Are We Any Better?

Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5) is a lovely poem expressing God's loving treatment of his people (the vineyard) and yet the vineyard produces wild grapes (sin and rebellion).  The message becomes a prophecy of punishment for a people who have turned from God.*

This passage from the middle of the song which pronounces woes upon the wicked was certainly intended for the leaders in the Judah of Isaiah's day, yet might it not be instructive for us yet today?

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!

Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine,
and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

which justify the wicked for reward,
and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!" (vv. 20-23)

Incidentally one of my favorite passages in the song appear in verse eight:
  
"Woe unto them that join house to house,
that lay field to field, till there be no place,
that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!"

Crowded populations, no place to find solitude.  Sound familiar? 

Grammarian at work:  "a people that is" vs. "a people who are."  There is some history at work here and a choice has to be made.  My first draft used the first form, the final draft the second.
 

Hulda and the King

Today take a peek at II Kings chapter 22.  Nay, read the entire chapter, for therein we find the eight-year old Josiah comes to the throne.  He will reign for thirty-one years. 

We are told that "he did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left."  (verse 2)

Now Josiah followed a series of kings who had engaged in wickedness, strayed from the Lord and even established worship of heathen gods.  But one day during the work to reconstruct the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found a book of the law.  He gave the book to Shaphan the scribe who read it and took it to King Josiah and read it to him.

When the king heard the words he rent his clothes in anguish.  Josiah commanded Hilkiah, Shaphan and three others to go to Hulda, a woman of Jerusalem who was a known prophet.  Josiah charged that they ask her concerning God's will as he recognized that the "wrath of the Lord is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book." (verse 13)

Hulda confirmed that God's wrath would not be quenched.  But because the king has a tender heart and he humbled himself before the Lord, the people would not be spared, but the king would die before he saw the desolation of Jerusalem.

His emissaries brought him this word of the Lord through Hulda the Prophet.

Now read chapter 23 in which Josiah cleans house and discover the circumstances of his death.

Takeaway:  The judgment of the Lord is stayed if we are contrite and repent of our sins.

Judge Jesus

In John chapter five we read

²² For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son:
²³ That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent him.
²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
²⁵ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;
²⁷ And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
²⁸ Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
²⁹ And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
³⁰ I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.

Herein Jesus established the fact that all judgment is given by the Father to him.  It is Jesus and Jesus alone who determines an individual's fitness for eternal life, or if he be condemned.

The escape from condemnation is simple and clearly stated by the Master in verse twenty-four:  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. --John 5:24

Do not allow yourself to be one who hears these words from Christ the Judge:   Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:---Matt. 25:41

 Sunset 

April 2 

An Admonition Shared Again

[This is a rerun from June 2011.  I was motivated to redact and repost it whilst visiting BBBH's facebook account.  People regularly post things that we wouldn't even tell our mothers. Especially would not tell our mothers.  Yet it is on display for the world to view.  Some of these people are near and dear to me.  They are not stupid, but one has to suspect that in many cases their judgment mill is running on fumes if at all.  I read my spouse's facebook pages?  It is only fair.  She can read my blogs if she wants.

I keep a journal, such as it is, as a private blog.  I maintain this blog site simply as a place to record thoughts, be they sensible or not. I look back at it once in a while, primarily to remind myself that it is a good idea not to share everything one thinks with everyone one knows. Or doesn't know.

It seems to me as I surf through the interwebs, as I read newspapers, and as I listen to the radio or television, that there are entirely too many people with too much to say which is unfiltered and unthought. I suspect I have been guilty of same. But I do try to confine much of the drivel that seeps through my mind to the private blog, or better yet, to the dustbin. When I choose to post something on String Too Short to Tie, it is my hope, while I know I was entertained by it, that if someone else should happen upon it, they, too, will be amused or enlightened.

So, in summary, think twice before posting once.
I do wish I could learn to apply that rule to conversations with BBBH!




This one showed up after I had put this post to bed, so I woke it up to insert this addendum.