Day 204. Isaiah 26-28

Our reading for today begins with two psalms composed by the prophet Isaiah to be sung by the people "on that day," the day when the LORD makes a feast for all nations on Mount Zion (25:6). One is a hymn of praise (26:1-6) and the other (26:7-19) is a lamentation. In the first Isaiah celebrates the strength of Jerusalem, supported by the one who "sets up victory like walls and bulwarks" (26:1). And surrounded by the strength of the LORD, he extols the inward serenity of those whose lives are founded on "an everlasting rock" (26:4). "Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace," the prophet says—"in peace because they trust in you" (26:3). Or as in the King James Version's beautiful translation —"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." The LORD lays low the proud, "the inhabitants of the height," but those to those who trust in him—the poor—the needy--he proves himself an eternally faithful
friend and protector.
In the second psalm Isaiah picks up the theme of trust in the one who makes "smooth the path of the righteous" (26:7), but now trust is mixed with a deep yearning for a closer communion with the LORD. "My soul yearns for you in the night," the voice of the people says, "and my spirit within me earnestly seeks you" (26:9). They acknowledge that "all that [they] have done, [the LORD has] done for [them]" (26:12). Yet there are always boundaries to the people's praise—and the greatest is death.
Two different attitudes toward death are represented in the psalm. The first is the more or less standard Old Testament attitude—that all meaningful life ceases at death. There is no knowledge of God in Sheol where the spirits of the dead languish; they do not praise him, therefore they are not alive. "The dead do not live," the people say—shades do not rise—because you have punished and destroyed them, and wiped away all memory of them" (26:14). But then there is a change of attitude, hope dawns as the prophet allows himself to dream that God's loving-kindness to his people may not in fact end with physical death, that his faithfulness may in the end even overcome death itself in a glorious resurrection. So the prophet says, "Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew [O LORD], is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead" (26:19).
The word of the prophet shifts back and for the between what is and what will be, between now and "the day" that is coming. Here in the realm what will be; he reaches for the hope he sees before him. "On that day," he says, "the LORD will destroy once and for all Leviathan, the twisting serpent," the personification of chaos and death in the universe. He will kill the dragon of confusion and disorder, and make a new creation out of what is left. That creation is represented by Isaiah using one of his favorite images--the vineyard. The LORD will guard his vineyard—Israel--"night and day," and it will "blossom and put forth the shoots and fill the whole world with fruit" (27:6). Israel has a glorious destiny and mission to all the nations of the earth.
But what is—the situation in the divided kingdom of Israel is not at all glorious—in fact, it is quite squalid. The officials of both northern and southern kingdoms--secular and religious—are unworthy of leadership. In Ephraim—the northern kingdom—they are besotted by self- indulgence and fuddled by drink. "They reel with wine. . . . the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink," the prophet laments. "They err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. All tables are covered with filthy vomit; no place is clean" (28:8).
In Jerusalem priests and officials cynically mock the prophet and the word of the Lord he announces. They ridicule his oracles with a nonsense refrain—"Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little" (28:10). They are confident because they say they have "made a covenant with death" (28:15), and agreement that when the "overwhelming scourge comes through" it will pass over them (28:15). But God has placed "tested stone" in Jerusalem, the prophet himself and the word he speaks. And his word to them is this—"Your covenant with death will be annulled" and when "the overwhelming scourge passes through you will be beaten down by it" (28:18). Therefore they should not scoff at the prophet's word or the ropes that tie them will be made stronger, for Isaiah "has heard a decree of destruction from the LORD God of hosts upon the whole land" (28:22). And the word of God
is the cornerstone called the "One who trusts will not panic" (28:16). Justice is the "line," and righteousness is "the plummet" by which all will be judged" (28:17).