Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop. Call up an army against Babylon. Wave your hand to encourage them as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.
The Book of Isaiah was always one of the books in the Bible that I would frequently start, get in a few chapters, and then close it up. Isaiah was daunting, my understanding that part of the Jewish history was too scant. So much happened throughout those centuries.
Surprisingly, reading the Book of Isaiah on a Kindle somehow changed my perspective entirely. Maybe it was the way the screen isolated section by section that gave me thinking time. Prophet Isaiah, I need to learn more about him.
My husband thinks he wants one of those electronic books. The Kindle ™ started off a few years ago, and cost upwards of $300. Now the knock-offs are between $100-150, and he thinks he would like one.
I know better. I bought him an iPod for Christmas a few years back. Our son loaded some songs on it, and my husband took it. Somewhere. He doesn’t really know where it is, and it has been two years since he last saw it. It is a source of tension between us, since I spent about $290 on it, after hearing him wax on and on in praise of the iPod. It was a cute turquoise, about the size of a miniature box of matches. Maybe that was the problem; it was just too darn small. He is in stage 3 of the search for the thing, which means I have asked him about it again, and he has initiated a third search for it.
The electronic book is bigger, though, and a ‘book cover’ can be purchased to make the device seem more like a book. The problem is that my husband reads mainly in the bathroom, for looonnnnnggg stretches of time. I know he is done when I hear the sound of the paper book hitting the tile floor, and then the flush. He couldn’t do that with an electronic book. Also, he likes to underline thoughts, words, ideas, etc. in the books. It doesn’t matter what kind of book it is. Fiction, nonfiction, science fiction—he underlines things. It takes a little work to underline things in an electronic book, and seems to be a waste of time. Finally, he likes to own books; he likes to take one off the shelf, and thumb through it. It makes him feel almost rich, having shelves of books.
No, I don’t see the purchase of any type of electronic book in the future, but then he may go behind my back and get one. That would be unwise, very unwise on his part. I would not be happy.
