March 23, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain. ‘Come,’ each one cries, ‘let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.’” (Isaiah 56.9-10)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

If this wasn’t written by Isaiah (circa 740 to 685 B.C.), I might suggest that God was speaking directly to two distinct groups which we know of from the gospel renderings of the life and ministry of Jesus. They were the Sadducees (whose movement began around 585 B.C.) and the Pharisees (whose movement began around 160 B.C.) Both of these movements began as reformation ideals as the result of the lack of a Jewish political structure. When Cyrus allowed the “king and his court” to return to Jerusalem it was with the strict order that there would be no Jewish royalty ruling in Israel. The religious practices, traditions and celebrations could be maintained but the monarchy could not. Little wonder what most Jewish people longed for the return of the Davidic reign. It was not merely about uniting the divided nation, north and south, but of creating balance between, what we would call today, “Church and State.” Without such checks and balances, much as we see in the country and others today, one side or the other moves authoritatively to control the whole. Either it is the State with no moral, ethical and spiritual framework or it is “the Church” with no legal authority or judiciary influence and power to govern. In the days which followed the return of the exiles from Babylon (then Persia) to Israel and to Jerusalem there was a monarchy without authority as we see today such as in England. History is a concise teacher if the student is willing to submit to its teaching. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We have seen this many times and will continue to do so until Christ returns.

As we look at verses 11-12 in chapter 56, we are able to choose two courses of interpretation. The first course would be to see how the applications of the terms “dogs and shepherds” were applied between regents (those loyal to Jotham who led Israel with confidence and honored God and those who sought to rule and paid tribute to the Assyrian Empire). Those loyal to Jotham and the Davidic monarchy would have been seen as shepherds while those who opposed it would have been seen as “dogs.” Those terms could also have been implied to represent the temple leadership who sought their own authority apart from the king (dogs) and the monarchy (shepherds.) This could have been extended to the Sadducees and the Pharisees by the time of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem in 26 A.D. which is a second course of interpretation. There was still no Jewish king over Israel, at least not a purely Jewish king following in the line and house of David. What existed were “foreign kings, governors and procurates” with whom there was a foul alliance with the “spiritual authority” in Israel which was by that time the Sadducees (the priestly authority) and the Pharisees (the legalists). As to which was dog and which was shepherd would amount to little because their purpose had become corrupted by their own device and desire to rule. What is known about the terms are their applications to the forsaking of the sacredness for the profane. The surrendering of honoring God in the Temple and in the Court to what promoted self-interest and call it divine was in full swing by the time of Jesus. By the time of the fall of the second temple in 70 A.D. it would be only the rabbinic (the Pharisaical party) that would survive as the priests had nowhere to exert their influence since there was no Temple. What started as a nation with priests and no monarchy was a fait accompli as it ended with a nation without priest or king. As nature abhors a vacuum, what took over became a state out of balance ruled by the politicians. We can see this in Israel where only personal faith of the politician (in whatever that may be) was the only religious influence to bear in the rule of a nation. The voice of sacredness and sanctity was like, what I would liken it to, “a voice of one crying in the wilderness, repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This was John the Baptizer’s cry to both the assigned monarchy (that of Rome) and the Temple leadership (battling between Sadducees and Pharisees) who feared a Messiah from God.

Why would they fear God’s Messiah? Easy enough to reason why? God’s Messiah would not be loyal to one party or the other. God’s Messiah would have been prophet, priest and king whose identity and authority was derived straight from the Spirit of God uniting them as one. Righteousness would be the rule and, in its effect, the Messiah while in the line of David would supersede David’s legacy because He would be without sin and the desire to sin. Jesus, God’s Messiah, was a threat to the ruling authority and the presumed ruling authority. In God’s Messiah there would have been sanctity restored to the Temple (hear the cleansing of the Temple as a hope for that truth) as well as to the court (hear Jesus speaking to Pilate “My Kingdom is not of this world.“) That Isaiah was speaking in the present tense or the future present tense matters little because the truth of the corruption of the Temple and the Court remained the same. Without submission to the will of God there would only be chaos. It wasn’t about agreement among people but agreement with God that was, is and will always be most important. A lesson we should take to heart today, mighty ones of God!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.