Isaiah 45:5-8, 18, 21-25
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you, though you do not know me,
so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe;
I the LORD do all these things.
Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,[b]
and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
I the LORD have created it.
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the LORD?
There is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is no one besides me.
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
“To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.”
Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
all who were incensed against him
shall come to him and be ashamed.
In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory.
• In 587 B.C.E., the Babylonians defeated Judah and took most of the people into captivity, moving them from their homeland to Babylon. Those who were left in Judah lived in a land that was decimated, with all the structures of society destroyed. The Exile is one of the defining moments in the history of God’s covenant people.
• But about 50 years later, the Israelites celebrated the arrival of the Persian king, Cyrus, who defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return home. Though he was not a God-follower, Cyrus was celebrated as “Yahweh’s anointed” (see Isa. 45:1). This chapter in Isaiah is about the rise of Cyrus, and Yahweh’s instructions to him via the prophet.
• Several times throughout the chapter, the prophet writes of Yahweh, “There is no other god besides me.” It is the recurring theme of the entire chapter. Find the ways this idea is expressed several times in the verses above.
• Think about that phrase in terms of your life: “There is no other god besides me.”
o What do those words mean to you? Think of them not so much in a theological or analytical sense, but in a practical, real-life sense.
o In what ways do you bump up against “other gods” in the world?
o What are the “other gods” with which you personally struggle?
o What competes with Yahweh in your life?
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