April 21, 2022: Day 86 – Isaiah 16-20 and Psalm 144

Once again the prophet is given the words to speak against the nations that are surrounding Israel and Judah.  We pick up in the middle of a prophecy against Moab and then transition to one against Damascus.  From there we hear a prophecy against Cush, whose people are described as tall, smooth skinned, and an aggressive nation of strange speech.  Keep in mind that these prophecies are meant to interpret a future that would see Israel free and its enemies destroyed.  That is not the current state in which Isaiah is writing.  In fact, Israel and Judah are both captives and are struggling to survive and maintain their national and religious identity.  But Isaiah speaks of a future where God will reign.  That was not the case in the present, but Isaiah encourages the people to expect it to happen.

You see a similar approach in the gospel songs that were sung by the slaves as they pined for a Beulah land which was not reflected at all in their current reality.  Any people that finds itself under slavery, or under oppression will see God liberating them at one time or another and the ones who are doing the enslaving or the oppressing find themselves under the heel of God who punishes them.  This is Isaiah’s approach in these chapters, except in 19:18-25 where we read about a détente between Egypt and Assyrian, both countries that had oppressed Israel terribly.  We even see a picture of a highway between the two nations as a description of a future peace that was to come.  It is almost as if God has expanded his favored nation status from just Israel to now Egypt and Assyrian.

Psalm 144 contains the words that we should have heard at one time or another in vs. 3-4 where we see that humanity remains a creation of God and yet at the same time is as fleeting as the breath of God.  We know from creation that it was the breath of God that gave life to humanity, and we are reminded of the real precariousness of our lives which happen to be in the hands of God.