Readings:
Isaiah 15-18
Proverbs 10
Romans 2

Isaiah 15-18

Isaiah proclaims an oracle against Moab. They were Israel and Judah’s neighbor to the east, and they had a contentious relationship from the start. It was the Moabites that hired Balaam to curse Israel before the entered the promised land, but Balaam was unable to and blessed them instead. So then Moab tried to corrupt them with cultic prostitution and worship of idols, but this ended badly for them when the Israelites fought them.

Now Moab had regained its strength and had been antagonistic towards its western neighbors, among other sins and crimes they’d committed, and so Isaiah is being called to issue a judgment upon them too.

Next up is Damascus. This was and is the capital city of Syria, and was also a frequent enemy of Israel in the later years of it’s existence. They harassed and harried them before they were both cut down by Assyrian forces.

Romans 2

Paul condemns the wicked behavior of the nations around the world in the previous chapter, and says that there’s certain things that people can know is wrong just by the light of human reason, but he switches gears here and condemns Israel for committing the same sins and offenses as elsewhere but they have the law and yet refuse to follow it.

The people outside of the covenant can be excused to some degree, because it was never explained to them and set in stone (literally) like it was for the Israelites. So they have no excuse of ignorance, and they can’t say they weren’t warned either, because God sent a flood of one prophet after the next to tell them to cease and desist, but they persisted in their idolatry and sin.

Not hearers but doers. This is what Paul says about who will be saved. Not people who passively take in the Gospel and then fail to act upon the commands that Jesus gives us, but those who take up their crosses and follow him. They’ll be saved.

Paul then warns against hypocrisy and tells the, that since they know the law so well they will be held to a higher standard. An expert in a field can’t be given the same benefit of the doubt for a mistake he might make as much as an amateur would be. These experts in the law will have zero excuses due to ignorance on the day of judgement, and so Paul warns them to actually do what they teach.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Isaiah 19-21
Proverbs 11
Romans 3