the caves

September 26, 2016

Against fertility cults (Isa 57:5-57:6)

“You burn with lust

Among the oak trees,

Under every green tree.

You slaughter your children

In the valleys

Under the clefts of the rocks.

Among the smooth stones of the valley

Is your portion.

They are your lot.

You have poured out a drink offering

To them.

You have brought a cereal offering

To them.

Shall I be appeased for these things?”

Third Isaiah strongly speaks out against the persistent fertility cults among the Israelites. They lusted among the green oak trees that were considered fertility oak trees. They killed their children among the valley gods under the caves in the rocks. They brought drink offerings and cereal offerings to the altar of these gods of the hills and the valleys. What was Yahweh to do with them? How would he be appeased?

July 5, 2016

Yahweh’s final judgment against idolatry (Isa 2:18-2:22)

“The idols shall utterly pass away.

Enter the caves of the rocks!

Enter the holes of the ground!

Flee from the terror of Yahweh!

Flee from the glory of his majesty!

He rises to terrify the earth.

On that day,

People will throw away

Their idols of silver

To the moles.

They will throw away

Their idols of gold

To the bats.

These were the idols

Made for themselves

To worship.

Enter the caves of the rocks!

Enter the holes of the ground!

Flee from the terror of Yahweh!

Flee from the glory of his majesty!

He rises to terrify the earth.

Turn away from mortals!

They only have breath

In their nostrils.

Of what account are they?”

Isaiah points out that the idols would without doubt pass away. Then he repeats what he said earlier about hiding behind rocks and in the ground. In fact, this same refrain is repeated 2 verses later. People will be throwing away their silver and gold idols that they themselves had made to the moles and the bats.  As they hide in the caves and underground, Yahweh will come to terrify the earth and proclaim his glory. People will run away from mortals, since they only have breath in their noses. They will be useless in this day of the Lord.

July 23, 2015

The present distress of Job (Job 30:1-30:8)

“But now they make sport of me.

Those who are younger than I,

Whose fathers I would have disdained

To have them set with the dogs of my flock.

What could I gain from the strength of their hands?

All their vigor is gone.

Through want and hard hunger

They gnaw the dry and desolate ground.

They pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,

They pick the roots of the broom to warm themselves.

They are driven out from society.

People shout after them as after a thief.

They must live in the gullies of the Wadi torrents.

They must live in the holes of the earth.

They must live in the holds of the rocks.

Among the bushes they bray.

Under the nettles they huddle together.

A senseless, a disreputable brood,

They have been whipped out of the land.”

The difference between then and now is evident. Job instead of being a distinguished member of the community he was now derided. Now even the outcasts of society ridiculed him. Young people, whose fathers Job would have had them sit with his dogs watching his flock, are now making fun of him. Job was no longer strong. He then colorfully described the indigent homeless society of people who were making fun of him. These were the people who gnaw at the dry ground and eat in the salt marshes near the Dead Sea. They warm themselves with the roots of brooms, a shrub that grows in regions of that area. People shout after them as if they were thieves. They live along the river banks, the holes in the ground and in the caves. They huddle together like a senseless disreputable brood of people that have been sent away from the land.