soren Kierkegaard’s story of the clown. Kierkegaard says

In a theatre it happened that a fire started off stage. The clown came out to tell the audience. They thought it was a joke and applauded. He told them again, and they became still more hilarious. This is the way, I suppose, that the world will be destroyed-amid the universal hilarity of wits and wags who think it is all a joke (Soren Kierkegaard).

The story actually exists in many forms. Some argue that the clown was part of a traveling circus when a fire took hold of the venue. A clown, riding on his bike, goes to a neighboring town to tell the residents to flee before the fire overtakes the population housed there. The residents laugh at the antics of the clown, but no one takes the words seriously. In the end, there was much loss of life, because a clown carried the message.

For Israel, Moses was an unlikely Savior. He really didn’t grow up as a Hebrew; instead, he was educated as an Egyptian. When push came to shove, he left the nation to wander in the wilderness, becoming the son-in-law to a priest of a foreign god. Then, at the age of eighty, he shows up back in Egypt, demanding that the Egyptians “let his people go.” The Egyptians might have well asked, exactly who are ‘your people.’ Is it the Egyptians you have come to free, or those that wander in the wilderness? Or is it these despicable Hebrews that have gained your feeble attention? Moses became an entertainer in Egypt, performing magic tricks for the bored masses. The prophets who followed him often seemed to conform to the same model. Even Hosea, married to an unfaithful wife and the father of children that did not biologically belong to him, was just another clown.

And yet, this was God’s way. A clown had brought them out of Egypt, and a series of clowns had cared for the nation, and the country had written them all off. I mean, can anything important come from the mouth of a clown.

God’s answer has always been yes. Don’t look at the messenger. See me and understand that all of this is me. The messenger is not essential, but the message is. (The coming of Jesus reversed all of this. He was still a clown who entertained the people, often possessing a vast number of followers, but to whom few really listened. But suddenly the messenger was more important than the message.)

In a time before the advent of T.V. and radio, traveling preachers made up a significant percentage of the entertainment menu for small towns and villages. They came with a message, and the people came, not necessarily to hear the word, but rather to be entertained by the preacher. Those of us who dare to step up and speak to the people about this God are still the clowns. But we desperately hope that the message you hear from us comes directly from the throne of God. We may be clowns, but we are his clowns.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 13 & 14

The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile. – Hosea 10:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 18, 2020): Hosea 10

I admit that I have an uncomfortable relationship with the cross – not the one that Jesus died on but the one that hangs in our sanctuaries and that we place around our necks. My problem is that the cross that Jesus died on was a rough piece of lumber designed to kill slowly. It was an evil thing. People could be hung on a cross for days while their lives slowly ebbed away. And all the time, the crucified person would suffer. Crucifixion was a death of extreme torment and torture. It was meant to be. People were supposed to fear the Roman cross so much that they would not rebel against the government. Roman officials had made crucifixion into an art form. The cross answered the question of “how do we kill someone very slowly while inflicting as much pain as possible.”

The Church did not accept the image of the cross as a religious symbol immediately. How could they? The cross was a horrible instrument of death. When they finally did take the cross as a symbol, it was initially in the form of an X, a cross laid on its side because the resurrection of Jesus had defeated the cross. No longer would the cross stand undefeated. (So maybe we should rethink our opposition to Xmas. The power of the Jesus of the Cross is symbolized by that first hated letter – X.)

Over the centuries, we have placed the cross back up on its feet and, sometimes, we still set Jesus on it, a reminder of his suffering for our sins. But more often we shine it and polish it, and use it as a decoration. It has become a tattoo, a wall hanging, and a necklace. It comes in many colors, and it can be made from many materials. The cross has become a beautiful symbol of our Christian faith. In its beauty, we almost forget what a horrible thing the cross was that killed Jesus.

And we pray to it. Sometimes we want to get as close to the cross as we can. We want its power. But did I mention that the cross is really nothing more than an instrument of death? It has no power. Power belongs to the God who raised Jesus from the dead, not to the cross. I fear that our beloved cross, in the absence of any other form of idols, has become the idol of the Christian church. But that is all the cross can be — an idol. The power of the cross is the sacrifice of Jesus, not the polished decoration that we place around our necks.

Jeroboam had made a golden calf and placed it at Bethel. He proclaimed that this calf was the God who had brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land. He encouraged his people to worship the calf as the God of Israel. This is an important point. The calf was not supposed to be a rendering of Molech or Ba’al or the Asherah cult. This calf was supposed to be the God of Israel, Yahweh, the very God who had caused the Red Sea to part, and that had fed them with Manna during the desert wanderings. This calf is your God.

