Dec. 1, 2024

Isaiah 40: Literary Devices

Isaiah 40: Literary Devices

A look at all the literary devices used in Isaiah 40

A look at all the literary devices used in Isaiah 40

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All right, Isaiah chapter forty. That's where we have been. Well,

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we took a little detour with James chapter one nineteen

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through twenty seven, but we need to get back to

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Isaiah forty. Now. All the work that we've done on

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Isaiah forty was really focused a lot on all of

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the issues that I have discovered and found in sermon

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after sermon after sermon I've listened to on Isaiah forty,

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which is a constant barrage of pastors taking Isaiah forty,

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inserting us into the text, and obviously, inadvertently, maybe even

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on purpose, I don't know, they move out the original recipients.

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So a lot we've done a lot of discussion about

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that type of thing. To simply put, Isaiah forty is

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God's message of comfort. It goes from chapter forty to

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chapter fifty five, God's message of comfort to those who

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are in Babylonian captivity. That's an easy way to understand it.

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That makes it simple. We've talked about it and talked

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about it and talked about it. So starting today, we

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need to really start now not so much trying to

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address how all the other pastors handle it. Let's just

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try to forget about them, and now we focus on

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the text itself. So my first idea was to show

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up here for this hour and start an observational outline

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of Isaiah forty. So I worked on my observational outline,

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got it ready to go, started changing it, and then

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this morning, as I was sitting there kind of going

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over the text again, looking at it, I was like, well,

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maybe in the first hour, instead of doing an observational outline,

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let's do an outline of Isaiah forty. We're gonna basically

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do two forms of outlining today in a sense. Well,

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the first hour we're gonna look at Isaiah forty, but

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we're gonna look at it to try to identify all

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of the literary devices used with an Isaiah forty all right,

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As one source says, the beauty of Isaiah forty lies

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not only in its message, but also in its masterful

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use of literary devices. So some refer to Isaiah forty

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as that master class of literary devices. So I did

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a podcast this week I think I think it was

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this week on reading comprehension and Bible interpretation, right, and

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I discussed this. A podcast really inspired the idea, but

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based on all the studies, I could find majority of Americans.

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I think it's over seventy percent. I think it's over

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seventy percent, maybe over eighty percent of Americans. Basically they're

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reading level. They're reading comprehension level is at a sixth

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grade level or under. All, right, Well, if you have

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seventy eighty percent of the population and they're reading comprehension

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is at a sixth grade level, well you've come the

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end to a church. If the majority of the church

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is reading ability and reading comprehension is at a sixth

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grade level or lower. I don't know then how Protestants

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would reject a magisterium. If you're reading comprehension is at

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a sixth grade level or lower, you should be running

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to a Catholic church and you should be accepting a

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magisterium because if because an our system, who's responsible the individual?

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Because you're not only supposed to read and study, you're

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supposed to do what you're supposed to be determining if

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what is preached is true or false. So that is

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a like I was kind of shocked by, wait, wait,

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how does this even work within the church? And I

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don't think there's a really good I don't think there's

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really a good explanation and how it works in the

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Protestant church. I don't think most Protestants care how it

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actually works in practice. But if that's an issue, then

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that that's a problem. So I was thinking, well, if

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this is a masterclass in literary devices, well, then this

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is a way to challenge us in our reading comprehension

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and our ability to identify them. Now, these literary devices,

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they it amplifies the philological depth of the chapter, the

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emotional power of the chapter, and it may demonstrate it's

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enduring relevance to us. These devices, as one source says,

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is crafted with precision. They serve as tools to engage

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the audience, emphasize key themes, and draw readers into the

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text's richness. So there's a lot of praise for the

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literary devices in Isaiah forty. There's a lot of praise

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for them. Isaiah forty, as we've already discussed, marks the

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beginning of what we refer to as what the Book

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of Isaiah forty begins the section referred to as the

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Book of Comfort, Yes, the Book of Consolation. We talked

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about this like a lot. It addresses people who are

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weary from judgment. They're in Babylonian captivity, and why are

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they there? Because of God's judgment. They are in exile,

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so they're separated from their homeland. They're separated from the

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temple because the temple is destroyed and all of the

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things that that would bring about. So this is a

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chapter on its surface, I think we can acknowledge is

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filled with some form of hope and some promise of renewal.

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The literary devices, or some would refer to it as

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the literary artistry, reflects the profound nature of the message.

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If we study these devices in this chapter, we may

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be able to gain a deeper appreciation of how the

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text is. It's not only communicating these truths to us,

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but most importantly, how we communicated the truths to the

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original recipients. Okay, that's very very, very very important. Right.

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So you may be thinking, Okay, that sounds all great,

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that's all wonderful, But why should we study these literary devices?

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I think we could argue why should we study the

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literary devices in any chapter? Or should I think maybe

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a different way, why should we study the literary devices

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of every chapter in the Bible. In fact, we probably

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should create a Bible study method on literary devices is

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what we probably should do. I think I'm going to

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have to take up that challenge. But we need, we

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need to know how to handle literary devices. Well. The

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first reason we should do this it gives us enhanced understanding,

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gives us better understanding literary devices like parallelism, imagery, repetition.

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They help us see the layers of meaning in the text,

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which helps us understand its themes. Look, if you really

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want to understand the meaning, you got to how are

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the How is the meaning communicated in the Bible? Meaning

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is communicated in the Bible with the use of words.

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Words are put together, and those words put together utilize

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what different concepts literary devices in order to communicate that meaning?

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What do we tend to do as Christians? We run

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and think we can just understand the meaning in most cases,

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what can people not do identify the literary device that

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is actually communicating the meaning. If you don't understand the

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device being utilized to communicate the meaning, what is a

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high probability that you don't truly understand the meaning? Now

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you are you complete misunderstanding of the meaning. So why

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do we study literary devices so we can enhance our understanding,

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so that we can assure that we have right understanding.

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I think another reason we study literary devices it allows

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us to be sensitive to the context. These techniques ground

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Isaiah forty. They ground any chapter in the historical and

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cultural context. This helps us see how Isaiah's audience would

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have received and understood his words. Now why is this important?

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Because my whole issue with Isaiah forty is how pastors

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obliterate the original context or they only pay lip service

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for about five seconds so that they can assert us

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into it. By studying the literary devices, I think it

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makes us a well, wait a minute, why is he

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communicating this way? Because he's trying to communicate a specific

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way to a specific people and a specific time, And

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the idea would be those people would understand what those

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literary devices. Does that make sense? I think it does.

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I think it does. Number three. I think also literary

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devices can help engage our imagination to some level. These

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elements invite us to experience the text with our minds

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and hearts, making abstract theological concepts vivid and memorable. If

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you understand the concepts, and the devices I think can

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help remember it it can help us understand the emotion

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of it. So then it can it can kind of

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connect us to the text in a deeper way. We

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can say imagination, we could say emotion. It just brings

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us into it in a deeper way. Right. Another thing,

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by studying the literary devices, I think this is important,

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we can see if we because what's one of the

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presuppositions we bring to the text as Christians? We believe

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that the text was inspired by God. That means if

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there's literary devices, what does that tell us God intentionally

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put them there? So if we really believe the Bible's inspired,

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then I don't know why Christians ignore literary device because

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God put them there. Correct soever, as one source with

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states it, every literary device reflects God's purpose, purposeful revelation,

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showing that he speaks in ways that are not only true,

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but he uses veryed devices in order to communicate that truth.

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And that's that's something that we have to be able

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to understand right now. These So those are some of

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the reasons we should study literary devices. I want us

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to consider just briefly, some of the themes that are

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amplified by the literary devices. We're going to look at.

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There are certain themes that seems to be emphasized by

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these literary devices. I'll go through these themes quickly. Right,

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the first theme that we're going to see that's going

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to be emphasized by these literary devices is the theme

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of comfort and renewal. Now, that shouldn't be too hard

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to figure out. The entire section is called what the

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Book of Comfort, right or the Book of Consolation. And

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one of the things that's going to bring this comfort

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a promise of renewal. So the literary devices is going

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to emphasize comfort and renewal. Does that make sense? Second,

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it's going to emphasize God's sovereignty and power. It's going

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to emphasize God's sovereignty empower. Why would you need to

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use literary devices to emphasize God's sovereignty empower to these people. Yeah,

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they're in Babylonian captivity the Babylonians. Can they overthrow the Babylonians? No?

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Can they defeat the No? They can't do anything. They're

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helpless and they're hopeless. So the message is going to

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come to them utilizing literary devices to emphasize God's sovereignty empower.

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Another thing that's going to do these literary devices is

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going to emphasize man's frailty and divine permanence. It's going

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to show us that we are we are, we are frail,

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we are, we are fleeting, are passing. God is the

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thing that is permanent. All right? Does that make sense.

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It's also going to emphasize hope for the weary. It's

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gonna offer it's gonna emphasize hope for the weary. So

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the themes that are amplified are comfort and renewal, God's

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sovereignty and power, human frailty or human weakness, and divine permanence,

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and hope for the weary. And I could I could

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go into paragraphs explaining each one. I just wanted to

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make it quick. All right, So what are we going

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to try to do through this? All right? Well, well,

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I guess well, there's a lot of things here. I'm

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gonna skip a lot of my notes here because of time.

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We're going to try to ident What we're going to

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do is we're going to identify all the literary devices

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in Isaiah forty. That's what we're going to attempt to

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do this morning. We're going to try to identify all

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the literary devices. We're going to try to understand how

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these devices are being used, what what can we learn

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from it? And hopefully, hopefully I think the real goal

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here is it gets us where, it gets us into

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the text. It gets us into the text, It gets

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us into the text. So literary device, this hour, next hour,

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observational outline. So that's the goal. All right, everybody ready,

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We're going to try to go through these quickly. I've

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got a lot of notes here, so I've got to

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decide just right there. My introduction there was supposed to

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be probably fifteen minutes, and I just completely cut that

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in half. All right, so there's a lot there I skipped. Okay,

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so are you ready for a We're going to do

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like an let's call this a literary outline of Isaiah forty,

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focusing on the literary devices. All right, everybody got their

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bibles open Isaiah forty. What is the first literary device

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you see in Isaiah forty? Starts with an R? It's

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not that comp Okay, this repetition? There we go. Repetition.

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Where do you see it? Comfort? Ye? Comfort ye my people,

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saith your God? All right, the repetition of comfort? What

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does that emphasize urgency. What else could it emphasize assurance

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that comfort is coming? Right, It could show the depth

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of it, but it's emphasizing it. Yes, it's reinforcing God's

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message of consolation for his people. All right, you see

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that repetition of comfort comfort. Look in Isaiah forty twenty

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one and Isaiah forty twenty eight and see if you

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see another use of repetition I used in both verses

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twenty eight? Do you see that? Do you not know?

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Have you not heard? Everybody see that forty twenty one?

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All right, have you not known? Have you not heard?

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Has it not been told to you? From the beginning

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verse twenty eight? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? Okay,

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very similar verbage. Right, there's more repetition, Do you not know?

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Have you not heard? These rhetorical devices or repetitions emphasize

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the enduring truths about God's greatness and vite reflection. So

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there's comfort, there is comfort is repeated, and these questions

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are repeated. All right, I'm going to get that and

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those kind of questions. If questions are repeated, what are

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you supposed to do with repeated questions? That's supposed to

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make you stop and consider the question. Right. God's asking

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now in this case, he's asking whom the original recipient,

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So we have to understand the questions in light of

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whom the original recipient. Okay, does that make sense? All right?

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So what's the first literary device? Repetition? It's used in

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two places Isaiah forty verse one, comfort comfort, right, and

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then it's used in Isaiah forty twenty one and twenty eight.

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So actually three places forty verse one, forty twenty one,

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forty twenty eight. The comfort comforts in verse one, the

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questions do you not know? Have you not heard? Are

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in twenty one and twenty eight. Repetition? Right. You should

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always look for repetition, right, because repetition something is being emphasized.

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The writer, the author is trying to get a point across.

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So you should be able to identify repetition. Right. What's

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the second one that we find? Well, on this one,

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instead of making you look it up, I'm just going

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to give you what we're going to be looking for,

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because there's different kinds of these. We're gonna be looking

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for parallelism. Parallelism. Now I'm gonna I had to look

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up a definition of parallelism, so I could try to

256
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summarize it in a simple way. I don't know if

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this is simple, because it's a relatively long paragraph. Sarah,

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do you want to tell us what parallelism in a

259
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simple way? Or do you want me to give you

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the long answer? Okay, it okay? Parallelism. Some refer to

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this as thought rhyme. All right. It's a rhetorical device

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that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so

263
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as to create a definite pattern. The structure is particularly

264
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effective when specifying pairs or series of like things, a

265
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scheme of balance. Parallelism represents one of the basic principles

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of grammar and rhetoric. Parallelism uses a rhetorical device. It's

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used in many languages and cultures around the world. It's

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used in poetry, epics, songs, written prose, and speech from

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the folk level to the professional all right, and just

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where it's used constantly in the Bible. Parallelism is all

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over the Bible. It's everywhere, right, especially in Psalms, proverbs.

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It's all over the place. Yet, but it's so frustrating

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is the people sitting in the pew who decides if

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a sermon is right or wrong. In many cases, can't

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even identify what parallelism it can't even define parallelism. And

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they're yet they're gonna tell if a sermon is right

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or wrong. See, that's the absurdity of the Protestant system

278
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in cases, that's absurd. Right. So what are the different

279
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kinds of parallelism. I'm not going to go through all

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of them. We're gonna start with one, all right. We're

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gonna start with the ones they're in Isaiah forty right.

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So this is not an exhaustive look at parallelism, all right,

283
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This is just pointing out and let's make sure we

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do this. I'm going to have you try to point

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out the kind of parallelism being used, and we'll see

286
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if there's agreement or disagreement. Okay. So if there's disagreement,

287
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that's okay, we'll go. I'm gonna be relying on different

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things to go with this, all right. What's Isaiah chapter

289
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forty verse four? Isaiah forty verse four. Now we're looking

290
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at the kind of parallelism, okayda, see I kind of

291
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weigh your direction. Other sources call it synonymous parallelism, all right,

292
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because Isaiah forty verse and all, I'm going to read

293
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their explanation, every valley should be lifted up and every

294
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mountain shall be made low. To me, that's kind of

295
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contrasting two separate things, right, one high, one low. Right, Yeah,

296
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So that that's how I kind of looked at it.

297
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This is yeah, now, synonymous parallelism, I'll give a definition

298
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is a literary device commonly used in Hebrew poetry where

299
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the second line of a verse or subsequent line repeats

300
00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.200
or reinforces the meaning of the first line using different

301
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words or phrasing. This technique enhances the message by restating

302
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it with slight variation. Emphasis are providing clarity. So if

303
00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:38.640
you look at it Isaiah forty verse four, I see

304
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kind of like, well, wait a minute, one is up,

305
00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:43.279
one is down. But I think what they're trying to

306
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say is every valley should be exalted, every mountain shall

307
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be made low. I think they're what they're trying to

308
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point out, at least in my mind, is that the

309
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.599
second part is just re emphasizing the first part, basically

310
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saying what there's going to be some kind of change

311
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between the valley and the mountains. There's going to be

312
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some kind of geographical change depending on how we how

313
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far we take this? All right, does that make some sense?

314
00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:13.359
They state it this way, parallel ideas reinforce the theme

315
00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:18.240
of transformation and preparing for God's coming. So they're saying,

316
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these are parallel ideas that reinforce the theme of transformation

317
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and preparation. They're not focusing on what They're not focusing

318
00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:33.200
on high low, They're just focusing on whether it's higher,

319
00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:39.599
whether it's low. What is it emphasizing transformation, transformation. So

320
00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:42.880
they're saying the second part reinforces the first part in

321
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.400
a synonymous way because both parts represent what transformation change,

322
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or it shows the preparation for God's coming, because if

323
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you look in verse three, the voice of Him that

324
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Christ in the wilderness, prepare ye, the way makes straight

325
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a desert and a hig way. Everybody see that in

326
00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.480
verse three? Well, verse four now is gonna use this

327
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:08.480
synonymous parallelism the way they identify it as every valley

328
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:11.039
should be exalted in, every mountain should be made low

329
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low high, doesn't matter if it's up or down. That's

330
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:20.640
not the important part. What's the important part, transformation, right,

331
00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:24.519
gonna It's gonna make the way right, gonna make the

332
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way straight, gonna make the way smooth. Everybody see that.

333
00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:33.319
So synonymous parallelism. So do we agree with that or

334
00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:40.359
do we disagree with that? What do you think, Sarah?

335
00:22:40.559 --> 00:23:00.119
And know I'm putting it on on you, but right so,

336
00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:02.079
I think what they're doing, if you go to three,

337
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everything is about making the way right, preparing away, making

338
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a way so that people can travel it. Right, So

339
00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:11.160
the high low is more just like whatever needs to

340
00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.640
be done to make the way smooth. So it's not

341
00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:16.000
so much about whether it's higher low, it's about it's

342
00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:21.519
transforming it so that people can traverse this way, whatever

343
00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:24.319
that way may be referring to. Does that make sense?

344
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:38.440
All right? How about Isaiah forty verse eight? All right,

345
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so the grass weathers the flower fades. That's synonymous parallelism,

346
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right right, But I'm saying we're just looking for the parallelism, right,

347
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So that phrase right there, I mean they're not saying

348
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there won't be others and there's other passages, but the

349
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grass weathers the flower phase. Everybody see that. The second

350
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.559
part is doing what restating the first part. Maybe slight

351
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.799
variation in words, but it's the same concept. Right, So

352
00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:11.839
you can read it and we may say, oh, that's

353
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:14.319
kind of redundant. You're saying the same thing, but you're

354
00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:17.519
saying the same thing in a repetitive way. And this

355
00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:21.000
parallelism because it reinforces the idea. What's the idea being

356
00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:30.279
reinforced here? Yeah, the fleeting nature of humanity. Right, it's

357
00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:33.279
showing that whether it's grass, whether it's flower, what's going

358
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:38.200
to happen to both? Whither gonna fade? Right, So now

359
00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:41.359
it's going to contrast that to the permanence of God's word.

360
00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:46.160
But right here it just demonstrated that. So that's synonymous parallelism.

361
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Can everyone understand synonymous parallelism where the second part basically

362
00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:54.119
restates the first part with a slight variation in words

363
00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:58.079
or a slight variation the first part and the second part,

364
00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:02.519
the second part reinforces the first part. That's synonymous parallelism.

365
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:09.519
Does everybody see that? Why is that important? It's a

366
00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:12.279
literary device using Isaiah, but it helps us see what

367
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.720
in the text that this is really being emphasized. Right,

368
00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:18.200
God is saying it, then God's saying it again in

369
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:24.000
a different way. Now, sometimes what we can do is

370
00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:27.160
sometimes we can get so caught up. This is sometimes

371
00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.680
the danger. We can get so caught up on the

372
00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:33.279
individual words, or we start trying to make the words

373
00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:35.599
represent this, or we start trying to apply to this.

