It’s easy to read this passage and think that it’s solely about you, your enemies, and your beef – that is, the issue between you, though it could also be the food you’re serving them if you take this proverb literally. But the thing is, this proverb isn’t about you. And it’s not about your enemies either. It’s about God’s glory. Isn’t that what life always comes down to, if you look hard enough?

With the image of a forest fire, taking on a life of its own, Isaiah zeroed in on the specific behaviour of Israel’s leaders which made God so angry. While he had wanted them to live lives that would reflect his love to his people, they were utterly absorbed with their own comfort and luxury, passing laws to enrich themselves at the expense of the powerless – the poor, widows and fatherless, and oblivious to the disaster which was about to strike.

It is hard to read Isaiah in separate daily readings, as his message is full of allusions to what he has said earlier, and forward to what appears later. “A remnant will return” (v 21, ESV) is the meaning of his son’s (improbable!) name, “Shear Jashub” (7:3), and is one of the main themes of the whole book. God will punish, but only to restore in the end to a glorious kingdom.

As we draw to the end of the first section of Isaiah’s prophecies (chapters 1-12), we enter into a theme in his writing that will surface again and again. Issues of judgment take backstage but they are always there. Yet the covenant keeping LORD will bring new hope into this abysmal set of circumstances.

What many see as the conclusion of the first section of Isaiah is nothing less than a great song of affirmation about the covenant keeping LORD.

Notice the two sections of the doxology, marked by the repeated expression, “at that time.” (v. 1 and 4).

An Old Testament time line is needed in order for us to make sense of where Micah fits into the story. The book offers no personal data about the prophet whose name means, “Who is like Yahweh?” (See the “play on his name” in 7:18). The text begins (1:1) by identifying Micah with the small town of Moresheth, 35 to 40 kilometres south west of Jerusalem in the region of Shephelah among the foothills of Judah.

God is our help in times of trouble. That’s the good news! But there’s good news and bad news. The rest of the story is that God doesn’t exempt us from trouble (compare John 16:33).

This world will never be free from sin and suffering.