“I,
Yahweh,
Do not change.
Therefore you,
O sons of Jacob!
Have not perished.”
Yahweh was clear. He was not changing. He was going to protect the sons of Jacob. Thus, they have not perished or died.
the sons of Jacob
The death of the worshipers of Gad and Meni (Isa 65:11-65:12)
“But you!
Who forsake Yahweh!
You forgot my holy mountain!
You set a table for Gad,
The god of Fortune.
You filled cups of mixed wine for Meni,
The god of Destiny.
I will destine you to the sword.
All of you shall bow down
To the slaughter.
Because,
When I called,
You did not answer.
When I spoke,
You did not listen.
But you did what was evil
In my eyes.
You chose
What I did not delight in.”
Yahweh comes out really strong against the worshippers of Gad and Meni. Gad was, of course, the name of one of the sons of Jacob. The territory of Gad was on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Gad was also the name of a Canaanite or Aramaic god of good fortune, like a lucky god. Meni, on the other hand, was the god of destiny, but very little is known about him. Obviously, Yahweh was not happy about the worship of these gods. Thus they were to be slaughtered by the sword, but there is no mention of when and where this would take place. Yahweh had called, but they did not answer. When he spoke. they did not listen. They did evil things that displeased Yahweh. The result was their pending death.
Egypt was more culpable than Sodom (Wis 19:13-19:17)
“The punishments did not come upon the sinners
Without prior signs
With the violence of thunder.
They justly suffered
Because of their wicked acts.
They practiced a more bitter hatred of strangers.
Others had refused to receive strangers
When they came to them.
But these made slaves of guests
Who were their benefactors.
Not only so,
While punishment of some sort
Will come upon the former
For having received strangers with hostility,
The latter,
Having first received them with festal celebrations,
Afterward afflicted them with terrible sufferings.
They had already shared the same rights.
They were stricken also with loss of sight.
Just as were those at the door of the righteous man.
When surrounded by yawning darkness,
Each tried to find the way through their own door.”
Who was worse, the Egyptians or the Sodomites from Genesis, chapters 18-19? Did the Egyptians deserve to be punished? The decision rested on how they treated strangers. Interesting enough, the argument is not about immorality but about hospitality. There is no explicit mention of Sodom or Egypt, but the implications are clear. These Egyptians were clearly warned with the various plagues. Instead of refusing strangers, the Egyptians had welcomed the Israelites, especially based on the stories about Joseph in Genesis, chapters 37-47. There his whole family, father and brothers, the sons of Jacob were welcomed into Egypt. However, as pointed out at the beginning of Exodus, chapters 1 and 5, they then enslaved them and tried to kill the Israelite male babies. Unlike the Sodomites they were not blind, but simply lived in darkness. This story about blindness is clearly from the Sodomite story in Genesis.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 