Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119.103
| Text size: +/-A Word in Time
This week's theme: Rock-like Faith
Caption:The divided kingdom
Thursday 28th August 2008
"Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not come to us;
for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter';
therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: 'One who trusts will not panic.'
And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.
Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
you will be beaten down by it." (v.15-18)
Background
Isaiah began preaching in the year that Uzziah, the king of Judah, died in about 740 BC. Isaiah lived through a period which saw the expansion of the Assyrian empire, which was seen as a constant threat to the kingdom of Judah. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC.
Gibeon was the place of a memorable victory by Joshua, when many of the fleeing Gibeonites were killed by hailstones (Joshua 10:6-15). Mount Perazim was one of the first places where King David had defeated the Philistines after he had been anointed as king (2 Samuel 5:17-21). In each case, the defeat of these enemies had been interpreted as an act of God.
Isaiah's references to Sheol are to the shadowy place where people of his time believed everyone went when they died. It is ironical to suggest that people had made some agreement with Death that they would escape the coming act of destruction.
God's strange work is the work of judgement. We expect God to be a rescuer, a saviour. It is a shock when the nation, who call themselves the people of God, find that they themselves are under God's judgement.
Mount Zion is the hill on which the city of Jerusalem is built. Isaiah saw this as the place where God could build on those who put their trust in God.
To Ponder
Do we imagine ourselves immune from the sort of disasters that have struck people in other parts of the world? Why?
What are the foundations in which you put your trust?
Bible notes author: Revd Alan Coustick
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