Are you ever satisfied?

December 11, 2017

The righteous live by their faith (Hab 2:4-2:5)

“Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right

In them.

But the righteous

Live by their faith.

Moreover,

Wealth is treacherous.

The arrogant

Do not endure.

They open

Their throats wide

As in Sheol.

Just like death,

They never have enough.

They gather all nations

For themselves.

They collect

All people

As their own.”

Yahweh warned that these proud people would have a hard time, because their spirit was not right.  The main theme of this simple response was that the righteous live by their faith.  This idea that the righteous live by faith was a strong part of the apostle Paul in his Christian belief.  On the other hand, wealth was treacherous for the greedy.  Thus, the arrogant ones would not endure, because they were more open to the shadowy afterlife of Sheol.  These greedy people never had enough.  Just like death itself, they were always looking for more people.  They had tried to gather all people and countries to themselves as their own, but they were never satisfied.

February 18, 2016

The leech (Prov 30:15-30:16)

“The leech has two daughters.

They cry.

‘Give!

Give!’

Three things are never satisfied.

Four never say.

‘Enough.’

They are Sheol,

The barren womb,

The earth ever thirsty for water,

And the fire.

They never say.

‘Enough.’”

Now we have the various proverbs with numbers in them. They are a lot like a riddle or a prophetic saying. These riddles may have had non-Israelite roots, like much of the wisdom literature. This first proverb is about 2 daughters of a blood sucking leech. There are 4 things that are never satisfied so that they never say enough, just like the leech. These 4 things are 1) Sheol, the shadowy underground afterlife, 2) the barren womb of a woman, 3) the earth that always takes more water, and finally, 4) a fire that is ever expanding. These things never say, ‘enough.’ They are never satisfied.