Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Everlasting Father,
All time belongs to you, and all the ages. In signs, in songs, in words of promise, you reassured your chosen ones, “I am with you; fear not.” You taught them through the prophets to trust that your saving deeds were not limited to the past.
When Jesus came, he fulfilled “all that was written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
The Church has found him everywhere in these same holy books.
Help me to find Jesus in my reading today, to listen to him, and to follow him with all my heart.
Amen.
Today's chapters are Isaiah 20-22.
Just to clarify: God did not tell Isaiah speak in his name while stark naked. He told him to take off his "sackcloth and sandals": that is, to remove his prophetic "uniform" and his protective footgear. Stripped down to his tunic (basically, his undershirt), Isaiah would be a picture of the defenseless Egyptians and Ethiopians with whom King Hezekiah was tempted to ally himself against mighty Assyria.
Isaiah's prophecy against Babylon (21:9) will be quoted verbatim in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 14:8).
The prophecy against Shebna of Jerusalem (especially 22:19-23) is noteworthy not just for the way God singles out an arrogant official, but for what he says about the man's divinely chosen successor:
I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder;
what he opens, no one will shut,
what he shuts, no one will open.
Compare that with Jesus' words to the Apostle Peter: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16:19).
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