Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Isaiah 41:16

תִּזְרֵם וְרוּחַ תִּשָּׂאֵם וּסְעָרָה תָּפִיץ אוֹתָם וְאַתָּה תָּגִיל בַּיהוָה בִּקְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל תִּתְהַלָּל׃

16 You will winnow them, the wind will lift them up, and a storm will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the holy one of Israel.

תִּזְרֵם You will winnow them, זָרָע qal imperfect, 2 masculine singular with 3 m plural suffix. The singular "you" points both to Christ and by extension to any believer hearing this.

וְרוּחַ תִּשָּׂאֵם the wind will lift them up, תִּשָּׂאֵם qal imperfect 3fsg נָשָׂה "lift up." רוּחַ is not "spirit" here although it would be tempting to make an application here, but it is parallel to סְעָרָה.

וּסְעָרָה תָּפִיץ אוֹתָם and a storm will blow them away. A סְעָרָה is a tempest or fierce storm. This is the word used to describe the whirlwind from Elijah's translation to heaven, and the storm from which God spoke to Job (Job 38:1). תָּפִיץ "scatter" is a qal imperfect from פּוּץ. Rather than add a pronominal suffix for the object "them," Isaiah uses a simple pronoun (but note the Masoretic accent munah, connecting verb and object as a single unit thought).

וְאַתָּה תָּגִיל בַּיהוָה But you will rejoice in the LORD; תָּגִיל qal imperfect from גִּיל, "rejoice." This -בְּ is a -בְּ of respect, similar to the spherical idea of the dative in Greek, although they are not identical grammatical points. Our object of rejoicing is the faithful and gracious God who always keeps his promises. The Mp note tells us that not only does תָּגִיל just twice, but in the other place (Psalm 35:9) the whole phrase תָּגִיל בַּיהוָה occurs for the second and only other time.

קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל תִּתְהַלָּל you will glory in the holy one of Israel. תִּתְהַלָּל is a hithpael imperfect (2nd masc. sg) from הָלַל, "praise." The Mp note is not just about the hithpael imperfect, which occurs five times, but about the form in pause, which occurs twice, here and in Proverbs 31:30. The other three are in Psalm 34:3; 52:3 and Proverbs 27:1. God also fights his battles through us--and we will praise him.

In verses 11-16, we have seen God bring comfort in five ways:
(1) I will obliterate your enemies
(2) I am your God
(3) I am your redeemer
(4) I will equip you
(5) In me you will rejoice

This verse ends with a petuah (פ) paragraph mark.

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