LUKE 22:7f

Home Listening and Class Assignment due 6 April for Class Discussion on WEDNESDAY 7 April.

PERSON OF PERSONS UNKNOWN
View this teleplay in 3 segments (1,  2, 3),
then answer the questions below.
HOME LISTENING AND CLASS ASSIGNMENT
Email to Stella Chen, Due 6 April
Please bring to class on  Wednesday 7 April 2010

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    1 What does David say he's late for?
    2 What does he call stupid?
    3 What did he want to do at home instead of going to the party?
    4 What does he look for in the bathroom medicine cabinet?
    5 What kind of mask does he want the fire department to bring?
    6 At what count does Wilma threaten to phone the police?
    7 How many martinis did Wilma have at midnight?
    8 What time does David say it is after Wilma tries to phone the police?
    9 What does he look for in the bureau drawers?
    10 What does he tell Wilma he's not in the mood for?
    11 Who is sitting at his desk?
    12 What is the policeman's name?
    13 What two objects does David want returned to the desk?
    14 Where does the policeman want David to go in order to talk?
    15 How many paces does the policeman want David to walk?
    16 What does the policeman say he doesn't want to have to do?
    17 How many years does David say he's been married to Wilma?
    18 How many years has he worked with the policeman?
    19 What two items does David try to find in his wallet?
    20 What is David's middle name?
    21 What does the doctor say that David has to face?
    22 Whom does the doctor say David has invented?
    23 How old is David?
    24 Who does the doctor say David's fellow patient is?
    25 What five digits does David tell the doctor to dial on the phone?
    26 Whom does David speak to on the phone?
    27 What are the five digits of the second number the doctor phones?
    28 Whom does David speak to on this call?
    29 What does the doctor say was a mistake?
    30 What edition is the telephone directory?
    31 What does the doctor say he (they) will try to find out?
    32 What does the doctor say David had a total loss of?
    33 What does David say people can't get inside of?
    34 What does David say a man's life is made up of?
    35 Where does the doctor want David to go back to?
    36 What drink does David order at the bar?
    37 What is the bartender's name?
    38 What night of the week does David say he patronizes the bar?
    39 For how many years?
    40 Who does the bartender say comes in every Friday night?
    41 What place does David say he kept a secret?
    42 What is the bartender's last name?
    43 What does the bartender say he would tell people to switch if people didn't recognize him?
    44 What is the bartender's wife's name?
    45 How many children does he have?
    46 What are their names?
    47 What was the bartender's nickname when he was a prize fighter?
    48 What does David tell the bartender he thinks he found (one word)?
    49 Where was David and his wife on Sunday, the 14th?
    50 How much money does David owe the woman who gave him the photograph?
    51 What does Wilma tell David she wants to get off her face?
    52 What two drinks does Wilma say that David drank the evening before?
    53 What kind of mood does Wilma say David is in?
    54 Where does the narrator say that David is looking for the answer of his stolen identity?

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DUE TO SPRING BREAK THERE WILL BE NO HOME LISTENING ASSIGNMENT DUE MONDAY OF NEXT WEEK.

ISAIAH 40:15

EASTER

TOMB SWEEPING DAY

SONG OF SONGS 8:6

FIVE SONGS RELATED TO BIBLE HANDOUTS

FIVE SONGS RELATED TO BIBLE HANDOUTS

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BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES. Go here. No singing, but you can easily sing along with the lyrics since the musical setting is syllabic (one note for each syllable).

I SHALL NOT BE MOVED. (Vocal and lyrics; go here. The vocal is awful but there are other versions; Johnny Cash also recorded the song, but there must be hundreds of others.) Direct quote of Psalm 1 (the Wisdom Psalm).

LILY OF THE VALLEY. (Go here.) Note the reference to  Song of Songs ("lily"), also Isaiah and Revelation ("morning star").

SUNRISE, SUNSET. (Go here.) The chorus from this famous song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof is based on the first chapter of the book of Ecclesisates ("The sun also rises, and the sun sets").

is this the little girl i carried,
is this the little boy at play?

i don't remember growing older,
when did they?

when did she get to be a beauty,
when did he grow to be so tall?

wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

sunrise, sunset
swiftly flow the days.

seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
blossoming even as we gaze.

sunrise, sunset ,
swiftly fly the years,
one season following another,
laiden with happiness and tears.

what words of wisdom can i give them,
how can i help to ease their way?

now they must learn from one another,
day by day.

they look so natural together.

just like two newlyweds should be.

is there a canopy in store for me?

sunrise, sunset ,
swiftly fly the years,
one season following another,
laiden with happiness,
and tears 

