“The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.”
~ Isaiah 34:2
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel when your dad and/or ma are angry with you? What do your dad and/or ma do when they are angry with you? Do you think that being punished by your dad and/or ma is a good thing for something that your dad and/or ma told you not to do but that you did anyway or for something that your dad and/or ma told you to do and that you did not do? If your dad and/or ma punish you, do your dad and/or ma use a designated punishment? When your grandmaa and grandpaa implemented in Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez – in Bolivia, the rural resident Bible education training program, your grandpaa chose chopping firewood as his designated punishment for any Centro de Capacitación (Learning Center) guy who or whose wife or whose kid ignored a rule that your grandpaa made. Your grandpaa typed up a single page of rules that he expected the Learning Center guys, the wives of the Learning Center guys and the kids of the Learning Center guys to obey. Your grandpaa added a rational to each rule as to why it was important that each Learning Center guy, each wife of a Learning Center guy and each kid of a Learning Center guy do what each rule said. If a Learning Center guy or the wife of a Learning Center guy or a kid of a Learning Center guy ignored one of the rules – which included families always sitting together during a church service, the gate that led into the Learning Center grounds always being closed by the guy, gal or kid who went through it, a guy never to hit his wife, kids never to go into the flower and vegetable gardens that your grandpaa had the Learning Center guys plant on the Learning Center property, etc., the Learning Center single guy, husband or dad would have to as a punishment for whatever he did or for whatever whoever in his family did when he or she ignored one of the rules on your grandpaa’s list of rules be the guy who would have to chop firewood the next day. Because all the meals at the Learning Center were prepared over an open fire using firewood, one of the resident Bible education training center guys would have to chop firewood most every day. Your grandpaa would schedule for every day in the afternoon – Monday through Friday, two hours of work for the Learning Center guys to do and then three hours of work every Saturday morning for the Learning Center guys to do. Your grandpaa had the Learning Center guys keeping the rural resident center grounds looking like a park, taking care of his gardens, chickens and turkeys, building new rooms, going with him to find tree branches or lumber for firewood, etc. Even though your grandpaa almost always had one of the Learning Center guys to punish because . . . your grandpaa hardly ever had any trouble with any of the Learning Center guys or any wife of a Learning Center guy or any kid of a Learning Center guy having a bad attitude about having to keep any of your grandpaa’s rules. Because your grandpaa had written a rationale for each one of his rural resident Bible education center rules why it was important to him and why it was important to them that they keep the rules, there was always a good reason known why a rule had to be obeyed and what would happen if a rule was ignored.
How do you feel when you know that God is angry with you? Do you know what God does with a guy, gal or kid when He is angry with him or her? Do you ever sense God punishing you? Do you sometimes think that God has been punishing you a lot? Do you think that God ever gets angry at every single people group of guys and gals who are living on planet Earth? Have you ever thought that God might be punishing a particular people group of guys and gals who are living on planet Earth? Have you ever thought that God might be punishing a particular people group of guys and gals who are living on planet Earth with a designated punishment? Isaiah 34 is the first chapter in Isaiah’s Isaiah Book of a two chapter account of God’s tirade against the Edomite people group of guys and gals. The Edomite people group of guys and gals were Esau’s descendants or extended family. Esau was Jacob’s older twin bro. When Esau disinherited himself from all the rights and benefits that were ascribed to the first boy born to a family unit – which was the law of the land at the time that Esau and Jacob were born, for a hot bowl of porridge, the redheaded and hot-tempered Esau ended up through his extended family populating a very rugged strip of land that stretches for about 100 miles from the southern tip of the Dead Sea to the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqubah while his conniving younger twin bro’s extended family lived on very fertile land in Canaan’s land area. Esau’s extended family – the Edomite people group guys and gals, were very envious of Jacob’s extended family – the Israelite people group guys and gals. Esau’s extended family did not do anything to make life easier for Jacob’s extended family. Esau’s extended family – because of their insidious envy and rabid hatred for Jacob’s extended family, became symbolic of a world opinion – that exists as much today as ever, that is insanely suspicious of the Jews (the Israelites) and that is blatantly opposed to the very existence of the Jews (the Israelites). God’s reaction to this worldwide bigoted attitude has been and will always continue to be as verse 2 says, “The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.”
When the Nabatean Arabs in 500 B.C. overran the area where the Edomite people group guys and gals were living, the Edomite people group guys and gals became the example of what will happen to the people groups of guys and gals who pursue the eradication of God’s specially chosen people guys and gals – the Jews. Each Jew hating people group of guys and gals will one day suffer God’s designated punishment of everlasting perdition.
Isaiah 34 (649)