Have you ever been in a forest fire?

November 25, 2016

Jerusalem is not exempt from fire (Jer 21:13-21:14)

“‘See!

I am against you!

O inhabitant of the valley!

O rock of the plain!’

Says Yahweh.

‘You who say.

‘Who can come down against us?

Who can enter our places of refuge?’

‘I will punish you

According to the fruit

Of your doings.’

Says Yahweh.

‘I will kindle a fire

In her forest.

It shall devour

All that is around it.’”

Here Yahweh makes a direct attack on the royal palace and its surroundings. The rock of the plain and the inhabitants of the valley refer to the royal palace in Jerusalem. The inhabitants there think that no one could come against them in their place of refuge. However, Yahweh was clear. He was going to punish them according to their fruits, or what they did. Yahweh was going to kindle a fire in this great palace made of wood, as if it were like a great forest. This fire would devour it and all its surroundings.

July 18, 2016

Future problems for the king of Assyria (Isa 10:16-10:19)

“Therefore the Sovereign,

Yahweh of hosts,

Will send

A wasting sickness

Among his stout warriors.

Under his glory

A burning will be kindled,

Like the burning of a fire.

The light of Israel

Will become a fire.

His Holy One

Will be a flame.

It will burn his thorns.

It will devour his briers in one day.

Yahweh will destroy

The glory of his forest.

Yahweh will destroy

The glory of his fruitful land,

Both soul and body.

It will be as

When an invalid wastes away.

The remnant of the trees

Of his forest

Will be so few

That a child

Can write them down.”

Isaiah predicts the devastation of the army and land of the king of Assyria. Yahweh was going to send a wasting sickness among his warriors. This maybe an allusion to 2 Kings, chapter 19, when 185,000 Assyrian troops died. The light of Israel will become a raging flame starting a great fire that will destroy and devour the thorns and briers of Assyria itself. Yahweh will destroy the forests and the fruitful land with a wild fire, so that both their bodies and souls will be destroyed. There will be so few trees left, so that a mere child can count and write the number down.