06.25.09
Isaiah - Day 293
Scripture: Isaiah 16:1 (NIV): Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion."
Thought: To me, the world today, like Moab of old, needs to remember and respect that Israel is God's chosen people!
Question: Have I yielded my "respect" to God and to God's chosen people?
This new chapter begins in the emphatic voice, that is, a commanding tone. The subject, or doer of these actiions, is understood: you "send lambs..." Who? The Moabites--the enemy of Israel to whom God has been speaking all through the previous chapter, chapter 15. God is looking to provide them some "steps of reformation"; ways to rectify their situation and return to a favorable position in His sight. Will they take God's recommendations?
"Send lambs as tribute..." Formerly, a system of "tribute", or what we today would call taxation, was in force over the land, including Moab. Tributes were paid to King David as explained in II Samuel 8:2: "David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute." (Now the tribute is owed to the current King--Hezekiah.) Also during the era of the earlier Kings following David, Moab continued tributes: II Kings 3:4 "Now Mesha King of Moab raised sheep, and he had to supply the king of Israel [referring to Joram, son of Ahab] with a hundred thousand lambs and with the wool of a hundred thousand rams." If further reading in this II Kings passage is done, we would find Moab rebelling against this tribute-paying and Israel mounting a military attack to "keep them in line." This aggression is set to head out "through the Desert of Edom" (II Kings 3:8), even as our verse today refers to "Sela, across the desert". Sela was the capital city of Edom. Edom is the area south of Moab. Sela, also spelled Selah, literally means "clefts of the rock" and this city is synonymous with the city of Petra, about 50 miles south of the tip of The Salt Sea (today's Dead Sea). "Across the desert" could refer to the Desert of Zin which extends like a strip of land basically from the southern end of The Dead Sea down to The Gulf of Alana--our present-day Gulf of Aqaba. To bring tribute "to the ruler of the land" "from Sela" to Jerusalem, is a reference to the territory under Hezekiah's jurisdiction and rule.
"...to the mount of the Daughter of Zion." this refers to Jerusalem, or the City of David--Israel's "capital" or primary city and the heart of Israeli rule and coommunity. God is giving the Moabites a chance to return to their former servitude and live once again under the mercy once provided them under David's rule. Will they obey this ruling? Will they "bite the bullet" in the sense of what they might consider "going backward" to a former system? Will they again become subservient to Israel? Will they "swallow their pride" and humble themselves under God's "chosen people"? To serve the Living God is also to serve His chosen people, Israel.
Prayer: Lord, Your people Israel are very important to You! You will yet defend and save them! Cause me, as Your child, to properly support Israel in these days. Give me Your wisdom in regard to this, Lord, and move me to pray for Jerusalem and all of Israel. In christ's Name, Amen.
