SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2013
8:47 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The oracle concerning Damascus.
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
17:1-14
Message of the
verses: This will be the fifth
oracle that we are studying from the book of Isaiah, from chapters 13-23, and
we have a few more to look at after this one.
Actually Dr. Wiersbe calls this section “Damascus [Syria] and Ephraim
[Israel].
Damascus [Syria] and Ephraim [Israel] (Isaiah 17:1-14): “1 The oracle concerning Damascus.
"Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become
a fallen ruin. 2 "The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for
flocks to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them. 3 “The
fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And
the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,"
Declares the LORD of hosts. 4 Now in that day the
glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be even like the reaper
gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like
one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim.
“6 Yet gleanings will be left in it like
the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost bough, Four or
five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the LORD, the God of Israel. 7
In that day man
will have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of
Israel. 8 He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, Nor
will he look to that which his fingers have made, Even the Asherim and incense
stands.
“9 In that day their strong cities will be like
forsaken places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the
sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation. 10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful
plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god. 11 In the day that you plant
it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to
blossom; But the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable
pain.
“12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who
roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like
the rumbling of mighty waters! 13 The nations rumble on like the rumbling of
many waters, But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased
like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a
gale. 14 At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no
more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.”
One may wonder why Isaiah would speak to both Israel and
Syria at the same time, and perhaps the reason is that “they were allied in
their opposition to both Assyria and Judah.”
“1 Now it came about in the days
of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the
king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to
Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. 2 When it was
reported to the house of David, saying, "The Arameans have camped in
Ephraim," his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the
forest shake with the wind (Isaiah 7:1-2).”
These verses also speak of Syria and Israel.
The fall of Damascus would be a warning to the Northern
Kingdom as the Assyrians would conquer it in 732 B. C. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The prophet used several
images to describe Ephraim’s downfall:
The destruction of the fortified cities (Isa. 173); the setting of the
sun (v. 4a ‘The glory has departed’ [1Sam. 4:19-22]); the wasting away of a
sick person (Isa. 17:4b); the gleaming of a small harvest (vv. 5-6); the
decaying of a garden into a wasteland (vv. 9-11); the overflowing of a flood (vv.
12-13a); and the blowing away of chaff and tumbleweeds in a storm (v. 13b).” “19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife,
was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark
of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she
kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time
of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not be afraid,
for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer or pay
attention. 21 And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has
departed from Israel," because the ark of God was taken and because of her
father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, "The glory has departed from
Israel, for the ark of God was taken.’”
(This is 1 Samuel 4:19-22 and it goes along with Isaiah 17:4.)
When the judgment came upon Israel they did call upon the
Lord, but it was too late for them and the Assyrians destroyed the Northern
Kingdom and took those who were left back to Assyria only to return a people
who were mixed with other people. In the
time of Jesus Christ these people were call the Samaritans and were hated by
the Jews. I am going to copy some verses
from the first chapter of the book of Proverbs, verses 20-33 to show what
happened to the Northern Kingdom when they were captured by the Assyrians: “20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts
her voice in the square; 21 At the head
of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city
she utters her sayings: 22 "How
long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight
themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23 “Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24
“Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid
attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26
I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When
your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When
distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They
will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated
knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my
counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of
their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness
of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33
“But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the
dread of evil.’”
I want to conclude this section with some very wise words
by Dr. Wiersbe: “The emphasis in this
section is on the God of Israel. He is
the Lord of hosts (the Lord almighty), who controls the armies of heavens and
earth (Isa. 17:3). He is the Lord God of
Israel (v.6), who called and blessed Israel and warned her of her sins. He is our Maker, the Holy One of Israel
(v.7); He is the God of our salvation and our Rock (v. 10). How foolish of the Israelites to trust their
man-made idols instead of trusting the living God (v. 8; 1Kings 12:25-33). But like Israel of old, people today trust
the gods they have made instead of the God who made them; these include the false
gods of pleasure, wealth, military might, scientific achievement, and even ‘religious
experience.’”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is, at times
to stay away from the idols that Dr. Wiersbe mentioned, especially living in
our country that promotes this kind of behavior from many different places.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Worship the Lord God and Him only.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46 (all):
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear
though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of
the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its
swelling pride. Selah. 4 There is a river whose streams make glade
the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the most high. 5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be
moved, God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations make an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He
raised His voice, the earth melted. 7
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God or Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
8 Come behold the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations in the
earth. 9 He makes wars to cease to the
end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the
chariots with fire. 10 “Cease striving
and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted
in the earth.” 11 The Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Selah.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Faith and Patience” (Hebrews
6:12).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did Jesus prophesy would
happen to the stones of the temple?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
8/18/2013 9:38 PM
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