BIBLE STUDY: December 16th

The meeting opened with prayer

In the Scriptures, by the Spirit,
   May we see the Saviour's face,
Hear His word and heed His calling -
   Know His will and grow in grace.
Amen
 

This is our last meeting before Christmas (meeting on the 23rd would not be practical as people will be occupied with family visits and preparations for Christmas day itself) and, following what we decided last week, we quickly disposed of the rest of chapter 10 (verses 5 to the end) and concentrated on chapters 11 (the coming of the virtuous Messianic king) and 12 (two hymns of thanksgiving) as a suitable preparation for Christmas.
 

Isaiah 10: 5 to 21

5

Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath.

6

Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him To seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets.

7

But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; Rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few.

8

"Are not my commanders all kings?" he says,

9

"Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, or Samaria like Damascus?

10

Just as my hand reached out to idolatrous kingdoms that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria,

11

Just as I treated Samaria and her idols, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her graven images?"

12

(But when the LORD has brought to an end all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the utterance of the king of Assyria's proud heart,

13

and the boastfulness of his haughty eyes. For he says:) "By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.

14

My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; As one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!"

15

Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood!

16

Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, And instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire.

17

The Light of Israel will become a fire, Israel's Holy One a flame, That burns and consumes his briers and his thorns in a single day.

18

His splendid forests and orchards will be consumed, soul and body;

19

And the remnant of the trees in his forest will be so few, Like poles set up for signals, that any boy can record them.

20

On that day The remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no more lean upon him who struck them; But they lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21

A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

This is addressed to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, whom Isaiah sees as God's instrument for punishining the apostacy of Israel. But, says Isaiah, the king of Assyria has grown proud and arrogant, thinking he has conquered by his own power, wisdom and shrewdness. Therefore, Assyria will fail in its seige of Jerusalem, and a remnant of the "house of Jacob", i.e. Israel, will survive and return to Jerusalem.
 

Isaiah 10: 22 to 27a

22

For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant of them will return; their destruction is decreed as overwhelming justice demands.

23

Yes, the destruction he has decreed, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will carry out within the whole land.

24

Therefore thus says the Lord, the GOD of hosts: O my people, who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian, though he strikes you with a rod, and raises his staff against you.

25

For only a brief moment more, and my anger shall be over; but them I will destroy in wrath.

26

Then the LORD of hosts will raise against them a scourge such as struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did against Egypt.

27a

On that day, His burden shall be taken from your shoulder, and his yoke shattered from your neck.

This is addressed to Israel, telling them that they are not to be afraid of the Assyrians, but to wait and trust in the LORD. So too we should not be afraid of the increasing tide of paganism but trust in the LORD as we wait in joyful hope for His second coming.
 

Isaiah 10: 27b to 34

27b

He has come up from the direction of Rimmon,

28

he has reached Aiath, passed through Migron, at Michmash his supplies are stored.

29

They cross the ravine: "We will spend the night at Geba." Ramah is in terror, Gibeah of Saul has fled.

30

Cry and shriek, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!

31

Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.

32

Even today he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem!

33

Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, lops off the boughs with terrible violence; The tall of stature are felled, and the lofty ones brought low;

34

The forest thickets are felled with the axe, and Lebanon in its splendor falls.

Isaiah reiterates that the Assyrian invader will not prevail against Jerusalem and the remnant of Israel will be saved. The description of the advance of the Assyrian army is somewhat poetic in that it does not follow the actual historical route taken by the Assyrians; the towns chosen to suggest appropriate puns or recall past battles. The important message is that the Assyrians have over-reached themselves, become proud and arrogant and will fail in their siege of Jerusalem.
 

