Isaiah: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
25:1 YHVH ELOHAI ATAH AROMIMCHA ODEH SHIMCHA KI ASIYTA PEL'E ETSOT ME RACHOK EMUNAH OMEN
יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי אַתָּה אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אוֹדֶה שִׁמְךָ כִּי עָשִׂיתָ פֶּלֶא עֵצוֹת מֵרָחֹק אֱמוּנָה אֹמֶן
KJ (King James translation): O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
BN (BibleNet translation): YHVH, you are my god. I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have performed extraordinary deeds from afar, deeds that can be counted on, relied upon, trusted.
Is this oracle or liturgy (I ask because the word AROMIMCHA recurs repeatedly through the liturgy)? Does it refer back to the previous chapter, or stand alone? If the former, it becomes exultation in destruction; this is where I find the glorification of the Prophets so bewildering: "Lord you have done wonderful things", including these…
EMUNAH and OMEN, both from the same root that gives AMEN.
AROMIMCHA: Translated as "exalted", but generally that is the word reserved for the Kaddish - Yitgadal. Yitgadal means "to enlarge", the root here, RAMAM, means "to make tall" or "to lift upward". So it seems that we can indeed go back the previous chapter, to verse 21 in particular, and then on to the chapter's end, and know that we have just witnessed the coup that established the Omnideity.
25:2 KI SAMTA ME IR LA GAL KIRYAH VETSURAH LE MAPELAH ARMON ZARIM ME IR LE OLAM LO YIVANEH
25:2 KI SAMTA ME IR LA GAL KIRYAH VETSURAH LE MAPELAH ARMON ZARIM ME IR LE OLAM LO YIVANEH
כִּי שַׂמְתָּ מֵעִיר לַגָּל קִרְיָה בְצוּרָה לְמַפֵּלָה אַרְמוֹן זָרִים מֵעִיר לְעוֹלָם לֹא יִבָּנֶה
KJ: For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
BN: For you have turned a city into a heap, made a fortified city collapse, and left its palace uninhabitable even to foreigners, because it shall never, ever be rebuilt.
GAL: There are many words that could be used for a "ruin", of which the most obvious is AI; but Y-Y, as we have seen repeatedly, always chooses his lexicon deliberately, and while GAL may well be "a heap of ruins" and Jeremiah 9:10 and 51:37, those are its only occurrences by that meaning in the Tanach, though it is sort of that at Joshua 7:26; "a cairn-grave" being assembled from any-old rocks in order to provide a mini and very pseudo tumulus for the late criminal.
But elsewhere it is none of these. A GAL is "a spring" or "a fountain" or even possibly "a weir" or "a waterfall", and once at least the waves on the ocean, in Psalms 42:8, 89:10, 107:25...); and this is also the source of Gilb'oa; and then a GALGAL, from what surely be a completely different root though it is written identically, GAL, for things circular, such as a wheel (Ezekiel 10:2 and 13), though perhaps water in a weir can be said to turn in circles, and the pattern of the waves... and then the two roots together providing the word GIL-GAL (Joshua 5:9, and note the pun there on GALOTI) for one of the most important shrines in the land... and then GULGOLET (2 Kings 9:35), which is usually Gulgolet-Yah, and which Christians mispronounce as Golgotha, "the place of the skull", that being precisely what you would expect to find in a cairn-grave.
So there are hints and allusions behind the choice of word, but the context tells us that "ruins" is indeed the intention here, though exactly how YHVH will achieve this "from afar" is not stated. Perhaps the other meaning that I have not yet mentioned, but which can be found at Psalm 77:19: a whirlwind.
25:3 AL KEN YECHABDUCHA AM AZ KIRYAT GOYIM ARIYTSIM YIYRA'UCHA
25:3 AL KEN YECHABDUCHA AM AZ KIRYAT GOYIM ARIYTSIM YIYRA'UCHA
עַל כֵּן יְכַבְּדוּךָ עַם עָז קִרְיַת גּוֹיִם עָרִיצִים יִירָאוּךָ
BN: For this a strong nation shall glorify you, but those cities ruled by tyrants will be terrified of you.
