Part of the joy and challenge of Biblical Hebrew is that there are about 2000 words at root, compared with modern languages where there may be hundreds of thousands of different words. That means you have to look at context to work out the best of several possible meanings.

I was reading the Prophecy of Isaiah over the last few days – still am! I was thinking about these words in Isaiah 30 about a coming Golden Age or time of Divine rescue of God’s people, a common theme in Isaiah: “When the towers fall.” It is not clear what is being referred to, but I am pretty sure it is not 9/11 despite it being used in reference to that horrible day in teaching and in some well l known prophetic pronouncements before the event – which is not the same as saying they were not real prophetic words, by the way! I think these words about the towers probably refer to the siege towers of Senacherib the King of Assyria. The Assyrians and the Babylonians were the first empires to use siege and siege towers against their enemies. Siege was unsuccessful against Jerusalem. The Stele of Senacherib mentions Jerusalem among besieged cities but it is the only city that is not mentioned as being captured after the siege. You can read the story of Jerusalem’s deliverance threaded through the writings of Isaiah. Jerusalem of course was subsequently captured by the Babylonians.

“When the towers fall…” As I say there is no way that you can claim any authority for saying this refers to 9/11. Nor can I claim necessarily any more legitimacy for what I now want to say!

One of the weapons that Satan, the enemy of God’s people and his demonic army uses is simply siege. He tries to wear out God’s people, just by long term standing against them. It can be difficult to cope with a long term trial that may not be severe but is chronic and continual and simply goes on and on and on and on. It could be chronic illness, that is not acute but just exhausts the body, mind and spirit. It could be a long term situation of family stress, or an unhappiness or injustice in a work setting. It may be that you are under siege at the moment. Remember that in Zion, “A river is whose streams make glad the city of our God.” Remember in Christ there is Living Water and Bread. You can survive the siege. Hold on. By God’s grace the day will come when you will see the siege towers fall.

God bless

Kenny