374
00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:38.000
Sometimes we got to take a step back and just like,

375
00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:40.680
what's the basic idea of being given here? Right? So,

376
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:44.920
and that first example Isaiah forty four, right, forty verse four,

377
00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.240
The idea is not whether the mountain is higher, whether

378
00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:50.160
the valley is low. In our minds, we want to

379
00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:52.279
go there, right, Well, wait a minute, why is one high?

380
00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:55.759
Why is one low? What could that mean? Well, what

381
00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:57.680
they're trying to show us is that, well, if we

382
00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:01.480
just see the parallelism, then it's just we can take

383
00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:04.160
a step back and just say, oh, it just means

384
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:06.440
that this is going to be transformed and the way

385
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.920
is going to be made smooth and open for anyone,

386
00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.480
all right, And then that second one is much easier

387
00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:17.440
to see. All right, that's synonymous parallelism. Everybody got that one,

388
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.160
all right? Look at Isaiah forty thirty one, and see

389
00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:26.799
what kind of parallelism is here? Isaiah forty thirty one.

390
00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:33.279
Everybody knows this verse what kind of parallelism is this?

391
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:42.160
And if we disagree, that's okay, that's okay. If you've

392
00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:45.480
ever been in a literature class talking about literature, there's

393
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.240
going to be disagreement. Oh wait, that's what we do

394
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:58.720
with the Bible every Sunday. I'm just giving you the

395
00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:00.640
verse and you tell me if you where do you

396
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:11.480
see any kind of parallelism in it? Yeah? What type

397
00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:17.240
of parallelism is it? We've already left parallel synonymous parallelism.

398
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:24.440
This is a different kind. Starts with an a what

399
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:29.079
do you think, Sarah? Yeah? Those listening online? She she is,

400
00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:31.599
she came to church on the wrong day. It's it's

401
00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:40.519
all going. She's gonna have to answer every question. Antithetical parallelism,

402
00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:47.000
antithetical parallelism? Does anybody know what antithetical parallelism is? All right, well,

403
00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:48.920
I'm gonna have to be honest with everyone. I had

404
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:51.559
to look this one up because I was I was like, wait,

405
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:54.640
antithetical parallelism do I? I don't know if I remember

406
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.160
this one, okay, which then made me feel stupid because

407
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:00.920
if the text is using antithetical parallelism and I don't

408
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.119
know what antithetical parallelism is, what if that typically mean

409
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:08.880
about my ability to understand the text, all right, you

410
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.440
see right? You see so that? Oh see, that makes

411
00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:16.519
me mad. That takes me off, Okay, so. Antithetical parallelism

412
00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:19.240
is a form of parallelism where the meaning of two

413
00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:24.799
or more excerts of text are observed although directly linked,

414
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:30.599
by providing the same meaning from different perspectives. This type

415
00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.559
of parallelism is used in order to create repetition of

416
00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:39.519
meaning as a technique of cognitive reinforcement, thus more effectively

417
00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:45.720
communicating the meaning of the text. Right, that's a long explanation.

418
00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:50.039
Let me try that again, everybody ready. It's a form

419
00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:53.440
of parallelism where the meaning of two or more excerts

420
00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:58.519
of text are observed although directly linked by providing the

421
00:28:58.599 --> 00:29:02.880
same meaning from different perspectives. They shall mount up with

422
00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:06.880
wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

423
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:13.000
They shall walk and not faint. Do you feel like

424
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:17.480
it's doing that we have two or more excerpts of texts.

425
00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:20.839
They are observed although directly linked, by providing the same

426
00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:25.559
meaning from different perspectives. Is the same meaning being provided? Yes,

427
00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:29.119
the same meaning is being provided multiple times. Right, mount

428
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:31.599
up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not

429
00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:35.720
be weary, they shall walk and not faint. We got

430
00:29:35.720 --> 00:29:37.759
this idea of mounting up with wings like an eagle.

431
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:39.920
Then we have the idea of running. But what's the

432
00:29:39.960 --> 00:29:45.039
main idea? Not being weary and not feigning. Does that

433
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:51.000
kind of give the idea? All right? One? An explanation

434
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:57.119
stated this way, you're contrasting actions flying, running, walking, highlighting

435
00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:01.559
God's power to sustain at all levels, whether it flying, running,

436
00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:05.559
or walking. Dude, This flying, running, and walking all mentioned

437
00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:09.599
in Isaiah forty thirty one. All right, and what's the

438
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:12.200
bottom line about Whether it's the flying or the running

439
00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:18.920
or the walking doesn't matter because what's gonna happen, Yeah,

440
00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.599
not gonna be weary, not gonna faint. The idea is

441
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:26.839
that eagle's not gonna do what fall from the sky

442
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:29.960
and just crash to the ground. Right, Okay, that's that's

443
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:35.119
the idea. Does that make some sense? All right? Now?

444
00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.799
We could go into greater detail about antithetical parallelism, but

445
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:40.559
we I think we can see that verse and get

446
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:44.960
the basic idea. Right whether now that's the one good

447
00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:46.880
thing I did feel better. I may not know that,

448
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:49.920
I may not have identified that as antithetical parallelism, but

449
00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:53.599
I would have noticed that it's using all of this

450
00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:58.079
language to tell me what that there's a sustaining here.

451
00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:03.400
Now in the context, Who's gonna be stained? Israel's gonna

452
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:09.160
be sustained. Right, They're gonna be sustained through their judgment

453
00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:13.240
coming out of their judgment. Right. So then, uh, the

454
00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:18.039
wait upon the Lord? What are they waiting on for

455
00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:21.920
him to deliver them from bondage? Right? So as they wait,

456
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.640
God's gonna renew their strength. They're gonna mount up with

457
00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:27.519
wings as eagles. Right, They're gonna in a sense, be

458
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:30.599
above whatever's going to happen. They're gonna run, They're not

459
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:33.119
gonna be weary, they're not gonna walk, they're not gonna faint. Basically,

460
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:36.119
it's what that's a very poetical way of saying what

461
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.640
you're going into the captivity and you're coming out of

462
00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:44.799
the captivity. Now, that doesn't mean every individual is gonna

463
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:48.279
come out, but it means as a nation, God is

464
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:52.240
gonna sustain the nation. That's why you have to make

465
00:31:52.279 --> 00:31:56.559
this nationalistic. We love to make it about whom us.

