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Post by Mark on Oct 15, 2006 3:16:37 GMT -8
In these days it is easy to forget the promise of Adonai to the people of Israel, “I will hold your hand, I will keep you, I will give you for a covenant (a sign of promise) of the people, for a light of the gentiles....” When we look upon the nation of Israel, in the news we hear of all the threat and turmoil, we are compelled to look upon them with pity. We see ourselves (in America) as Israel’s strong advocate: even her benefactor or protector (Adonai have mercy on our ignorance). Yet, Isaiah paints a very different picture: she is the opener of our eyes, she is the rescuer from our bondage, she is the light for our safety. My greatest fear for America today is not that we cease to stand with Israel; rather that we replace Adonai (in the eyes of the world) as Israel’s strength. “I am the Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give another, neither My praise to graven images.” Right now we see our beloved Israel surrounded by her enemies (nothing new); even with new and bigger threats looming on the horizon. We wag our heads and say, “No, Adonai will protect her people. These enemies will not prevail.” Yet, God has not always protected His people in the way that we (at the time) would have expected. Jerusalem has been sacked and plundered by her enemies. We cannot be sure that this will not happen again- especially knowing that the protection of Israel is tied closely to her love for  and her commitment to the ways of Adonai. I fear that the threats and danger are greater within the Israeli culture in her dismissal of the things of God, than the threat of Iranian nuclear development. We see from Isaiah that Adonai sometimes stands at a distance (for a time) and allows the enemies to believe they have won. In this way, Adonai has repeatedly demonstrated His power- that His protection of this people is by the work of His own hand, not by the strategy of the IDF, not by the financial and military might of Israel’s co-allegiants. This is not a prophecy on my part- I’m not suggesting that Israel is once again facing eminent destruction. I am saying that I don’t know how I ought to pray, except that this people return to Adonai who has saved them and protected them to this day. |
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Post by R' Y'hoshua Moshe on Oct 18, 2006 23:35:39 GMT -8
I believe that The Father must cause the people of Yisrael to cling to Him. He will bring them through the fire and refine them seven times. That usually is not a pleasant process for the thing that gets the refining. The more something resists the refining process, the more refining is needed. And, Adonai certainly will not forget His beloved Yisrael. He chastens every son whom He loves. And, in the day that Adonai delivers His people, they will know, it was HE.
Shalom,
Reuel
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Post by ninjaaron on Oct 16, 2009 2:31:05 GMT -8
I think I'll make a quick comment, since this is actually this weeks Haftara. Not in any way to diminish Mark's interpretation, but I want to turn the gem and see the light refracting through another face in this text (since it has 70, after all). This week in the Parasha, we're back to the beginning. Genesis 1:1-6:8, the story of God's good creation and it's downward spiral; The fall, Cain and Able, Lamech, the Nephilim, and God's final decision to destroy it all... but Noah is still that one ray of hope. Perhaps in him, humanity can find redemption. The cycle of reading in the Synagogue links this reading in Isaiah to these narratives. Isaiah is telling us, through poetry, a similar story. We see in the first few verses a redemptive act of New Creation. God again creates light in a dark world. He again sets forces in motion to bring order to the chaos. In verses 1-12, you have this perfect picture of the purpose for which God had called Israel. To teach justice, to free the captives, to make the whole earth acknowledge the glory of God. Verses 13-17 are perhaps the most cryptic part of the reading, dealing with the rage of the Lord. There is little coherence in the account, but we do see that God has become very angry, and we learn in the end that it's on account of Idolatry In verses 18-25, the picture becomes clear. We have the account of Israel's miserable failure in this vocation. Rather than opening blind eyes, they themselves had become blind. Meant to free prisoners, but they themselves are in bondage. They were meant to bring righteousness to the world, but they themselves had failed to walk in God's ways or to follow his . And there is also in these verses judgment. And yet again in Chapter 43 is the ray of hope. God is starting yet new redemptive act. This time, it is for his own miscarried child, Israel himself, and finally to all the peoples of the earth. However, if we go back to the more cryptic section, 42:13-17, we get several interesting insights. The Lord Screams like a woman in labor, gasping and panting, and again we see him turning darkness into light, as at the beginning. The apostasy and judgment of Israel is perhaps portrayed as being a birth travail before God's redemptive plan can really come to fruition. Revelation ch. 12 There is a woman in the heavens. She's got twelve stars in her crown. Dare I suggest the People of God? And the ultimate product of her Travail? The Messiah himself, the one who brings this cycle to an end. In the Gospel of John, ch. 1, we have a third act of creation. Again God opens his mouth, and his Word is Light. We have a repetition of the tragedy of Isaiah. He came to his own, but they didn't receive him, But to those who did receive him, he has given the right to become children of God. John is telling us that the cycle has finally been broken. The one who will be a light to the nations and the redeemer of Israel has finally come in the person of Jesus. Creation is at last moving back towards the creator, being restored to it's original purpose. Israel of course, will function as a light to the nations, but they are not able to function in that capacity until they both believe and walk according to the word of God manifest in the Messiah (of course, neither is the institutional Church). God's redemptive people today is made of both Jews and Gentiles who live according to the way of the Messiah. Peace, Aaron |
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 10, 2015 8:30:59 GMT -8
I am just curious other people's interpretations, specifically Isaiah 42: 14-20. As I was reading it, I had this sense of G-d leading His people in spite of themselves. I had a sense of mercy as I read it; a sovereign and faithful G-d who guides His people even when they are lost. I had a sense of G-d leading them to Him though they can't see Him and don't know how to look for Him.
