Isaiah 2:12-22 warns of a day when Yahweh will cast down the tall trees and high mountains, the proud men, and the idols. The passage ends with a warning not to esteem man who has breath in his nose. This last is often taken as a reference to the frailty and weakness of man, who should not be feared. The language is more specific.
“Man” is adam , and the references to breath and nose take us back to Genesis 2:7. The man that should not be esteemed (or, reckoned, considered, valued; the verb is the same as in Genesis 15:6) is not mankind in general but Adam, the first man. With the coming of the day, the Lord will wipe away the whole world of the first Adam, who received breath through His nose, and was of the earth, earthy. He will make a way for the last Adam.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist
It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…
The Possibility of Possibility
"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…
The False Promise of No Contact
Around the time nineteen-year-old Alice began cutting ties with her family, she announced on social media that…
