Wednesday, July 10, 2013

God's Judgment Dismantles His Creation

Though a bit of an overstatement, there are two words used to describe the earth prior to God's spoken acts of creation: "formless" (tohu) and "void" (bohu) in Gen 1:2. These two words appear several other places in the OT, but not often do they appear together (so far, I have found one place).

Isaiah 34 is a chapter describing God's judgment against the nations who opposed Him by opposing or oppressing Israel, His chosen people. In particular, God singles out Edom for judgment. The chapter is soaked with bloody imagery: