From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

Jane Austen
(A Biography)

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Isaiah: Potter and clay

Human beings are clay shaped by the Almighty Potter.

So are events.  Isaiah says that long before the events happened the Lord “fashioned-like-a-potter” the Assyrian invasion and devastation of city and country in Israel and Judah (Isaiah 37:26).

If the Lord is a potter fashioning events, those events are presumably His “art.”

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Pride, Idolatry Adam

Isaiah 2:12-22 warns of a day when Yahweh will cast down the tall trees and high mountains, the proud men, and the idols.  The passage ends with a warning not to esteem man who has breath in his nose.  This last is often taken as a reference to the frailty and weakness of man, who should not be feared.  The language is more specific.

“Man” is adam, and the references to breath and nose take us back to Genesis 2:7.  The man that should not be esteemed (or, reckoned, considered, valued; the verb is the same as in Genesis 15:6) is not mankind in general but Adam, the first man.  With the coming of the day, the Lord will wipe away the whole world of the first Adam, who received breath through His nose, and was of the earth, earthy.  He will make a way for the last Adam.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Withered Tree

Isaiah 34 prophesies about Yahweh’s assault on the nations and their armies.  They will be slaughtered, their corpses will rot on the earth, adn the mountains will be drenched with their blood (vv. 1-3).  Instead of sacrificial smoke with its pleasing aroma, the stench of corpses will “go up” (v. 3).  Even the hosts of heaven will “rot” (v. 4), as the sky rolls up like a scroll.

Isaiah shifts the imagery from rotting corpses to a collapsing sky to the withering of a tree.  The hosts that rot are compared to trees withering away – stars are like fruit hanging down from the leafy canopy of the heavens.  The hosts of heaven will wither “as a leaf withers from the vine, or as withers from the fig tree (v. 4).

Which of course reminds us of Jesus withering fig trees.  Given the context of Isaiah, Jesus’ withering of the tree is a sign of the Lord’s great slaughter of the nations’ armies, a sign that the host of heaven (the starry descendants of Abraham) will wither and rot like dried up grapes or figs, a sign that the Lord will bare His sword and make a great sacrificial slaughter (vv. 5-10).  It is a sign that the city will be desolated, a haunt for pelicans and owls and hedgehogs (v. 11).

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Fasting and pleasure

For many throughout church history, fasting is bound up with hostility to matter and the body.  We refrain from bodily pleasures of food and drink to train our souls in disembodied life.

That’s not biblical.  The biblical fast, as Isaiah 58 puts it, is to share food with the hungry and clothing with the naked.  The true fast gives good things away to those who don’t have them.

Biblical fasting, then, assumes the goodness of material things, and the propriety of pleasure.  After all, if good and drink and clothing are evil, why would we want to share them?  Isaiah’s fast assumes that creation is so good that we want everyone to have a piece of it.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Isaiah 33

Some scattered notes on Isaiah 33, the product of listening to students comment on the passage in exams throughout the week.

1) Verse 1 includes an interesting variation on the lex talionis. Destroyers will be destroyed, and the treacherous will be dealt with treacherously. But the justice that the Lord threatens is even more precise than this. The destroyer destroyed when he was not being destroyed, and the treacherous betrayed the faithful who did not betray them. Their punishment will be a precise inversion of their crime: They will be destroyed once they stop destroying others; they will be betrayed when they cease betraying. They did harm when no harm was being done them, and so harm will come on them when they are no longer doing harm.  A good warning to those who think that they’ve gotten away with something.

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Bible - OT - Isaiah: Fat Heart

Isaiah 6:10 says that Isaiah’s ministry will make the hearts of Israel “fat” and their ears “heavy” (kabad).  The phrasing is unique to Isaiah 6, but the combination of heavy and fat conjures up Eli, who also was going blind.  Isaiah 6 is a new Samuel, and like Jeremiah is prophesying to fat Eli-Israel a replay of Shiloh.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Notes on Isaiah 61

A number of these thoughts were suggested by students during exams during the last week. I can’t remember now who said what, but thanks to them all.

1) Isaiah 61 begins with a declaration of the Spirit, and ends with a reference to a garden. That suggests the possibility that Gen 1-2 is structuring the passage. The Spirit comes on the prophet (and on Jesus the great Prophet) as He hovered over the waters in the original creation week. The passage describes a “formless and waste” Israel – an Israel full of ashes and ruined cities – transformed back into order and prosperity. There might be some more detailed connections with Genesis, but at least the overall sequence is similar.

