Isaiah 13-15; Psalms 99-101

Isaiah 13: Even though I am struggling with Isaiah a little bit, I really do need to get into the history of this book. I need to figure out what scholars have learned about the historical setting of this book.

This chapter is about the overthrow of Babylon. We learn in the beginning that God intends to unleash his fury on Babylon. God will put together a huge army to take out Babylon. There is a lot of description here about the horrible things that will help to these people. It’s kind of intense. For example, this is pretty intense: “Their infants will be crushed before their eyes; their houses plundered, their women raped” (CEB, v. 16, p. 1114 OT). DAMN!

Here’s a sidebar elaborating on chapters 13-23 (CEB, p. 1114 OT):

Isaiah 14: A mocking lament for the death of the King of Babylon. This chapter starts with a few verses indicating that God will have compassion for the house of Jacob and the people will return to Israel. This is immediately followed by a lengthy taunt against the king of Babylon. The text then switches back to a string of promises for oppressed Judah. And then this is followed by an oracle concerning the Philistines, warning them that they will die too.

Isaiah 15: Lamentations concerning Moab. We see here the start of lamentations concerning Moab and their destruction at the hands of God. More destruction by God. I find this statement from the notes pretty intriguing: “It isn’t thought to be the writing of Isaiah himself” (p. 1117 OT; CEB). How do they know that? It’s a really interesting bit of information but I really wish they at least gave a citation so I could read more myself. That’s a big part of this process for me; trying to figure out how the scholars know information like this.

Psalm 99: So apparently this is the last Psalm in the enthronement collection that started at Psalm 93. I read that the purpose of these was to praise God as the King and ruler. Now I get it…a little. This one argues that God is the reason why we have equality and that he loves justice. This may get me in just a tad bit of trouble, but if God really does sit around and control all the strings, then I’m thinking something was missed. Thankfully I don’t believe that it works this way. Please don’t strike me down if I’m wrong.

Psalm 100: A short psalm all about a bunch of praise towards God. Somebody help me with these things. It’s a pretty psalm, but I still don’t get it.

Psalm 101: This seems to be focused on a King trying to regain the throne. At least, I guess that’s it. Ugh.