466
00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.079
Major problems with that, right because then we're like, well, well,

467
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:02.519
whatever I go through, God is going to somehow sustain me.

468
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:04.400
I mean, what is he going? Then we got to

469
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.079
ask what does that even mean? Is he gonna give

470
00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:09.039
me some kind of specific power? Now that's about a nation,

471
00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:13.400
and did God sustain that nation through their judgment? Yes?

472
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:17.000
They went in, they came out. Did all the individuals

473
00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:21.079
come out? No? So does that make sense? All right?

474
00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:28.000
So what's the first The first literary device was what repetition?

475
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:30.680
That was used in Isaiah forty verse one and Isaiah

476
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:33.839
forty twenty one and twenty eight? Parallelism? Right? The first

477
00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:36.920
form of parallelism is synonymous parallelism used in what verse

478
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:42.440
Isaiah chapter forty verse four? Right in Isaiah forty verse eight.

479
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:48.240
The second we'll call it antithetical parallelism Isaiah forty thirty one. Right,

480
00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:52.440
everybody got that? What's the third literary device? Everyone? Look

481
00:32:52.559 --> 00:33:09.319
at Isaiah chapter forty verse twelve, look at Isaiah forty twelve,

482
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:19.359
and the look at Isaiah forty eighteen. Station Oh okay,

483
00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:28.799
they're questions. What kind of questions are? They? Starts with

484
00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:33.880
an r rhetorical questions. There we go, there's rhetorical questions

485
00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:40.000
and rhetorical questions, do what in order to do what

486
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.799
emphasize something. Right, when you ask a rhetorical question, aren't

487
00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:59.279
you trying to emphasize something that the answers already assumed? Right? Right? Yeah,

488
00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:01.079
I'm not really asked get you for an answer? Like

489
00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:03.240
sometimes I ask a questions so we're answer and I'll

490
00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:05.480
be like that, okay, never mind, and I'm just like

491
00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:08.239
and I'll move on because there with a rhetorical question, right, So,

492
00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:11.239
because sometimes people will ask a rhetorical question or someone

493
00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:13.840
will answer it not realizing it's a rhetorical question. Well,

494
00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:16.599
and here this is these seems to be rhetorical questions.

495
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:20.760
And these rhetorical questions are you being utilized to emphasize something?

496
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:24.079
So in Isaiah forty twelve, what is the rhetorical question

497
00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:33.599
and what is it emphasizing? Go? Okay, who has measured

498
00:34:33.639 --> 00:34:38.599
the waters in the hollow of his hand? Everybody see that? Okay?

499
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:43.639
All right? The obvious answer is okay, no one, right,

500
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:45.840
none of us has right? All right, it's rhetorical. But

501
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:51.280
what is it emphasizing then? Okay? Or it's emphasizing that

502
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.960
no one can compare to God. He's there's an incomparability

503
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.800
to God. He nobody can compare anything to God, because

504
00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:03.559
God is beyond being compared to, because He's beyond everything.

505
00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:08.400
You see how it's being emphasized. So these this question

506
00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:11.960
is challenging the reader to contemplate the vastness of God's

507
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:16.280
power and wisdom. Now, why would God? Why would Isaiah

508
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:25.800
use that rhetorical device for the people in captivity. Yeah,

509
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.440
he's trying to demonstrate to them because what they what

510
00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:31.639
could they make compare to God? There's possibly two things

511
00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:35.960
they would have been tempted to compare to God while

512
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:41.880
they were in captivity. Two things Babylon that mean He's

513
00:35:41.880 --> 00:35:46.800
seen Babylon is greater, or maybe three things Babylon specific

514
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:51.559
two their circumstances, and three the false religion, the false

515
00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:55.159
gods of Babylon. So they there'd have been three things

516
00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.719
they could have possibly said, even if they didn't state it,

517
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:00.920
they could have said, my circumstance is greater in God,

518
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:03.880
Babylon is greater in God. And maybe if I'm in

519
00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:08.800
captivity at Babylon, what now, especially in a super there

520
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.079
you go, Babylon's gods could be greater than our God

521
00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:17.880
because our God can't seem to get us. He didn't

522
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:20.880
stop us from going into captivity, and he's hasn't gotten

523
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:24.159
this out of captivity, and my kids have died in captivity,

524
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.119
so you could see, are we all tempted to do that?

525
00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:31.519
I mean, it's great to have a powerful God, but

526
00:36:31.559 --> 00:36:33.719
a powerful God is of no value unless the power

527
00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:38.840
is being utilized in my favor. But he's just reminding them. Okay,

528
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:41.840
you may not see it, but I'm gonna ask you

529
00:36:41.880 --> 00:36:47.920
some rhetorical questions to demonstrate what. Yeah, who has measured

530
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:49.440
the waters in the hollow of his hand? No one

531
00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:53.079
can compare? What's the second rhetorical question in forty eighteen?

532
00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:03.400
Who is like God and believes? Now? Who? Then? To whom? Then?

533
00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:06.599
Will you like in God? Or white likeness compared with him?

534
00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:09.519
Based in this section, he's now bringing them to what.

535
00:37:09.719 --> 00:37:13.079
By using a rhetorical question, he is engaged. So first,

536
00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:16.000
he's emphasizing something in the first part, and the second

537
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:20.039
he's now really engaging the audience to really consider something. Right,

538
00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:24.280
he is forcing the audience to do what acknowledge that

539
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:30.400
God is unique and the futility of idolatry. So rhetorical

540
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:33.599
questions here is used number one to emphasize and number

541
00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:38.960
two to engage the audience. He's emphasizing something, and he's

542
00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:43.719
engaging the audience. What he's emphasizing, basically, in these rhetorical questions,

543
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:47.559
he's emphasizing the greatness of God, and he's engaging the

544
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:51.719
cult the people to really come to a conclusion. Wait

545
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:55.119
a minute, God is greater than all of this, even

546
00:37:55.159 --> 00:38:00.960
though they're circumstances with statewide circumstance. Yeah's circumstances would have

547
00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:05.079
told them three things. Babylon is greater than God, circumstances

548
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:08.480
are greater in God, and Babylon Babylonian gods are greater

549
00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:14.840
than God. That's what their circumstances would say. So Isaiah,

550
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.760
of course, writing writing this one hundred years before they

551
00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:20.480
even go into captivity, or before even before that, he

552
00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:23.320
is reminding them that, Hey, when you're in captivity, you

553
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.360
need to be reminded God is greater even though it

554
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:30.639
doesn't appear in your circumstances. That's hard to comprehend, is

555
00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:35.800
it not. I mean, that defies every line of logic,

556
00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:39.039
because if my God is greater than my circumstances, if

557
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:41.000
my God is greater than this nation, if my God

558
00:38:41.079 --> 00:38:45.599
is greater than these gods, then do something. But how

559
00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:49.760
does the chapter end? We just read it a minute ago.

