dragon

June 5, 2017

Lamentation over the Pharaoh of Egypt (Ezek 32:1-32:2)

“In the twelfth year,

In the twelfth month,

On the first day

Of the month,

The word of Yahweh

Came to me.

‘Son of man!

Raise a lamentation

Over Pharaoh,

King of Egypt!

Say to him!

‘You consider yourself

A lion

Among the nations.

But you are

Like a dragon

In the seas.

You trash about

In your streams.

You trouble the water

With your feet.

You foul

Your streams.’”

Once again there is another oracle of Yahweh to Ezekiel, the son of man, with a specific date, the 1st day of the 12th month of the 12th year of King Zedekiah, 585 BCE. Yahweh wanted Ezekiel to present a lamentation over the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. In fact, Ezekiel was to speak to him with these exact words that Yahweh was giving him. How he was going to do this is not clear. Although the king of Egypt considered himself a lion among nations, he was rather a sea monster dragon in the water, trashing around with his feet in small streams, polluting the water. In other words, the Pharaoh was not as important as he thought that he was.

June 2, 2017

The mythical tall cedar in Lebanon (Ezek 31:3-31:5)

“Consider a cedar

Of Lebanon!

It has fair branches.

It has forest shade.

It has great height.

Its top is

Among the clouds.

The waters nourished it.

The deep made it

Grow tall.

Its rivers flow

Around the place

It was planted,

Sending forth

Its streams

To all the trees

of the forest.

So it towered high

Above all the trees

Of the forest.

Its boughs grew large.

Its branches were long

From abundant water

In its shoots.”

Yahweh, via Ezekiel, compared Egypt to a tall cedar tree in Lebanon. This majestic tree had fair branches in a forest shade. It was extremely tall so that its top reached into the clouds. Ezekiel seems to be referring to an ancient Babylonian myth about the deep abyss or a dragon from the watery chaos that made trees grow tall. Thus they would enter the heaven of the gods in the clouds. The nourishing water from this deep abyss made this cedar tree grow tall. Streams from this water abyss flowed all around the place where this tree was planted. Even the other trees in the forest were able to grow because of this water. Nevertheless, this high cedar tree towered over all the other trees in the forest, because it had large long branches, due to the abundance of water in its shoots.

May 23, 2016

Evil wives (Sir 25:16-25:20)

“I would rather live with a lion.

I would rather live with a dragon

Than live with an evil wife.

A wife’s wickedness

Changes her appearance.

Her wickedness darkens her face

Like that of a bear.

Her husband sits

Among the neighbors.

He cannot help sighing bitterly.

Any iniquity is small

Compared to a wife’s iniquity.

May a sinner’s lot befall her!

A sandy ascent

For the feet of the aged,

Such is a garrulous wife

To a quiet husband.”

Sirach continues his diatribe against women, particularly evil wives. He would rather live with a lion or a dragon, rather than an evil wife. In fact, he insists that her appearance changes because of her wickedness since her face will become dark like that of a bear. That would be some sight. Her poor husband will have to sit and eat with his neighbors and sigh bitterly. The worse kind of iniquity or evil is that committed by your wife. She should be reckoned as a sinner. This evil wife talks too much for her quiet husband. Thus he is like an old man trying to climb up a sandy dune. Sirach wants you to have pity for this poor husband with the evil wife, as if it never happened the other way around. Or perhaps he had some personal experience that colored his attitude.