Dust on the Scales: A Masterclass from Isaiah
Today, a meditation on Isaiah 40,* continuing with our journey exploring Lists.
I wasn’t going to write something for today -I kind of ‘ran out’ of time this week. But this morning, in my devotions I came to this Scripture and couldn’t help NOT writing about it. Once again, the filling of God (the Word of Christ, Col 3:16) has no other outlet but art, song, and in my case -a newsletter and blog.
The context of Isaiah 40 is that chapters 38-39 are about the disaster that must fall of unfaithful Israel. But God keeps a remnant to be called “my people” to whom the Lord is “your God” (Is 40:1). And Isaiah is about to put hope and courage back into the heart of the Israelites -that despite disaster, they can hope in God, who keeps covenant.
We start with Is 40:11-12
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
How amazing that the writer uses human analogy to depict God: God as the Shepherd God. God humanises himself, to reveal himself to us (as he would do later, in Christ).
How moving it is to see God tending the flock, keeping the lambs together, carrying them in his arms, “close to his heart.”
But the analogy of Shepherd-God must be framed within the doctrine of God who is incomparable (v18, 25). It must be countered -God as both immanent and transcendent. This Good Shepherd (v11) is One who cups his hand to hold and measure all the earth’s waters -rivers, seas, oceans, glaciers, and aquifers (v12). The author then moves to unpack the doctrine of God the Creator -to assure the people of their security and the surety of the hope they have in him.
What means will the writer use to depict the greatness of God -His sovereignty and eminence?
Robert Alter says of this passage, “soaring poetry becomes the vehicle to convey God’s magisterial role over all creation.” (The Hebrew Bible, Alter). Isaiah can't help but turn from prose to poetry – the overflow of meditation on God is art – is song.
But which specific poetic device will Isaiah reach for in his arsenal at hand? Yes, the List! What better tool to use?! It is employed to allude to an ‘et cetera’ -that the list could go on and on -a way of looking from where we stand, out through the hallways of one analogy to the next, to the next -up through the passages of age to age.
See the humble power of the list in action: Isaiah 40:12-18
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
One of the powers of the list technique is in the choosing of items. The specificity can be used to great affect.
In verse 12, he uses the opposites of ‘waters’ and ‘earth,’ and within each of these categories are the contrasting aspects, ‘waters’ and ‘heavens,’ ‘dust of the earth’ and ‘mountains.’ The writer is a craftsman -specifics matter -and list helps us to get specific.
Ease of competence is shown in the word-choice of ‘the hollow of his hand,’ ‘the breadth of his hand,’ and ‘basket’ -showing “the yawning gap between the paltry instruments of human measurement in the vastness of creation” (Alter).
Verse 14 groups ‘enlighten’ and ‘understanding’ -under the umbrella of discernment, implying ‘seeing to the heart of a thing’ (Motyer, “Isaiah”).
Verse 15, unpacks the imagery of measuring instruments from verse 12, likening nations to a ‘drop in a bucket,’ and ‘dust on the scales’ -I.e. they have no weight at all!
The list of comparisons to nations before God (v. 15-17) builds and builds, accumulating with “they… less than nothing.” This is another way to use lists: use the choice of sequence to build, to culminate. Of course this does not mean the nations are nothing TO God, but that they are nothing BEFORE God.
See how beautifully Alec Motyer writes of God about these verses, once again showing the power of specificity in choosing the items on your list: “the master Craftsman (40:12), the self-sufficient Wisdom (40:13-14), the all-Sovereign (40:22-24) -Carpenter, Counsellor and King!” (Motyer, “Look To The Rock,” p. 65). (Motyer writes using another type of list: alliteration -a list of words starting with the sharp sound ‘k’).
The human author, Isaiah, selects the items in his list to reveal something in particular, and the Divine Author is guiding his thoughts, pointing forward to the Messiah who is to come (see Is 53…).
Now, all analogies must break down when used of God. This is shown in the passage of v11-26, ending with “To whom will you compare me?” Comparison/contrast is used by the writer -listing out, accumulating the comparisons and analogies -building and building -to eventually show that there is NOTHING that can compare. That is the power of the list. It is the tool we reach for when we know language will fail us.
Isaiah was writing to a people facing disaster, reaching for hope. That feels pertinent to today. Don't you think? Why don’t you have a go at the employment of the list in a song this week -helping people see our transcendent Creator, our faithful Shepherd?
*Note: My main source material, beside the Scripture itself, is one of my favourite theologians, Alec Motyer: “Look To The Rock” and his commentary on the book of Isaiah.