25:4 KI HAYIYTA MA'OZ LA DAL MA'OZ LA EVYON BATSAR LO MACHSEH MI ZEREM TSEL ME CHOREV KI RU'ACH ARIYTSIM KE ZEREM KIR
כִּי הָיִיתָ מָעוֹז לַדָּל מָעוֹז לָאֶבְיוֹן בַּצַּר לוֹ מַחְסֶה מִזֶּרֶם צֵל מֵחֹרֶב כִּי רוּחַ עָרִיצִים כְּזֶרֶם קִיר
KJ: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
BN: For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in their distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat; but the smashing of a whirlwind against the city walls of those tyrants.
CHOREV: Meaning "heat", but also the name of the mountain we think of in English as Horeb - and which, per my notes in Exodus, was almost certainly volcanic at the time of Mosheh, which would make it logical for the mountain to be named Chorev.
25:5 KE CHOREV BE TSAYON SHE'ON ZARIM TACHNIY'A CHOREV BE TSEL AV ZEMIR ARIYTSIM YA'ANEH
כְּחֹרֶב בְּצָיוֹן שְׁאוֹן זָרִים תַּכְנִיעַ חֹרֶב בְּצֵל עָב זְמִיר עָרִיצִים יַעֲנֶה
BN: Like heat in a dry place, you subdued the noise of strangers; like heat in the shadow of a cloud, the song of the tyants was given its answer. {P}
And in this verse the double-repetition of CHOREV makes clear how this was achieved, with or without physical whirlwinds: the whole point of the Y-Y "vision" from the very beginning of this book: create a table of values that works for all human beings, and then live by it. Precisely what Mosheh did, at Mount Chorev.
25:6 VE ASAH YHVH TSEVA'OT LE CHOL HA AMIM BA HAR HA ZEH MISHTEH SHEMANIM MISHTEH SHEMARIM SHEMANIM MEMUCHAYIM SHOMRIM MEZUKAKIM
וְעָשָׂה יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לְכָל הָעַמִּים בָּהָר הַזֶּה מִשְׁתֵּה שְׁמָנִים מִשְׁתֵּה שְׁמָרִים שְׁמָנִים מְמֻחָיִם שְׁמָרִים מְזֻקָּקִים
BN: And on this mountain will YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, make for all the nations a feast of savoury meats and cheeses, a feast of wines in the lees-stage, of still more savouries, but from the marrow, and wines not yet at the lees-stage.
A party, a grande bouffe indeed, but now or in the future - this is not the Vav Consecutive, it is the past tense, and yet he seems to be speaking of the future?And I thought YHVH was opposed to all this partying! (apparently it's okay on weddings, Beney Mitzvah, Purim and Simchat Torah).
25:7 U VILA BA HAR HA ZEH PENEY HA LOT HALOT AL KOL HA AMIM VE HA MASECHAH HA NESUCHAH AL KOL HA GOYIM
וּבִלַּע בָּהָר הַזֶּה פְּנֵי הַלּוֹט הַלּוֹט עַל כָּל הָעַמִּים וְהַמַּסֵּכָה הַנְּסוּכָה עַל כָּל הַגּוֹיִם
BN: And on this mountain he will obliterate those parts that are visible of the secret rites performed by all the people, and reveal the truth about the veil of lies that is spread over all the nations.
HALOT: Wait a moment. Didn't Av-Raham have a nephew who spelled his name exactly the same way? Or maybe it was his niece, al-Lat, and the pedagogues later on masculinised her. Rather than me writing it all out again here, go to my page on LOT, and Y-Y's allusion here should become obvious from about the 3rd paragraph.
But in brief: the superstitious fools believe in fantasy-tales, and have built entire cycles of rites and ceremonies around them. But they are all a load of rubbish, and the proof lies in the tale of Mosheh at Chevron, all the way from the serpent-rods to the Golden Calf. So, now, it is time to do away with them and follow YHVH.
