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From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
Isaiah 34 prophesies about Yahweh’s assault on the nations and their armies. They will be slaughtered, their corpses will rot on the earth, adn the mountains will be drenched with their blood (vv. 1-3). Instead of sacrificial smoke with its pleasing aroma, the stench of corpses will “go up” (v. 3). Even the hosts of heaven will “rot” (v. 4), as the sky rolls up like a scroll.
Isaiah shifts the imagery from rotting corpses to a collapsing sky to the withering of a tree. The hosts that rot are compared to trees withering away – stars are like fruit hanging down from the leafy canopy of the heavens. The hosts of heaven will wither “as a leaf withers from the vine, or as withers from the fig tree (v. 4).
Which of course reminds us of Jesus withering fig trees. Given the context of Isaiah, Jesus’ withering of the tree is a sign of the Lord’s great slaughter of the nations’ armies, a sign that the host of heaven (the starry descendants of Abraham) will wither and rot like dried up grapes or figs, a sign that the Lord will bare His sword and make a great sacrificial slaughter (vv. 5-10). It is a sign that the city will be desolated, a haunt for pelicans and owls and hedgehogs (v. 11).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 7:07 am
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