560
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:53.599
Those who wait upon the Lord demonstrating that if you

561
00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:57.039
wait sooner and law soon enough or sooner or later,

562
00:38:57.320 --> 00:39:01.239
God's power will reveal itself and all our capacity we

563
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:03.199
are faced with the same thing. We look around the

564
00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:05.800
world and we maybe go, where's God. Well, we have

565
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:08.039
to be a reminded God's power is still powerful even

566
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:09.920
though it's not doing anything. But there will come a

567
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:13.679
day that what will happen Dennis power will be revealed?

568
00:39:14.119 --> 00:39:16.679
So there's a parallel there? Does that see? So does

569
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:20.400
everyone see those rhetorical questions? You gotta know when it's

570
00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:24.320
a rhetorical question, and it's make it very clear. When

571
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:26.320
you identify a rhetorical question, what do you have to

572
00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:29.880
do with it? Then? What does it emphasize it? What

573
00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:32.039
is it doing? It's one thing to just go, oh,

574
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:36.559
that's a rhetorical question, great, what's the answer? What is

575
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:39.880
it attempting to tell us? All right? So what's the

576
00:39:39.880 --> 00:39:47.760
first literary device? Repetition? Second parallelism? We've had synonymous parallelism,

577
00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:51.920
we had antithetical parallelism. All right, Now we've had rhetorical questions.

578
00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:54.840
What do we have next? Look at Isaiah, chapter forty,

579
00:39:54.920 --> 00:40:29.400
verse twelve. Isaiah forty twelve, what do we have? He

580
00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:35.280
measures the heavens with a what? Okay? He weighs the

581
00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:44.800
mountains what some translation says he measures the heavens with

582
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:48.000
a span, and he weighs the mountains in scales depending

583
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:53.360
on translations? Okay? What? What? What literary device is being

584
00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:57.679
utilized here? I'll just help, I'll just move quickly cause

585
00:40:57.679 --> 00:41:03.000
we're gonna run out of time. Imagery. This is natural

586
00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:06.840
imagery because he's doing what talking about the heavens and

587
00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:10.360
the mountains, right, So it's using an imagery here to

588
00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:13.239
convey what what? What is this imagery trying to convey

589
00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:20.440
God's sovereignty over creation? Right? Everybody see that? Because I mean,

590
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:23.079
are we supposed to take from this? He measures the

591
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:25.480
heavens with a span and weighs the mountains and scales

592
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:31.559
as something literal? No, it's imagery, right, choosing imagery, right,

593
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:33.800
I think we should be able to figure that. Isaiah

594
00:41:33.880 --> 00:41:46.599
forty seven through eight. The grass weather in the flower pace?

595
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:50.239
Now here we can say does grass literally weather? Yes?

596
00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:53.960
Does grass literally fade? Yes? But is it about grass?

597
00:41:57.519 --> 00:42:00.920
It's using the imagery of that to convey something greater,

598
00:42:01.039 --> 00:42:06.880
which is what the frailty of human being, of human life,

599
00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:11.079
the transient nature of life. It's trying to show, hey,

600
00:42:11.239 --> 00:42:13.599
look at the grass, look at this, look at that,

601
00:42:13.719 --> 00:42:19.079
and this image is to tell something about us and

602
00:42:19.159 --> 00:42:24.719
contrast to whom God's word, right, okay, to everybody see that.

603
00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:28.960
So that's using natural imagery. It's taking things from nature

604
00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:32.920
and then using it as an image to convey deeper

605
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:38.079
and bigger things. Does that make sense? Yeah? We have.

606
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:41.199
We have repetition, right, I mean just remember sometimes in

607
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:44.920
one verse or one section, you may have multiple literary

608
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:49.239
devices being utilized. Oh yeah, metaphor see look at that now.

609
00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:55.679
Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're going right, all right, yeah, okay,

610
00:42:55.679 --> 00:42:57.920
well that's good. That's that's why you come to church.

611
00:42:57.920 --> 00:42:59.480
You got to learn something, right. I can't just tell

612
00:42:59.480 --> 00:43:01.719
you what you are already know. Okay, I have to

613
00:43:01.800 --> 00:43:03.760
learn too, So we're all learning, all right. How about

614
00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:16.280
what do we see in Isaiah forty eleven? Okay, now

615
00:43:16.559 --> 00:43:18.880
Sarah's getting all fired up. Now she's just pulling them

616
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:21.519
all out. Now now we got okay, well we're still

617
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:24.719
doing with the imagery here, but okay, we have shepherd imagery, right,

618
00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:27.840
when natural imagery dealing with nature? Now what do we have?

619
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:34.360
He will tend his flock Isaiah forty, verse eleven. He

620
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:43.639
will tend his flock. Depending on your translation, there we go.

621
00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:45.840
He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will

622
00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:48.480
gather the lambs in his arm. This is an image.

623
00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:51.280
This is you're using the idea the imagery of a

624
00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:55.320
shepherd to show God's care and guidance of his people.

625
00:43:55.360 --> 00:44:01.400
What people Israel and their Babylonian captivity? All right? Everybody

626
00:44:01.400 --> 00:44:17.039
got that? How about Isaiah forty verse twenty six. Isaiah

627
00:44:17.079 --> 00:44:20.440
forty verse twenty six. So we have natural imagery or

628
00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:23.639
that of nature, we have shepherd imagery. Now what kind

629
00:44:23.639 --> 00:44:25.400
of imagery do we have going on? And possibly in

630
00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:37.440
Isaiah forty twenty six Isaiah verse twenty six, he tells

631
00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:41.159
them to lift their eyes to see what the heavens? Right,

632
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:43.679
all right, so he wants them to see the heavens.

633
00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:45.320
Does he want them to see the heavens so that

634
00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:47.800
they can try to figure out, you know, what is

635
00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:51.039
orbiting what and the size of this or the temperature

636
00:44:51.079 --> 00:44:55.159
of this or all right? Basically, what is he doing here?