Of course, the idea was ridiculous. God was not an idol to be worshipped. There was no calf or any other thing to be pointed at in the temple where people could say, “this is your God.” For Hosea, the tragedy of all of this was that the presence of the Golden Calf had transformed Bethel (the House of God) into Beth Aven (the House of Wickedness). And the tragedy of the Golden Calf was that the people feared that not worshipping it would bring Israel to destruction. But Hosea knew the truth. It was worshipping it that was the danger. Because the calf, or the cross, can never be the God who we serve. Power is reserved for God, and no symbol can ever replace the God who has chosen to make his home in our lives.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 11 & 12

My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations. – Hosea 9:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 17, 2020): Hosea 9

There is no mercy in the law. Either you are guilty, or you are not. It is a yes or no proposition. If you have ever been pulled over on the road by a police officer, you probably understand this fact. If it is a speeding violation that has gotten you into trouble, the first question coming from the officer will be, “do you know how fast you were going?” Obviously, the police officer knows the truth. His radar has clocked you at a specific speed, and you are guilty. The question is actually an attempt to get a confession out of you. Pick a speed. If it is even marginally above the posted limit, then you have confessed to the crime under the law.

Mercy does not exist in the law. But it does exist in the decision of the police officer. It has been a while since I have had a conversation with a roadside police officer, but I have often received mercy. Sometimes, the police officer has let me go with a warning. One officer went back to check me out and realized that I hadn’t had any moving violations for over the past five years, and so he returned to my window and let me go with the words, “good driving should have some benefit.” But even when I did receive a ticket, the officer often extended mercy by writing up the ticket at the speed that I thought I was driving, rather than the speed revealed by his radar gun. The law is without mercy, but a police officer, at least in my experience, is often filled with it.

Hosea would live to see the devastation of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians, and that devastation would result according to the letter of the law. Moses writes in Deuteronomy;

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess (Deuteronomy 30:17-18).

Israel would go first, but less than a century and a half later, Judah would also pay for their sins, both according to the merciless law. And it is this lack of mercy that necessitated a new covenant. According to the writer of Hebrews, “by calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). And maybe one of the most critical facets of the new covenant was the advent of mercy. God says that “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). If we can acknowledge our sin, God agrees to take care of it and never to bring it up again. This is the mercy of God and something that he promises to do in our midst.

 Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 10

“Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law. – Hosea 8:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 16, 2020): Hosea 8

As Herod the Great comes to power in Judea, the Temple is in terrible shape. The Second Temple, built after the Babylonian Captivity during the time of Prince Zerubbabel, was never an architectural marvel. It was a rather plain building, and only a shadow of the Temple that Solomon had built, the one that was planned and laid out by his father, David. So, one of the first things that Herod decides to do is not just repair the temple, but to redesign it. Herod planned to transform the Second Temple into Herod’s Temple. It would be something of which he could be proud, and something that he believed would honor the Judean God.

And the people supported the idea in the early days of the rebuilding. But then Herod did something that he should have known not to do. Herod placed a Golden Eagle over the Great Gate, the main point of entrance leading to the Temple. The purpose of the Eagle was to honor Rome, who had graciously allowed Herod to rule in Judea.

The people were incensed. They demanded that the Eagle be taken down from over the gate, but Herod refused. The Golden Eagle remained looking down over all of those who came to visit the Temple. And then, Herod got sick. It was rumored that the King of the Jews was lying on his death bed. And so about forty men chose that moment to rebel. They planned to go to the Great Gate and remove the Golden Eagle, breaking it into pieces with axes. According to Josephus, about forty men used a rope to let themselves down from the top of the Temple to the place where the Golden Eagle hung over the main gate. But they were arrested by Herod’s guards. Herod was so angered by the attempt to remove and destroy the Golden Eagle, that he ordered the forty, and any others who led the forty into the plan, to be burned to their deaths. Any other co-conspirators were left in the hands of the regional officers to be executed in any way that they saw fit. In the end, the rebels would die, and the attempt on the Golden Eagle seemed to breathe a little life into the failing body of King Herod.

