24 June 2007

Isaiah 46.1-4

Bel crouches, Nebo cowers;
their images have gone to beast and cow.
The things you carry are loaded as a burden on the weary.
They cower, they crouch together; they are unable to deliver the burden;
but they themselves go into captivity.
Listen to me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
those who have been carried from the womb,
those who have been borne from the belly,
until old age I am he,
until gray haired age I will bear.
I made, and I will carry;
I will bear, and I will deliver.

In this passage, the prophet Isaiah is describing the labor that people would have to endure to carry their gods (Bel and Nebo) with them when they are taken captive and deported. He then compares those gods to the God who bore them and carries them.

John Oswalt says it much better:

"In moments of catastrophe, the human and animal sufferers have to give time and energy to delivering the gods from harm's way. In contrast, it is God who has been carrying Israel from the beginning and will continue to do so until the end...His main point is that these beautiful images...are now a matter for oxcarts and donkeys."

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