Isaiah Prophet, Poet, and Pastor for the Present Moment

Just when you think we had encountered the weirdest passage of scripture with Isaiah in the temple and given the worst sermon ever. Just when you think your Bible couldn't get any stranger. We land in Isaiah 8 which opens with this verse: Then the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” Isaiah is asked to take a tablet (No, not made by Apple...like stone tablet) and told to write down a phrase. It means "Hurry to the spoils!" or "He has made haste to the plunder!" Okay...not the strangest Tweet I have ever read. Not exactly the most inspiring. But given what Isaiah had to preach in his first sermon, I guess this one doesn't exactly strike me as all that odd. The text continues: and have it attested for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. Apparently God likes to have divine speech notarized...I get that. If you don't copy write the