Today’s passage: Isaiah 17
Helpful thoughts:
- Israel would suffer the same consequences of the nations and kingdom she had aligned herself with. Israel had become like all the other nations.
- For more information on the worship of Asherah, check out this website.
- Asherah (Or her equivalent in surrounding nations) was considered a consort to whomever was the highest god…This is another reason why God forbade the planting of an Asherah pole next to an altar for His worship (Deuteronomy 16:21). He did not allow the people to think that He had a wife-god, or a “Queen of Heaven”.
- Israel had chosen the designer gods of man (“Works of their own hands”), and all of their designs would be destroyed so that all which remained to be seen was the God who had designed and created them.
Questions to consider:
- Why does mankind choose other things of our own making over God? What motivates and what results from the attempted minimizing of our Creator and the maximizing of our own creations?
- How is God’s discipline of Israel gracious? Why is God doing good to us when He would strip everything that would distract us away? What do we need the most?
- How can you make sure that God is your primary focus and delight on this day?