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Bible - OT - Isaiah: Faith in Isaiah

Gordon CI Wong (VT 51.4) examines the call to “believe” in Isaiah 7 (specifically v. 9b). He asks, What does faith mean in Isaiah 7? He rejects interpretations that suggest Ahaz is supposed to respond passively to the threat from Israel and Aram by renouncing military defenses. On the contrary, Isaiah tells Ahaz to “take care,” which Wong takes as an exhortation to fulfill the military necessities. Wong also rejects the notion that Isaiah is rebuking Ahaz for wanting to turn to Assyria for help; though Assyria is mentioned in Isaiah 7, and though elsewhere Ahaz is condemned for relying on Assyria (2 Kings 16), he finds no hint of this in Isaiah 7.

What then is faith in Isaiah 7?

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Bible - OT - Isaiah: Man of Sorrows

Following Jewish exegetes of his time, Andrew of St. Victor interpreted Isaiah 53 as a prophecy of Israel. Isaiah used the phrase “man of sorrows” to speak “of the people as though of one man.” “Bearing infirmities” refers to “the people who were to suffer in the Babylonian captivity” and thus “were to expiate not only their own sins, but also the sins of the unrighteous.” The hopeful note struck at the end of the chapter teaches that “the stricken people shall not perish” but “the men of Babylon, unbelieving, absorbed by riches, shall be given to burial and death in its stead.” And so on in this vein.

What’s wrong with this? Nothing at all. It’s contexually sensitive (Isaiah is talking about exile), and Yahweh’s Servant is undoubtedly Israel (at least in places). Andrew only needed to recognize the Israel-Christology of the New Testament to fold this Jewish interpretation into a Christian one. He needed only to read a bit of NT Wright.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Glad Wilderness

Isaiah 35:1 says that the wilderness will be glad. This could be a simple personification of a wilderness blossoming and coming to fertility. But in context, the passage is talking about the return from exile. Perhaps the wilderness is the desolated land of Israel, which rejoices at Yahweh’s return and the return of Yahweh’s people, who will dress and keep her. This fits with NT Wright’s suggestion that the groaning of the creation under the curse is relieved by the redemption of the sons of God (Rom 8), those who will be the new and faithful rulers of the creation.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: Isaiah 61

A student suggests that Isaiah 61 is chiastically organized, and centers on verses 5-6, which promise that strangers will pasture the flocks of Israel and that Israel will consume the treasures of the nations.

Overall, the passage announces the good news of return, the great Jubilee of Israel’s restoration to her land following the Babylonian exile, and moves toward the climactic marriage/garden scene in verses 10-11. And at the center of this prophecy of Israel’s restoration is a promise of the inclusion of Gentiles. The “mechanism” of Israel’s restoration is the incorporation of the nations.

In other words: Israel’s hardening happened for the sake of the nations; and once the Gentiles have been turned, then all Israel shall be saved.

Bible - OT - Isaiah: One Man for the People

The ever-inventive Jim Jordan points out this cool sequence at the center of the prophecy of Isaiah:

1) The Assyrians threaten Jerusalem, but the Lord delivers the city because of the intercession of King Hezekiah.

2) Then Hezekiah gets sick, beginning to die as king for the people. But he pleads with the Lord and is delivered.

3) Immediately, Isaiah begins the servant songs, where the suffering servant dies on behalf of the people.

In short: By the terms of the Davidic covenant, the king is the representative of the nation, Israel in person. The king suffers and dies for the people. But Isaiah promises a new phase, a new covenant, in which there will be a servant who suffers on behalf of the king. This buttresses the insight of NT Wright and others concerning the “Israel Christology” of the New Testament.

Bible - OT - Isaiah Theology - Christology: Sermon Outline, December 7

Sermon outline for Second Sunday in Advent:

God For Us

INTRODUCTION
Last week, we meditated on the fact that God became flesh. This week, we will make that more specific. The incarnation is an event in human history, but more specifically in the history of Israel. When the Son of God became flesh, He became Jewish flesh.

And that means that the incarnation is all mixed up with God’s choice or election, of Israel. The Son of God entered the world as the culmination of Yahweh’s election of Israel, as the “Elect One” (Isaiah 42:1).

THE TEXT
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. . . .” (Isaiah 42:1-25).

THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Scripture characterizes God unique relationship to Israel in a number of ways, but we will focus on one of those today: election. Israel is the chosen people, the elect people. In the OT, Yahweh’s election of Israel is described in a number of metaphors:

-Yahweh as Warrior chooses or “recruits” Israel as His army and fights with and for them (Exodus 14:25; 15:3; Psalm 60:8-9; Isaiah 13:3-4; cf. Exodus 17:9).
-Yahweh as Husband chooses and “takes” Israel as His bride and enters a marriage covenant with her (Exodus 6:7; Deuteronomy 4:34-37; Jeremiah 31:31-32).
-Yahweh as Father chooses and adopts Israel as His son, delivers His son, and gives him the inheritance of the land of promise (Exodus 4:22-23; Jeremiah 31:9).
-Yahweh as Architect builds and “makes” Israel in electing them (Deuteronomy 32:6; 1 Samuel 12:22).
-Yahweh as Farmer plants Israel in the land of promise (Exodus 15:17).