Prophecy is hard, and some translations interpret this verse to read that “God will descend like an eagle on his Temple.” But the New International Version translation deserves some consideration. And it is not hard to imagine that the forty who gathered at the Great Gate remembered these words from Hosea. “Blow the trumpet, call a gathering of the faithful, because an Eagle is presiding over My house; an eagle that is only there because of the sin of the people.” Looking up at Herod’s Golden Eagle, it would have been easy to believe that the first step of repentance was to remove the Eagle and, therefore, remove the sin of the people. Herod’s actions did not just call judgment down on himself. He had called the anger of God down on the people of Judea because the Roman Eagle could only serve to mock the God of Israel, as documented in the writing of a Samaritan prophet more than seven hundred years earlier.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 9

All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me. – Hosea 7:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 15, 2020): Hosea 7

The last quarter of a century for the Kingdom of Israel was a time of political upheaval. The last twenty-five years of the Northern Kingdom saw the reigns of seven different Kings. And of those seven kings, only two died peacefully in their beds at the end of their natural lives; Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, and Menahem. Of the other five, four were murdered by the ones who succeeded them on the throne of the nation. Zechariah was murdered by Shallum after a six-month reign. Shallum was murdered by Menahem after a one-month reign. Menahem died peacefully and was succeeded by his son, Pekahiah. Pekahiah was murdered by Pekah. Pekah was murdered by Hoshea. And finally, Hoshea was taken prisoner by the Assyrians at the fall of Samaria and the end of the Northern Kingdom. And, at this point, Hoshea disappears from the historical record. We have no mention of where or when he died, but it would not have been a peaceful death at home. His disappearance was a sad closing note for the Northern Kingdom

The opening words of the Book of Hosea offer a bit of a mystery. Hosea opens his oracle this way; “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel” (Hosea 1:1). The mystery is that while Hosea writes about and to Israel, he itemizes the reigns of four of the Kings of Judah, while only mentioning one King of Israel. But the reality is that if Hosea’s ministry touched the reigns of the four Judean Kings he mentions, then his ministry would have taken place during the reigns of the last seven Kings of Israel, and he would have seen the destruction of Samaria and the removal of Hoshea from his kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians. And yet he makes no mention of six of these kings in the opening of his Prophetic writing. Maybe the reason for this is that the version of Hosea that has been passed down through the generations to us is a version that was updated after the Assyrians had decimated Israel. If that were the case, then Hosea’s primary audience, at least at the time of the final edition of his words, would have been from the Kingdom of Judah. But that is just conjecture.

But Hosea does seem to mention the turmoil that took place during the closing days of the Kingdom of Israel. Here Hosea says that “they devour their rulers” and “all of their kings fall.” Hosea seems to be speaking directly about the deaths of the five kings who met a violent end at the hands of their successors, or the hands of the Assyrian army. They all fell. None of them could stand up against the violence of the time.

Hosea is often viewed as a “prophet of doom,” and with good cause. After all, the prophet seemed to be writing about the end of a nation. And yet, Hosea also sprinkles his writing with hope. And even here, as he remembers the violent end of the last kings of Israel, Hosea notes that hope had still been available. Hosea writes, “none of them calls on me [God].” But that was the hope, even in the midst of the violence and the turmoil. God was still there to be, and he would always answer if anyone decided to call.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 8

Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” – Hosea 6:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 14, 2020): Hosea 6

According to the internet, which never lies, I live in one of the coldest places on the earth. Who knew? But whether my home really qualifies as one of the coldest places on the planet overall, it definitely is this week. I have a friend who recently commented that she hadn’t had to get her heavy, cold weather coat out yet this winter, but I guarantee it is out now. Temperatures, with wind chill, are plunging below minus forty. (At minus forty, it doesn’t matter whether it is Celsius or Fahrenheit. Both scales meet at that point of the thermometer, and it is just plain cold.) And an area of high pressure threatens to hold the cold air over the top of us for a little longer.

But it is not that we didn’t expect it to be cold. For us, January is one of the coldest months of the calendar year – always. The weather will warm. Hot summer days are coming that will drive us into the areas lakes and pools. I love to sit at the beach with a good book and enjoy the hot summer sun. I tell my friends I don’t feel the heat because it takes me some good uninterrupted time in the sun to melt away the January deep in my bones. But that time of sun and reading will come later. Right now, it is January, and January is doing its usual work to get deep into my bones.

Life develops around a cycle. Outside my office window, the snow and extreme cold are preparing the ground for the spring planting, and the hot summer months that will follow before the cooling period of the harvest and then back into the extreme cold of another January. As much as I don’t like this part of the cycle, the cycle is normal. Part of our climate change problem is that it threatens to break the cycle. As a result, the rains might not come when they are needed, prevalent ocean currents could stall, and famine, fire, drought will be the result. We depend on the cycle.

Hosea understands the cycle of weather on the earth. For him, it is evidence of the faithfulness of God. God brings everything in the appropriate season so that that life can continue on the planet. And even though Israel and Judah have not been faithful, that does not influence the faithfulness of God. Hosea is sure that if the nations will choose to walk with God, God will come to them, and choose to walk with them. For Hosea, the faithfulness of God is as sure as the rains that come sweeping through the land during the winter and spring seasons. Or as inevitable as cold weather in January for those of us who live in the harsh northern areas of our planet.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 7