A lot of today’s reading is pretty grim, with oracles concerning Babylon (Isaiah 14:3-23), Assyria (14:24-27), Philistia (14:28-32), Moab (15:1-16:14), Damascus (17:1-14), Ethiopia (18:1-7), and Egypt (19:1-24). Israel and Judah, the separate northern and southern kingdoms of what was once the one kingdom of the twelve tribes of Israel, had lived for many centuries in the promised land, but the judgment of God was going to come upon them, and upon all the rest of the surrounding nations, too.

As Isaiah would say later, “We have all gone astray like sheep” (53:6). God is the righteous judge, but we are never as righteous as we pretend to be: how, then, can we expect anything but judgment? Near and far, whatever kingdom we may inhabit, the day of punishment is on its way. “Prepare slaughter for [Babylon’s] sons” (14:21). “Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins” (17:1). The Ethiopians “shall all be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the animals of the earth” (18:6).

Yet even in the midst of national wickedness and consequent suffering, God still has a plan for redemption. Take Egypt, as an example. “It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their supplications and heal them” (19:20-22).

These lines are about Egypt. We need to recognize just how astonishing it was for Isaiah to say this, and for his hearers to listen to it. Yet that is the word of the Lord that Isaiah proclaimed, and the meaning is plain to see: the sins of Egypt are severe, yet God nevertheless loves and intends to redeem these people who have been some of Israel’s worst enemies.

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O Lord, it is hard for us to believe that you would love our enemies – the national ones, and the personal ones – just as much as you love us: yet if you do, then we must learn to do so as well. Grant us your grace, that we may believe in the power of your grace even for the people we hate.