The first two chapters in this week’s reading program (Isaiah 43 and 44) have meant a great deal to me through the years. It’s not without some irony that I look back over my personal bible study journal, and see that on New Year’s Day, 2017, I was reading in and meditating on these same chapters. Because it was the turn of the year, I was looking to God’s word for some enlightenment as to what to expect. There is a tendency to pause at the start of every January; we make resolutions, we set goals, and we often try and predict what might happen. 

When I considered last week’s readings, I focused my comments on how the themes of each chapter would seem to veer from one extreme to another — Isaiah would write of the judgment of God falling on unfaithful Israel or its enemies in graphic, sensationalistic terms, with the next chapter suddenly shifting to a focus on God’s mercy, and how there was hope for the faithful remnant of God’s people. But here, after a brief pause for some narrative history in chapters 36-39, we find a complete change in tone and theme for the book of Isaiah.

Chapters 36-39 of Isaiah consist of a short series of historical narratives involving King Hezekiah of Judah. I am fascinated by the stories of the men who ruled Israel and Judah as kings, and Hezekiah’s story is very interesting and unique.