Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we finished our 22nd book of the Bible. I know that's only a third of the way through the number of books in the Bible, there are 66, but as far as

word count is concerned, we're well over halfway through our trip through scripture together.

Okay, let's wrap up Isaiah.

In chapter 64, we encounter a section that I've misunderstood for most of my life.

It's in verse 6, and it says,

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

For years, I thought this meant that all my God honoring works were still tainted by my flesh and displeasing to him.

By the way, that phrase polluted garment is actually the Hebrew phrase used in ancient times to refer to a woman's

menstrual rag. So that's a pretty intense comparison, if that's what all our righteous deeds are like.

That's not just humbling. That's actually demotivating. But that's exactly why context and culture

are important to remember, because they help us understand something in this verse that might not be immediately obvious. In ancient Israel, people who are unclean, like this first

mentions, couldn't enter the temple without first being purified. And when women were having their

period, they weren't allowed in the temple either. It sounds harsh, like rejection, but I once heard

a female Bible teacher describe it as merciful. Women got to take the temple either. It sounds harsh like rejection, but I once heard a female Bible teacher

describe it as merciful. Women got to take the week off from working in their homes and go

rest in a different tent than the tent they lived in, alongside other women who were going to the same

thing. So there are definitely different perspectives on that whole thing, but back to the point.

Both the unclean person and the

polluted garment were unacceptable in God's sight. And thanks to Isaiah's prophecies, the Israelites

are starting to figure out that maybe their righteous deeds aren't so righteous after all.

Isaiah has been pointing out to them that even though they're bringing sacrifices to God,

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