From today’s readings, I believe the message I am supposed to take away is that in addition to learning the stories of our faith’s history, we need to focus on what God is doing in the present, both in our personal lives and in our world.
My attention is snagged, though, on the verses that tell the people to forget about the great exodus under Moses’s leadership. That’s a well-known Bible story, still in our time–there’s even a famous movie. Isaiah says that instead of remembering that miracle of old, the people are to pay attention to the glorious acts that God is going to do in their present time while bringing his chosen people back to their homeland. He is going to bring “water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” to the point that “wild animals will honor [Him].”
Hmmm . . . I don’t remember any Bible stories which tell of those events actually happening, rivers appearing in the desert. If I’m uninformed, please let me know where that record appears in scripture.
Ah, the language being figurative gives me a whole new level of understanding on this. Sometimes it's hard to know when things are meant to be realistic and when they are meant to be figurative, especially in the Old Testament. I'll try not to "get hung up on" literalism.
Thank you for the insights, Andy and Chris!
Yes, Andy, I think so. Don't get mired in the past, because God is doing something new about Israel's current bondage to Babylon. I don't think it can mean forget about the Exodus, because the prophet uses the Exodus as the paradigm event of God's rescue of the people from bondage. This will be a "new Exodus."
I don't know whether biblical scholarship can support my interpretation, but I read "Do not remember" as "Do not get hung up on" the past. And everything we have experienced or thought about, up until now, is in the past. New things ahead?!!
This section of the book of Isaiah is generally thought to come from the period of Israel's exile in Babylon. The "new thing" the prophet announces is that God will lead another exodus. This one will be from bondage in Babylon. The language is figurative, but the people's return from Babylon to Judea was real. This passage says that God does "new things" all the time -- God responds to human need. (This is a good process theological perspective.)