Draw near

Isaiah (or Yahweh) issues an ironic invitation to “draw near” (57:3). It’s an invitation to liturgical approach ( qarab , regularly used in Exodus and Leviticus), immediately undercut by the identification of Israel as “sons of the diviner, seed of adulteress and whore.”

They draw near with mouth wide, tongue stretched out. That might refer to a mouth enlarged with boasting, but the import seems to be that they draw near in hunger, mouths wide to be stuffed full. They want delight, but “in whom do you delight yourselves?” Yahweh demands. Not Him, that’s for sure.

They are busy high and low, warming themselves beside the fire of their gods ( elim , plural of el ) under the green trees of the high places and slaughtering their children in the valleys ( nachal ), under the shadow of the rocks. In Hebrew, nachal doubles as “valley” and “river,” and is perhaps best translated “river-valley.” Israel has gone back to Egypt, slaughtering children by the rivers. Only now it is not done to them; they do it to themselves. They are Pharaoh and enslaved Hebrews rolled into one nation.

Verse 6 promises an inheritance, a portion ( cheleq ) decided by lot ( gowral ), just as the portions of the land were divided in the time of Joshua. It’s not easy to tell what the inheritance is – the slaughtered children? The rocks of the valleys? The gods? Whatever it is, it ain’t good. It won’t satisfy their hunger, no matter how close they draw near or how wide they open their mouths.