Isaiah 3 promises “comfort” for barren, bereft mother Zion. Comfort isn’t just soothing pain, but a change of condition. Yahweh brings comfort because He brings justice, establishing righteousness. The comfort is spelled out in a lovely list:
From her wilderness as Eden
From the Arabah as the garden of God
Joy and gladness will be found in her
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
A fourfold comfort, a comfort as extensive as the four-cornered land itself. But the last two items on the list are themselves a list of four: joy, gladness, thanksgiving, voice of melody. Joy and gladness spread out in song to the four corners: Eden restored is a soundscape.
Put all this together, and you get a six: Eden, garden, joy, gladness, thanks, voice of melody. It is a sixfold renewal of Eden, the creation of the sixth day.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