MASECHAH: Exodus 34:33 has MASVEH (מסוה) for a "veil", which Mosheh puts on his face after he has finished revealing the law. But Exodus 26:36 is where we need to go for this "veil", which provides the entrance to the MISHKAN. Later, when the Temple is built in Yeru-Shala'im, it too will have a "veil" at its entrance, one that containes the "Word" of the deity, and is therefore known as the DEVIR.
25:8 BIL'A HA MAVET LA NETSACH U MACHAH ADONAI YHVH DIM'AH ME'AL KOL PANIM VE CHERPAT AMO YASIR ME'AL KOL HA ARETS KI YHVH DIBER
בִּלַּע הַמָּוֶת לָנֶצַח וּמָחָה אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה דִּמְעָה מֵעַל כָּל פָּנִים וְחֶרְפַּת עַמּוֹ יָסִיר מֵעַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ כִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר
BN: He will obliterate death for ever; and the Lord YHVH will wipe the tears away from every face; and he will take away the reproach of his people from all the Earth; for YHVH has spoken it. {P}
Once again echoing No'ach as a destruction-creation myth (though, for a man who has just accused all the other religions of running Ponzi schemes, this does feel somewhat hypocritical).
25:9 VE AMAR BA YOM HA HU HINEH ELOHEYNU ZEH KIVIYNU LO VE YOSHIY'ENU ZEH YHVH KIVIYNU LO NAGIYLAH VE NISMECHAH BIYSHU'ATO
וְאָמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא הִנֵּה אֱלֹהֵינוּ זֶה קִוִּינוּ לוֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ זֶה יְהוָה קִוִּינוּ לוֹ נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בִּישׁוּעָתוֹ
BN: And it shall be said on that day: "See, this is our god, for whom we waited, that he might save us. This is YHVH, for whom we waited. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."
ELOHEYNU: Still in the multiple plural, despite the evidence at the end of the previous chapter that the Night of the Long Knives had taken place and YHVH was in sole command.
BIYSHU'ATO: The reason why this man, whatever his birth-name may have been, has chosen YESHA-YAH for his official title. This is translated as "The Book of Isaiah", but should it not, more accurately, be translated as "The Book of Salvation"?
And note again that "salvation" comes directly from YHVH, not through any human or demi-human future Messiah.
25:10 KI TANU'ACH YAD YHVH BA HAR HA ZEH VE NADOSH MO-AV TACHTAV KE HIDUSH MATBEN VE MEY MADMENAH
25:10 KI TANU'ACH YAD YHVH BA HAR HA ZEH VE NADOSH MO-AV TACHTAV KE HIDUSH MATBEN VE MEY MADMENAH
כִּי תָנוּחַ יַד יְהוָה בָּהָר הַזֶּה וְנָדוֹשׁ מוֹאָב תַּחְתָּיו כְּהִדּוּשׁ מַתְבֵּן במי (בְּמוֹ) מַדְמֵנָה
BN: For the hand of YHVH will come to rest on this mountain, and Mo-Av shall be crushed beneath it, even as straw is crushed in the dunghill.
TANU'ACH: Several times in this chapter it has seemed to me that the tale of No'ach is being alluded to. He is called No'ach, just as Yesha-Yah is called Yesha-Yah, because his name is the key semiotic of the tale: in Noa'ch's case an explanation of how days happen, of how the sun manages to rise in the east and set in the west, with the breaking of the waters paralleling parturition, etc. So, too, now, the hand of YHVH, which is the means by which those Noachite events are possible. The only difference being that No'ach "came to rest" on Mount Ararat, where YHVH will do the same, initially on Mount Chorev, but the insinuation here is, eventually anyway, Yeru-Shala'im, and Mount Mor-Yah.
But which mountain in this verse, given that it states explicity Mo-Av? Nevo is the most likely - though Pisgah might also be intended: it was, after all, where Mosheh went to defeat death through immortality after he had finished his work at Chorev. See my notes on this at Deuteronomy 34:1.
