Four Faces

The Hebrew word mippeney is rarely translated with its root in mind ( pan , face). Instead of “from the face of,” it is translated simply as “from before.”

In Isaiah 21:15, it seems important to bring out the root meaning more deliberately. Isaiah envisions fugitives fleeing from swords, from dawn swords, from bent bows, from battle. Each “from” could be rendered “from the face of,” and that personalizes the scene dramatically. It also suggests a link between the “four faces” from which the fugitives flee and the four-faced cherubim that are Yahweh’s holy warriors.

The final threat is worthy of comment. Translated as “press of battle” in the NASB, the Hebrew resonates with the phrase “glory of battle” ( kobed milchamah is the actual phrase, but kabod , “glory,” is used in the very next verse and chimes with it). Kbd means “weight,” and that would fit the context. But it seems that the last threat to these fugitives is not any particular weapon but the glory of battle itself, the glory that men seek in battle, the glory-seeking that has always made peace a rare achievement.