Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 97 results

1. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

August: The overlaps between Haggai’s various sayings in verses 2–11, with their repeated resumptive beginnings describing them as Yahweh’s words, suggest that these are sayings Haggai delivered on different occasions and that the narrator has brought them together into a coherent longer account of Haggai’ s challenge concerning the need to take up the task of building the temple. The account thus...

2. A Prophecy About Tyre

Isaiah 23:1-18

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

23:1–18 The fact that the sequence actually concludes with a poem about Tyre gives it an impressive end to match its impressive beginning. Babylon and Tyre are the two significant powers at the eastern and western frontiers of Assyria’s empire, its equivalents to New York and Los Angeles. Once again it is the city’s impressiveness that is a key factor in making its downfall necessary. But Babylon...

3. A Prophecy Against Arabia

Isaiah 21:13-17

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

21:13–17 The word ‘arab (NIV Arabia) comes only here, in this poem about the steppe, and could refer to people living on the high desert plain, or it could mean “evening.” So again the introduction points in several directions. The scene remains to the northeast from Judah. Dedan and Tema are oases near Dumah in northwest Arabia. Dedan is mentioned in the records of Nabonidus (see on 14:3–23) and ...

4. A Prophecy Against Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about Northern Powers: Introduction to Chapters 13–23: Chapter 12 would have made a fine ending to a book, and perhaps it once did. Isaiah has warned Judah of calamity to come, then looked at the other side of trouble to the punishment of the troublers themselves and to the fulfillment of Yahweh’s purpose for Israel “in that day.” Isaiah 13 then marks a new start. The word oracle announces s...

5. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

6. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 21:1-10

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

21:1–10 This cryptic poem about the Desert by the Sea forms a small-scale parallel to 13:1–14:23. First, it concerns the fall of Babylon, although this is not made explicit until near the end. The hearers thus remain in suspense. Second, it relates both to the situation of Isaiah’s day, when Babylon was one of the powers encouraging the assertion of independence over against Assyria, and to the la...

7. A Prophecy Against Cush

Isaiah 18:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about the Southern Powers: For three chapters we turn to the far south. Cush covers an area corresponding to the very south of modern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. A Cushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself at the end of the eighth century, so this poem about Cush is as much a poem about Egypt (cf. 20:1–6). 18:1–7 This poem begins “Oh,” like the preceding poem about the nations in general ...

8. A Prophecy Against Edom

Isaiah 21:11-12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

21:11–12 After hearing the prophet’s vision in verses 1–10, the prophet’s hearers might immediately be struck by verse 11a as having a double reference. Dumah is an oasis near Babylon which, like Babylon, was subject to Assyrian attack in the eighth century and would itself be concerned about Babylon’s fate. The region also experienced Babylonian invasion and withdrawal in the sixth century, not l...

9. A Prophecy Against Egypt

Isaiah 19:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about the Southern Powers: For three chapters we turn to the far south. Cush covers an area corresponding to the very south of modern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. A Cushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself at the end of the eighth century, so this poem about Cush is as much a poem about Egypt (cf. 20:1–6). 19:1–15 It is not surprising that Egypt should feature in these prophecies. It was ...

10. A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

Isaiah 20:1-6

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about the Southern Powers: For three chapters we turn to the far south. Cush covers an area corresponding to the very south of modern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. A Cushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself at the end of the eighth century, so this poem about Cush is as much a poem about Egypt (cf. 20:1–6). 20:1–6 This final section of chapters 18–20 brings together Egypt and Cush, the two...

11. A Prophecy Against Jerusalem

Isaiah 22:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

22:1–14 Again the enigmatic title comes from the body of the poem (v. 5), though in this case the location of the Valley of Vision becomes explicit (vv. 8–11). We have to accept that many of the poems in these chapters do not tell us their historical background, so that reading them is a little like reading a parable, or understanding a film when you arrive halfway through. While the prophet’s fir...

12. A Prophecy Against Moab

Isaiah 15:1--16:14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

15:1–9 Chapter 15 begins a poem about Moab. Relationships between Judah and Moab, its neighbor on the east, were as fraught as relationships between Judah and Philistia—and Judah preserved longer memories of strife with Moab. The reference to Zoar recalled an unsavory story about the ancestor Moab’s origins within Abraham’s extended family (Gen. 19:30–38). Tensions with Moab were part of family re...

13. A Prophecy Against the Philistines

Isaiah 14:28-32

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

14:28–32 With this section we move from the great powers to Judah’s neighbors, and first to Philistia, its immediate neighbor to the southwest, between the Judean hills and the Mediterranean. Realpolitik is urgent here, as the provision of a concrete date suggests. Ahaz died in the 720s B.C., as did the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmanezer V. One of the latter is the “broken rod.” A ...

14. A Rebellious Nation

Isaiah 1:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Introduction--Jerusalem Judged and Restored: Chapter 1 introduces both the message of Isaiah ben Amoz over three decades and the book as a whole. The people have paid the penalty for abandoning their relationship with Yahweh (vv. 2–9) and need to own the fact that they have perverted their life with Yahweh by practicing religion but not justice (vv. 10–20); judgment can then be a creative purging ...

