Paul the Poke

Isaiah 5:15-17 So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, the eyes of the proud also will be abased. But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy. 

Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! 

V. 15 The context of the verse is all of humanity. It does not matter if you are an everyday Joe or a hot shot. The idea of the grammar in Hebrew is men are being brought to humility. The point is repeated a second time to make sure the idea is understood.

V. 16 God is set apart, separate, or holy. He has the moral clout to execute justice. He is a truthful, capable, and justified ruler.

V. 17 There is debate whether the language in this verse is figurative or literal. Hebrew Linguists indicate the text literally reads, “Young rams, and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat.” Will strangers really eat in places where the rich used to live? Will the rich have their places destroyed? The bottom line is this. Animals and people are eating in locations that are not their usual places to dine.

God takes pride seriously. Just ask King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The king was full of himself and thought he was the source of all of his success and power. Nebuchadnezzar had not finished his statement on his self-proclaimed greatness when Daniel 4:31-33 provides a reminder of who is in charge.

“While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’

 “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws…”

Some would say this is just a crazy story from the Bible. You may want to consider there are real psychological disorders where people think they are animals. Check out zoanthropy and lycanthropy. More specifically, boanthropy is a condition where individuals think they are cattle. The king’s diet was grass like cattle. The king was not accustomed to a diet of grass.

This episode did ultimately result in a change of attitude for King Nebuchadnezzar. He came to understand God was in charge (Daniel 4:34-37).

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.

This entry was posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:54 PM and is filed under Isaiah with tags boanthropy, Isaiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Pride, Proverbs, sovereignty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.