So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11, ESV
We may also be familiar with the old translation “my word…shall not return unto me void” (KJV).
The language of voidness or emptiness in relation to Yahweh’s word recalls the state of creation prior to divine fiat in which everything was tohu wabohu (without form and void/empty). With such a backdrop, Isaiah’s saying would evoke the present natural order as evidence of a future order that could no more be transgressed than the sun, moon, and stars withholding their light. The connection might be stretched thin linguistically, but is not out of place in terms of narrative, for not only does verse 10 reference the order of creation, but it is within one of the ancient near eastern creation accounts that we find a direct parallel to this saying.
As for thee, thy command shall not fall empty, whatsoever goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established.
Babylonian Creation Account, Enuma Elish, 1:138; 2:44; 3:48, 106
That which my mouth uttereth shall never fail or be brought to nought.
Babylonian Creation Account, Enuma Elish, 2:140; 3:64, 122
In these parallels to Isaiah 55:11, Marduk (representative of creative order) is being given the power and authority by the gods to confront Tiamat and her demonic hordes (representative of the formless and empty primeval waters). Marduk (creative order) defeats Tiamat (formless emptiness), resulting in the formation and habitation of all things.
Creation is a witness of the power of God’s word to not fall empty, but succeed in the thing for which it was sent. So, therefore, will Yahweh’s intended order prophesied in Isaiah 55 also be done.
(copyright-free translations of Enuma Elish by the British Museum)
Tonight was bikes only night for the Griffith Park Light Festival. I couldn’t believe how many people showed. It was so much fun to bike alongside so many other bikers and enjoy the music and lights. Even though the Los Angeles sprawl and interstate were blocks away, it felt like a different world. No traffic, no noise, the air was cool and crisp, and the night was dark. I must’ve biked the length of it a half dozen times. So there wasn’t anything there having to do with Christ…so the only mention of Yahweh was the generalized God bless America
…so the music was about bells and Santa and the lights featured elves and reindeer…it was good times.
There’s an incredible new exhibit at the Getty, now till March, featuring some of the rarest and oldest Byzantine icons and manuscripts direct from St. Catherine’s monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Getty’s Holy Image, Hallowed Ground page, brings you up close and personal with several flash interactive icons and audio. The web page alone is worth a visit. But if you’re around or going to be around the Los Angeles area, check out the exhibit.
Go to the website for more: http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/icons_sinai/index.html
Hopefully, I’ll be visiting the exhibit before Christmas. Look here in the future for a review of the experience.
In the first epistle of Clement
of which our single copy comes from Codex Alexandrinus, a passage which does not exist in known scripture is quoted–being referenced like unto other scripture (it is written). Some people believe–and there is reason for this belief–that this epistle may have been written by the Clement mentioned by Paul himself in Philippians 4:3. If true, that would make the authorship of this epistle very early in church history–early enough so that it would argue strongly against the passage being a concoction. The question then is…where did it come from? Is this simply a creative mixture of other portions of known scripture?
Far from us be that which is written, Wretched are they who are of a double mind, and of a doubting heart; who say, These things we have heard even in the times of our fathers; but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened unto us.
In 1967, archaeologists at the site of Tell Deir Alla uncovered two piles of crumpled plaster from around 800 BC on which were written portions of a book by Balaam–the same Balaam known until that time only in Numbers. Balaam was not, of course, a prophet of Israel. He appears in Numbers to be more of a prophet-for-hire. That he was a known and respected prophet in the ancient world–if only through legend–now seems confirmed through the combined witness of both biblical and extra-biblical evidence. A portion of the Aramaic text is translated below:
[THIS IS] THE BOOK OF [BA]LAAM, [SON OF BEO]R, A SEER OF THE GODS. And to that (man) came the gods at night. [And they spoke to] him according to the utterance of El. And they spoke to [Balaa]m, son of Beor, thus: … [...] And Balaam arose in the morning. [...] … [...] … And he was not [able to eat.] [And he fast]ed, while weeping grievously. And his people came to him. And the[y said] to Balaam, son of Beor: Why do you fast? [And wh]y do you weep? And he said to them: Sit down! I shall tell you what the Shadd[ayin are ...ing.] Now come, see, what the gods are about to do! The go[d]s gathered, while the Shadday deities met in assembly, and said to Sha[mash:] Thou mayest break the bolts of heaven, in thy clouds let there be gloominess and no brilliance…
The Book of Balaam, 1-22, from Weippert’s The Balaam Text from Deir Alla and the Study of the Old Testament
The truth is usually too convenient for people, so they like to play with it, twist it, and make things difficult. I rarely discuss the politically-motivated, pompous global warming scare simply because it’s so ridiculous. But since I found a nice article that lays the facts bare, thought I’d pass it on…
Scores of scientific papers show that the medieval warm period was real, global and up to 3C warmer than now. Then, there were no glaciers in the tropical Andes: today they’re there. There were Viking farms in Greenland: now they’re under permafrost. There was little ice at the North Pole: a Chinese naval squadron sailed right round the Arctic in 1421 and found none.
