the sand

November 22, 2017

Wailing for the countryside of Judah (Mic 1:8-1:9)

“I will lament!

I will wail!

I will go barefoot!

I will go naked!

I will make lamentations

Like the jackals!

I will mourn

Like the ostriches!

Her wound is incurable.

It has come to Judah.

It has reached

To the gate

Of my people,

To Jerusalem.”

Next Micah lamented and wailed about the countryside around Jerusalem.  Micah was going to go barefooted and naked in his lamentation, just like the jackals or the ostriches that put their head in the sand.  This was an incurable wound to Judah that had reached the gates of Jerusalem, the holy people.

July 18, 2016

The announcement of the ruin (Isa 10:22-10:23)

“Though your people Israel were

Like the sand of the sea,

Only a remnant of them

Will return.

Destruction is decreed,

overflowing with righteousness.

Yahweh,

God of hosts,

Will make a full end,

As decreed,

In all the earth.”

The answer is simple. Although Israel would have been as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return from the Exile. Yahweh has decreed destruction in his righteousness. The God of many armies will put an end here on earth. The ruin of Israel is coming. Perhaps it already had come by the time of this writing. In fact, the Israelites were never a large amount of people like the sands of the seas.