Scripture’s cosmic language
A talk show personality proclaimed over San Antonio’s airwaves, “He was caught with toast in his car.” What? What is so incriminating about possessing a slice of crunchy white or wheat bread?
Toast, as it turns out, is slang in some subcultures for a gun. Suddenly the meaning of those words convey an entirely different message.
So, how well do we understand scripture’s cosmic language about sunshine, darkness and earthquakes? Do we understand the author’s message or will we impose our definitions into their poetic imagery?
Consider how Isaiah described the king of Babylon’s conquests:
Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble? Is this the one who made the world like a wilderness, who ruined its cities …? (Isaiah 14:16-17).
Notice the Hebraic poetic parallelism! Shaking the earth conveys the same message as making nations tremble. Transforming the world(!) into a wilderness is a poetic metaphor for destroying cities! Don’t check with a seismologist for an earthquake or expect an apocalyptic desert outside!
Well, if a man can shake the earth and turn the world into a wilderness, how did the prophets describe God’s ability to render judgment destroying a nation or people? Ezekiel sang the blues to Pharaoh how God would use the king of Babylon to destroy Egypt::
When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken the stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over the land … when I bring about your destruction among the nations.” (Ezekiel 32:7-9).
Expect the prophets to dig into stark apocalyptic cosmic imagery when God goes on the war path! The lights go out in the heavens while the land or even the whole earth burns up or trembles, streams dry up, wild animals multiple and wilderness chaos overwhelms (Isaiah 5:24,25;9:19;13:1-3;14:23,26;15:1,6;19:1,5;34:8-11).
We easily understand Bill Withers’ lyrics, “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.” Yet, when a biblical prophet casts a similar vision of gloom people start checking to see how bright the sun is!
Conversely, how did the prophets artfully and poetically depict blessings and the establishment of a nation? As we might anticipate, the darkness becomes light as the sun shines much brighter (Isaiah 30:26;42:16). Good thing this is not literal! Furthermore, water quenches the thirsty desert exploding forth fertility as dangerous animals disappear or are tamed (Isaiah 35:7-9;41:19;44:4;51:3;55:13;65:25).
Before making too many dogmatic statements about the significance or in significance of some guy with toast in his car, we need to enter into the language and world of the speaker. To understand scripture’s usage of cosmic language, we ought to examine its earliest appearance in the text, interpret it within that context and then trace how subsequent authors used similar language within their contexts.
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