Wednesday 8 January 2025
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. (v. 1)
Background
These verses from Isaiah of Jerusalem were among the passages we had to learn by heart in school. It was not homework we enjoyed, but oh, so worthwhile…
King Uzziah (also known as Azariah) had reigned in Judah for 52 years and the nation prospered both militarily and materially – you can read a detailed account in 2 Chronicles 26. But, the chronicler records, "he [Uzziah] grew proud, to his destruction". He attempted to burn incense in the Temple, a rite reserved for the priests, and, as a result, was stricken with leprosy. He was therefore confined to a separate house and his son, Jotham, became regent. There is a tradition that Isaiah’s father, Amos, and King Uzziah’s father, Amaziah, were brothers, making the prophet and the king first cousins. This might well account for the directness with which the prophet speaks to Ahaz, Uzziah’s grandson, in Isaiah 7.
In today's reading Isaiah of Jerusalem has an encounter with God. He identifies the time of this encounter as the year in which the king died. This was a time of uncertainty for the nation, threatened as it was by Assyria.
Impelled to go to the Temple, perhaps by a sense of his own sin, perhaps by a sense of the collective sin of the nation, Isaiah had an overwhelming experience of the presence and the majesty of God. For him, the antiphonal chanting of the Temple priests became the voice of angels, the burning incense became smoke and maybe there was indeed a slight earthquake – the region is in the Dead Sea Fault Zone – and Isaiah felt himself to be an empowered man, called by God to service.
Perhaps something of this nature has happened to you – reflect on it. Has there been a time when, in something approaching despair, you felt the presence and the touch of God on your life – and, like Isaiah, you became an empowered and called person?
To Ponder:
- Think of a time when God touched and changed your life – and how you responded to that unexpected call.
- How did you account to others, particularly to those close to you, for this?
Prayer
Open my mind and my hands, Lord, that I may respond like Isaiah: "Here am I; send me!" Amen.
Bible notes author: Gillian Kingston
Gillian Kingston is a local preacher on the North Tipperary Circuit of the Methodist Church in Ireland and an ex-Vice President of the World Methodist Council. She was the first lay Leader of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Married to Tom, a retired Methodist minister, and with four adult children, she is also the besotted grandmother of seven beautiful granddaughters and one handsome grandson.