No. 16. >> Among some of the readings I have been doing in connection with our study, I encountered the phrase oracles against the nations. Why do prophets like Isaiah have such sections? Is there something here that we can apply to our preaching? I guess I'm asking about practical value. >>DR. R. REED LESSING: Yes, let's do discuss this prophetic genre called oracles against the nations. What right does Yahweh, the God of Israel, have to hold other nations accountable for their sins or their crimes against humanity? Isn't Yahweh just concerned about Israel? Isn't Yahweh just the God of Israel? Well, no. The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is first and foremost the God of the universe. The opening chapters of Genesis indicate that Yahweh had a relationship with the entire world long before he had a singular relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To be sure, Yahweh's action and revelation is especially focused upon Israel in the Old Testament. But this is not for the sake of just Israel but for the sake of the world. As we've already mentioned in class, the election of Abraham in Genesis 12:1 through 3, the Great Commission, is so that all the families of the earth will be blessed. One scholar says, quote: The election of the family of Abraham and Sarah is an initially exclusive move for the sake of a maximally inclusive end. Oracles against the nations have a worldwide focus. What do I mean by that? Nations from the south, Egypt, to way in the north, Mesopotamian countries, as well as many in between come under Yahweh's purview. The main gist of the oracles against the nations would be that these nations have not followed the moral law, which God has placed in the hearts of all people. Nations are never held to account because of their lack of following revealed law, such as Yahweh's torah in the Pentateuch. But always natural law. It means that perpetrators of evil in the end will never get away with murder. Yahweh's just universe indicates that the wicked also from all tribes, nations, peoples and languages will receive their due punishment and judgement. This is sometimes called international law. With the understanding that there was in the ancient Near East an internationally agreed upon code of ethics. They weren't divine. But all the nations understood to some degree what was right and what was wrong. As we move into the New Testament, this is the same argument that Saint Paul makes in Romans Chapters 1 and 2. In Romans 1 Verses 18 through 32, Paul explains that the wrath of God against human wickedness is on the grounds -- quote from 1:19: What can be known from God is plain to them. Because God has shown it to them. Again, that's Romans 1:19 and the theological basis for much of the oracles against the nations. In other words, all the nations should know better. Again, in Romans 2 Verses 12 through 16, Paul states that though the Gentiles do not have the revealed torah as given through Moses to Israel, they may nevertheless by nature do things that come under the function of that law. They show the work of the law written in their hearts, Paul says in Romans 2 Verse 15. Both words nature and conscience indicate that every human being through their being human know something valid about God. And something about the second table of the Ten Commandments. In confirming this biblical witness, the Lutheran Confessions teach that God's law is written upon the hearts of all people. Quote: For our first parents did not live without the law even before the fall. This law of God was written into the heart. For they were created in the image of God. According to Acts 17:30, Yahweh commands all people everywhere to repent. Although the nations are without special divine, sinaitic revelation, they are not exempt from the moral responsibilities that are laid down in the second table of the Ten Commandments. Prophetic oracles against the nations constitute almost one-fourth of the prophetic corpus. They occur in every prophetic book with the exception of Hosea. You ask: Why doesn't Hosea have anything to say about other nations? No one knows. Indeed, some of the prophetic books are in their entirety an oracle against a foreign nation. Obadiah is about Edom. Nahum is exclusively about Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. So it should come as no surprise in the book of Isaiah that in Chapters 13 through 23 we have a series of oracles against the nations. Within the book of Isaiah, we would understand that as all the nations are going to finally stream to Zion, as we learned in Isaiah 2 Verse 2, that these nations first need to be humbled. As they are humbled and judged and broken throughout Chapters 13 through 23 in Isaiah, then as repentant sinners, they can be part of that flowing to Zion, which Isaiah sees in that overview of the entire book in Chapter 2:1 to 5.