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Isaiah 3:13 Stepping into prophetic books

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the prophetic!!!  You may have heard people say that they interpret the Bible literally.  But what does that mean?   That God has eyes, ears, hands, arms, etc?  That a word used in a prophetic book  and in a historical book mean the same thing?  My opinion is that the literal interpretation is the various styles use words differently.  For example, a day in history is generally 24 hours.  A day in prophecy is generally not 24 hours.  So as we go through Isaiah to Malachi (17 books), let us be gracious and not dogmatic.  I am stating what I think it means and how it might apply.  Conversation is welcome on differing views.

Blessings,

Jeff

One of the problems with the way the OT is organized is that the prophets are divided by length.  Major prophets are long and come first, minor prophets are short and come last..  So when we start with Isaiah, we can get the impression that he was the first prophet.

Just as the Wisdom books have a particular style, so too with prophetic.  Remember the accusation - response in Job.  No one really had the insight as to what had happened in heaven.  Just because one of the friends said something that is recorded in scripture doesn't make it something on which we should base doctrine.  But in prophetic, what is going on in heaven is revealed and the prophet is putting it into human terms.  This passage is an example.  Does the LORD physically confront the elders and princes of the people?  Or is Isaiah giving the people a picture that the can relate to?  God has specific complaints against His people and a courtroom setting makes sense to the audience.

Getting prophetic "right" is hard.  Social justice is a hot topic these days.  It was also an issue in Isaiah's day.  But we must make sure we are using the terms in the same way God does when we interact with culture that uses the terms in a different way.  Here God is concerned about oppression of the poor within Judah, the last fragment of His chosen people.  Making it into secular national government policy or an economic system is not the same thing.  We need to understand that God is concerned about the poor and the church needs to model biblical justice.  But biblical justice is not a secular government policy.  The church's mission is the gospel.  Justice is a result.  If we make justice our mission, the gospel is lost.

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