15. A Song of Praise

Isaiah 26:1-21

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Devastation and Renewal for the Whole Land: The word massa’ no longer introduces the prophecies, but not until chapter 28 do we return to the direct, confrontational challenges to the people of God that dominate chapters 1–12. Chapters 24–27 thus stand out from the material on either side. The canvas broadens yet further than it had in chapters 13–23, but the tone of these chapters continues. The ...

16. An Oracle Against Damascus

Isaiah 17:1-14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

17:1–9 We move north from Moab to Aram (v. 3) or Syria, though the poem speaks of Aram’s capital city Damascus. The mention of the city corresponds to a feature that runs through this poem and forms a contrast with the poem on Moab. There cities featured, but they were chiefly ciphers for their inhabitants. “Heshbon cries out” meant “the people of Heshbon cry out” and the problem was the withering...

17. Assyria, the Lord’s Instrument

Isaiah 8:1-10

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Coping with the Pressure from Syria and Ephraim: The heart of 6:1–9:7 is story and prophecy focusing on a crisis in Jerusalem about 733 B.C., soon after Isaiah’s commission. Ahaz is now king. Jotham may have died before his father and only ever been co-regent. Northern Israel (see Additional Notes on 1:3) and Aram (Syria) had been forced to become part of the Assyrian empire, and they had now comb...

18. Blessings for a Defiled People

Haggai 2:10-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

December: More than two more months have passed; the day of the final prophecies by Haggai that are recorded, the 24th day of the ninth month (December) is exactly three months from the day when people began the work on the temple, on the 24th day of the sixth month (September, Hag. 1:15). The festival of Hanukkah, commemorating the rededication of the temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epi...

19. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

The Gifts of Comfort and Energy: So Isaiah 39, set in Isaiah’s own day, envisages the future deportation of Judeans to Babylon. Isaiah 40–55, however, is set in the time after this deportation has happened. It does not say “In days to come God will send a message of comfort to people who have been punished,” in the manner of a passage such as 30:19–26. It says, rather, “God is now comforting you w...

20. Comfort for the Contrite

Isaiah 57:14-21

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Critique of the Community: While there are positive notes throughout 56:9–59:8, the dominant tone is confrontational, and even the positive notes incorporate barbed comment. The way the passages speak of shalom, which occurs six times (57:2, 19, 21; 59:8), sums up this point. This distinctive concentration of references finds its closest parallel in Zechariah 8, which again belongs to the same per...

21. Deliverance of Israel

Isaiah 27:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

22. Distress and Help

Isaiah 33:1-24

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Oh You Destroyer Who Has Not Been Destroyed: We noted in the Introduction that the major copy of Isaiah from Cave 1 at Qumran leaves a space after chapter 33, and this chapter indeed closes off the first half of the book. It does this quantitatively, because we are fairly precisely half way through the book. It also does it thematically and verbally. At one level chapter 33 is jerky and puzzling. ...

23. Everlasting Salvation for Zion

Isaiah 51:1-16

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Four Wake-up Calls and a Departure Call: In 50:4 the subject suddenly changes again—in two senses. The grammatical subject is once again a human “I” rather than a divine “I,” and the thematic subject is the pressure upon this human “I.” In both respects the passage parallels 49:1–6, and it will emerge that 50:4–52:12 forms a sequence parallel to 49:1–50:4, analogous to double sequences we have not...

24. Fear God

Isaiah 8:11-22

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Isaiah’s Significance, and the Fall of Darkness: We come to the close of the material that focuses on the crisis presented by the pressure of the northern allies (6:1–9:7). Isaiah speaks further about his ministry and its significance for Judah (8:11–22) and Yahweh offers a vision of light dawning the other side of the coming darkness (9:1–7). 8:11–15 After the twin passages 7:1–25 and 8:1–10 come...

25. God's Accusation Against the Wicked

Isaiah 56:9--57:13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Showing results

Showing 1 to 25 of 97 results

1. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

2. A Prophecy About Tyre

Isaiah 23:1-18

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

3. A Prophecy Against Arabia

Isaiah 21:13-17

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

4. A Prophecy Against Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

5. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

6. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 21:1-10

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

7. A Prophecy Against Cush

Isaiah 18:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

8. A Prophecy Against Edom

Isaiah 21:11-12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

9. A Prophecy Against Egypt

Isaiah 19:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about the Southern Powers: For three chapters we turn to the far south. Cush covers an area corresponding to the very south of modern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. A Cushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself at the end of the eighth century, so this poem about Cush is as much a poem about Egypt (cf. 20:1–6). 19:1–15 It is not surprising that Egypt should feature in these prophecies. It was ...

10. A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

Isaiah 20:1-6

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Poems about the Southern Powers: For three chapters we turn to the far south. Cush covers an area corresponding to the very south of modern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan. A Cushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself at the end of the eighth century, so this poem about Cush is as much a poem about Egypt (cf. 20:1–6). 20:1–6 This final section of chapters 18–20 brings together Egypt and Cush, the two...

11. A Prophecy Against Jerusalem

Isaiah 22:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

12. A Prophecy Against Moab

Isaiah 15:1--16:14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

13. A Prophecy Against the Philistines

Isaiah 14:28-32

Understanding Series

John Goldingay