“Yahweh God
Has sworn by himself.
Says Yahweh!
The God of hosts!
‘I abhor the pride
Of Jacob!
I hate his strongholds!
I will deliver up
The city
With all that is in it.’”
Yahweh was going to punish the city of Samaria. Yahweh had sworn to himself in this oracle of Yahweh, the God of heavenly hosts. Yahweh said that he abhorred the pride of Jacob, that is Israel. He also hated their fortresses. He was going to deliver up the city of Samaria with everything in it.
“As for your birth,
On the day
You were born
Your navel cord
Was not cut.
You were not washed
With water
To cleanse you.
You were not rubbed
With salt.
You were not wrapped
In clothes.
No eye pitied you.
No one did
Any of these things
For you
Out of compassion
For you.
But you were
Thrown out
In the open field.
You were abhorred
On the day
You were born.”
Apparently when Jerusalem was born, she did not have the usual amenities of child birth. The following things seemed to have happened at child birth at that time. Obviously, the navel cord, which would normally have been cut, was not done so. There was no washing of the child, nor the rubbing with salt as a protective element, nor being wrapped in clothing. No one pitied Jerusalem or had compassion for this city. She was simply thrown out into the open field to fend for herself. She was abhorred from the day of her birth. She had a difficult first day.
“Thus says Yahweh!
The Redeemer of Israel!
His Holy One!
He says to one deeply despised,
One abhorred by the nations,
The slave of rulers.
‘Kings shall see.
Kings shall stand up.
Princes shall prostrate themselves.
They will do this
Because of Yahweh.
He is faithful.
The Holy One of Israel
Has chosen you.’”
Second Isaiah continues to use a variety of names for Yahweh, the Lord, like the Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel. Yahweh was trying to reassure Israel that despite being deeply despised by other countries, abhorred by many nations, and the slaves of rulers, there would be a turnabout. Kings would see them and stand up for them. Princes would bow down before them. They are going to do this because Yahweh, the faithful holy one, has chosen them.
Shin
“Princes persecute me without cause.
But my heart stands in awe of your words.
I rejoice at your word,
Like one who finds great spoil.
I hate falsehood.
I abhor falsehood.
But I love your law.
Seven times a day,
I praise you
For your righteous ordinances.
Those who love your law have great peace.
Nothing can make them stumble.
I hope for your salvation.
Yahweh!
I fulfill your commandments.
My soul keeps your decrees.
I love them exceedingly.
I keep your precepts.
I keep your decrees.
All my ways are before you.”
Princes persecute the psalmist without cause, but his heart is in awe of Yahweh. He rejoiced at the word of Yahweh like one who had found great spoil after a victory. He loved the law. He hated and abhorred falsehood. He prayed 7 times a day, much like the later Christian choral prayers. He praised God for his righteous ordinances. He wanted peace for those who loved the law because nothing could make them stumble. He fulfilled the commandments of Yahweh. He kept his commandments, decrees, and precepts. Everything was laid out for Yahweh to see. So ends this section on the twenty-first consonant letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Shin.
“Then the anger of Yahweh was kindled against his people.
He abhorred his heritage.
He gave them into the hand of the nations.
Thus those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them.
They were brought into subjection under their power.
Many times he delivered them.
But they were rebellious in their purposes.
They were brought low through their iniquity.”
Yahweh was angry with his people. He abhorred his heritage. Thus he gave them over to other nations. They were ruled by people who hated them. They were oppressed by their enemies. They were subject to the power of other people. Yahweh had saved them a number of times. However, they were always rebelling against Yahweh. Then once again they would be brought low because of their iniquity and evil ways.
“When a false rumor arose that King Antiochus was dead, Jason took no fewer than a thousand men. He suddenly made an assault on the city. When the troops upon the wall had been forced back, at last the city was taken. Menelaus took refuge in the citadel. Jason kept relentlessly slaughtering his compatriots, not realizing that success at the cost of one’s kindred is the greatest misfortune. He imagined that he was setting up trophies of victory over enemies and not over compatriots. He did not, however, gain control of the government. In the end he got only disgrace from his conspiracy. He fled again into the country of the Ammonites. Finally he met a miserable end. He was accused before Aretas the ruler of the Arabs. He had to flee from city to city, pursued by everyone, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his compatriots. He was cast ashore in Egypt. There he who had driven many from their own country into exile died in exile. He embarked to go to the Lacedaemonians in hope of finding protection because of their kinship. He who had cast out many to lie unburied had no one to mourn for him. He had no funeral of any sort and no place in the tomb of his ancestors.”
Jason, the former high priest, thought that the Syrian King Antiochus IV had died. Since Jason was pro-Egypt, he wanted to take back Jerusalem for them. He attacked Jerusalem with 1,000 troops. He was initially successful as he forced the high priest Menelaus to flee to the Seleucid citadel in Jerusalem. However, like the late 18th century French revolutionaries, he started killing his fellow Israelites in Jerusalem. He thought that he was killing the enemy but it was his own Jewish compatriots. He was not successful. He was once again driven into the land of Ammonites, east of the Jordan River. However, the Arabs pursued him from country to country. He finally made his way to Egypt but he was not accepted there either. Finally, he died in Sparta where no one mourned for him since he had no funeral or ancestral tomb.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 