Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer. – Isaiah 29:9

Today's Scripture Reading (May 23, 2026): Isaiah 29

From February 1692 until May 1693, the citizens of the Province of Massachusetts Bay endured a frightening period in their history. In the coastal town in Essex County, four young girls accused a few women of the town of causing them harm. The method these women used to harm the girls was not physical, but spiritual; the women were accused of causing harm to others through witchcraft. This accusation was the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials. It was a time when dreams were evidence, and circumstances could often make people believe that others were in league with the devil. The Witch Trials began with four girls, but it didn't stop there. What happened next became an example of mass hysteria as the accusation began to spread. Conflicts that happened between neighbors quickly escalated to accusations of witchcraft. Childhood pranks became evidence of a spreading evil that had infected the area. Those accused were often outcasts or people who were in some way different from the rest of society.

There is no doubt that many believed that witches were real and that the accused were evidence of Satan's army moving among the people. There is also no doubt that the hysteria was self-inflicted. The more people were accused of witchcraft, the more belief in witches seemed to take hold of the people in the area. In the end, more than two hundred people were accused, thirty were found guilty of witchcraft, nineteen people were executed by hanging, one died as a direct result of torture, and at least five people died in disease-ridden jails without a trial.   

One of the stories that sticks out for me is the tale of Reverend George Burroughs. Burroughs was accused of witchcraft and conspiring with the devil, although the real crime was that Burroughs was believed to be a closeted Baptist. The problem was that Burroughs had not taken communion or the Lord's Supper every Sunday, and only one of his children had been baptized. Even though no witches' mark had been found on his body, and the fact that he had emotionally prayed the Lord's Prayer, something that it was believed that no witch could do, Burroughs was found guilty and hanged on August 19, 1692. There is nothing in George Burroughs' actions that many pastors would not be guilty of today.

As Isaiah looks at Judah, he sees a people who had chosen to be blind. They were drunk, but not with drink or with the Spirit. They stumbled as a direct effect of a kind of hysteria. A lie had convinced them, and there was nothing that anyone could do to help them. Sometimes, I feel like Isaiah. As I interact with the culture around me, I am surrounded by people who have chosen to be blind and drunk. It is the same kind of hysteria that swept through the Province of Massachusetts almost three hundred and fifty years ago, and I am still "stunned and amazed." 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 30