![]() Thus, in Zechariah’s vision of the construction of the second temple, one reads: “then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple his hands will also complete it. … the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel’” (Zechariah 4:8-10). However, despite their commonality, this rather literal usage of plumb line is a remarkably uncommon occurrence in the Hebrew texts. Rather, from the period of the 8th century prophets forward, the plumb line became a consistent image for the judgment of God. Just as a plumb line can be used to judge the relative verticality of a wall, so too does God judge the relative uprightness of a community. Thus, for example, when Manasseh succeeded Hezekiah as king of Judah, and turned from his father’s religious reforms to many idols-desecrating the temple and doing “what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 21:2), the prophets of the LORD receive a harsh word of judgment: “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down” (2 Kings 21:13).īut this metaphor is not unique to the historians who composed 2 Kings. Half a century earlier, and in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Amos employed the same imagery in a vision condemning Jeroboam II. “This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |