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[16] Thus says Yahweh,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
[17] who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
[18] Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
[19] I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
[20] The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
[21] the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.
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This is the Old Testament selection to be read aloud on the fifth Sunday in Lent, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. It will precede a singing of Psalm 126, where David wrote, “Restore our fortunes, Yahweh, like the watercourses of the Negev.” That will be followed by a reading from Philippians, where Paul wrote, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” All will accompany the Gospel selection from John, where is written of Jesus telling Judas Iscariot, when he complained about Mary Magdalene putting expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”’
In this song of Isaiah, it is worthwhile to know the whole of this chapter. The verses leading to these six verses are Yahweh speaking through Isaiah, explaining the truth of His people. That truth is hidden from plain view; but it says Yahweh is the creator of those who marry their souls to Him. In verse eleven, Isiah wrote, “I I Yahweh ; none besides me savior .” Then, in verse fifteen, Yahweh said through Isaiah, “I Yahweh your sacred one ; the creator of Israel your king . selah .” In verse fourteen, Yahweh said He would not let captivity in Babylon have any effect on His children, as they would rejoice. All of this leads to these verses as Yahweh saying (through Isaiah) His children are Yahweh elohim; and, they will continue on. These six verses are then dealing with that continuance.
I have applied the verse numbers in bold type, set within brackets. In verse sixteen, I have restored the proper name “Yahweh” in bold type, replacing the English translation that generalizes His name as “the Lord.” In Isaiah’s forty-third chapter he named “Yahweh” eight times. This use in verse sixteen is the last of those eight. In verse eleven, where is written, “’ā·nō·ḵî ’ā·nō·ḵî Yahweh” and verse fifteen where it is written, “’ā·nō·ḵî Yahweh,” the uses of “I” and “Yahweh" state the specificity of Yahweh as being greater than any “Lord,” as “Yahweh” is the one who is identified by one possessed by Him; so, one says "I I Yahweh,” because “I” no longer serves lesser lords. It says one’s self-ego has been hidden, lowered in submission to the new “I” that makes one a Son of Yahweh, in His name “Israel.”
When verse fifteen sets up verse sixteen, by singing “I Yahweh your sacred one ; the creator of Israel your king”, this says Isaiah is now identified as “Yahweh” speaking, where it is ridiculous to think Yahweh is “holy” or “sacred.” Only a soul in human flesh can become “holy” or “sacred,” which comes about by the presence of “Yahweh.” Thus, Isaiah is his “creator,” with Isaiah having been transformed into an “Israel,” the name that means “He Retains God.” In the use of “God,” from “el,” Isaiah retains Yahweh as one of His elohim (one “el”). Thus, it is Yahweh having become “the king” of Isaiah’s soul and flesh that leads to verse sixteen singing, “Thus says Yahweh.” Isaiah has become the voice of Yahweh and is speaking for Him, as His prophet.
In verse sixteen, where the translation says “who makes,” the root Hebrew word is “nathan,” which better says, “who gives.” When one sees it is Yahweh’s gift that is “in the sea a road,” this becomes a statement about the parting of the Red Sea. When “the sea” is understood as a dangerous place – an Babylon had proved to be a dangerous swell overtaking Judah – Isaiah now sings of “through the fierce waters a pathway.” This must be seen as explaining the parting of the dangerous sea as the protective envelopment of Yahweh’s children – those who can say, “I Yahweh” – which separates all the ordinary dangers of a sea of humanity and life in a dangerous world away from those who are possessed by Yahweh’s “sacred” Spirit.
Verse seventeen then becomes a clear reference to the threats made to the Israelites following the protective lead of Yahweh, as they crossed through the parted waters of the sea, drawing in the “chariot and horse army of power.” There is no power on earth that can defeat the sea, in the way that Yahweh can fully control all. This makes the Babylonians be the mirror image of the Egyptians. All who rise in power on earth “will together lie down.” They will cease to have the power to “rise up.” Their souls will be led by mortal flesh; and, once that flesh dies, then their souls will be “extinguished, like a wick” that has been clamped by wet fingers.