I am just asking because as I read the comments in my NKJV, it had a much more judgmental and accusatory tone.
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lou
Junior Member
married 15 yrs
Posts: 89 
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Post by lou on Oct 10, 2015 9:56:46 GMT -8
I see as you do Elizabeth. I see Yahs mercy all throughout the . Its all in our perspective. |
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Post by alon on Oct 10, 2015 14:25:39 GMT -8
I am just curious other people's interpretations, specifically Isaiah 42: 14-20. As I was reading it, I had this sense of G-d leading His people in spite of themselves. I had a sense of mercy as I read it; a sovereign and faithful G-d who guides His people even when they are lost. I had a sense of G-d leading them to Him though they can't see Him and don't know how to look for Him. I am just asking because as I read the comments in my NKJV, it had a much more judgmental and accusatory tone.
Isaiah 42:18-21 (ESV)
18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, (Or as the one at peace with me)
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
My belief is that this is a prophecy about both Yisroel and HaMoshiach. There is however an interesting thing here; while Yisroel can be said to be blind and deaf in their sins, Yeshua Himself was merely dumb before His accusers as He paid for those sins. In Yeshua Elohim did magnify His law (His ).
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Post by alon on Oct 10, 2015 14:48:09 GMT -8
Continuing this line of thought, go back and reread from Is 42:1.
Isaiah 42:1 (ESV) Behold (here is- JPS) my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
If ch. 42 is about Yisroel (and it is), then this servant can only be HaMoshiach. In Yeshua, Elohim and Yisroel were reunited I the physical realm. This haftara is prophetically about both. The language here contrasts God's servant with the pagan gods and those who worship them, either goyim or Iv'rit. Compare this with the end of ch. 41.
Isaiah 42:13-17 (ESV)
13The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16 And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17 They are turned back and utterly put to  ,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
Here the mixed imagery of God as both a warrior waging battle for His people and as a mother in childbirth is very vivid. Both are bloody, violent, and extremely energetic affairs which result in a new creation. And both are fierce in the protection of that creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
We are now part of that creation, just as Yisroel was His creation as a nation.
The rest of this haftara speaks of a people who deserve punishment, and yet will be redeemed. The tone sounds bleak, yet it is actually a comfort to them, and us, that Elohim will not forget His people, and in the end they (and we) are to be redeemed.
Dan C
Sources: JPS Study TNK, Warren Wiersby, my father
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Post by Elizabeth on Oct 10, 2015 15:32:39 GMT -8
I am just curious other people's interpretations, specifically Isaiah 42: 14-20. As I was reading it, I had this sense of G-d leading His people in spite of themselves. I had a sense of mercy as I read it; a sovereign and faithful G-d who guides His people even when they are lost. I had a sense of G-d leading them to Him though they can't see Him and don't know how to look for Him. I am just asking because as I read the comments in my NKJV, it had a much more judgmental and accusatory tone.
Isaiah 42:18-21 (ESV)
18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, (Or as the one at peace with me)
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
My belief is that this is a prophecy about both Yisroel and HaMoshiach. There is however an interesting thing here; while Yisroel can be said to be blind and deaf in their sins, Yeshua Himself was merely dumb before His accusers as He paid for those sins. In Yeshua Elohim did magnify His law (His ).
Really interesting; Yeshua probably seemed blind and deaf in the world's eyes fairly often. The people who accused him of not knowing who he was spending time with when he kept company with adulterers, prostitutes, and tax collectors. I think in some ways he blinded himself to sin, but in a way that overcame it in love and hope in the truth. He could see them for who they were, good and bad, but ultimately saw something worth loving. I do think that is a theme we can see on several levels in this passage. One amazing thing to me is that those people didn't see it in themselves until Yeshua showed it to them. Then they truly repented. We can not only be blinded by sin, but also as a result, we can be blinded to our worth. Just a really good reminder for me. Thanks!! I |
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Post by alon on Oct 26, 2016 14:30:36 GMT -8
This is our Haftara for 27 Tishre, 5777 (29 Oct, 2016) ... so BUMP! 
Dan C |
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and her commitment to the ways of Adonai. I fear that the threats and danger are greater within the Israeli culture in her dismissal of the things of God, than the threat of Iranian nuclear development. 
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