Emerging from the Psalms

Thank goodness the Psalms are actually songs, many of which have been put to music in our time. I have been amazed at how many popular praise and worship songs have sprung to mind as I've been reading the psalms. Their lyrics have been lifted right off the pages of the Bible! We have officially passed the mid-point of the Bible. Did you know that the exact center of the Bible is Psalm 118:8, which reads "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men." Interesting trivia. Another interesting thing I learned from the arrangement of the Psalms in the chronological Bible, is that they were not all written by David, nor written during his lifetime. I have never lingered in the Psalms nor given them much thought, and always assumed they were all David's. The Psalms are attributed to David because he wrote the majority of them, with authorship of at least 73 of the 150. But Moses, Solomon, the sons of Korah, Asaph ( David's choir director), and several others also had a hand in composing the book. Additionally, many are anonymous, and therefore of an undetermined date.

After passing through this collection of Psalms, we jump right back into Isaiah and his prophecies regarding the threat of Assyria to Israel and the surrounding nations. Judgement was coming to all of them in the form of military conquest. Israel continued to look elsewhere for help, specifically to Egypt, out of a lack of faith in God's protection. God wanted to make a point, through Isaiah, that hoping in Egypt was futile, as that nation would soon succumb to the Assyrians as well. In Isaiah 20:3-6, he is asked to deliver this message NAKED AND BAREFOOT. Apparently, it was commonplace for a conquering nation to remove captives from the land by stripping them, and essentially humbling and shaming them. Isaiah's humiliation (which he apparently endured without hesitation), was to be an object-lesson to the people of Israel. This prophecy is dated at 713 BC. Israel, the northern kingdom, had already fallen to the Assyrians ten years prior. In 701 BC, twelve years after this prophecy was received, Sennacherib of Assyria conquered Egypt. 100 years later, Assyria fell to Babylon, who began the process of conquering Judah 12 years later.

Tomorrow's reading:Isa. 24-26, 29