After God states clearly that he intends to include Gentiles in his rebuilding of Israel, Sion complains. Her response resembles the response of the elder brother in the New Testament gospel narrative of the Prodigal Son. God reassures and rebukes Sion, but he holds steadfastly to inclusion of Gentiles in the blessing he gives his firstborn, Israel. …
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Chapters 45-48: Devotional 2.62
While the text of chapter 48 makes no specific mention of the “barren” woman, it does delineate two kinds of Israelite: the strongly disobedient and another group, those whom God calls. The alternative to this conclusion–that there is only one group whom God addresses in both portions of chapter 48–leads readers to conclude that God’s chastisements are ineffectual. …
Faithful Israel: Devotional 2.61
The text amply demonstrates in chapter 44 and previous chapters that God does separate peoples. He distinguishes between those who receive the true words of his genuine prophets and those who follow the false narratives of their own hearts. In other words, God recognizes those who repent in truth (turn back to him, verse 22) against those who continue in their own ways with their backs turned away from God. Finally, God calls his faithful by the names Israel and Jerusalem. …
Isaiah Labels Faithful Israel: Devotional 2.58
In Septuagint Volume 2 of Isaiah, God speaks directly to his people. One difficulty in understanding this speech is that God often alternates rapidly between words of chastisement and warning and words of comfort and blessing. As asked in previous posts (Isaiah Devotional 60, Isaiah Devotional 2.14), is God schizophrenic? Does he have multiple personalities? Do the frequent changes of tone in God’s speech and intention indicate a supreme being who waffles? Someone who cannot make up his mind? Do these frequent changes indicate uncertainty on God’s part? The thesis of this devotional blog on the Septuagint text of Isaiah is that God addresses differing groups of Israel’s people. Some people displayed hearts which in the long run sought to obey God, while others remained steadfastly rebellious and hard of heart in their behaviors concerning God. God addresses each of these sorts of people separately. …
The “Barren”–Faithful Israel: Devotional 2.57
Paul’s thought, which he apparently garnered at least in part from Isaiah, is that the people of national Israel of the Old Testament will not all be saved. Only a remnant of ethnic Israelites, those who try in the long run to follow God, rather than rebel against him, receive God’s promise of salvation. The idea is that a necessary aspect of salvation includes belief in God (which means a faithful following of his way). God excludes the persistently disobedient from his promises of blessing, comfort, and salvation. …