Theology of Creation in Isaiah Part 2 – Isaiah 40.12-17
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him? 14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
After the first eleven verses of chapter forty introduce the themes of comfort, forgiveness, the word of promise and the ending of exile, this section is the first unit in a transition to a discussion of “the incomparability of Yahweh as creator and Lord of the world.” While the former verses centered on the joyous announcement of Yahweh’s faithful salvation and Israel’s liberation, verse twelve begins vehement argumentation. Here, Isaiah passionately sets forth reasons why those hearing should believe the exuberantly optimistic report, when by experience they know well the decades of desolation that have followed the fall of Jerusalem. He aims to persuade them that God has the power to bring to pass that which He has said. He calls them to consider the incomparability of Yahweh. His word can be trusted because there is none like him. He occupies a status that is unrivaled. This is seen in the repetition of the rhetorical question “who” in verses twelve and thirteen and four more times through verse twenty-six.
Immediately it is made clear what exactly constitutes the incomparability of Yahweh: his role as creator of all. Verse twelve contains five rhetorical questions which highlight the formation of the cosmos in the traditional order of creation: waters, sky, earth. [creation as separation] Verse thirteen continues by asking whether anyone has performed the same activities of limiting on Yahweh himself that he executed on the boundaries of water and sky with verse fourteen inquires as to who was Yahweh’s teacher.
The cumulative effect of this barrage of rhetorical questions is verses fifteen to seventeen. If he is the creator of all than superlative metaphorical expressions (drop from a bucket, layer of dust on a scale) do not suffice to explicate Yahweh’s superiority to every other created being, particularly with respect to power. He not only possesses a greater quantity of power than they but also maintains that power over them as the one who is the source of their very being. As creator, Yahweh’s power is so great, that the cumulative strength of the entirety of earth’s nations is accounted as nothing.
Related posts
« Theology of Creation in Isaiah Part 1
Theology of Creation in Isaiah Part 3 – Isaiah 40.21-24 »