637
00:44:55.280 --> 00:44:58.400
He's using the cosmic imagery to call attention to the

638
00:44:58.440 --> 00:45:01.920
stars as evidence of God's create power. He wants them

639
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:06.000
to see the image of this, this imagery to go

640
00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:08.679
This is about God. It's not about trying to figure

641
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:11.119
out how all of that works. Right, It's not a

642
00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:15.480
science question, as is a imagery to point to God.

643
00:45:15.480 --> 00:45:18.360
Does that make sense? All right? All right, okay, so

644
00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:23.559
we got there's imagery. Now let's move to another one.

645
00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:27.000
Go to Isaiah forty verse six through eight. I know

646
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:28.599
we've kind of looked at the same section over and

647
00:45:28.599 --> 00:45:31.000
over and over this, okay, Isaiah chapter forty, verse six

648
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:42.559
through eight. We have all flesh is what? But okay,

649
00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:46.880
but then it goes on to talk about does it

650
00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:55.400
have some butt? There? About the word of the Lord.

651
00:45:56.840 --> 00:45:59.280
There we go. You see, whenever you see the butt,

652
00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:02.880
what do we have? Contrast? There we go? All right,

653
00:46:03.559 --> 00:46:07.559
we have the literary device of contrast. All right. The

654
00:46:07.599 --> 00:46:10.800
first contrast is human frailty versus God's permanence. Do we

655
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.119
see that all flesh is grass, but the Word of

656
00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:17.039
God will stand forever Isaiah forty six to eight. This

657
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:20.960
is showing the transient nature of humanity compared to the

658
00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:25.639
eternal reliability of God's word. Everybody see that contrast human

659
00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:30.679
frailty versus God's permanence. Look at Isaiah forty nineteen. Is

660
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:40.159
there a contrast here? Well, you can just look at

661
00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:43.599
that section see if there is a contrast that appears

662
00:46:43.639 --> 00:46:47.440
somewhere there. They only point to nineteen. I don't know

663
00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:50.000
if nineteen in and of itself could be considered a contrast.

664
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:52.639
I think we need more than nineteen. But okay, I

665
00:46:52.639 --> 00:46:56.159
don't have the entire verse, and we look at it. Yeah,

666
00:46:56.199 --> 00:47:04.840
I think we need more than that. What's happening, Well,

667
00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:07.360
let me try it this way, because typically in a contrast,

668
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:09.639
we need that butt right there, right, we need something

669
00:47:09.679 --> 00:47:12.320
to So we don't really have that here. But in

670
00:47:12.360 --> 00:47:20.480
this section, what is happening? Starting in verse nineteen, there

671
00:47:20.519 --> 00:47:24.400
we go, So a craftsman and this the workman melteth

672
00:47:24.440 --> 00:47:27.519
a graven image, and the goldsmith spread it over with

673
00:47:27.639 --> 00:47:32.960
gold and casteth silver chains. So a craftsman casts it

674
00:47:33.320 --> 00:47:36.800
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold. This is being

675
00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:41.599
contrasted with whom God all right, So this is showing

676
00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:44.960
the futility of idols with the omnipotence of God. An

677
00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:50.360
idol you're making. God makes everything. So it is showing

678
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:53.360
a contrast, just not in that In that case, you

679
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:55.719
kind of need to see the contrast in the broader section,

680
00:47:55.880 --> 00:47:59.880
not just in that verse. Yeah, yeah, definitely. If you

681
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:02.679
in eighteen, you see it a little bit. So there's

682
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:06.000
a contrast there of idols versus gods. All right, So

683
00:48:06.039 --> 00:48:09.519
it contrasts the futility of idols with the omnipotence of God.

684
00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:11.599
All right, Then one last one, because we're going to

685
00:48:11.679 --> 00:48:18.519
run out of time. Look at Isaiah chapter forty verse two.

686
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:26.880
Isaiah chapter forty verse two. What literary device is being

687
00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:43.840
used here? Isaiah verse two says, speak what comfortably? Some

688
00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:47.440
will say, speak tenderly to whom? All right? Do they

689
00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:50.880
need to speak? Is this words to be spoken to Jerusalem,

690
00:48:51.119 --> 00:48:54.400
the city? Just go talk to the city, all right?

691
00:48:54.760 --> 00:49:04.159
So that's doing what persignific cation, right, personification. Jerusalem is

692
00:49:04.199 --> 00:49:08.480
personified as someone who can be consoled, emphasizing the intimate

693
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:13.400
nature of God's relationship with his people. Everybody see that?

694
00:49:14.519 --> 00:49:31.199
All right? How about Isaiah forty verse four. This one

695
00:49:31.239 --> 00:49:35.719
may be hard. I'm not sure about this one. The

696
00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:38.880
mountains and hills made low, the rough place is plain.

697
00:49:39.760 --> 00:49:43.159
Now they say, some sources say that this is a

698
00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:47.800
personification of nature as being actively transformed in preparation for

699
00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:52.519
God's arrival. I don't know about that one. I don't

700
00:49:52.519 --> 00:49:55.199
know about that one, so I'm not gonna put that

701
00:49:55.239 --> 00:49:57.960
one down. I question that one. I question that one

702
00:49:58.280 --> 00:50:16.719
because now we get into is that personification or is it? Yeah,

703
00:50:17.239 --> 00:50:20.079
so yeah, yeah, I don't know about that one. But

704
00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:22.880
we'll go to the next one really quick because of time,

705
00:50:23.199 --> 00:50:26.079
all right, and because the next one everyone knows what

706
00:50:26.159 --> 00:50:28.719
the next one is. Go to Isaiah, chapter forty verse fifteen,

707
00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:49.199
forty fifteen. We could go there. Hyperbally, yes, my favorite,

708
00:50:49.239 --> 00:50:53.159
all right, hyperbole. What is it? It's exaggerating the insignificance

709
00:50:53.199 --> 00:50:59.480
of what of nations. It's it's exaggerating the nations are

710
00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:01.480
like a drop a bucket. Now, in some ways it's

711
00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:04.119
an exaggeration. In some ways you can say, well, that's true, right,

712
00:51:04.400 --> 00:51:08.079
But hyperbole is exaggerating the insignificance of a nation to

713
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:12.599
emphasize a point. All right, look at Isaiah forty verse sixteen.

