And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever [Isaiah 25:7].
Since I heard the initial reports of the hateful, evil attacks by Hamas on Israel this past weekend, I’ve felt as if a shroud or pall has been cast over us. As our Holy Text laments, “Death and Destruction lie open before the Lord—how much more do human hearts!” [Proverbs 15:11, NIV].
How can such irrational hatred of a people exist? Was 6 million murdered Jews during the Holocaust not enough for the anti-Semites? How can privileged students at several major American universities demonstrate in favor of a terrorist body that slaughtered more than a thousand souls in a single day? It is enough to make one weep. The power of death seems so pervasive.
Sunday evening, as is my habit, I turned to the readings appointed for this upcoming Sunday [the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. I was immediately drawn to the alternate OT reading, Isaiah 25:1-9. The reading is in the middle portion of what many OT experts refer to as “the Isaiah Apocalypse” (Isaiah 24-27). Its overall theme is YHWH’s unyielding power of transformation. The Isaiah language is so beautiful and powerful that it has been taken up by others. For example, the author of Revelation borrows from this passage. So does the Church in many of her creeds and confessions of faith. I read and re-read the text several times. What might YHWH be saying to us in the face of the ruthless, evil acts of Hamas?
Only vaguely recalling the context of Isaiah’s Apocalypse, I turned to my old, “dusty” Divinity School notes and was reminded that the original temporal context of this Isaiah passage was the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, during the reign of Josiah, in the late 7th century (B.C.). For more than one hundred years, Judah had been a vassal state to Assyria. It was allowed some small measure of autonomy, but only because it was able to pay significant amounts of tribute.
As this week’s scripture reading indicates, however, now Judah is free. But Judah isn’t free because Judah was able to cast off the Assyrian shroud that had covered it for so long. No, Judah is free because Assyria had been conquered by the Babylonians and the Medes. This, of course, does not surprise the prophets who, including Isaiah, know that YHWH is fully capable of using foreign armies and sovereigns to do His will. Here, YHWH has no doubt used Assyria’s enemies to provide some measure of good to the house of Judah.
The author of the Isaiah passage sees YHWH as no mere conquering hero, however. Rather, YHWH is a victorious king—a special heavenly king who has replaced earthly rulers. And in this role as the victorious monarch, YHWH has been moved to do what victorious monarchs do best—throw a banquet. This banquet theme unites this Isaiah passage with the Psalter reading assigned for this week—Psalm 23—as well as the assigned Gospel reading—Matthew 22:1-14.
Scripture is replete with other instances in which banquets are used to demonstrate (or claim to demonstrate) the power of the monarch [King Solomon (1 Kings 3:15; 8:62-66; 10:5); Ahasueras (Esther 1); Naval (1 Samuel 25:36); and Belshazzar (Daniel 5)]. Like many social gatherings in our own time, ancient feasting could be a mechanism for both inclusion and exclusion. It’s interesting that here, in the Isaiah text, the theme is radical inclusiveness. The banquet is prepared for “all peoples” [25:6].
There is tension within the Isaiah text, however. Given the current context in Israel, I’m not much in the mood for banquets. I’m hoping for something more. And so, while excellent wine and rich food are abundantly offered at YHWH’s banquet, it is important also to note that in spite of the sumptuousness of the gathering, a powerful and oppressive pall remains, nevertheless. The heavy pall is death itself.
It is here that Isaiah’s apocalyptic language becomes most clear. YHWH hasn’t come just to throw a party; YHWH is here to deal with Death itself. On “this mountain,” i.e., Mount Zion, the ancient outer boundary of all of Jerusalem, YHWH will destroy “the shroud that is cast over all peoples” [25:7]. Note the breadth of YHWH’s action. While the action will occur in Jerusalem, the shroud will be removed from all peoples, not just the Jewish nation.
Isaiah continues that YHWH isn’t here to throw parties or even to gently pull at the edges of the pall of death covering humanity, YHWH is here to “swallow up death forever” [25:8]. The image that Death is “swallowed up” through the actions of an all-powerful God is central to our Christian Faith and yet so many centuries have unwound themselves since the writing of the Isaiah Apocalypse that most of us now find that a different sort of shroud has been cast across our imaginations. Indeed, the richness of Isaiah’s text is shrouded since most of us are unfamiliar with Isaiah’s skillful use of ancient myth. Let’s see if I can unpack some of it.
Before and through the time of Isaiah, the Canaanites believed in a powerful god of death and the underworld: “Mot.” Parenthetically, one might think of (a) the Anglicized “mort” and/or (b) “mouth,” since Mot was said to have had an insatiable appetite. Through Mot’s gaping mouth, he was said to swallow up everything around him.
Yet, for the Canaanites and others who lived nearby at the time the Israelites “settled” there, after wandering around in the desert for 40 years, the mightiest of the gods was Baal. We might remember that after they arrived in Canaan, the Israelites sometimes worshipped Baal as well.
In any event, the stage is set. In the ancient myth, Canaan isn’t big enough for the both of them. Mot challenges Baal to a fight. I lose track of some of the finer details, but in essence, Mot gets hold of Baal and “shoves” Baal into Mot’s gaping mouth, “like a lamb.” Those interested in additional reading might try an Internet “search” for “Ugaritic Baal Myth.” One might also review a somewhat parallel reference found in Isaiah 5:14: “Therefore Sheol has widened its gullet and gaped open its mouth beyond measure ….”
Run with me for just a couple of minutes more and it should all fall into place. Can you see the absolute richness of Isiah’s point? The pall—or shroud—of Death has been cast upon all peoples and all nations [25:7]. Yet Death, known to swallow all things—even gods—is now swallowed up by YHWH! And so, after YHWH’s consequential actions, we need no longer fear death.
Note how this is echoed in the Book of Hebrews, wherein the author writes that through his death and resurrection, Jesus freed “those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death” [Hebrews 2:14-15]. Drawing on this Hebrews passage, early church patriarch, John Chrysostom (347 A.D. – 407 A.D.), preached:
“He [or she] who fears death is a slave and subjects himself [or herself] to everything in order to avoid dying…. [But] he [or she] who does not fear death is outside the tyranny of the devil” [Homily 4 on Hebrews].
He doesn’t know it (yet), but Blacknall Presbyterian’s Director of Music and Worship, Wen Reagan, did a real number on me last Sunday. As I sat in the sanctuary, my head swirling with sadness, confusion, dread, and frustration over the evil that was being perpetrated upon Israel, Wen and his fellow musicians led us in the Agnus Dei:
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Here it is Wednesday afternoon, three days later, and I’m still singing it silently. Presumptuously, may I say that Wen has had more than a little help from the Holy Spirit. You see, last night, as I was sketching out this meditation—and silently singing the Agnus Dei—I saw a vision of splendid and beautiful irony: that in the ancient myth, Mot—Death—swoops Baal up into his mouth and chews him “like a lamb.” And yet, in Christ, it is the Agnus Dei—the lamb of God—that swallows Death for all eternity.
In his beautiful “Pascha Homily,” St. John Chrysostom offers a powerful pronouncement:
Let no one fear death; for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted His flesh.
Hallelujah!
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