Today's Scripture Reading (May 15, 2026): Isaiah 21
As a
young child, I lived in an area that had several large lakes. These lakes were
so large that you couldn't see the shoreline opposite where you were standing.
It was like living in an area that had several oceans or seas. The reality was
that until I was about eight, I had never seen a lake where you could see all
four, or even three, shores. A lake was, in my childlike mind, an extremely
large body of water. I would be almost twenty before I saw a real ocean, in
this case, the Pacific. I have been close to the Atlantic Ocean, but I have
never viewed that august body of water. But to this day, I love spending time
on the shore of a lake or the ocean, though more recently, the bodies of water
I look at are much smaller than the lakes of childhood.
The
Iraqi desert is a significant feature of Western Iraq. The desert is a mix of
various topographical features, including rocky plains, sandy stretches, and
dry riverbeds (wadis). It is a hot, water-scarce area, so there is very little
vegetation. But that doesn't mean that there is no water. The Euphrates River
flows along the eastern edge of the Iraqi Desert, and the region is dotted with
several lakes.
Iraq is
largely landlocked. The only ports for the country are in the south-east corner
of the nation, where a tiny sliver of land meets the Persian Gulf. And it is on
this relatively small plot of land that the Iraqi government is trying to build
its ambitious Grand Faw Port Project, slated for completion in 2045.
My
intention in giving this geography lesson is to note that the Iraqi desert is
one of the last places we might call the "Desert (or Wilderness) by the
Sea," because there just isn't a sea, at least not as we would describe
it. Yet this is the name given to Babylon, now Iraq. The reason for this
nickname for Babylon is that the area is dotted with lakes and, of course, the
great Euphrates River, and the Hebrew understanding of a Sea is not a large,
single body of water like the Mediterranean or Baltic Seas, but rather any
collection of waters. The lakes and rivers of Babylon constitute a sea, and
Babylon has both a desert and a collection of waters; thus, it really is a
Desert or Wilderness by the Sea.
One
other note on this verse. Some translations of this verse begin with the words "A burden against the Desert by the Sea" instead of
prophecy. The word "burden" is simply a reminder of the weight of
seriousness the prophet felt in the words he was sharing. It was Isaiah's way
of emphasizing that these words were serious, and he hoped someone would listen
to what he had to say.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 22
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