Notes

Isaiah 27: Leviathan

What is this mysterious sounding creature that we encounter at the beginning of chapter 27?

(Isaiah 27:1) the Lord will punish with his sword—
his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea.

Here is a really helpful article about what “Leviathan” would have meant to Isaiah’s audience and how it is used elsewhere in the Bible. I have quoted some of it below:

https://tyndalehouse.com/explore/articles/what-is-the-leviathan/

Shell plaque depicting an ancient Mesopotamian deity fighting a seven-headed flaming monster (2500 - 2400 BC).Housed in the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, Israel, no. 2051

Many Christians are curious about the identity of the Leviathan, a creature referenced by name six times in the Old Testament (Psalm 74:12-19, 104:25-26; Isaiah 27:1 [2x]; Job 3:8; 41:1-34) and likely raising its head in the New Testament as the “beast from the sea” (Revelation 13:1). What should we make of this uncatchable, water-dwelling, fire-breathing, multi-headed monster?
What could this creature be? The etymology of the name provides a hint. Though there is some speculation on this, the name “Leviathan” most likely means “writhing or twisting one,” which naturally suggests a snake-like creature. The other hint comes from the Septuagint (or LXX), a Greek version of the Old Testament from the second century BC. It translates “Leviathan” in the second divine speech in Job with drakon, which also denotes a serpentine creature and in English is “dragon”. Interestingly, the LXX translates the other instance of “Leviathan” in Job 3:8 with ketos, a Greek-styled dragon that has a hog nose. The cumulative evidence certainly supports the idea that Leviathan is a sea dragon. The biblical descriptions of Leviathan also indicate it could be a type of tannin or “sea monster” (see Psalm 74:13-14; Isaiah 27:1; cf. Genesis 1:21). In ancient Near Eastern mythology the tanninim are concrete symbols for the sea, that God is described as defeating (Psalm 74:13), and appear to represent chaos, disorder, and even evil itself.
…A third theodicy strategy used in the Old Testament is to turn Leviathan or the tannin into a cipher for Israel’s enemies that God will punish (e.g. Isaiah 27:1). Leviathan, then, becomes merely a metaphor, and any hint of evil gets displaced on Israel’s enemies.

Isaiah here uses the character “Leviathan” as a representative of the chaotic evil formed by the enemies of his people. Therefore God’s triumph over Leviathan in this passage will not look like an epic, Homeric fight with a sea dragon, but instead like Assyria and other foes of Israel suffering military and political defeat

Isiah 27:9 : Asherah

By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles or incense altars
    will be left standing.

the deliverance promised to Judah and Israel at the beginning of this week’s reading is conditional. God knows that it will come, but he also knows that it will come AFTER* his people have rid themselves of their idolatrous practices and wicked hearts. This passage in Isaiah looks forward to the day that is true and one of the objects that need to be destroyed is “Asherah poles.” Ashtoreths were poles erected in high places and places of cultic worship throughout Canaan that represented the mother -goddess Asherah. The Bible calls her "the goddess of the Sidonians” in 1st Kings 11:5.

Asherah is present in Sumerian and Ugaritic texts where she is depicted as the consort of the primary deity (Anu in the Sumerian pantheon and El in the Ugaritic). worship of this goddess would center around a pole that would likely have been chiseled as to show her likeness as depicted in this artist's rendering of an Israelite about to cut down an Asherah pole. We know that, in Isreal, these poles were constructed from wood because of passages like Judges 6:26 and Deuteronomy 12:3. the worship of Asherah often involved the practice of prostitution as indicated by passages like Deuteronomy 23:17-18 and 1st king 14:22-24. Despite the fact that the Israelites complied with Samuel's demands here in chapter 7, Israel would sadly return again and again to the worship of Asherah and the wooden poles crafted in her image.

(Info from IVP Bible Background Commentary)

Isaiah 30:7 : Rahab

Through a land of hardship and distress,
    of lions and lionesses,
    of adders and darting snakes,
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,
    their treasures on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
7     to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her
    Rahab the Do-Nothing.

