The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 5:1b-3,
"My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
'Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.'"
I have had a subscription to Biblical Archeology Review for decades. I don't find much of anything within its pages that is necessarily edifying to my faith or my understanding of God's Word. It is just that I enjoy reading about the current events in that field of study and the finds that take place. The reason I find little within its pages is that there are not many contributors (if any??) that are true believers in Jesus Christ and embrace the concept of the inspiration of the Scriptures.
Most all of them have this view that the origin of the Jewish nation is that of a nomadic people that simply borrowed religious ideas and materials from various other nations they had contact with that led to their establishing their own concepts of God, of temple worship, the priesthood, the Mosaic law and the Scriptures, the religious calendar with its feasts and festivals, ect. Not lost on them is the uniqueness of the monotheistic outlook of the Jews, but they do not see a unique people planted in Palestine by God. They simply see Israel as a small nomadic people that settled in Palestine that never attained the status we read of with David, Solomon and the exploits we read of in our Bibles.
In the above verses, Isaiah speaks of how God, his "loved one" planted Israel as his vineyard. Israel, as a nation, was not a people that simply bubbled up from humanity and became a nation, but was the object of a plan executed by God himself to create a vehicle through which he would bring his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to pursue his redemption of mankind. We read of the beginnings of the nation of Israel as God's own hand-crafted people through the accounts of Abraham in the book of Genesis.
"My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
'Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.'"
I have had a subscription to Biblical Archeology Review for decades. I don't find much of anything within its pages that is necessarily edifying to my faith or my understanding of God's Word. It is just that I enjoy reading about the current events in that field of study and the finds that take place. The reason I find little within its pages is that there are not many contributors (if any??) that are true believers in Jesus Christ and embrace the concept of the inspiration of the Scriptures.
Most all of them have this view that the origin of the Jewish nation is that of a nomadic people that simply borrowed religious ideas and materials from various other nations they had contact with that led to their establishing their own concepts of God, of temple worship, the priesthood, the Mosaic law and the Scriptures, the religious calendar with its feasts and festivals, ect. Not lost on them is the uniqueness of the monotheistic outlook of the Jews, but they do not see a unique people planted in Palestine by God. They simply see Israel as a small nomadic people that settled in Palestine that never attained the status we read of with David, Solomon and the exploits we read of in our Bibles.
In the above verses, Isaiah speaks of how God, his "loved one" planted Israel as his vineyard. Israel, as a nation, was not a people that simply bubbled up from humanity and became a nation, but was the object of a plan executed by God himself to create a vehicle through which he would bring his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to pursue his redemption of mankind. We read of the beginnings of the nation of Israel as God's own hand-crafted people through the accounts of Abraham in the book of Genesis.
In order to make Israel the vehicle he needed for his Son (not a perfect people - but a people suitable for bringing his Son into the world -- the perfected people would come from the outcome of bringing his Son into the world), he had to make course corrections to their sinful predilections they shared with all mankind. Here Isaiah brings God's indictment against the nation.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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