WORKING ON A BUILDING. (Go here.) Elvis Presley won his only Grammy awards for his Gospel albums. This is from one of his Gospel albums. This motif is used in Psalms, and Jesus also uses it ("Build you house on rock"). But the motif is more pervasive in Paul's letters, since, for Paul, the body of the Christian is the new Temple. Lyrics below:

I'm working on the building
It's a true foundation
I'm holding up the blood-stained
Banner for my lord
Well I never get tired, tired, tired of working on the building
I'm going up to heaven to get my reward

I'm working on the building
It's a true foundation
I'm holding up the blood-stained
Banner for my lord
Well I never get tired, tired, tired of working on the building
I'm going up to heaven oh yeah, to get my reward

I'm working on the building
It's a true foundation
I'm holding up the blood-stained
Banner for my lord
Well I never get tired, tired, tired of working on the building
I'm going up to heaven oh yeah, to get my reward

I'm working on the building
It's a true foundation
I'm holding up the blood-stained
Banner for my lord
Well I never get tired, tired, tired of working on the building
I'm going up to heaven oh yeah, to get my reward

I'm working on the building
It's a true foundation
I'm holding up the blood-stained
Banner for my lord
Well I never get tired, tired, tired of working on the building
I'm going up to heaven oh yeah, to get my reward

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EZEKIEL April, 2010

Ezekiel
April 2010
The book of Ezekiel is the last of the 3 Major Prophets in Jewish Scriptures (Christians include Lamentations and Daniel). The book is famous for its strange visions; some have seen a prediction of flying saucers or "men from outer space" in the famous chariot vision that begins the book. Because of the oddity of the book, early Jewish scholars debated whether to include it in the canon (the collection of inspired Scripture we now call the Bible). Ezekiel was the first prophet to prophesy outside Jerusalem, which posed a problem for Jews who wondered whether God could speak outside of Jerusalem, in Babylon. (Recall the story of David who feared, in his flight from Jerusalem, he would be unable to worship God. Or the story of Naaman, the Syrian, who carried some earth from Jerusalem with him back to Syria in order to worship the Jewish God.)  The book's strange images inspired the Christian book of  Revelation, which borrows motifs and images from the earlier book (the four creatures, etc.). Despite its strangeness, Ezekiel is a favorite in Gospel music.

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1

[1] As I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened. I saw visions of God.
[2] It was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin,
[3] the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest.
[4] As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, something like gleaming bronze.
[5] There came the likeness of four living creatures.
[10] As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.
These creatures became the source of the imagery for the 4 Christian evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with Matthew identified as the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox, and John the eagle. (See Revelation 4:7.) Ezekiel takes care not to say this is how they looked, only this is how they appeared to look ("the likeness of"). The heavenly realm is beyond human standards; the prophet can only come close to describing his experience in human terms or images.
[12] And each went straight forward without turning as they went,
[14] like lightning.
[15] Then I saw a wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of them.
[16] The wheels were like a wheel within a wheel.
The point is that these creatures can move in any direction without effort: it's an image of heavenly power.
[17] They went in any of four directions without turning as they went.
[19] And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them;
[20] for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
[26] And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above was a likeness of a human form.
More emphasis on "likeness of." These are only human images of heavenly appearances.
[27] And upward from what seemed like his loins I saw something like gleaming bronze, like fire enclosed round about; downward from what seemed his loins I saw the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. [28] Such was the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

2

[1] And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you."
The theme of "empowerment" again ("stand on your feet"). "Son of Man" becomes a Messianic phrase in the Gospels. This phrase has been often debated, especially when later used by Jesus of himself. Here it seems clear that it stresses the mortality of the prophet: compared to God, he is ONLY a man and (using Hebrew parallelism) a son of man.

3

[1] And he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll, and  speak to the house of Israel."
[3]  Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey.
This suggests the prophet has made God's words his own (in modern slang, he not only talks the talk but walks the walk); and moreover, that God's word is sweet, even when predicting woe (see the great psalm praising the Law, Psalm 119). These verses are similar to the Commision (Call) verses in Isaiah and Jeremiah, including the challenge to face a stubborn people:
[9] Like rock have I made your forehead; fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house."
[14] The Spirit lifted me up and took me away;
[15] and I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar.
[16] At the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:
[17] "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
The prophet has a moral responsibility to warn the flock (like a parent's moral's responsibility). In the next chapter, the prophet is somehow lifted from Babylon to Jerusalem to see the Temple abuses:

8

[1] As I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
[2] Then I saw a form like a man; below what appeared to be his waist it was fire, and above his waist it was like brightness, like gleaming bronze.
[3] He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven,
[14] Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD; and there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
[15] Then he said to me, "You will see still worse than these."
Tammuz was a vegetation god mourned in an annual ritual. Some see a relation between Tammuz and Jesus, since they both rose in the spring (like fruits and flowers).
[16] And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD; and at the door of the temple of the LORD were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.
The story of Samson has been seen as an image of the sun (his hair looks like the rays of the sun, he sets like the sun [goes blind], adopted for the Hebrew religion). Thus sun worship must have been common among Jews, one of many temptations.

10
This explains why the Israelites could be conquered by the Babylonians; because the Lord has stopped protecting them from his temporary home in the Temple. The reason is the temple is no longer a holy place, but a place where false gods are worshipped (see ch. 8 above).

Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple. . . .

11

[19] "I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
[20] that they may walk in my statutes and keep my laws and obey them; they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

12

[1] The word of the LORD came to me:
Another good example of a symbolic action:
[3] Prepare for yourself an exile's baggage; go into exile by day in their sight; you shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand.
[15] They shall know I am the LORD, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries.

24

[1] In the ninth year, the word of the LORD came to me:
Another symbolic action:
[2] "Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
[3] And speak an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also;
[4] put in it the pieces of flesh, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones.
[5] Take the choicest one of the flock, pile the logs under it; boil its pieces and bones.
[6] "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it, and whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice.
The rust (sins) cannot come out, since part of the pot (Israel).
[10] Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the flesh and empty out the broth, and let the bones be burned up.
[11] Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, that its filthiness may be melted in it, its rust consumed.
[13] Its rust is your filthy lewdness.
[15] Also the word of the LORD came to me:
Another symbolic action showing what happens in war, namely one doesn't have time to weep for one's beloved dead. Chapter 34 must have been a key influence on the image of Jesus as shepherd:
[16] "Son of man, look, I am about to take away the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep nor shall your tears run down."
[18] So my wife died. And the next morning I did as I was told.
[19] And the people said to me, "Will you not tell us what these things mean, why you are acting thus?"
[20] Then I said to them, "The word of the LORD came to me:
[21] `Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD:
[22] You shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of mourners.
[23] You shall not mourn or weep, but shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another.

34

[1] The word of the LORD came to me:
[10] Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
[12] As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered.
[16] I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.
God will judge shepherds and sheep. Compare Jesus as Good Shepherd and Righteous Judge:
[17] "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep.
V. 18 could be relevant to the modern ecology movement:
[18] Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet?
[22] I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
A Messianic prophecy. "David" refers to a member of the house of David, like "Israel" refers not to the man Israel (Jacob) but to the nation named after him:
[23] And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David [refers to the House of David, not David himself], and he shall feed them.
[25] "I will make with them a covenant of peace.
[28] They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.
A restatement of the Shepherd imagey from Moses to Jesus (as well as the most famous Psalm [23]):
[31] And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD."

36
The original name of the Jewish-Christians was the "Way," until they were named Christians in Antioch. The "problem" of the Bible is how to return people to God; so there are covenants, promises of rest (Sabbath; the Promised Land); a new heart (Jeremiah, Ezekiel); and finally the last sacrifice that should make following the law as easy as following Jesus ("my yoke is easy" [Matthew 11:30]); beyond this, the permanent presence of the Holy Ghost to guide the person to righteousness (for today's Christians, Jesus replaces the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit: the "Comforter").

[26] A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
[27] And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

37

This is one of the most famous texts in the Bible: the Valley of Dry Bones.
[1] The LORD brought me out by the Spirit and set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones.
[3] And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, thou knowest."
[5] Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
[7]So I prophesied and there was a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
[9] Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."
[10] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host.
[11]Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, `Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost.'
[12] Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.
[14] And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live."
Note that the above does not refer to resurrection (though it can be used for this purpose); it refers to a symbolic promise to restore Israel, as the symbolic action below:
[25] "And David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
[26] it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore."

43
In a vision, God returns to his Temple, with the water of life, which renews everything:

Then the man [God's messenger] brought me to the [Temple] gate facing east and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east.

47

[1]Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.
[8] And he said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the dead waters of the sea, the water will become fresh.
In this vision of a restored temple, the waters from the Temple can revive the waters in the Dead Sea and give life.  See the River of Life in Revelation 22:1ff.
[9] And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
[12] And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not die nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."
Compare Revelation 22:2: "On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

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JEREMIAH & LAMENTATIONS: Month of April 2010

Jeremiah
April 2010

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Jeremiah is one of the three major prophets in Hebrew tradition and one of the Five Major Prophets in Christian tradition (Christians add Daniel and Lamentations to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). He lived in the age from Josiah, famous for his reforming of Jewish worship, to King Zedekiah and the Exile. Because of his laments, his name has been turned into a noun, "jeremiad" (a tearful complaint). One of Rembrandt's most famous paintings is of Jeremiah. The book is disorganized, moving from different kings, back and forth, in no order; a lot is repetitious (repeats ideas and events); but what remains is gold, among the finest poetry in the world's literature (along with Job, Isaiah, the Psalms). Also unique in Jeremiah is the great deal of autobiography in it.

1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah: 1:2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 1:4 Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 1:5 "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." 1:6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child."
God's power over life starts from the womb (this could be used as an anti-abortion argument). Reluctance to speak for God continues a tradition started by Moses. Note the important responsibility of a prophet, who is in control of nations, a spokesperson for God himself:
1:7 But Yahweh said to me, "Don't say, 'I am a child;' for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak. 1:8 Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you," says Yahweh. 1:9 Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 1:10 Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." 1:11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."
1:12 Then Yahweh said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."
V. 12 is a pun (homophone) on "watch" and "almond," which sound alike in Hebrew. It's like showing a prophet the sea: "What is this that I show you?" "The sea." "Yes, and I see all that happens in the world."
1:13 The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."
1:14 Then Yahweh said to me, "Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
The north was commonly where dangers came. Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians (722 BCE). Judah was safer because Israel (the northern part of the Jewish nation) served as a buffer. But with the fall of Israel this was no longer true. The reference is to the Babylonians, from the north. V. 17 is oddly phrased: don't be afraid or I'll make you afraid. But this is good pyschology; like saying, "Don't be afraid of taking the exam, or you'll be afraid and fail." This kind of thinking is repeated in the verse, "walked after vanity, and are become vain." In sum: We are what we love. When we love something  worthless we become worthless.
1:17 "You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 1:18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 1:19 They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you," says Yahweh, "to deliver you."
2:4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 2:5 Thus says Yahweh, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 2:6 Neither did they say, 'Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt?
Note the stronger sense of monotheism now: there is no belief in any God but God; the Hebrew God is not simply greater than other gods, but the only God:
2:11 Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
2:13 "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 2:14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?
Note above the emphasis on social freedom, a founding principle of the Jewish religion, of which there are several: 1. All creation is good, 2. God is a God of history and social justice, and 3. the Sabbath (rest) is a part of history, until the end of history. This is probably how the idea of Heaven developed. 2:19 is good psychology, similar to Dante's idea of the counterpassion: we are punished by our sins, not for our sins. Like saying, "Your own smoking will punish you" (with ill health, cancer, etc.).
2:19 "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you.
2:28 "But where are your gods you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.
Note the common metaphor of marriage: God divorced (abandoned) Israel (as distinct from the southern part of the nation, Judah); which means Israel was defeated by the Assyrians (722 BCE). But her sister, Judah, still doesn't fear.
3:8 I saw, when backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.
3:15 I will give you shepherds [leaders] according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
The writing must be Exilic (during the Babylonian exile) because Jeremiah dismisses the value of the Ark of the Covenant, like "sour grapes": since it's gone, forget about it. Note the motif of universalism, by necessity, since other nations (peoples) are occupying the land:
3:16 It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says Yahweh, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!' neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it. 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of Yahweh;' and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem.
A new kind of circumcision is announced, that of the heart:
4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The "lion" is Babylon:
4:7 A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
The following is a parody of the first verses of GENESIS, as Jeremiah predicts the results of war as an undoing of creation:
4:23 I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 4:24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 4:25 I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 4:26 I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger.
Jeremiah uses personification: the vain woman is Israel, who doesn't know her lovers (those she depends on politically) will kill her:
4:30 Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.
Dante borrowed these animals for his Divine Comedy, where they represented pride, greed, and lust. But in Hebrew parallelism, the three animals are really one, repeating the same idea with greater force:
5:6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities.
Note the counterpassion: we are punished by our sins not for our sins:
5:19 It will happen, when you say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
This is argument by design (the world is beautiful so someone must have made it):
5:22 Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'
"Fat" below doesn't mean 300 pounds, but spiritually lazy or self-satisified:
5:28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.
5:29 "Shall I not punish for these things?" says Yahweh. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
6:13 "For from their least to their greatest, everyone deals falsely.
6:14 They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,
    saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace."
The famous Temple Sermon, which Jesus used for his Cleansing of the Temple, which occurs in all 4 Gospels:
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 7:2 "Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. 7:5 For if you amend your ways and your doings; if you execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 7:6 if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: 7:7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore. 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh. 7:12 But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Idols lessen our self-value, because we are what we love. If we worship a piece of wood, we are no better than that wood; if we worship a movie star, we're no better than the star. But if we worship that which is high, we reach higher than ourselves:
7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 7:19 Don't they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 
Jeremiah is against the priestly class, denying God requires sacrifices:
7:22 For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 7:23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
The reference to wisdom here and elsewhere may be to the Egyptian wisdom tradition of Proverbs. 8:22a famous, quoted by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven":
8:8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. 8:9 The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them? 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
One of the high points of Jeremiah's rhetoric, like the final chapter of Ecclesiastes:
9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 9:3 They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh. 9:4 Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. 9:5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. 9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh. 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. 9:9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone. 9:11 I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. 9:13 Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein. . . .
More attacks on the Wisdom tradition. We have the same thing today: Sociologists, psychologists and political pundits teach us how to bring up children, etc. Note the warning against astrology ("signs of the sky"):
9:23 Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches; 9:24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. 10:2 Thus says Yahweh, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a verse paraphrase of the following verses:
12:1 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously? 12:2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
The basis of the Gospel song, "Speckled Bird" (today it refers to the Church):
12:9 "Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.
This is a symbolic action (acting out God's prophecy):
13:1 Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don't put it in water. 13:3 The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, 13:4 Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. 13:6 It happened after many days, that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 13:7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing. 13:8 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 13:9 Thus says Yahweh, In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 13:10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. 13:11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
One of the most famous quotes from Jeremiah:
13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 13:24 Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.
16:1 The word of Yahweh came also to me, saying, 16:2 You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place. 16:3 For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land: 16:4 They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.
The reference is more to political alliances (Egyptian kings, etc.) than to one's fellow man, but the advice applies in both cases:
 17:5 Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.  17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green. 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
Two more symbolic actions:
18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house. 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 18:4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 18:5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18:6 House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter? says Yahweh. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. 19:1 Thus said Yahweh, Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 19:10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you, 19:11 and shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again.
22:1 Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 22:13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire; 22:14 who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms, and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 22:15 Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.
A Messianic prophecy that Christians read to refer to Jesus:
23:1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh. 23:4 I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh. 23:5 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Another symbolic action. The point is, Jeremiah preaches surrender to Babylon rather than fighting, which is useless:
24:3 Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can't be eaten, they are so bad. 24:4 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24:5 Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 24:6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
The personal risks of prophets were real; Shiloh refers to the first sanctuary, destroyed by the Philistines (Eli and his sons were priests there before being replaced by Samuel):
26:8 It happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, You shall surely die. 26:9 Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?
Another symbolic action warning the Jews that it is God's will they go into captivity in Babylon. Note that just like we have two political parties today, there were opposing prophets (Hananiah) who preached that all would be well:
27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 27:2 Thus says Yahweh to me: Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck";
27:12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to these words, saying,  27:14 Don't listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it. 28:11 Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. 28:12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 28:13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron. 28:14 For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him.
Jeremiah preaches that the captive Jews serve their new rulers and make the best of it:
29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 29:7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
 29:10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
[Scholars are unclear about the nature of the prediction here; but the nearest guess is the restored (Second) Temple, dated around 515 BCE. It's possible Jeremiah is dating from the fall of Judah in 589 to the date of the restored temple, around 70 years later.]
Rachel personifies all of Israel, weeping for "her" children (referred to in the Gospels):
31:15 Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
31:21 Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. 31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. 31:30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
One of the key texts in the Old Testament, from which we get the phrase, the "New Testament" (New Covenant):
31:31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 31:33 I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The following is a priceless bit of humor which I'd love to see acted out in a Hollywood film: as Jeremiah's words are read, the king cuts them up in scorn:
36:1 It happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 36:2 Take a scroll of a book, and write all the words I have spoken against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, to this day. 36:22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. 36:23 It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire in the brazier, until the scroll was burned.
 36:27 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 36:28 Take another scroll, and write in it the words in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 36:29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: 36:31 I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn't listen.
Jeremiah is accused of being a traitor for the Babylonians (also called the Chaldeans):
37:11 It happened that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 37:12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem. 37:13 When he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans. 37:14 Jeremiah said, It is false. But he didn't listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. 37:15 The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
38:6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. 38:7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, 38:8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying, 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is. 38:10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take  up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies. 38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Jeremiah is forced to go with his enemies to Egypt, but he insists Egypt will suffer the same fate as Judah. As usual, he uses strong sexual imagery: Egypt is merely a beautiful female cow and her men are like tame calves:

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LAMENTATIONS

LAMENTATIONS  is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, the "Weeping Prophet," from whom we get the English noun, jeremiad, meaning "lament." Lamentations, though about the destruction of Jerusalem, is typologically read by Christians in terms of Jesus, lanenting the sins of the world and (like Jeremiah or Jerusalem) despised (the "Suffering Servant" motif in Isaiah).  The book is ranked among the "Five Major Prophets" in Christian Bibles (with Daniel and the 3 Major Prophets in Jewish Bibles: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). For Christians, the book of Lamentations is important during Passion Week (before Easter), where it is read typologically, as a type of Jesus' suffering before Easter Sunday. For this reason, there are many settings of verses from this text in Christian music.

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1

1: How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! A princess among the cities has become a vassal.
This is following the fall of Judah/Jerusalem, conquered by the Babylonians (587/6). The pathos (feeling) of this verse is clear in view of the well-known image of Israel as God's bride, who is now a "widow" (without God or the aid of other nations ["lovers"], on whom she relied for her defense)!
2: She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.
Again, the pathos comes from the image (metaphor) of Israel as a bride: now, "among all her lovers" (in other words, political alliances), she has none to comfort her; since she left her husband (God).
12: "Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. 
19: "I called to my lovers but they deceived me.
Some more bride/husband imagery, familiar in the Song of  Songs. Here the lovers are the political allies that couldn't help in the end.

3

The following verses are the source of the famous hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"; there are also references to the "Suffering Servant" motif, apparently "Israel"; chapter 4 is a terrifying image of calamity:

21: But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
23: they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
24: "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
27: It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
30: let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
37: Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38: Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?
39: Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?

4

1: How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed!
5: Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps.
7: Her princes were purer than snow,
8: Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry as wood.
10: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children.
13: This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.

5

11: Women are ravished in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.
15: The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16: The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
19: But thou, O LORD, dost reign for ever; thy throne endures to all generations.
21: Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!

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ISAIAH: Month of April (1)