Is Isaiah casting aspersion on the reformed prostitute of Jericho who would later be praised in Hebrews and James? No! This* Rahab is actually an Egyptian diety/mythical figure:

“Although not mentioned in any known text outside the Bible, Rahab is comparable to the chaos mnonster Leviathan, which also takes the form of a twisting serpent (Job 26:12-13). Rahab is also used synonymously for Egypt. for instance, in Psalm 87:4 the major nations are listed as subject to the power of Yahweh. Rahab, Egypt’s metaphorical name, is paired there with Babylon in terms of imporance. The further sign of Rahab’s dual character may be found in Isiah 51:9-11, a passage that refers to Yahweh’s destructoin of the monster (See Ps. 89:10) as well as how God “dried up the sea,” a clear reference to the exodus tradition and the defeat of Egypt. Here in Isaiah 30:7 the prophet taunts an impotent Egypt/Rahab’s ability to help Israel or stop Assyria.

IVP Bible Background Commentary, 621

Isaiah 28-33: The Thing About Egypt is...

The second half of our reading is dominated by Egypt and Judah's relationship with them. Here, some historical context will be a great deal of help. in 710 (at the height of the power of the Assyrian Empire) the prolific Ethiopian king, Shabako, invades Egypt and ascends to the throne as Pharaoh. five years later, in 705, the prolific Assyrian king, Sargon, dies, and his less capable son, Sennacherib, succeeds him. During these events, Hezekiah is the king of Judah in Jerusalem. Judah had been paying tribute to the Assyrians under the rule of Sargon, but now that he has died and the Assyrian empire seems vulnerable, Hezekiah sends envoys to Pharaoh Shabako in Egypt to seek an alliance through which they can resist Assyrian rule. Isaiah's message to king Hezekiah is clear; do not put your trust in Egypt, God himself will deliver Jerusalem and then punish the Assyrians.

John 8 : The woman caught in adultery

You’ll notice that John 7:53-8:11 are italicized in your bible and - if you’re reading the NIV - come with a warning. Though these words appeared in the text of the Gospel of John from the 5th century on, modern scholarship into the Biblical text has shown that this passage does not appear in the earliest manuscripts of John’s Gospel. they have been left in the text of your Bible because it would not do well to have a Bible passage, which was included in the Latin Vulgate and King James Bible, just disappear. Here is a short breakdown of the issues related to this passage from the Bible Knowledge Commentary

Five questions need to be considered before commenting on this story: (1) Is it Scripture? (2) Was it written by John? (3) Is it ancient and true, that is, historical? (4) Is it canonical? (5) If it was not originally part of John’s Gospel, why is the material placed before 8:12 in most English Bible versions? Questions 1 and 4 are closely related but are not identical. As to question 1, the consensus of New Testament textual scholars is that this section was not part of the original text. For Protestants who accept that judgment, this fact settles the issue of canonicity (question 4): the passage is not part of the biblical canon. However, for Roman Catholic scholars canonicity means that this passage is authoritative because it is in the Vulgate. So even though the passage may not have been part of John’s original manuscript, Catholics nevertheless accept the passage as having God’s authority because the Vulgate includes it. Question 2, on the passage’s Johannine origin, is also tied to question 1. Not only do many Greek manuscripts lack these verses, but those that do include them often mark them with asterisks or obeli. In addition various ancient Greek manuscripts include the passage in five different locations (after John 7:36, after 7:44, after 7:52, after 21:25, and after Luke 21:38). Both the textual evidence and stylistic data in the passage indicate that this is non-Johannine material.
Most commentators answer question 3 (Is it historical?) by yes. If this judgment is correct, then this is a rare extrabiblical authentic tradition about Jesus. John alluded to other things Jesus did (John 21:25) so this story may be one of those events. The answer to the fifth question seems to be that the material was placed before 8:12 in most Bible versions because the contents of this section relate well to two statements of Jesus in chapter 8 (“I pass judgment on no one” [8:15], and “Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin?” [8:46]).

Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 346.

Week 9 - Isaiah 26-31 & John 8 (Feb. 26 - Mar. 4)