The Antarctic, which holds 90 per cent of the world’s ice and nearly all its 160,000 glaciers, has cooled and gained ice-mass in the past 30 years, reversing a 6,000-year melting trend. Data from 6,000 boreholes worldwide show global temperatures were higher in the Middle Ages than now. And the snows of Kilimanjaro are vanishing not because summit temperature is rising (it isn’t) but because post-colonial deforestation has dried the air. Al Gore please note.
In some places it was also warmer than now in the Bronze Age and in Roman times. It wasn’t CO2 that caused those warm periods. It was the sun.
Click the link for more, including a details of exactly how and where the facts have been altered.
In the ancient Jewish, historiographical theology romance Joseph and Aseneth, a man who identifies himself as Chief of the House of the Most High and commander of the whole host of the Most High (14:8, 15:12) comes to comfort Aseneth and fill her with new life after a prolonged, repentive mourning drains her of the old one. There are several fascinating things worth mentioning about this man.
First, his appearance (14:9, 16:13) is similar to the description of the glowing, burning, lightning clad figure sitting on the merkabah or chariot throne in Ezekiel 1.
Second, like the Logos, this man wields the power of verbal creation, which Aseneth realizes when she says you spoke and it [the honeycomb] came into being
(16:11).
Third, he calls to Aseneth in the same manner that the voice of Elohim called to Abraham and she answers in the same manner, here I am
(14:4-7).
Fourth, he has written her name in the Book of Life with his own finger (15:4) and bestows to her eternal life (16:15-16).
Fifth, like Yahweh throughout the Old Testament, the man metaphorically renames people. Instead of Aseneth, Joseph’s wife will be called City of Refuge (15:7).
Sixth, Aseneth continually refers to the man as Lord, the same title she uses to refer to Yahweh in her prayers and psalm. She then says of him after he departs, (What a) foolish and bold (woman) I (am), because I have spoken with frankness and said that a man came into my chamber from heaven; and did not know that (a) god came to me
(17:9). She quickly asks God for forgiveness for speaking boldly to the man, saying, I have spoken boldly before you
.
Eighth, Aseneth asks his name so that she could praise and glorify his name forever (15:12x). The man does not rebuke her for wanting to glorify and praise him forever as we might expect or demand–only for wanting to know his name, which he says is too great for man to know.
Despite all that, the man always speaks of himself as something other than God. He continually differentiates between himself and the Most High so it is certain that although this man is for all intents and purposes God, and is called as much, he is yet something other.
(Translation and chapter/verse headings from C. Burchard in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Vol 2.)
And it is fucking cool!
Like the Aleppo Codex page, the Great Isaiah Scroll page features a colored digitization of the entire beast in flash interactive. It allows you to manipulate the scroll manually by rolling or unrolling it to the colomn of your choice. Zoom in and examine individual passages in close-up with a handy spyglass pane.
Tickets go on sale today for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition! If you’re within driving distance of San Diego, purchase a ticket in advance and secure a place at this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. Don’t miss the opportunity to literally stand in front of part of the greatest archeaological discovery of the 2oth Century. The showing will include the oldest Ten Commandments in existence!
Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people.
Deut 32:43, ASV
Be glad, O skies, with him, and let all the sons of God worship him. Be glad, O nations, with his people, and let all the angels of God prevail for him. For he will avenge the blood of his sons, and take revenge, and repay the enemies with a sentence; and he will repay those who hate, and the Lord shall cleanse the land of his people.
Deut 32:43, New English Translation of the Septuagint
Rejoice, O heavens, together with him; and bow down to him all you gods, for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and will render vengeance to his enemies, and will recompense those who hate him, and will atone for the land of his people.
Deut 32:43, 4QDeut(q), DSS
Against the Masoretic Text in most of our bibles, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint preserve a rendering of Deuteronomy which, interestingly enough, is alluded to in the epistle of Hebrews:
And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Hebrews 1:6, ASV
The LXX obviously rendered elohim
from the Hebrew as angelos
or angels, which may also be what happened with the Vorlage of Hebrews (if we postulate a Semitic autograph).
This incongruity between the ancient witnesses of Deuteronomy in the LXX, DSS, and Hebrews and the Masoretic texts of our Bible suggests to me that the accepted form of Deuteronomy is corrupt and errant. But the more I research, the more I realize that there may have never been a final form–never a Deuteronomy apart from the compositions that were being continually edited and altered in various ways from the beginning until today. It may be that the autograph is only accessable through ingenuity and guesswork. But regardless of the history of textual transmission, this variant is a fascinating one that I would gladly pen back into my bible if the margins were big enough.
