ISAIAH 2:6 - 4:1

 READ: ISAIAH 2:6 - 4:1

TEXTS TO REFLECT:

For you have rejected your people,

    the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things from the east

    and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,

    and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,

    and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is filled with horses,

    and there is no end to their chariots.

8 Their land is filled with idols;

    they bow down to the work of their hands,

    to what their own fingers have made.

9 So man is humbled,

    and each one is brought low—

    do not forgive them! 2:6-9

The Lord will enter into judgment

    with the elders and princes of his people:

“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,

    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15 What do you mean by crushing my people,

    by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts. 3:14-15

REFLECT

Chapters 2 and 3 of Isaiah tell us how God loathes the haughty. In 3:16, the Lord declares, "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty...therefore the Lord will strike with a scab". The Lord then continues by saying that because of their haughtiness, God would deal with them, "Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty." v 24. Because of the haughtiness of the people, God would take away all their luxuries, and they would have nothing to boast about. The cause of this 'shame' would be defeat in war, a calamity that no one expected. What made this prediction even harder to bear was that God was not speaking to a pagan nation but to His own beloved Zion. 

How did all this happen? Israel had grown prosperous, and their defenses were secure. "Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots". 2:7. The people of Israel were rich and they were powerful. And their prosperity and power turned them to the ways of their equally powerful neighbours. Perhaps they felt that they had arrived, that they were now in the same league as their neighbours Babylon, and Assyria, and Egypt. And so they adopted their customs and religions as well. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. 2:8. Israel's neighbours were known for their ostentation - their powerful weapons, their massive imposing idols, their lavish lifestyles. 

Israel's haughtiness made them feel that they were above others, that they were entitled to exploit the weak and poor, simply because they had the power and wealth to do so. The people thought that because they were rich, they could be contemptuous of the poor. In His indictment of the leaders and elders of Israel, God questioned rhetorically: “What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” 13:15

These two chapters display God's terrible wrath as He confronts His children over their haughtiness and their treatment of the poor.

RELATE

We live in a country that is one of the richest in the world. Our people tour every corner of the earth, and find virtually every city affordable. Top and the most expensive universities are unevenly populated by Singaporeans. Many of the world's richest seek medical treatment and education in Singapore. In terms of defense, we seem nearly impregnable. With our wealth and power, we are able to recruit people from neighbouring countries to do the dirty work for us. Trash is collected by foreign labourers, and our public places are cleaned by foreigners as well. Many households employ foreigners to maintain order. A large part of our 'lower' workforce comprises foreign workers. 

The issue that confronts the church is how we regard our foreign workers. Our Lord teaches us the importance of loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. We are called to regard our neighbours as we would wish to be regarded, to accord them rights that we would want to be accorded. 

I thought of how easily our fortunes could be reversed. By just a cruel twist of fate, we could be people desperate to eke out a meagre living in a foreign country regardless of living conditions. Where once we toured cities, we could be working in cities in the worst of conditions. Where we once were served by an army of foreign workers, we could be one in an invisible workforce in a foreign land. In such a scenario, how would we wish to be regarded and treated?

Haughtiness and a disdain for others is an attitude that our Lord hates. And this is especially so among His own children. In a time when we are blessed with prosperity, may our eyes and our hearts  open wide towards our brothers and sisters from poorer countries who work among us.

 REST

Make me a servant Humble and meek,

Lord let me lift up Those who are weak.

And may the prayer Of my heart always be, 

Make me a servant,

Make me a servant, 

Make me a servant today.

Chiu Ming Li