December 13, 2021 - Advent Week 3

Isaiah 6:16-17:1

When I first looked up the two references, I was given for this date I was perplexed. I could see little Christmas in the reading but as I prayed and revisited them I realized that it was very much an advent story of waiting and expectation, situated in a different context to what I had expected, between 700 and 500 BC. Being a bit of a “history buff” I did a bit of research and found the passage was not only relevant to the birth of Jesus but also to today’s day-to-day uncertainty. So here is a little of my journey through history with the scripture.

You will recall that, after the death of King Solomon the united Israel kingdom of David and Solomon’s reign split in to two kingdoms: Judah in the south centered around its capital, Jerusalem, and extending south to the border of Egypt;  home principally to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and Israel, home to the other ten tribes  to the north of  Judah with its capital, Samaria, and extending north to the borders of Assyria and bordered on the east by an area that was to become Babylon.

Isaiah was of noble birth and was possibly a nephew of Uzziah, king of Judah. In Chapter 6 of Isaiah, we learn of his call to his prophetic ministry at the time of King Uzziah’s death. Uzziah was a godly king who reigned for 52 years from 783 to 742 BC (Wikipedia.)   He was stuck with Leprosy after making an incense offering in the temple, a function reserved for the priests and for which God punished him. Because of his leprosy Uzziah was isolated from His court and his son, Jothan, co -reigned with him. In 2016 the renowned archaeologist, DR. Eilat Mazar, working in the Ophel area of the City of David, discovered two Bullae (seals); one believed to belong to the prophet Isaiah and the other belonging to King Uzziah, proving the people in the book of Isaiah really did exist. (Visitors of the Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered exhibit can see up close the bullae of King Hezekiah (left) and of Isaiah (right). Photo: Courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar)

Isaiah’s life extended across the lives of four righteous kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah and ended into the rein of early reign of Manasseh under, whom tradition tells us, he was likely killed for his faith. He is writing this chapter in the reign of King Ahaz, his great-great nephew (Wikipedia)

The citizens of Judah lived throughout Isaiah’s lifetime in persistent fear of Invasion captivity or slaughter. Primarily, the threat came from the Assyrians in the  north. In Chapter eight of the book of Isaiah the Judeans are attempting to make allegiances with idle worshiping kingdoms and resorting to mediums and divinations to foretell the future; ignoring the reassurances of Isaiah that if they put their trust in Yahweh all would be well. They are listening to rumours and reported invasions and their fear is palpable. “

Chapter 9 verse one commences the prophesy of the promised messiah with the promise that “in the future He (Yahweh) will honour Galilee of the gentiles by way of the sea and along the Jordan

Isaiah sums things up at the beginning of our reading in verse 17 “I will wait for the Lord…. I will put my trust in Him” (New International Translation)

So, what are we to make of this complicated reading and how does it relate to advent? I pondered prayerfully on the reading for some time; perhaps it could relate as follows: We too live during unpredictable times. Within two years our way of living and worshipping has been turned upside down and inside out. Our travel and those with whom we can visit has been limited and is subject to new edicts day by day. The overarching cry is “When will things return to “normal” or whatever the new “normal will be”. World-wide it seems that one disaster follows quickly on the heels of another; almost like the plagues of Egypt, with different parts of the world being devastated by locusts: famine; storms; fire, and landslides, as well as the everchanging pandemic of Covid19. We are left wondering what to do to move forward into the 2022 but advent is a time of expectation and hope.

We can follow the examples of the many of the Judean people of Isaiah’ day and seek to know the future by means of unreliable sources and sink further and further into depression, or we can follow the example of Isaiah and “Wait for the Lord… and put our trust in God” who says, in Deuteronomy 3:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Amplified Bible) and in His Son our saviour Jesus Christ who said, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) I invite you to join me on the journey of faith.

May God bless each one of you and grant you a wonderful Christmas season and the courage to move forward into a new year with hope and rejoicing.

 

- Barbara Edgecombe-Green

 

Musical rendition of “the gate of the year”:

 

 

Retired LSE academic Minnie Louise Haskins’ famous lines on “the gate of the year. 

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:” Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:” Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So, I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

Spoken by George VI in his Christmas 1939 broadcast to the Empire these words struck a chord with a country facing the uncertainly of war. They were the preamble to an obscure poem, God Knows, written in 1908, but nobody was able to identify the poet