Isaiah 40:9-11 What kind of event is described in Isaiah 40:9-11? Later in Isaiah there appears a male herald of good news for Jerusalem (Isa: 41:27, Isa: 52:7). But in Isaiah 40:9 the herald to proclaim “Here is your God!” (NRSV) from a mountain is feminine, a fact brought out in the Hebrew. In Psalm 68, David praises God because He … Continue reading –>
Isa: 40:3-8 How do God’s people receive comfort? Isa: 40:1-8. An unnamed herald announces that God is coming to reveal His glory (Isa: 40:3-5). Another voice proclaims that although humans are transient like foliage, “the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa: 40:8, NRSV). After the exile, God’s people gain back what they had received at Mount Sinai … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 40.1-2 In Isaiah 40.1-2, God comforts His people. Their time of punishment has finally ended. What punishment is that? Is this punishment administered by Assyria, the rod of God’s anger (Isaiah 10), from which God delivered Judah by destroying Sennacherib’s army in 701 B.C. (Isaiah 37)? Or is it the punishment administered by Babylon, which would … Continue reading –>
Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Isaiah 40.1-2; Isaiah 40.3-8; Isaiah 40.9-11; Isa: 40:12-31. Memory Text: “Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ ” (Isaiah 40:9). World War II … Continue reading –>
Unexplainable Voice By Andrew Mcchesney, Adventist Mission Pavlodar, a city of 300,000 people in northern Kazakhstan, isn’t particularly large. But Valentina Shlee couldn’t seem to find the time to make the trip across town to deliver a gift from Germany. Valentina spent a lot of time caring for her three children. She also helped her … Continue reading –>
Further Study: “Only by the direct interposition of God could the shadow on the sundial be made to turn back ten degrees; and this was to be the sign to Hezekiah that the Lord had heard his prayer. Accordingly, ‘the prophet cried unto the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 38:1-39:8 The events of Isaiah 38 and 39 (2 Kings 20) took place very close to the time God delivered Hezekiah from Sennacherib, even though the deliverance, as depicted in Isaiah 37 (see also 2 Kings 19) had not yet occurred. Indeed, Isaiah 38:5-6 and 2 Kings 20:6 show that they still faced the Assyrian threat. “Satan was determined to bring about … Continue reading –>
Isa: 37:21-38. According to Sennacherib, as reported in his annals, he took forty-six fortified towns, besieged Jerusalem, and made Hezekiah the Jew “a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.” — James B. Pritchard, editor, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1969), p. … Continue reading –>
Isa: 36:21-37:20 How did the clever oratory of the rabshakeh affect Hezekiah and his officials? 2 Kings 18:37-19:4, Isa: 36:21-37:4. Shaken to the core and mourning in distress, Hezekiah turned to God, humbly seeking the intercession of Isaiah, the very prophet whose counsel his father had ignored. How did God encourage Hezekiah? Isa: 37:5-7. The message was brief, but it was enough. … Continue reading –>
Isa: 36:2-20 The rulers of Assyria were not only brutal, they were intelligent. Their goal was wealth and power, not simply destruction (compare Isaiah 10.13-14). Why use resources to take a city by force if you can persuade its inhabitants to surrender? So, while he was engaged in the siege of Lachish, Sennacherib sent his rabshakeh, a kind … Continue reading –>
