Today’s Scripture Reading (February 7, 2020): Isaiah 8
Sixth century
B.C.E. storyteller Aesop argued that “We often give our enemies the means
for our own destruction.” The problem often occurs as we either panic over our
impending doom, or because we are frozen in fear and unable to take the appropriate
action demanded by the situation. There seems to be a delicate balance that we often
miss during times of high stress. We miss the subtle clues of what is required of
us, shifting the balance of power from us to the other.
Isaiah 8 is
a continuation of the situation which began in Isaiah 7. In Isaiah 7, Isaiah
comes with a message for King Ahaz. Israel and Aram had allied themselves
against the growing Assyrian threat. But first, they turned their attention on
Judah. Their purpose in Judah was to either gain Ahaz’s commitment to join the
alliance or to defeat Judah and make the nation a puppet to them and gain their
co-operation in that manner. It was a moment of high stress in Judah, and “the
hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are
shaken by the wind” (Isaiah 7:2).
But the prophet urges calm. God is still
in control even though the situation seems to be out of control. As fearsome as
Israel and Aram might be, this is not the end. And then God tells Isaiah to
write on a scroll the words “Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.”
The words mean “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.” The intention is
that God is going to do something, and that something is going to come quickly.
We
need to note three things about the message. First, it is unusual that a
prophet is told to write something down. But this is important enough that God
wants it documented. There might be a couple of reasons for this. First, it is
a message that needs to be presented over and over again in the coming days.
Where I live, we put up signs that say “Stop” or lights that govern the
movement of traffic rather than having a person assigned to the intersection to
do the same job. Even when everyone is fast asleep, the sign still delivers an
important message. For Isaiah, because the message is written down, the message
can be transferred even in the absence of the prophet. Second, writing provides
a record. God is about to do something in the short term, and he wants Isaiah
to be able to point back to the scroll after the situation has resolved itself
and be able to say, “What did God tell us? This has unfolded just as he said.”
God
also tells Isaiah to “take a large scroll.” Obviously, the message doesn’t
require a large scroll to write it down; it is essentially only four words. But
God wants the words written large enough to be easily seen. The message is not
to be kept secret; it is meant for everyone.
The
last important thing to note is related to the large scroll. The message is to
be written with an ordinary pen, or a “man’s pen.” The intent here seems to be
that it would be written plainly. This is not the time for angelic language or sophisticated
writing. The message needs to be understood by all who see it, regardless of
their level of education. Again, going back to my stop sign analogy, the word
on the sign is “Stop” and not “Sojourn.” Sojourn might mean “to stop
temporarily,” but “Stop” is plainer and more easily understood. “Stop” is a
word written with an ordinary pen.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
9
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