There is a narrative quality to the Bible. We have to appreciate truth in the story, because stories express truth. We tend to dismiss things as just a story. Even with modern technology, the Internet. YouTube, and Facebook are full of stories. Scientific facts are not poetry and thus they have different rules. The story world helps us understand our real world. We would not have a real world without language and story. Non-literate societies emphasized oral story as very important. Even today, whether it is television or movies, we love a good story. In the 1997 movie “Titanic” the story was simple, the ship sunk. However, the love story of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet drew us in and made us feel the whole story. Historical novels are very popular as a means of understanding the past historical times.
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The curse on the earth (Isa 24:4-24:6)
“The earth dries up.
It withers.
The world languishes.
It withers.
The heavens languish
Together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
Under its inhabitants.
They have transgressed laws.
They have violated the statutes.
They have broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth.
Its inhabitants suffer
For their guilt.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled.
Few people are left.”
This oracle of Isaiah says that the earth and the heavens were drying up and withering away. The earth was polluted by its inhabitants. Does that sound familiar? They had transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the eternal covenant. The Mosaic laws and statutes only pertained to the Israelites. However, the eternal covenant came after the flood for all people. Thus everyone was guilty. Yahweh was going to curse all the earth and its inhabitants because of their guilty ways. A lot of people would be wiped out, but a few would be left, like the “Left Behind” series of books, movies, and video games by Tim LaHaye (1926-2016).
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 