Isaiah 55:1 is an invitation to a food market, opened in the restored Zion. Like Lady Wisdom of Proverbs, she offers food and drink. The verse is chiastically organized:
A. come to waters and drink
B. without silver
C. come, buy
D. eat
C’. come, buy
B’. without silver or price
A’. wine and milk
Two observations: One, that food is the central offer. And, second, that the initial invitation to drink water gets transformed by the end of the verse into an offer of the wine of festivity and the milk of the promised land. Like her Lord, Zion offers water and wine, water turned to wine.
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.
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…