The Good Book Club: Week 29
Isaiah's prophecies get personal, and predict the future downfall of Babylon
This Week
We are reading:
Isaiah 25-51
Proverbs 10:1-28
Summary
Last week, Isaiah opened with sweeping judgment oracles and some of the most dramatic prophetic imagery in the Bible.
This week we move through Isaiah’s “Little Apocalypse” into passages about God as shepherd and comforter. Isaiah is long, and many scholars believe it was written by 2 or 3 authors. The tone shifts dramatically in this section toward restoration, and at the end of the week the famous Servant Songs begin.
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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:
Day 194 — Monday, 7/13 — Isaiah 25-28, Proverbs 10:1-4
Day 195 — Tuesday, 7/14 — Isaiah 29-32, Proverbs 10:5-8
Day 196 — Wednesday, 7/15 — Isaiah 33-36, Proverbs 10:9-12
Day 197 — Thursday, 7/16 — Isaiah 37-40, Proverbs 10:13-16
Day 198 — Friday, 7/17 — Isaiah 41-44, Proverbs 10:17-20
Day 199 — Saturday, 7/18 — Isaiah 45-48, Proverbs 10:21-24
Day 200 — Sunday, 7/19 — Isaiah 49-51, Proverbs 10:25-28
Day 194 — Monday, 7/13 — Isaiah 25-28, Proverbs 10:1-4
After a week of judgment, today we open in the midst of Isaiah’s “Little Apocalypse” — a section detailing sweeping, cosmic events that echo from creation and mirror Revelation.
The warning has been issued, and now God is preparing a banquet for the faithful remnant — a feast for all nations on His holy mountain, removing the shroud of death, and wiping every tear.
God promises protection and ressurection for the righteous, detailing how He will defeat Leviathan, the sea serpent.
Day 195 — Tuesday, 7/14 — Isaiah 29-32, Proverbs 10:5-8
Isaiah issues a message to Judah — for the sin of making a treaty with Egypt instead of trusting in the Lord, Jerusalem will be besieged, but God will humble them and deliver them from spiritual blindness.
A prophecy is given of a future king reigning in righteousness, and a rushing of the Spirit on a parched land — foreshadowing the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Day 196 — Wednesday, 7/15 — Isaiah 33-36, Proverbs 10:9-12
These readings contrast God’s fierce judgment with the Savior to come — the desert blooming, streams in the wasteland, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame leaping, the mute singing. Jesus later quotes this passage in Isaiah to show that He has come to redeem the nations.
Day 197 — Thursday, 7/16 — Isaiah 37-40, Proverbs 10:13-16
Hezekiah prays for help against the Assyrians and God grants it, protecting Jerusalem and killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
Hezekiah becomes deathly ill and Isaiah tells him to get his affairs in order as he will not survive. He prays for healing and God grants him 15 more years of life, and causes the sun’s shadow to move backwards on the sundial of Ahaz as a sign of healing.
The King of Babylon sends an envoy to Hezekiah to wish him well after he recovered from illness; Hezekiah inexplicably shows the Babylonians all the treasure in the Kingdom of Judah. Isaiah prophecies that Judah will one day fall to Babylon.
Chapter 40 sets a new tone, written by another author about 150 years later, issued as a great reassurance that comfort is coming for God’s people.
Day 198 — Friday, 7/17 — Isaiah 41-44, Proverbs 10:17-20
God makes his case directly to the nations in a courtroom scene — challenging the idols to predict anything, to do anything, to explain anything — but they are silent.
God promises to redeem his people while continuing to mock false idols and those who can’t even bring themselves to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”
Day 199 — Saturday, 7/18 — Isaiah 45-48, Proverbs 10:21-24
God names the Persion King Cyrus as his anointed shepherd who will authorize the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Cyrus wont be born for another 150 years, which makes this prophecy (and the book of Isaiah as a whole) one of the most astonishing to modern day historians.
A poetic downfall is prophesied for Babylon, with their idols carried off into captivity while God’s people are delivered from Babylon to freedom.
Day 200 — Sunday, 7/19 — Isaiah 49-51, Proverbs 10:25-28
The Lord’s Servant is commissioned and begins four famous “servant songs” in Isaiah. The identity of this servant has been the topic of discussion amongst theologians for centuries — is it the collective of Israel, or Jesus? Both? This, to me, seems like another passage that is purposefully ambiguous enough to apply to multiple contexts.
It is hard not to read several of the Servant passages as foreshadowing Jesus: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”
God closes by calling his people to look back at Abraham and Sarah — two people from whom an entire nation came — as evidence that he can do it again, from nothing.
What’s the most striking to you this week? Join us in the comments and the chat to discuss!