Tomorrow

Isa 56:1 Thus says Yhwh, Keep you justice, and

do righteousness; for my salvation is near to

come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the

son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the

Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand

from doing any evil.

3 Neither let the foreigner, who has joined

himself to Yhwh, speak, saying, Yhwh will

surely separate me from his people; neither

let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

4 For thus says Yhwh of the eunuchs who keep

my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please

me, and hold fast my covenant:

5 To them will I give in my house and within

my walls a memorial and a name better than of

sons and of daughters; I will give them an

everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to

Yhwh, to minister to him, and to love the name

of Yhwh, to be his servants, everyone who

keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds

fast my covenant;

7 even them will I bring to my holy mountain,

and make them joyful in my house of prayer:

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

shall be accepted on my altar; for my house

shall be called a house of prayer for all

peoples.

8 The Lord Yhwh, who gathers the outcasts of

Israel, says, Yet will I gather [others] to

him, besides his own who are gathered.

9 All you animals of the field, come to

devour, [yes], all you animals in the forest.

10 His watchmen are blind, they are all

without knowledge; they are all mute dogs,

they can`t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving

to slumber.

11 Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never

have enough; and these are shepherds who can`t

understand: they have all turned to their own

way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.

12 Come you, [say they], I will get wine, and

we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and

tomorrow shall be as this day, [a day] great

beyond measure.


I don't know whether or not there will be
motorcycles in heaven. They are not an
essential element of life. In my time, I've
been able to enjoy the days I've spent riding.
As a young man it was my 'dream' to travel the
whole country by motorcycle. I guess I was
able to do one better than that. I was able
to travel the whole country and have someone
else pay for it. Of course, that included an
extra 40,000 pounds of freight in the trailer.
But it paid my way, and I was able to see more
than I ever wanted to. It's a big and
beautiful country that we live in. As the
scenery passed, I had to think about some of
the strange notions that people have about
things. One that comes to mind is the idea
about overcrowding and population growth. It
was an issue in the 60's when I was a
youngster. Seems there's a revival attempt.


I don't know what they are talking about,
these zero population growth folks. I am left
to wonder if they ever get out of whatever
ghetto they live in. Like so many other
things in popular culture, I view this idea as
just another symptom of the larger ghetto
mentality that has taken hold. The idea that
we need a big benevolent government to take
care of us. To do for us the things that we
don't want to have responsibility for. It's
about responsibility, really. And being able
to cast the blame on someone else when things
don't work out the way that we would like. In
any case, there is lots of room to grow. Food
shortage? I saw miles of unproductive land,
and tons of surplus. It leads me to believe
that the only real issue is that we have
become so used to the idea that food
production needs to be subsidized, because we
don't want to have to pay more to eat. That
will probably change in the future. Food cost
will increase, not because of a global food
shortage, but because growers will get tired
of poor (or no) profit margins. That's the
only reason that land lies idle. But living
in the ghetto, you'd never be able to see
that. If there really is an issue with bee
colony collapse, that will likely increase
production costs even more. But the idea that
there is no room to grow is just crazy. It's
really simple. Profits will increase
production. We don't want to pay field hands
$20/hr.


So, I pause to ask myself, What did Isaiah see
as he looked around in his day? He saw a need
for justice and doing what's right. And he
saw blind watchmen. These are not watch
makers. These are the folks who are supposed
to be looking out for the welfare of others --
the 'leaders'. I've never really understood
the idea of 'leaders'. Most things are fairly
obvious, and it's fairly obvious that there
are lots of folks who are willing to take
advantage of any advantage they may have. I
see my older son always willing to take
advantage of his younger brother. It's human
nature. I've been there. People are only too
willing to take advantage of youthful naivety.
What Isaiah saw was the same thing that you
will see today. Human nature has not changed
much in oh, 2600 years or so.


As I read the passage above, I hear Isaiah
saying that it is not prudent to listen to
the 'dogs' that play the role of 'watchmen'.
He repeats the phrase 'hold fast my covenent'.

2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the

son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the

Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand

from doing any evil.

The message is clear. Remember to follow the
law of Yhwh -- the ten commandments. It's
never been revised or updated. It's not
complicated. We just don't want to do it.


One thing about Isaiah is that he has a way
with metaphors. He uses some of the most
colorful metaphors to describe those who will
not honor the law of the Lord. He wants
people to get the message. There is a right
way and a wrong way. Following the path of
righteousness leads to happiness. Taking the
low road...

11 Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never

have enough; and these are shepherds who can`t

understand: they have all turned to their own

way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.


When you bring this into context, and realize
that at the time that Isaiah preached, the
Assyrian Empire was laying waste to the known
world, you get a glimpse of the urgency of the
message. He was only trying to point out that
the 'gain' that the 'dogs' were fighting over
was a fleeting reward, under the
circumstances. In other words, when the
Assyrians are done with us, what will really
matter is living in a way that pleases the
Lord, because you might be seeing him sooner
than you think.

1 Thus says Yhwh, Keep you justice, and do

righteousness; for my salvation is near to

come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

The focus is drawn away from the questionable
social practices of his times and placed upon
the certainty that there is a day 'to be
revealed'. Of course, this sort of message is
every bit as offensive today as it was then.
Nobody really wants to deal with this sort of
message, when the good times roll.


But there is another reward, that will last
far beyond the good times of today. He has a
little fun with eunuchs first:

5 To them will I give in my house and within

my walls a memorial and a name better than of

sons and of daughters; I will give them an

everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

There's nothing wrong with an everlasting
name, though. The reward isn't only priceless
it's timeless.


The difference is that on the one hand, the
reward that the 'dogs' value is the here and
now. This is the existential purpose -- now.
The lasting reward goes to the faithful, but
the challenge of faith is that you have to
wait a little bit. One passage uses the
metaphor of a farmer waiting for the crop to
harvest. He really doesn't know what he will
get, before hand. But he anticipates that
over time his patience will be rewarded.
There's alot to be said for patience, waiting
for tomorrow.