Verse eighteen then has Yahweh say through Isaiah, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.” [NRSV] While this can be read as a warning against looking backwards and not focusing on the things to come in the future, the opposite is still being said as a warning. The fall of Judah and Jerusalem, which led to captivity of human beings thought to be the descendants of Yahweh’s ‘chosen people,’ their collapse and failure came about because they did “not remember the former” lessons of their history. As they went forward in their path that rode onward, like horse-drawn chariots into the turbulent sea, they did “not consider their rise [eastern]” and what led to their safety and security. Thus, the collapse of their thoughts (to be all-powerful nation) became like the Egyptians in the middle of a sea, when they realized they had no power to control a great force of nature (the sea). This verse then sings of the ignorance given to Yahweh, which is not only a lack of knowledge possessed by Gentiles; as it also is a refusal to know Yahweh by those who think they possess Him … seeing Him as their “Lord” Goliath.
Verse nineteen then is shown to sing, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness” [NRSV], this shows the root cause of failure – self-will. The better view comes from a literal translation that begins with a personal review that says, “I behold! “ or “I look upon!” Here, the future is the promise of Yahweh, when “I will make a new now to spring forth.” That “new” is oneself having submitted to Yahweh as His wife and servant [His possession]. This then led Yahweh to say through Isaiah, “not shall you know it,” as the “new” will not be created by intellect or personal design. Without knowledge – a barren “wilderness” of intelligence – Yahweh “will make a mouth” [“midbar” means both “wilderness” and “mouth”], which will tell of “a manner in the waste that becomes rivers” of insight.
Verse twenty then seems to wander wildly, when shown to sing about “wild animals,” specifically “jackals and ostriches.” Here, the metaphor stands out as those to whom the “mouth” will bring a flood of emotion to. The literal translation of verse twenty has it singing, “will be relatives living on the land , the serpents and daughters of greed ; when I place in the mouth waters , streams in the waste , to cause to drink my people my chosen .” This begins as a statement of the future, which “will be burdensome” to those freed from captivity. That “weight” will be a return to find “relatives” dwelling in the lost lands, those who will have lost their religious focus. They will be the “serpents” [called “jackals”] that speak false wisdom, as the “daughters” of sin. They will join with those who lead others to become “daughters of greed” [called "ostriches"]. The returning Sons of Israel [Yahweh elohim] will have the “waters” of emotion for Yahweh to flow forth upon the “wilderness.” Those “rivers” or “streams” will fill the “waste” that had come over Judah and Jerusalem. Those souls who seek salvation will “drink” of those “waters” and become Yahweh’s “people.” Those who receive His Spirit will have chosen Him in marriage; and, He will have chosen them too.
Verse twenty-one then sings, “the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” [NRSV] The literal translation says, “people who I have fashioned for myself , my song of praise they will relate .” Here, this says “people” are “people,” but those “people who I have formed for myself” are those who are “my people my chosen” (from verse twenty). This is the formation or fashioning of a Yahweh elohim, which is a soul married to Yahweh’s Spirit. The use of “my” states those “people” are divinely possessed by Yahweh (as was Isaiah). To use the first person possessive – “myself” – the “self” is that of each of the “people,” who have become possessed by Yahweh. They each then proclaim “I Yahweh,” rather than “my ego is me.” Like Isaiah (and David, and all the other song writers of Yahweh), the “people” then all “praise Yahweh in song.” This is then the flow of “streams from the mouth in the wilderness” that defeat the serpents and ostriches. The use of “yə·sap·pê·rū” (from “shaphar”) says those who are the wives and servants of Yahweh will all be “related” by their souls singing the same tunes (Spiritual brothers).
As an Old Testament selection to be read aloud on the fifth Sunday in Lent, the period of testing is again focusing on the “wilderness” that is a predicting a return to a lost land. This is the way one should see one’s own soul being tested; as the life one left behind (before being tested) must be seen as where forgetting the lessons of servitude to Yahweh has led to a ruin. The past is oneself that had a life filled with jackals of false shepherds and ostriches that are the daughters who prostitute religion for profit. The world is not as complicated as “people” make it seem. All the complications are ironed away by a total commitment to Yahweh, by becoming His wife and servant. The test is whether or not one’s soul has married Yahweh and become protected in the dangerous sea of life by His Spirit, as His elohim.
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