2 Chronciles/Joe/Isaiah/2 Corinthians

2 Chronicles 22-28
Many sordid tales here. Especially of Athaliah, who you may remember from 2 Kings 11. We have some mixed kings until Uzziah, who was an important reformer.

Joel:
This prophet warned of the day of the Lord which would come upon the people unless they repented. You should recognize much of this text - or at least it should be vaguely familiar. Chapter 2, "Blow the trumpet in Zion," is read each year on Ash Wednesday.

Isaiah:
Probably the most important prophet after Moses, the book of Isaiah overshadows all the other prophets. It was written over the course of many centuries and was edited and re-edited. In its current form it divides in to two (or three for some scholars) sections: 1-39 which focuses on the political and historical situation of Judah and its eventual judgment. 40-66 (sometimes with another division at 55) is almost uniformly prophecy about returning to Yahweh, the preservation of a remnant, and Yahweh's promise to save his people and return them from exile. It is a long book, but there is much here which will seem familiar.

Chapter 1 is an introductory poem capturing many of the themes that will resonate throughout. 2-3 forms a kind indictment of Judah - the problem will consistently fall into two related themes: The have chased after other gods and they have perverted justice but not taking care of the poor and preserving an unequal society. The two are closely related, however, and in some sense dependent on one another, for it is the foreign gods who preserve the inequity, and it is attractiveness of inequity that leads people to chase foreign gods.

4 starts with a promise of renewal and then 5 is the famous love song of the vineyard.

6 is one of those important chapters in the Bible, which should sound familiar. King Uzziah (who we have just been reading about dies) and in that year the prophet Isaiah has a epiphanic vision. Holy, Holy, Holy the angels cry out - just as we do each Sunday and wonder at the ineffable glory of God.

2 Corinthians 9-13
Paul continues his argument with those who oppose him in Corinth. He parodies them and then talks about his own vision of Jesus in which he encountered the living God in the seventh (highest) heaven. He then lets them know that he will be stopping by - no doubt there was a great deal of anxiety on everyone's part over this. The conclusion is short - almost a warning.