FIGHT FOR WHAT’S RIGHT?
Opening Prayer
As I come to you today, Father, with thanksgiving and praise, help me that my actions would reflect your faithful loving kindness and show others who you are.
Read ISAIAH 22
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
22 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:
What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,
2 you town so full of commotion,
you city of tumult and revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword,
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together;
they have been captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people.”
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day
of tumult and trampling and terror
in the Valley of Vision,
a day of battering down walls
and of crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam takes up the quiver,
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and you looked in that day
to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
were broken through in many places;
you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the Old Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”
14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna the palace administrator:
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball
and throw you into a large country.
There you will die
and there the chariots you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted from your position.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat[a] of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 22:23 Or throne
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
These are dense, complex passages. Begin by reading this in a modern paraphrase, asking God to help you understand.The ‘Valley of Vision’ was Jerusalem, the focal point for much of the prophetic energy in the Old Testament. It was a somewhat ironic name for the city in this chapter: a correct vision was just what these Israelites seemed to lack. Verses 1 to 3 outline a scene of flailing chaos. Revelry was mixed with squalid, ignoble death. Note the two things not happening. No one was standing ready to fight for the city. And even later, as the enemy drew near, no one was turning to God for help (v. 11b). The Lord did indeed have a word for them—see verse 12—but to the corrupted hearts of the Israelites, this seemed too hard a road to take (v. 13).
Are we any different? Modern life aims to shield us from ‘tumult and trampling and terror’—and can do quite a convincing job. It is, indeed, very difficult for most people to envisage threats and horrors to come, especially when food, wine, and fun are (mostly) to be had right now. Shebna, the steward of Jerusalem, may make us wonder whether God might be saying to our own leaders, ‘What are you doing here?’ Eliakim would be a far better official. His name means ‘God will raise up.’ Even so, historically, this security would not last (v. 25).
Apply
How do you tend to deal with anticipated threats; what is your likely default to alleviate your fears? Where are your best resources to prepare for what is to come?
Closing prayer
Almighty God, please raise up leaders for our churches and nation that seek your will, who follow you with integrity, justice, and mercy. Help ours to be a nation that brings you glory.
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