ISAIAH
April 2010

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Isaiah (eye-Zay-ah) is one of the three Major Prophets in Jewish scriptures (Christians add the books of Lamentations and Daniel to make Five Major Prophets). It's been called "The Fifth Gospel" because of several so-called Messianic texts now known as The Suffering Servant verses (42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). These, for Christians, predict Jesus as Messiah. Isaiah is the most quoted Scripture in Handel's oratorio, The Messiah. The poetry and thought of this book rank high. Parallelism is used throughout, as well as the concrete images typical of Hebrew poetry. Scholars tend to divide Isaiah into three parts, with three different writers. These parts are known as First Isaiah (1-39); Second Isaiah (40-55); Third Isaiah (56-66). If you like fancy words, they're also called Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah, with the same meanings of first, second, third.  Second Isaiah is easy to identify by the opening lines of Chapter 40 (also the opening verses of Handel's Messiah), "Comfort ye my people." The contrast with First Isaiah is obvious. First Isaiah is in the 8th century BCE period with the defeat of northern Israel in 722 and the threat to Judah still active. Second Isaiah is hundreds of years later during the Exile; hence the word of "comfort." As the Exile ends, the Persian king, Cyrus, who defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews back home, is called "Messiah," because Jews saw him as God's "anointed" in order to deliver the Jews. Fundamentalists (people who believe the Bible literally) accept the unity of Isaiah, because the Gospels say so (Matthew 3:3; 12:18), though those verses refer to Second Isaiah.
1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Some scholars see v. 3 as influencing Luke's Nativity scene, with the infant Jesus in a manger (an eating place for animals):
1:3 The ox knows his owner,
    and the donkey his master's crib;
    but Israel doesn't know,
    my people don't consider."
Isaiah has a high idea of God and commonly refers to God as the "Holy One." "Daughter" is a metaphor for "people."
1:4 Ah sinful nation. They have forsaken Yahweh.
    They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
1:8 The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
    like a hut in a field of melons,
    like a besieged city.
The idea of a "remnant" is introduced here. This is an important motif in later biblical books. Christians use that idea to represent themselves as the "remnant" (survivors), that is, the remainder of the Jewish people who follow God's laws and are justified. This, for Christians, explains why most Jews rejected Jesus' message:
1:9 Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant,
    we would have been as Sodom;
    we would have been like Gomorrah.
Isaiah makes his point metaphorically by referring to Israel (Israel and Judah) by the names of the twin evil cities destroyed by God:
1:10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom!
    Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
The book prophets have higher ideas of God and sacrifice and often mock older forms of sacrifices compared to a sacrifice of praise and justice. "Prostitution" is always an image of corruption in the prophets:
1:11 "What are your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh.
1:17 Learn to do well.
    Seek justice.
    Relieve the oppressed.
    Judge the fatherless.
    Plead for the widow."
1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh:
    "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
1:21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute!
1:23
    Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.
    They don't judge the fatherless,
    neither does the cause of the widow come to them."
2:1 This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
The theme of universalism begins to take over. If God is God, then God must be God over all the nations:
2:3 Many peoples shall go and say,
    "Come, let's go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
    and he will teach us of his ways,
    and we will walk in his paths."
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
    and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
These verses became the basis of the famous Gospel song, "Down by the Riverside":
2:4 He will judge between the nations,
    and will decide concerning many peoples;
    and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more. 
2:22 Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils;
    for of what account is he?
Israel as God's vineyard (wine field) is an important image in the Gospels, especially in Jesus' parable (story lesson) of the vineyard:
3:14 Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people,
    and their leaders:
    "It is you who have eaten up the vineyard.
    The spoil of the poor is in your houses.
The theme of social justice becomes urgent in the book prophets.
3:15 What do you mean that you crush my people,
    and grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
3:16 Moreover Yahweh said, "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
    and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes,
    walking to trip as they go,
    jingling ornaments on their feet;
3:17 therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion,
    and Yahweh will make their scalps bald."
This is a delightful passage, worthy of the Roman satirist (social mocker), Juvenal, who devotes one of his satires to women's fashions. One can reconstruct ancient Jewish social life by these verses:
3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent necklaces, 3:19 earrings, bracelets, veils, 3:20 headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume bottles, charms, 3:21 signet rings, nose rings, 3:22 fine robes, capes, cloaks, purses, 3:23 hand mirrors, fine linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.
3:24 It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;
    instead of a belt, a rope;
    instead of well set hair, baldness;
    instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth;
    and branding instead of beauty.
3:25 Your men shall fall by the sword,
    and your mighty in war.
Women will beg men to marry them:
4:1 Seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach."
5:3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
    please judge between me and my vineyard.
5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
    Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
    I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up."
Property greed did not begin with us:
5:8 Woe to those who join house to house,
    who lay field to field, until there is no room,
    and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
    and champions at mixing strong drink;
5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    but deny justice for the innocent!
Blossoms in the Dust was a famous Greer Garson movie, probably named from the verse below:
5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
    and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,
    so their root shall be as rottenness,
    and their blossom shall go up as dust;
because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,
    and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
The point is to show that God is in control of history, both when Israel is defeated (Israel's enemies come because God "whistles" for them) and when Israel is saved (so Cyrus is called God's "Messiah"):
5:26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far,
    and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
5:28 Their horses' hoofs will be like flint,
    and their wheels like a whirlwind.
From these verses is where Christians get the part of the mass known as the Sanctus ("Holy, holy, holy"):
6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 6:3 One called to another, and said,
"Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies!
    The whole earth is full of his glory!"
6:8 I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
Jesus later quotes these verses, which are used by later Christians to explain why God rejected the Jews as his people and why Jesus spoke in parables. John 12:40 quotes v. 10:
6:9 He said, "Go, and tell this people,
'You hear indeed,
    but don't understand;
and you see indeed,
    but don't perceive.
6:10 He has blinded their eyes
       and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn--and I would heal them."
These are some of the key verses in Isaiah. God promises King Ahaz that he need not fear the combined military threat from Syria (Damascus) and Northern Israel ("Israel" not Judah), because before Ahaz's child (Hezekiah) grows up, Judah will be spared. The Hebrew word, "Almah," (7:14) means  "young woman," but it was translated as "virgin" in the Greek version. When these verses were seen to predict the coming of Jesus, it was required that Jesus be born of a virgin (Mary):
7:3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go to Ahaz, on the highway of the fuller's field. 7:4 Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Don't be afraid for the anger of Rezin (King of Syria) and Syria (Damascus).
Jesus is called Emmanuel ("God be with us") in the Gospels and several famous Christmas songs. In other words, Jesus is literally "with us."
7:14 The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 7:15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 7:16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken."