CHOSEN-REJECTED-RESTORED
As each of these metaphors develops in the OT, Yahweh’s election is the beginning of a story of election, rejection, and restoration.

-Yahweh fights against Egypt for Israel; but when Israel seeks help from foreign nations He fights against Israel (2 Kings 16:1-10; Jeremiah 21:5). In the restoration, He begins to fight for His people again (Isaiah 13:17-19).
-Yahweh chooses Israel as bride, but rejects her for her promiscuity; after casting her aside, however, He woos her back (Hosea 1-3).
-Yahweh adopts Israel as His son and gives an inheritance, but when Israel abuses that inheritance they are cast out of the land; in the end, Yahweh restores the inheritance to His son, the “sons of Israel” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).
-Yahweh builds Israel, but then tears her down in the exile. Ultimately, He rebuilds (Jeremiah 24:6).
-Yahweh plants Israel in the land, but then uproots her and leaves the vineyard to be desolated by Israel’s enemies (Psalm 80:8-19; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 1:10). But Yahweh promises that Israel will be replanted (Jeremiah 24:6; Ezekiel 36:1-15).

Election is the starting point for each of these overlapping stories. Election is also the driving force throughout the story. Why does Yahweh fight again for Israel? Why does He woo His unfaithful bride back to Himself? Why does He give the land back to His son? Why does he rebuild and replant? The answer to all these questions is the same: Yahweh restores Israel because He loved her and chose her, loved her and chose her out of His free grace (Deuteronomy 7:7). His choice, His election is His fixed and unalterable determination to do good to His people. Election means that, though thick and thin, through rebellion and resistance, God is for Israel (Isaiah 41:8-9; cf. Romans 11:28-29).

THE CHOSEN ONE
In the OT, certain individuals were “chosen” by Yahweh, particularly priests (1 Samuel 2:28) and kings (1 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 28:4, 6). These were considered “elect” because they were representatives and heads over the “chosen people.” Likewise, Jesus is the chosen priest and king because He is Head of the true Israel. Scripture reveals that Jesus is the “chosen servant” (Matthew 12:18; cf. Isaiah 42:1), the true Israel (Acts 13:17; cf. Deuteronomy 7:7), though mocked by Israel as the rejected one (Luke 23:35). Like Israel, Jesus is the paradigmatic “foolish thing” chosen by God to “confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). He embodies Israel in His own person and is the ultimate “chosen one.”

This is the point of Isaiah 42’s reference to the “Elect One.” This comes in a section of Isaiah that highlights the promise of Israel’s return from exile. Throughout the passage, the “servant” is sometimes Israel and sometimes an individual Israelite. Earlier, in Isaiah 41:8-9, Yahweh addresses the nation of Israel as “My service” and the people that has been “chosen” and “not rejected.” But in 42:1, the “Elect One” is an individual. Yahweh promises to redeem and restore His “chosen people” and His “chosen Man.”

These prophecies are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. He is the chosen Israel, whose story is foreshadowed in the OT story of Israel: It is a story of election, rejection, and restoration, a story of birth, death, and resurrection. That the Father has designated Jesus as His chosen one means that God is for Jesus.

CHOSEN IN CHRIST
The Father loved the Son from all eternity, and elected the Son as the redeemer. Jesus enters the world as the Chosen One, and those who are in the chosen one are chosen by the Father. The fact that we are chosen at all depends on the prior fact that the Father has chosen the Son and set His love on him. Ephesians 1:4 states explicitly that God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” The incarnation is the revelation of God’s electing love, first in Jesus the “chosen One,” and then toward us, those who are “chosen in Christ.”

From this perspective, election is nothing less than the gospel; election announces the good news that God is determined to reveal Himself, to make Himself known to sinful man, to save sinners. The Triune God is the One who loves in freedom, as Father, Son and Spirit live in an eternal communion of love and fellowship. The gospel is God’s determination and decision for man, His fixed determination that He is not just the free God of love in Himself. He has chosen us in Christ as His army and He will fight for us; He has taken us as His bride and will love us; He has adopted us as His sons and will give us our inheritance; He has built us as His house and will adorn us; He has planted us as His garden and will tend us. He devotes all his infinite resources to promote the good of His people. The Incarnation means that He is the free God of love for us.

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