HIDUSH: KJ has this as "trodden down", and others go for "trampled"; but this is the "hand" of YHVH, not his foot! And that matters very much in this context, because the image of treading down the straw should take us to the shrine, to the holy act of making John Barleycorn, and then the surplus straw that will be saved through the winter to make the new scarecrow on its cross for next year's planting, and then guy fauxed when the harvest is complete. Central "rites and ceremonies" (see verse 7) for the rites of the corn-god which belong to the epoch of propitiation, which is precisely what Y-Y most wants to overthrow through his "vision" of a world ruled by humans not gods. But here it is not that: the straw will be crushed, not trodden, destructively, not creatively, and in a dunghill, not a manger.
HIDUSH: KJ has this as "trodden down", and others go for "trampled"; but this is the "hand" of YHVH, not his foot! And that matters very much in this context, because the image of treading down the straw should take us to the shrine, to the holy act of making John Barleycorn, and then the surplus straw that will be saved through the winter to make the new scarecrow on its cross for next year's planting, and then guy fauxed when the harvest is complete. Central "rites and ceremonies" (see verse 7) for the rites of the corn-god which belong to the epoch of propitiation, which is precisely what Y-Y most wants to overthrow through his "vision" of a world ruled by humans not gods. But here it is not that: the straw will be crushed, not trodden, destructively, not creatively, and in a dunghill, not a manger.
Why does the Masoretic editor query VE MEY and prefer BEMO? Is it because the latter contains the name Mo-Av in its first syllable? Or the fact that MEY infers water, but he can see no logic to water in this image? Except that there very much is - in the next verse.
25:11 U PHERAS YADAV BE KIRBO KA ASHER YEPHARES HA SOCHEH LISHCHOT VE HISHPIL GA'AVATO IM AREBOT YADAV
וּפֵרַשׂ יָדָיו בְּקִרְבּוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר יְפָרֵשׂ הַשֹּׂחֶה לִשְׂחוֹת וְהִשְׁפִּיל גַּאֲוָתוֹ עִם אָרְבּוֹת יָדָיו
BN: And when he spreads out his hands in its midst, as one who is swimming spreads out his hands to swim, his pride shall be brought down, together with the artefacts made by his hands.
PHERAS: This may well be a reading-too-far, but I cannot ignore the interchange between Chaldean and Yehudit that is a constant in all the Bible texts, most notably the Tav (ת) ending in the various Chaldean languages, becoming the Sheen (ש) ending in the Yehudit. The most common example? TAMMUZ, retained in that spelling for the month of his summer solstice, but otherwise rendered as SHEMESH, or in the tribe of Dan as SHIMSHON (Samson). And why might that be significant here? Because Tammuz was the corn-god of the Euphrates, and his two central shrines in Yehudah were Beit Lechem Ephratah (Bethlehem) and Mount Mor-Yah (born on the threshing-floor at the winter solstice in the former, turned into a scarecrow at the spring rites in the latter).
YADAV: "Divine" hands versus human hands, and the human out of his natural element, trying to swim in waters governed by the whims of the "divine". No contest!
25:12 U MIVTSAR MISGAV CHOMOTEYCHA HESHACH HISHPIL HIGIY'A LA ARETS AD APHAR
וּמִבְצַר מִשְׂגַּב חוֹמֹתֶיךָ הֵשַׁח הִשְׁפִּיל הִגִּיעַ לָאָרֶץ עַד עָפָר
BN: And the fortified walls of your fortified fortress he will bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. {S}
MIVTSAR...MISGAV: Not much difference between the two in physical terms: the difference, perhaps, between a guard tower and a look-out point along the wall. The point is the extent of fortification, which will prove useless.
Again maybe coincidence, but one of the best-known and strongest of all the forts in Mo-Av was the one at BATSRAH; and that... but see the link.
Isaiah:
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56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
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