Day 7 March 04


Day 7 March 04

Passage: Isaiah 41:1-7
The verses in this section are juxtaposed with those in the next section (verses 8-20). Verse 1, “Be silent before me, you islands!” surprises us, why speak to islands? This confusion is clarified in the next section. Through such an arrangement, we are brought into a deeper reflection by God and drawn into the story.

In the previous chapter, the Lord said that the people would witness his glory. Again, the Lord spoke to the people directly and even invited them to debate with him. Through this process, people would realize the difference of the Lord. By asking questions, the Lord expressed who he is, and why he matters to people. In the ancient Near East, people all believed in gods, and there were many gods, the LORD was merely just one of them. What is unique and special about the LORD then?

Through this process of questioning, the Lord demonstrated that he is the God who is involved personally and controls the situation. The Lord also made it clear that he dominated the world from the beginning! However, based solely on verse 2, we do not know conclusively who was raised by the Lord in the east.

This powerful person who was raised by the Lord, engulfed all nations with his power. People were frightened and astonished by his power. However, they were merely frightened of his power and his victories, without understanding the deeper significance behind it. Faced with such a situation, the people could only cheer on each other and embolden one another. Typically, people could only rely on the idols that they crafted with their own hands. However, is that all there was to the situation? Was this the only response that the people could give? How did the Israelites react?

Prayer: God, what you have said, we must listen and obey!

Remark: The ancient Near East is one of the origins of early civilization. It covers the regions of the current Mid-East area, including Mesopotamia (now Iraq), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran (Elam, Medes, Parthian and Old Persian), Minor Asia (now Turkey and Armenia), Levant (now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian state and Jordan), Malta and the Arabian Peninsula.

第七天 Mar 04


经文：以赛亚书 41:1-7
这段经文与下一段（8-20节）看似是一种对照!“众海岸啊，当在我面前静听!”（1节）使人惊讶，为何是对海岸说话呢？让人感到不明确之处，在下一段就有了答案。
这好让人更加的专注，这样的安排促使我们做深入的反思。我们被神带进这样的情景中： 上一章耶和华神说过要让世人看见祂的荣耀，神在此再次对世人发话并邀请人与祂辩论。透过辩论，希望世人能够注意并了解到耶和华神的不同。

神再以提问向人表达自己是谁、耶和华神到底与世人何干 ？  在古代近东，人人都相信神，神明众多，耶和华神不过是其中的一位。耶和华神有什么特别？

神这次提问是为了表明自己是参与及影响时局的神。神还指出自己过去就在世界中起主导作用。能够左右局势、权势之兴衰，神是促成事件发生的因素!不过，单凭第2节，我们很难确定谁在东方被神兴起？   

这位被神所兴起的有势之人，以权势席卷了列国，并让人感到害怕及震惊!世人对这样的事也就只有害怕，因为不明白其中更深层的意义。面对这样的情况，世人会互相扶持打气，彼此壮胆。一般的人，只能依赖自己用钉钉稳的偶像!

事情就只是这样吗？世人也就只能、只有这些反应而已吗？以色列民又如何呢？   

祷告：耶和华啊，祢说话，我们要听! 

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