Today's reading kicks off with a description of what I can only assume is "Judgement Day," or the day before the apocalypse. Sometimes it seems like the sections are simply talking about instances in the future -- after the exile -- when God will support his "chosen people" again, but there is definitely an end-of-days-y vibe to a lot of this stuff too. "He will destroy death forever," Isaiah says of God (Isaiah 25:8), adding later that "Your dead will live, their bodies will rise again" (Isaiah 26:19). However powerful God has been so far in the bible, this zombie thing is new. Zombies have never been part of the game plan before now, which makes me think that Isaiah is referring to something greater than the usual military defeats.
Also of note: during this apocalyptic description, God kills a dragon from Hell named Leviathan with a sword! Fuck yeah!
In chapter 28, Isaiah talks about what JERKS they are up in the Northern Kingdom, prophesying more destruction. On the Israelites, he says, "[You] have made a treaty with Death...[but] your treaty with Death will be annulled and your pact with Sheol will not stand; and the raging waters will sweep by, and you will be like land overwhelmed by flood" (Isaiah 28:15-18). Too bad, guys! It was nice knowing you though.
Chapter 29 describes an invasion of Jerusalem, interestingly referred to as "Ariel" or
Chapters 30 and 31 talk about how naughty the Judeans are for making an alliance with Egypt to fight off Assyria, instead of depending solely on God. Isaiah explains that Egypt is STUPID and that God will take revenge on both nations for their sinful ways.
Chapter 32 provides us with another description of the approaching Davidic messiah. I personally find these messianic prophecies to be the most interesting part of Isaiah so far; I think the fact that the Jews both believed in and anticipated a messiah at certain points during their history as a people is overlooked and important. Chapter 32 also provides a warning to "women who live at ease" (Isaiah 32:9) because Judah is about to get destroyed, yo!
Chapter 33 is a boring psalm probably written at some point during the exile, and chapters 34 and 35 are poems about how Edom is doomed but Judah will be redeemed.
Finally, chapters 36 and 37 are prose descriptions of how the kingdom of Judah eventually fell to the Assyrians. Gee, does this sound kind of familiar? MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE WE ALREADY READ ABOUT IT IN KINGS. GODDAMNIT. Anyway, a messenger comes to Jerusalem on behalf of King Sennacherib of Assyria and tells the Jews to surrender because their god isn't going to help them, but the current king, Hezekiah, prays, and God responds by sending an angel to kill a bunch of Assyrians. So the inevitable collapse is still being held at bay!
One compositional note about Isaiah: it is pretty confusing to figure out what these speeches, poems, and narratives all refer to. A popular interpretation is that the sections in verse are speeches of the prophet, while the prose was composed later as "sermons" on Isaiah's teachings. Chapters 24-27, the fun apocalyptic stuff, was probably composed after Isaiah's time and therefore wasn't really written by him.
What fun! Tomorrow we start on the Deutero-Isaiah, which is the name given to the middle section of
the Book of Isaiah. A book within a book! Well that's just charming
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