Gimel
“Yahweh rebukes
The sea.
He makes it dry.
He dries up
All the rivers.”
In this Hebrew letter, Gimel, Yahweh was able to rebuke the sea, since he controlled it. He was able to dry up the large seas and the smaller rivers.
dry up
The punishment for Samaria (Hos 13:15-13:16)
“Although he may flourish
Among the rushes of reed plants,
The east wind shall come,
A blast from Yahweh.
It will rise
From the wilderness.
His fountain
Shall dry up.
His spring
Shall be parched.
It shall strip
His treasury
Of every precious thing.
Samaria shall bear
Her guilt.
Because she has rebelled
Against her God.
They shall fall
By the sword.
Their little ones
Shall be dashed
In pieces.
Their pregnant women
Shall be ripped open.”
This is very strong criticism of Samaria, the capital city of the northern Israelite kingdom. It might flourish now, but the deadly east wind of Yahweh will come from the wilderness. Its fountains and springs will dry up and be parched. It will lose all the precious things of its treasury. Samaria will have to carry the guilt, because it rebelled against God. It will fall by the sword or die. Its little children will be broken into little pieces. Its pregnant women will have their pregnancies terminated by ripping open their wombs. This will be a bad time for Samaria.
The king of Babylon will attack Egypt (Ezek 30:10-30:12)
“Thus says Yahweh God!
‘I will put an end
To the hordes
Of Egypt,
By the hand
Of King Nebuchadnezzar
Of Babylon.
He,
With his people
With him,
The most terrible
Of the nations,
Shall be brought in
To destroy the land.
They shall draw
Their swords
Against Egypt.
They shall fill
The land with the slain.
I will dry up
the channels
Of the Nile.
I will sell
The land into the hand
Of evildoers.
I will bring desolation
Upon the land
With everything in it,
By the hand
Of foreigners.’
I,
Yahweh,
Have spoken.”
Yahweh, via Ezekiel, said that he was going to put an end to Egypt, through the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the most terrible of all the nations. This king was coming to destroy the land with drawn swords against the Egyptians so that he would fill the land with dead bodies. Yahweh was going to dry up the river channels of the Nile also. Then Yahweh was somehow going to sell the land to some evildoers, whoever they were. Yahweh, with the hand of foreigners, was going to bring desolation to the land of Egypt with everything in it. Yahweh had clearly spoken.
Drought and wild animals in Babylon (Jer 50:38-50:40)
“‘A drought
Against her waters!
Thus they may be dried up!
It is a land of images.
They go mad
Over idols.
Therefore,
Wild animals
Shall live
With hyenas
In Babylon.
Ostriches
Shall inhabit her.
She shall never again
Be inhabited
For all generations.
As when God overthrew
Sodom and
Gomorrah,
With their neighbors,
So no one
Shall live there.
No one
Shall settle there.’
Says Yahweh.”
Yahweh was clear. He was going to make Babylon an abandoned desert. The waters of the land would dry up and leave a drought. It is hard to believe that he meant the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. He wanted their images and idols destroyed. Thus wild animals, hyenas, and ostriches would live in Babylon. No humans would live or settle in Babylon. It would become like the ancient destroyed cites of Sodom and Gomorrah as in Genesis, chapter 19, a desolation.
Israel forgot Yahweh (Jer 18:13-18:17)
“Therefore thus says Yahweh.
‘Ask among the nations?
Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel has done
A very horrible thing.
Does the snow of Lebanon
Leave the crags of Sirion?
Do the mountain waters run dry?
Do the cold flowing streams stop?
But my people have forgotten me.
They burn incense to a delusion.
They have stumbled in their ways,
On the ancient roads.
They have gone into bypaths.
They have not gone on the highway.
They are making their land a horror.
This is a thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by it
Is horrified.
They shake their heads.
Like the east wind,
I will scatter them
Before the enemy.
I will show them my back.
I will not show them my face,
In the day of their calamity.’”
Yahweh wants to know why the Israelites have forgotten him. This virgin Israel has done a horrible thing. He asks whether the snow leaves the mountains of Lebanon at Mount Hermon. Sirion is another name for Mount Hermon. Do the mountain waters dry up? Do the cold streams disappear? Do these sources for the Jordan River stop? Of course not, yet Yahweh’s people have forgotten him. They have turned to offering incense to false delusionary idol gods. They were stumbling along. They have gone off the main highways into the side roads. Their land has become horrible. People shake their heads and hiss as they pass by. Thus Yahweh was going to be like a wind from the east and scatter them to their enemies. When the day of troubles would begin, he would show them his back and not his face.
The intervention of Yahweh (Isa 42:14-42:17)
“For a long time,
I have held my peace.
I have kept still.
I have restrained myself.
