Proclaim to [Jerusalem] that her hard service has been
completed, that her sin has been paid for (Isaiah 40:2).
The wild ride from chapter 36 to 40 is enough to give the
most hardened biblical scholar whiplash. In chapter 36 the biggest threat the
people of Judah can imagine is their inevitable defeat at the hands of the
Assyrians. Chapter 37 tells of Assyria’s withdrawal and Judah’s deliverance. In
chapter 38, Hezekiah gets deathly ill. Although Isaiah warns him the end is
near, the king won’t take death for an answer. He prays for healing and is
given fifteen more years. Chapter 39 brings a harbinger of things to come. An
envoy from Babylon arrives in Jerusalem ostensibly to wish the king continued
health. The chapter ends with Isaiah scolding Hezekiah for his naïvete
regarding Babylon’s intentions.
Between the end of chapter 39 and the beginning of chapter
40 lies an extended silence. Hezekiah is long dead along with seven kings after
him. Jerusalem has been destroyed and its people exiled to Babylon.
After 150 years, a new voice writing in the name of Isaiah
begins his message: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. . . . her
hard service has been completed, . . . her sin has been paid for (40:1,2). Whiplash.
As Walter Brueggemann puts Isaiah’s message: “Inescapable
judgment reliably followed by generous restoration” [2]. Defeat isn’t final. Even when things look hopeless, there’s
still reason to hope.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
And what are you hoping
for?
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