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    Bible - OT - Zephaniah: Plowed in love

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    “He will be quiet in His love,” Zephaniah appears to say about Yahweh and Israel (NASB).  Quiet?  He’s just been exalting and shouting.  Now He’s quiet?

    That’s a possible translation, but the verb translated as “be quiet” or “rest” also means “plow.”  Plowed in love?  In Judges 14:18, Samson uses the word as a sexual image; strictly, the woman is the “heifer” that Samson uses to plow.  But the image might also suggest that the woman is the ground that is being plowed before being planted.  In any case, this seems to fit the context of Zephaniah better than “be quiet.”  In the passion of His exaltation over His bride, Yahweh will plow her in love.

    Prophets also use the same verb to describe the upheavals Yahweh brings to Israel (Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12).  That too is plowing in love, breaking up the ground of Israel to make her fruitful.

    posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, December 7, 2009 at 5:28 am