Now I will cry out
Like a woman in labor.
I will gasp.
I will pant.
I will lay waste mountains.
I will lay waste hills.
I will dry up all their herbage.
I will turn the rivers into islands.
I will dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind
By a road that they do not know.
I will lead the blind
In paths that they have not known.
I will guide them.
I will turn
The darkness before them into light.
I will turn
The rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do.
I will not forsake them.
They shall be turned back.
They shall be utterly put to shame.
All those who trust in craved images,
All those who say to cast images,
‘You are our gods.’”
Once again, we have the first person singular, as Yahweh speaks directly in Second Isaiah. Yahweh had been quiet, still, and restrained. Now, however, Yahweh was going to yell out with gasps and pants, like a woman in labor about to give birth. He was going to tear down the mountains and the hills, dry up vegetation and pools, as well as turn rivers into islands. He was going to lead the blind on unknown roads with unlevel ground. He would turn their darkness into light and level the rough ground. He was not going to give up on the blind, perhaps a reference to the Israelites being led blindly in the desert wilderness during the Exodus. However, he was going to shame those who relied on carved and cast images as their gods. This was a strong plea for monotheism among the Israelites.
Yahweh against all nations (Isa 34:1-34:4)
“Draw near!
O nations!
Hear!
O people!
Give heed!
Let the earth hear
With all that fills it!
Let the world hear
With all that comes from it!
Yahweh is enraged
Against all the nations.
He is furious
Against all their hoards.
He has doomed them.
He has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain shall be cast out.
The stench of their corpses shall rise.
The mountains shall flow with their blood.
All the host of heaven shall rot away.
The skies shall roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither
Like a leaf withering on a vine,
Like fruit withering on a fig tree.”
Once again Isaiah has this important call to listen. This time it is not merely to the people of Israel who should listen, but this is a more universal call to all the nations, all the people, the whole world, and the earth itself. Yahweh is mad at the whole world, everybody, all the countries. He has destined and doomed them for slaughter. There will be so many killed that the stench of their dead bodies will rise up, while the mountains will flow with blood. This is quite a gruesome scene. On top of that, all the hosts of heaven or the false gods will dry up and wither away like a leaf on a vine or a fruit on a tree.
Drying up of the Nile River (Isa 19:5-19:10)
“The waters of the Nile
Will be dried up.
The river
Will be parched.
It will be dry.
Its canals will become foul.
The branches of Egypt’s Nile
Will diminish.
They will dry up.
Reeds will rot away.
Rushes will rot away.
There will be bare places
By the Nile,
On the brink of the Nile.
All that is sown
By the Nile
Will dry up.
It will be driven away.
It will be no more.
The fishermen will mourn.
All who cast hooks
In the Nile
Will lament.
Those who spread nets
On the water
Will languish.
The workers in flax
Will be in despair.
The carders,
Those at the loom,
Will grow pale.
The weavers
Will be dismayed.
All who work for wages
Will be grieved.”
Next this oracle takes on a river, the Nile River. The waters will dry up with dire consequences to follow. The Nile River canals and branches will be foul smelling like dry wells. All the reeds, rushes, and plants along the river will dry up and rot away also. The fishermen will have a problem, since their hooks and nets will not catch anything. The flax and cotton looms will be useless. The weavers will be distraught. In fact, anyone who works for any kind of wages will be upset since the Nile River was so important for all kinds of commerce in Egypt.
The foolish children (Prov 17:21-17:28)
“The one who begets a fool gets trouble.
The parent of a fool has no joy.
A cheerful heart is a good medicine.
But a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
The wicked accept a concealed bribe.
They pervert the ways of justice.
The discerning person looks to wisdom.
But the eyes of a fool look to the ends of the earth.
Foolish children are
A grief to their father.
Foolish children are
Bitterness to her who bore them.
To impose a fine on the innocent
Is not right.
To flog the noble for their integrity
Is not right.
Whoever spares words is knowledgeable.
Whoever is cool in spirit has understanding.
Even fools who keep silent
Are considered wise.
When they closes their lips,
They are deemed intelligent.”
Foolish children are trouble. There is no joy in dealing with them. A cheerful heart is good medicine for you, while a downcast spirit will dry up your bones. The wicked judges, when they accept a concealed bribe, are perverting justice. A discerning person looks for wisdom, but fools try to go to the ends of the earth in search of something or other. Foolish children are a grief to their father and bitterness to their mother. You should not impose a fine on the innocent ones. You should not flog the noblemen for their integrity. If you do not speak too much you give the impression of being knowledgeable. If you appear cool, people assume you understand things. Thus even fools who keep silent are sometimes considered wise. Some people appear to be more intelligent when they never open their mouth or move their lips.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 