The Wall

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“What a dear old wall that is that runs along by the river there! I never pass it without feeling better for the sight of it. Such a mellow, bright, sweet old wall; what a charming picture it would make, with the lichen creeping here, and the moss growing there, a shy young vine peeping over the top at this spot, to see what is going on upon the busy river, and the sober old ivy clustering a little farther down! There are fifty shades and tints and hues in every ten yards of that old wall. . . . It looks so peaceful and so quiet, and it is such a dear old place to ramble round in the early morning before many people are about.” Jerome K. Jerome, “Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)” Ch. 6 (1889)

Does God Protect His Word (part 6)?

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Isaiah 40:7-8, "The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

There is no accident that "tsîyts" (or "tsits"), which is translated "flower," can also be used of "glistening," specifically, of a polished metal plate or plate metal. This could read, "the green lawn dries up and the glittering/glistening fails." Polished metal must be kept polished or else it will tarnish. In a figurative sense "nabel" (translated here as "fadeth") could mean "made wicked" or "be despised."

In an earlier post we saw how God speaks and breathes and creates and the everlasting quality of that which He brings into being. Now we see God's breath and God's word causing the wilting of men against his forever-standing word. Not even gold plates given by visionary angels to young men on grassy knolls or forests can keep their lustre against His unchanging, ever-protected word.

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