Isaiah 11: 1 to 5

1

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

2

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,

3

and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide,

4

But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

5

Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

Jesse was David's father. Zedekia, the last Davidic king of Judah, was taken captive by the Babylonians in 587 BC. When the Jews return from exile after 537 BC, only a stump of the Davidic dynasty, i.e. "the stump of Jesse", remained. But just as a shoot might grow from the stump left after a tree has been cut down, so one day a new shoot will arise from the remnant of the Davidic line (the stump Jesse), namely the Messianic King. We see this prophecy fulfilled in the birtn of Jesus.

The Holy Sprit will come to rest on Jesus at his baptism (see Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). Verse 2 and the first part verse 3 lists, in the Septuagint and Vulgate versions, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Where the received Hebrew text has the first occurrence of the 'fear of the LORD', the Septuagint and Vulgate has 'piety', A literal translation of the Septuagint version reads: "And there rest upon him the spirit of God, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of strength, the spirit of knowledge and of piety shall fill him, [and] the spirit of the fear of God." The Messiah will be filled with the plenitude of the Holy Spirit in all his seven gifts.

The Messiah will be a just king who will not judge by appearances. We were reminded of Christ's own words: "My judgment is valid, because I am not alone, but it is I and the Father who sent me" (John 8:16) .
 

Isaiah 11: 6 to 9

6

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.

7

The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox.

8

The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.

9

There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.

Here we have a prophecy of the restoration of creation to the harmony intended by God. We noticed that "the lion shall eat hay like the ox" and were reminded of the words in Genesis on the 'sixth day' of creation: "God also said: 'See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food.' And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good" (Genesis 1:29-31).

We understand these verses to be a prophecy of the time when there will be "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1) and all things are made anew when Jesus comes again in glory.
 

Isaiah 11: 10 to 16

10

On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.

11

On that day, The Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria and Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, and Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the isles of the sea.

12

He shall raise a signal to the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel; The dispersed of Judah he shall assemble from the four corners of the earth.

13

The envy of Ephraim shall pass away, and the rivalry of Judah be removed; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile to Ephraim;

14

But they shall swoop down on the foothills of the Philistines to the west, together they shall plunder the Kedemites; Edom and Moab shall be their possessions, and the Ammonites their subjects.

15

The LORD shall dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and wave his hand over the Euphrates in his fierce anger And shatter it into seven streamlets, so that it can be crossed in sandals.

16

There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, As there was for Israel when he came up from the land of Egypt.

We note that the Messiah is to be "a signal for the nations [and t]he Gentiles shall seek him out." Christ will be the universal saviour.

The chapter finishes by looking forward to a day when the people of Israel in exile will return again and be reconciled to one another; Ephraim, the northern kingdom, will be reconciled with Judah. Then, in poetic language, the prophet poclaims that the Israelites will be brought back from exile in a similar way to their coming out of Egypt centuries earlier. This prophecy was partly fulfilled in the return after the Babylonian captivity. Some see it being fulfilled in the creation of modern Israel; but we did remind ourselves that more Jews live outside of Israel than live within it. We can understand here a prophecy of the final reconciliation of the Old Israel and the New Israel, the Church, - of Jew and Gentile - as the one people of God.
 

Isaiah 12: 1 to 6

1

On that day, you will say: I give you thanks, O LORD; though you have been angry with me, your anger has abated, and you have consoled me.

2

God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior.

3

With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation,

This is a short psalm of praise to the LORD, who is our salvation. We trust in the LORD and are not afraid for "with joy we ... draw water at the fountain of salvation."

We were reminded of the words we often sing durng the Asperges; "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." We understand this to refer to the redeeming water of baptism; we were reminded also of Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well outside Sychar: "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14).
 

4

and say on that day: Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.

5

Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth.

6

Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!

This is the second of the two psalms of thansgiving. But we show our thanks to the LORD by acclaiming His name, by making Him known to the whole world. Do we acclaim God? Do we make Him known among our fellow men and women? We should shout with exultation because Jesus, God-with-us (Immanuel) , true God from true God, is great in the midst of his Holy Church, the New Israel.

"Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)
 

The meeting closed with prayer.

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Most of the scripture texts on this page are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.