714
00:51:20.679 --> 00:51:29.079
Isaiah forty verse sixteen. Yeah, Elebanon would not suffice for fuel,

715
00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:32.239
nor are its beast enough for a burnt offering, if

716
00:51:32.239 --> 00:51:35.079
he took all the animals in it, if you burnt

717
00:51:35.119 --> 00:51:37.599
the entire place, it would not be sufficient. This is

718
00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:41.840
hyperbole to illustrate the vastness of God's wrath compared of

719
00:51:41.920 --> 00:51:45.039
God's worth compared to the world's resources. If you took

720
00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:50.159
all the world's resources, they are not vast enough to

721
00:51:50.880 --> 00:51:56.599
compare to God's worth in God's greatness. Right, So there's

722
00:51:56.639 --> 00:51:59.039
a little bit of hyperbole there, and then I don't

723
00:51:59.039 --> 00:52:01.119
have time to go through the other We have illusion,

724
00:52:01.519 --> 00:52:08.119
we have metaphor, and we have inclusio. We'll end with inclusio.

725
00:52:08.880 --> 00:52:17.719
What's inclusio, Sarah? All right? It's an inclusio is a

726
00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:21.679
literary device where a passage or section of text is

727
00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:25.880
framed by similar words, phrases, or themes at the beginning

728
00:52:26.840 --> 00:52:30.400
and at the end. This technique creates a sense of

729
00:52:30.519 --> 00:52:34.239
unity and coherence, signaling to the reader that everything within

730
00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:38.920
the inclusio forms a complete and meaningful unit. Sometimes this

731
00:52:39.079 --> 00:52:46.239
is referred to as a framing device. All right, so

732
00:52:46.280 --> 00:52:52.639
what does the chapter begin with? Comfort? What does it

733
00:52:52.840 --> 00:53:01.800
end with? Well? Comfort, Some may say it ends with right, hey, hey,

734
00:53:02.039 --> 00:53:07.320
don't hey, don't become weary, because guess what your strength

735
00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:09.599
is gonna be real. You're gonna be renewed. You're gonna

736
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:14.360
have the strength to do what leave captivity. So the

737
00:53:14.440 --> 00:53:18.119
framing emphasizes God's ability to bring not only comfort but

738
00:53:18.280 --> 00:53:23.039
restoration and the ability to sustain his people. That's a

739
00:53:23.079 --> 00:53:27.599
framing device. How it begins and how it ends. It's

740
00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:36.679
framing it. So that helps you understand what everything in between. Right,

741
00:53:37.480 --> 00:53:41.599
how it begins and how it ends. Everything in between,

742
00:53:41.880 --> 00:53:45.840
that's a framing device. It's being framed. Now. I'm not

743
00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:48.519
saying this works in every chapter, but sometimes if you

744
00:53:48.599 --> 00:53:50.159
read the beginning of a chapter, in the end of

745
00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:53.840
a chapter, you can be like, ah, novels love to

746
00:53:53.880 --> 00:53:56.239
do this the way it begins and how it in

747
00:53:56.400 --> 00:53:59.280
movies will do this, how it begins. Songs will do this,

748
00:54:00.360 --> 00:54:03.800
will do this. So many things use that literary device.

749
00:54:03.920 --> 00:54:07.360
All right, So and then we have verbal irony to end,

750
00:54:07.719 --> 00:54:12.800
but we won't have time there. So yeah, there we go.

751
00:54:12.920 --> 00:54:16.360
So what are all the literary devices used in Isaiah

752
00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:20.360
Chapter forty? Number one was repetition. Number two was parallelism.

753
00:54:20.559 --> 00:54:23.079
I won't break down all the different parallelisms. Number three

754
00:54:23.159 --> 00:54:30.800
was rhetorical questions. Number four was imagery, Number five was contrast,

755
00:54:31.400 --> 00:54:40.719
number six is personification, number seven is hyperbole, number eight illusion,

756
00:54:41.159 --> 00:54:47.000
and number nine metaphor. Number ten and clusio or framing device.

757
00:54:47.119 --> 00:54:55.280
And then last but not least, verbal irony illusion I'm

758
00:54:55.320 --> 00:55:04.480
sorry A yeah illusion yeah. All right, there we go.

759
00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:08.119
Now this is how one summarized all of this. Isaiah

760
00:55:08.199 --> 00:55:15.159
forty is a masterclass in literary artistry, employing repetition, parallelism, imagery, contrast,

761
00:55:15.199 --> 00:55:18.159
and rhetorical questions to convey its themes of God's sovereignty,

762
00:55:18.400 --> 00:55:22.840
human fraility, frailty, and divine comfort. These devices reinforce the

763
00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:28.599
textsyllological depth emotional resonance, making it profound message for both

764
00:55:28.639 --> 00:55:32.360
its original audience and readers today. So some will say

765
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:35.480
Isaiah forty is the masterclass. If you want to see

766
00:55:35.599 --> 00:55:40.400
all the different literary devices, Isaiah forty has them all,

767
00:55:40.840 --> 00:55:44.199
while not all, but has most of them. Most literary

768
00:55:44.199 --> 00:55:46.880
devices can be found in one chapter. So then that

769
00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:50.360
tells us what God did a lot of work to

770
00:55:50.480 --> 00:55:55.320
ensure that the message could be understood, especially by the

771
00:55:55.360 --> 00:55:58.400
people who it was written to. But it also challenges

772
00:55:58.440 --> 00:56:01.320
the reader to be able to do what identifying these

773
00:56:01.360 --> 00:56:04.480
literary devices. Because we can identify the literary devices in

774
00:56:04.559 --> 00:56:10.320
Isaiah forty, what should we be able to do understand

775
00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:13.760
all literary devices used all throughout the pages of the Bible.

776
00:56:14.800 --> 00:56:18.840
All right, so but that framing is important. How does

777
00:56:18.880 --> 00:56:23.639
the chapter begin comfort and it ends with renewal, so

778
00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:26.159
a lot in between. It kind of is going to

779
00:56:26.159 --> 00:56:27.719
get us from one thing to the other. All right,

780
00:56:27.760 --> 00:56:30.559
let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this morning. Lord,

781
00:56:30.639 --> 00:56:33.360
you gave us your word. If we believe it's from you,

782
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:36.880
then we have to understand you put it together in

783
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:40.960
very specific ways. Help us not ignore that structure, but

784
00:56:41.360 --> 00:56:45.039
explore it, understand it so that we show reverence to

785
00:56:45.079 --> 00:56:47.679
your word and we show a desire to truly understand it.

786
00:56:47.719 --> 00:56:52.800
We ask this in Jesus name, and gots people said