9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
    Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.
As before, these are also some of the most famous Messianic verses in the Bible, which is why Isaiah is often called The Fifth Gospel:
9:6 For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end. He will reign on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever.
10:21 A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
Jesse was the son of Obed, born of the gentile (non-Jewish) woman, Ruth and her Jewish husband, Boaz. Then follows one of the most famous Messianic prophecies, which Christians read as predicting Jesus:
11:1
A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse,
    and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
Some scholars trace the seven Gifts of the Spirit to these verses (11:2). Note "fear" means something like "respect" or "regard":
11:2 The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him:
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel and might,
    the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
11:3 His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh.
He will not judge by the sight of his eyes,
    neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
11:4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the humble of the earth.
The motif of "the Peaceable Kingdom" comes from these verses, the famous painted series by American artist Edward Hicks (left), and the famous Gospel song, "Peace in the Valley":
11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
    and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
    The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child will lead them.
Message of "universalism" ("the nations" means non-Jews); the Exodus is still a type of Salvation, the founding moment of Jewish identity, reversing the Assyrian Exile:
11:10 It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. 11:16 There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Refers to the king of Babylon, but some read this to refer to the Devil, or Prince of Light ("Lucifer"). Jesus is later called "the morning star." Note the theme of the "Wheel of Fortune," reversing fates of peoples ("Is this the man. . . .?"):
14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! 14:16 Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; 14:17 who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn't release his prisoners to their home?"
Another warning against the worship of idols:
17:7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. 17:8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.
This motif of the Banquet becomes common in the Bible and is probably the source of the worldly idea of Heaven as a place of feasting. 26:19 (italics) is one of the few hints of a belief in an afterlife in the Old Testament:
25:6 In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines.
26:19 Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth the dead.
In Christian readings, Jesus is the cornerstone:
28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
35:6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute will sing;
    for waters will break out in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert.
"Streams in the Desert" (35:6, above) gave a title to a famous devotional book.
Second Isaiah, during the Exile:
40:1 "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. 40:2 "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."
40:3
The voice of one who calls out,
    "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!
    Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
40:4 Every valley shall be exalted,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
    The uneven shall be made level,
    and the rough places a plain.
40:5 The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together;
    for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it." 40:6 The voice of one saying, "Cry!"
    One said, "What shall I cry?"
"All flesh is like grass,
    and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
40:7 The grass withers,
    the flower fades,
    because Yahweh's breath blows on it.
    Surely the people are like grass.
40:8 The grass withers,
    the flower fades;
    but the word of our God stands forever."
Many of these verses (above and below) are famous from Handel's Messiah. 40:11 is also a famous spiritual. The image of Jesus holding a sheep comes from these verses:
40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
    He will gather the lambs in his arm,
    and carry them in his bosom.
    40:31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength.
    They will mount up with wings like eagles.
One of the Suffering Servant verses:
42:1 "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold;
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights—
    I have put my Spirit on him.
42:4 He will not fail nor be discouraged,
    until he has set justice in the earth,
    and the islands will wait for his law."
42:6 "I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness,
    and will hold your hand,
    and will keep you,
    and make you a covenant for the people,
    as a light for the nations;
42:7 to open the blind eyes,
    to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon,
    and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
The Christian group, Jehovah's Witnesses, took their name from these verses:
43:10 "You are my witnesses," says Yahweh,
    "With my servant whom I have chosen;
    that you may know and believe me,
    and understand that I am he.
Vv. 446b are repeated in the book of Revelation:
44:6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel,
    and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says:
"I am the first, and I am the last;
    and besides me there is no God.
Note that the Persian king, Cyrus, is called God's anointed ("messiah"):
45:1 Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
Another Suffering Servant song (50:4-9):
50:6 I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn't hide my face from shame and spitting. 50:7 For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know I shall not be disappointed."
51:12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass. . . . ."
A possible source of Jesus' anointing at Bethany (Jesus is the "Prince of Peace" who brings "good news" of Salvation: "Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair" (John 12:3):
52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
More Suffering Servant verses. (For Jews, the "Suffering Servant" is Israel.) V. 15  could refer to baptism; v. 15b. to Gentiles (nonJews):
52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
52:14 Like as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),
52:15 so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.
53:3 He was despised,
    and rejected by men;
a man of suffering,
    and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
    and we didn't respect him.
53:4 Surely he has borne our sickness,
    and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
    struck by God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
    He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
    and by his wounds we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray.
    Everyone has turned to his own way;
    and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed,
    yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute,
    so he didn't open his mouth.
53:8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment;
    and as for his generation,
    who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living
    and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
53:9 They made his grave with the wicked,
    and with a rich man in his death;
although he had done no violence,
    neither was any deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.
    He has caused him to suffer.
53:11 After the suffering of his soul,
    he will see the light and be satisfied.
My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;
    and he will bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out his soul to death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Gospel Passion story (that is, the trial and death of Jesus) closely follows the above Suffering Servant verses. Next begins Third Isaiah. Note the mock sales pitch:
55:1 "Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 55:2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which doesn't satisfy?
58:6 "Isn't this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 58:7 Isn't it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? 58:8 Then your light shall break forth as the morning. . . .
58:9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
These are the verses of Jesus' first sermon:
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me;
    because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and release to those who are bound;
For this reason, Gospel songs refer to Heaven as "Beulah Land":
 62:4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married. 62:5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
Quoted in the book of Revelation:
65:17 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
66:12 For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I will extend peace to her [Jerusalem] like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will nurse. 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."

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