“But Yahweh
Hurled a great wind
Upon the sea.
Such a mighty storm
Came upon the sea,
That the ship
Threatened
To break up.”
After the ship had set out to sea, Yahweh hurled a great wind on the Mediterranean Sea, since Yahweh controlled the weather. The ship seemed to feel like it was threatening to break up into pieces.
“I will judge you
As a woman
Who commits adultery.
I will judge you
As one who sheds blood.
I will bring
Blood upon you
In wrath,
In jealousy.
I will deliver you
Into their hands.
They shall throw down
Your platform.
They shall break down
Your lofty places.
They shall strip you
Of your clothes.
They will take
Your beautiful objects.
They will leave you naked.
They will leave you bare.”
Yahweh was going to pass judgment on Jerusalem. He was going to treat Jerusalem like a woman who had committed adultery. He was going to judge her as one who had shed blood. Yahweh was going to bring his wrath and jealousy upon her. He was going to hand her over to her former lovers. They would throw down her platforms and break up her lofty places that were at the street corners and in the public squares. They would strip her of her clothes and take her beautiful jewels. Finally, they would leave her naked and bare.
“Yahweh will raise a signal for the nations.
He will assemble the outcasts of Israel.
He will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart.
The hostility of Judah shall be cut off.
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah.
Judah shall not be hostile towards Ephraim.
But they shall swoop down
On the backs of the Philistines
In the west.
Together they shall plunder
The people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand
Against Edom and Moab.
The Ammonites shall obey them.
Yahweh will utterly destroy
The tongue of the sea of Egypt.
He will wave his hand over the River,
With his scorching wind.
He will split it into seven channels.
Thus there will be a way to cross on foot.
There shall be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant that is left of his people,
As there was for Israel
When they came up
From the land of Egypt.”
Isaiah implies that there will be a glorious reunion of Judah and Ephraim, the south and north of Israel, since Yahweh, the Lord, will give a signal to all the nations. The dispersed Israelites were to return from the four corners of the earth. There would no longer be any jealousy or hostility between Judah and Ephraim, north and south. Instead, they would unite to fight against the Philistines in the west and the Edomites and Moabites on the eastern side of Israel. They would have control of the Ammonites, the traditional enemies of Israel, as outlined in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The reference to the tongue of the sea is to the Red Sea. Of course, the River is the Euphrates River. Yahweh was going to break up these seas so that people could walk through them. He wanted a highway from Assyria to the Promise Land so that all the exiles in Assyria could return, just like the Exodus march from Egypt took place. Obviously, we are talking about the time of the Exile in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE, and how it would end.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 