Isaiah 55:12
“For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Message: Personification, Hyperbole, and Metaphor
Time: Isaiah prophesied from 739–681 BC to a nation that had turned a deaf ear to the Lord. He wanted to see the nation of Judah return to serving God with humility and love for their neighbors. But he was called to pronounce judgments to on a people offering meaningless sacrifices in the Temple and committing injustices throughout the nation. It provides the most prophetic picture of Jesus in the entire Old Testament.
What the Lord is Saying:
As I spend this time talking about interpreting the Bible literally, I think about the language that is used in the Bible and the different types that are present. Yesterday, I looked an non-literary language or the idea that words sometimes have more than just their basic dictionary meeting and sometimes words mean something a little different from the literary definition. For some this can be confusing and cause people to think about texts in a different way. The Bible, if read incorrectly, can become different in its meaning.
The words of 2 Timothy 2:15 speak - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. This is my desire, to accurately handle the word of Truth -- God's word. As I do this, I can be confident in the work I do each day to further the gospel.
Three more literary devices are examined today.
Personification uses personal characteristics for impersonal things. Society calls nature, Mother - as in Mother Nature. People refer to their cars as "he" or "she." Here in Isaiah 55:12 it says that the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah uses these words to help communicate the great joy that will result when God's people return to Him. These words are also found in Psalm 98:8 - Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy. The deliverance of God's people yields a joy that is all over creation. It is all encompassing as it even effects objects that have no voices.
Hyperbole is the use of intentional exaggeration to make a point. This is not deception but again helping to provide a picture of what a person is feeling at a given time. I will often say that I am hungry enough to eat a horse. I am not saying that I am actually going to eat a horse, but if I did, a horse represents a lot of food and I am simply stressing my hunger. When Jesus gave the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32 he used this type of hyperbole. He talks about the mustard seed in a garden and when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. He calls it smaller than all of the other seeds. But it isn't the smallest seed. He is showing that the kingdom of God starts out small as to almost invisible but then grows into a large realm. The gospel starts with a small group of men and we have now seen it grow and multiply across our world. God can take things that are little and multiply them. He has done this with this blog for he has built a community of people that encourage one another as they read the Jesus Calling devotional each day.
Metaphor is used by writers to designate one thing in order to designate another. Jesus says in John 10:7 - Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Is Jesus literally a door? Is Jesus literally a light? No, but he uses these metaphors to help describe the entryway he is into our lives. Jesus often uses this door metaphor as described by John. In Revelation 3:20 he says, Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. This explains to us that as we open the door or the window of our hear or our lives to God, he comes in. He enters into our lives and takes up a sort of ownership in our life. And into the kingdom there is only one door or only one entryway.
Promise: We should call attention to the different uses of language in the Bible that is used to help us better understand what it is saying.
Praying: Lord, thank you again for the clarity of Your Word and the way you speak and encourage me through language. Lord, in some ways we speak in a funny way, but we speak in order to communicate in a effective manner and help people understand. Lord, remove the blinders on people who think that You must fit into a box and only communicate in one way. Help people to see the truth of your message. Lord, you are true and complete. I pray that this language would help draw people closer to You.
Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.
thank you!\
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