In nearly every passage of Scripture that mentions “chaff driven away,” it’s the wind that does the driving (Job 21:18; Psalm 1:4; 35:5; 83:3; Isaiah 17:13; Daniel 2:35). Yahweh’s Spirit is a wind storm taht drives the wicked away like withered chaff.
Isaiah 41:2 is the exception: There it’s not the wind that drives away but the bow of righteousness: Someone (“Who?”) wakes up righteousness from his slumber at daybreak (“from the east”), and Righteousness comes with a pulverizing sword to turn the nations and kings to dust and with a bow that blows away the chaff. This chaff is “driven” away ( nadaph ; the verb is also used in Leviticus 26:36; Job 13:25; 32:13; Psalm 1:4; 68:2; Proverbs 21:6), not by Yahweh’s breath but by the bow.
That suggests that the bow of Righteousness in Isaiah 41 conjures the image of Yahweh’s storm. As in Psalm 18 and elsewhere, Righteousness rides on the wind, shooting lightning arrows at the wicked.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
