Seder 37: Isaiah 29---Judgment, then Hope

 The biblical prophets often follow warnings of judgment with messages of hope.  Hope is the final word, but unless the people repent, they will have to endure judgment before reaching that final step.

We see such a pattern in Isaiah 29, which refers to the people of Judah as an ``altar hearth'' (a probable translation of "Ariel", as in Ezekiel 43:15-16).  The people often assume that if they carry out the Temple riturals correctly, God will be obligated to bless them (verses 1,13), and they will be safe from the kind of foreign invasion that befell their brothers in the northern kingdom of Israel.  

But from God's point of view, the people are not truly worshiping him; they are just going through the motions.  As a result, they will eventually face judgment.  Jerusalem will be like an altar hearth with the kingdom of Judah as the sacrificial victim (verse 2).  

Verse 4 pictures the nation brought low like the dust.  Commentator John Oswalt sees a possible allusion to some kind of worship of the dead and occult activity going on in Judah.  

The God of Israel is also the King over all nations, and he will judge the nations too (verses 5-8). Jerusalem's enemies may see themselves devouring the holy city, but it will be like a person dreaming about a big dinner and waking up hungry.  

Sadly, the people of Judah at this point are just as blind as their enemies, both because they have blinded themselves and because God has then chosen to leave them blind (vv 9-14).  When people do not want to hear God's word, sometimes he will let them have their way for awhile.  

Some royal counselors were recommending that Judah turn to Egypt for help against Assyria (see chapters 30-31).  It may be these counselors who are in view in Isaiah 29:15-16, those who are trying to hide their plans from God--i.e., hide their plans from God's prophet Isaiah.  

Judah instead should trust God for deliverance, Isaiah says.  God ultimately would bring spiritual transformation to the nation, including an end to the blindness described in verses 11-12.  Righteousness, justice, and prosperity would come to the land (verses 18-24).  

Verse 8, with its reference to dreams, links Isaiah 29 with Genesis 41 in Jewish tradition.  The kind of reversal described at the end of Isaiah 29 might also be compared with Joseph's coming to power in Genesis 41.       

Seder 37: Gen 41---Joseph's Amazing Reversal of Fortune

 Two years after Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker, another opportunity arose for Joseph to interpret dreams.  The Pharaoh himself had a pair of dreams that troubled him greatly, and his experts had been unable to give an explanation that satisfied him (Gen 41:1-8). 

We know that in ancient Egypt some "dream manuals" were compiled, giving examples of dreams and their interpretations.  The interpretations often relied upon wordplay.  Apparently the manuals were not helpful in this case.

One midrash imagines what Pharaoh's experts might have told him (Genesis Rabbah 89).  In the midrash, they say that the image of seven good cows eaten by seven bad cows stands for seven daughters of Pharaoh who will die prematurely, while the seven good sheaves eaten by seven bad ones represent seven kingdoms that Pharaoh would conquer but that would rebel against him.

The midrash reminds us of two main challenges in interpreting these dreams.  A correct interpretation would recognize that the two dreams were a pair with the same message, and that the sevens in the dream stood for seven years.  Verse 8 may imply that the experts did not pick up on the first of these challenges.  The Hebrew literally says that Pharaoh told them his dream (singular), but that they were not successful in interpreting the dreams (plural).  

Pharaoh's cupbearer then remembered Joseph's skills in dream interpretation (vv 9-13), and Joseph was brought out of prison to hear the dreams.  Joseph was careful to emphasize that he could not interpret dreams on his own, but that God could provide a satisfying interpretation (v 16).  

Joseph not only gave a convincing interpretation but offered a plan for dealing with the extended famine that he saw predicted in the dreams (vv 25-36).  Here we get a glimpse of the aspects of Joseph's character that led to his being given managerial responsibilities at an early age.  Pharaoh was greatly troubled by the dreams, and after hearing Joseph's interpretation he might have wondered if it was possible for Egypt to get through the famine successfully.  Joseph's plan helped to ease his mind.  

Joseph's plan was his resume.  After hearing Joseph's impressive presentation, Pharaoh made him the "famine czar", with authority to carry out the plan he had proposed.  He was given an Egyptian name and a wife from the Egyptian elite.  

We wonder what Pharaoh had heard previously about Joseph, Did he remember the encounter that an earlier Pharaoh had had with Abraham 200 years before (Gen 12)?  Had he heard about Joseph's talents from Potiphar?  In any case, Joseph experienced a meteoric rise to power and was put in a position to save many lives.   Once again, the nations were blessed through a descendant of Abraham.  

Thinking of the book of Genesis as a whole, Joseph is a kind of second Adam figure.  Adam failed by trusting in himself to determine good and evil.  Joseph, on the other hand, relied on God to correctly identify the "good" and "evil" cattle and sheaves.  He showed how to wisely exercise dominion over the earth (Gen 1:28).  

Christians recognize in Joseph a type of the Messiah.  Through no sin of his own, he was buried for a time in prison, but then was raised again with all things in Egypt "put under his feet" (1 Cor 15:27-28).  He was led by the Spirit of God (Gen 41:38; Isa 11:2).  

When Egypt needed bread, Pharaoh said, "Go to Joseph.  What he says to you, do" (Gen 41:55).  We are reminded of Mary's words at the wedding feast at Cana in John 2:5.  "Do whatever he tells you."

Seder 37: Psalm 126---Prayer for Continued Restoration

 After 70 years of exile in Babylon, a group of Jews returned to the land of Israel, as had been prophesied (e.g., in Jer 29:10-14).  Psalm 126 begins by expressing the joy felt by those returning exiles (vv 1-3).

Life was not easy, though, for those who returned to the ruins of Jerusalem.  They started the project of rebuilding the Temple, but the work soon stalled.  Day-to-day life was difficult.  And so they turned to God seeking further restoration (v 4).  

We know some of the ways in which God answered those prayers.  He sent prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people to work on rebuilding the Temple.  Haggai affirms God's faithfulness in Haggai 2:4-5:

"Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD.  Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.  Be strong all you people of the land, declares the LORD.  Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.  My Spirit remains in the your midst.  Fear not."

Psalm 126 ends with a note of confidence that God will be with those who step out in faith to follow him.  

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (vv 5-6).

The midrash on Ps 126 identifies Jacob as an example of verse 6.  Jacob left home for Haran with little more than the clothes on his back, and returned with substantial wealth and a large family.  We can also think of Joseph, who was taken to Egypt as a slave and emerged from imprisonment 13 years later as one of the highest officials in Egypt.