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Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23; Haftara for Par’shah Shemoth
Jan 1, 2016 0:28:49 GMT -8
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Post by alon on Jan 1, 2016 0:28:49 GMT -8
Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23; Haftara for Par’shah Shemoth (names)
To be honest, this passage is a bit confusing to me; very chaotic. I had to read it in context to make any sense of it at all- particularly Is 27:1-5. It spans earth history from the War in the Heavens to the Olam Haba. It’s theme seems to be found in vs. 28:10 “It is “tsav letsav, tsav lestav; qav leqav, qav leqav, a little of this, a little of that.”[ A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish] (Common English Bible). I’d take solace in the fact that the commentators all had radically different takes on this passage as well, but after reading them I am more confused than before. So please bear with me, and if you have any insights please share them as well!
Isaiah 29:22-23 (ESV) Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
This ending to the haftarah, two verses which make a substantial jump forward seems to emphasize the prevailing Jewish position that the primary gist of the passage is the redemption and preservation of all Israel. This is certainly represented here:
Isaiah 27:6-11 (ESV) In days to come Jacob shall take root,Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
Note the requirements to crush the alters and remove the Asher poles (trees) of pagan worship. Very timely instructions as we’ve just survived another Christmas season.
While this haftarah starts out likening Israel to the Lord’s vineyard, which He keeps, it seems to then flow seamlessly into judgement! Reading in context gives us a better perspective on this:
Isaiah 27:1-5 (ESV) In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day; I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.”
This seems to me to give an overview and sense of God’s purpose in the history of man. It starts with Leviathon being punished, then slain. Stories of this are common in Jewish and other near-eastern religions; possibly holdovers from the war in the heavens when the Cherubim were defeated:
Job 26:12-13 (ESV) By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Revelation 9:14-15 (ESV) saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
These are very powerful angels, possibly cherubim chained after the War in the Heavens so they couldn’t destroy mankind utterly. They are chained in the depths of the river, defeated in the beginning and to be utterly defeated in the end; they seem to embody the imagery of Leviathan in this passage. This gives another picture, a contrast of how we see time and how God sees it. We see time progressing on a line from one point to the next. God sees it all as one point. He see the beginning to the end as though they are one single fraction of a second as we know time. And thus I think the easy shift from security to forgiveness to punishment and destruction.
Isaiah 27:12-13 (ESV) In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
And so we have an end times prophecy of retribution for Israel’s enemies, restoration of the exiles and worship on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Followed immediately by more judgement for the Northern Tribes (Ephriam); drunk on wine and gluttony, but also on their own wealth and sense of success and power.
Isaiah 28:1,5 (ESV) Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! … In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
The beauty of their civilization is compared to the beauty of the land, both fading. Samaria is the garland on Israel’s head, drunken and dying. Yet the beauty of the crown placed on His people (Judah) never fades! But the people did not listen to Isaiah’s warnings. His prophecies sounded to them like childish gibberish. Israel was confident in their own pride, drunk with both their success and their excess. But their civilization was fading, soon to be trampled on like the garland of a drunkard fallen and forgotten after the party. Their wealth would be easily plucked and devoured by another people.
Isaiah 28:1,3-4 (ESV) Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! … The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.
Isaiah 28:11-12 (ESV) For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.
They were to be led away by a people with a strange tongue, whose speech really was gibberish to them! The passage goes on to prophecy the capture and punishment not only of the Northern Tribes, but of Jerusalem as well! Again, all gibberish unless we look at this not as prophesying of one event, but of several events from the beginning to the end of time as we know it.
Dan C
No references are given this time because this is almost entirely my take on this section of scripture. (And I can hear my usual sources heaving a sigh of relief that they won’t be implicated in this one!)
To be honest, this passage is a bit confusing to me; very chaotic. I had to read it in context to make any sense of it at all- particularly Is 27:1-5. It spans earth history from the War in the Heavens to the Olam Haba. It’s theme seems to be found in vs. 28:10 “It is “tsav letsav, tsav lestav; qav leqav, qav leqav, a little of this, a little of that.”[ A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish] (Common English Bible). I’d take solace in the fact that the commentators all had radically different takes on this passage as well, but after reading them I am more confused than before. So please bear with me, and if you have any insights please share them as well!
Isaiah 29:22-23 (ESV) Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
This ending to the haftarah, two verses which make a substantial jump forward seems to emphasize the prevailing Jewish position that the primary gist of the passage is the redemption and preservation of all Israel. This is certainly represented here:
Isaiah 27:6-11 (ESV) In days to come Jacob shall take root,Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
Note the requirements to crush the alters and remove the Asher poles (trees) of pagan worship. Very timely instructions as we’ve just survived another Christmas season.
While this haftarah starts out likening Israel to the Lord’s vineyard, which He keeps, it seems to then flow seamlessly into judgement! Reading in context gives us a better perspective on this:
Isaiah 27:1-5 (ESV) In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day; I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.”
This seems to me to give an overview and sense of God’s purpose in the history of man. It starts with Leviathon being punished, then slain. Stories of this are common in Jewish and other near-eastern religions; possibly holdovers from the war in the heavens when the Cherubim were defeated:
Job 26:12-13 (ESV) By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Revelation 9:14-15 (ESV) saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
These are very powerful angels, possibly cherubim chained after the War in the Heavens so they couldn’t destroy mankind utterly. They are chained in the depths of the river, defeated in the beginning and to be utterly defeated in the end; they seem to embody the imagery of Leviathan in this passage. This gives another picture, a contrast of how we see time and how God sees it. We see time progressing on a line from one point to the next. God sees it all as one point. He see the beginning to the end as though they are one single fraction of a second as we know time. And thus I think the easy shift from security to forgiveness to punishment and destruction.
Isaiah 27:12-13 (ESV) In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
And so we have an end times prophecy of retribution for Israel’s enemies, restoration of the exiles and worship on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Followed immediately by more judgement for the Northern Tribes (Ephriam); drunk on wine and gluttony, but also on their own wealth and sense of success and power.
Isaiah 28:1,5 (ESV) Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! … In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
The beauty of their civilization is compared to the beauty of the land, both fading. Samaria is the garland on Israel’s head, drunken and dying. Yet the beauty of the crown placed on His people (Judah) never fades! But the people did not listen to Isaiah’s warnings. His prophecies sounded to them like childish gibberish. Israel was confident in their own pride, drunk with both their success and their excess. But their civilization was fading, soon to be trampled on like the garland of a drunkard fallen and forgotten after the party. Their wealth would be easily plucked and devoured by another people.
Isaiah 28:1,3-4 (ESV) Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! … The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.
Isaiah 28:11-12 (ESV) For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.
They were to be led away by a people with a strange tongue, whose speech really was gibberish to them! The passage goes on to prophecy the capture and punishment not only of the Northern Tribes, but of Jerusalem as well! Again, all gibberish unless we look at this not as prophesying of one event, but of several events from the beginning to the end of time as we know it.
Dan C
No references are given this time because this is almost entirely my take on this section of scripture. (And I can hear my usual sources heaving a sigh of relief that they won’t be implicated in this one!)
