Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Isaiah 42:17

נָסֹגוּ אָחוֹר יֵבֹשׁוּ בֹשֶׁת הַבֹּטְחִים בַּפָּסֶל הָאֹמְרִים לְמַסֵּכָה אַתֶּם אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃

17 They will be turned back; they will be utterly ashamed, who trust in an idol, who say to a molten image, "You are our gods."

נָסֹגוּ אָחוֹר יֵבֹשׁוּ בֹשֶׁת They will be turned back; they will be utterly ashamed, נָסֹגוּ is the nifal 3rd plural perfect of סוּג, which in the passive means to be driven back or be repulsed. אָחוֹר "back, behind" is often used as the object of סוּג as it is of נָפַל "fall." This is the same thought as in Jesus command, "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matt. 16:23). The combination יֵבֹשׁוּ בֹשֶׁת is an imperfect followed by a noun, not an imperfect followed by an infinitive as we might expect. The result is something like a superlative, "They will be ashamed of the shame," and here the noun בֹשֶׁת could stand for any idol, since בֹשֶׁת often pinch-hits for any shameful word like Baal or the names of any false gods (cf. Ish-bosheth, the seldom-sung King of Israel, 2 Samuel 2:10).

הַבֹּטְחִים בַּפָּסֶל who trust in an idol, הַבֹּטְחִים is a qal participle (plural) from בָּטַח, "trust," usually followed by an object with either -בְּ or אֶל, here -בְּ "in" an idol. פָּסֶל is in pause because of the atnach.

הָאֹמְרִים לְמַסֵּכָה אַתֶּם אֱלֹהֵינוּ who say to a molten image, "You are our gods." A מַסֵּכָה can be either a drink offering or a molten image; here the idol is obviously meant. This is the adjective that was used of the molten calf when the Exodus story was retold in Nehemiah 9:18 and Psalm 106:19 (cf. the Mp note). To hear the word from the shema (Deut. 6:4) used in idolatrous sense (אֱלֹהֵינוּ) should have sickened the Israelites. This is why the Satanic prayers of the black sabbath are so profane; they take the words of Scripture and bend them around an evil religion.

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