Tag Archives: Metaphor

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 23

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Truth offends. For the next seventy years, a king's lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:

   "Take a harp, circle the city,
   unremembered whore.
Sing your old songs, your many old songs.
   Maybe someone will remember." Isaiah 23:15-16 (MSG)

Last night was opening night of the local community theatre show. It was really well received by the audience. Nevertheless, there was one patron who made a comment about being offended by something in the show. No surprise. I've served as the president of the board of directors for our local stage troupe for the past few years. In that capacity, I get to answer the letters and e-mails of offended audience members. There's always a few of them. Interestingly enough, every complaint has come from a good, upstanding religious person.

When I read passages like today's from Isaiah, I wonder how straight-laced religious people with their undies in a bunch make it through God's Message without being offended. Do they take out their exacto knives and cut out the offensive passages or just ignore them? What do they do with Isaiah? He pulls no punches. The old prophet walked naked in public to make a point. He used worn-out whores and used menstrual rags as metaphors.

So much for propriety.

One of the things I've always loved about God's Message is the way it presents Truth in all sorts of powerful ways. When you read it for yourself, you find that God doesn't play it safe. He doesn't pander to anyone. Sinner and saint alike will find it inspiring, convicting, and regularly hard to swallow. Truth, communicated through intense metaphors, will offend all sorts of good religious people. It's akin to what I've come to learn and love about art, literature, music, and theatre:

If you communicate what's true, you're always going to offend somebody.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and libbyrosof

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 20

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Shocked! God told Isaiah son of Amoz, "Go, take off your clothes and sandals," and Isaiah did it, going about naked and barefooted. Isaiah 20:2 (MSG)

Picture it yourself. Isaiah, the man of God, naked and barefoot walking through the streets of Jerusalem. People's eyes growing wide as they came upon him. Women screaming and quickly looking the other way so they don't have to look at his pasty white butt. People quickly crossing the street to avoid him. Men standing outside the local pub jeering at him. Good church-going religious people screaming insults and picking up stones to throw at him to punish his despicable act of public indecency.

Scandalous.
Preposterous.
Shameful.

"Quick! Hide the children's eyes!"

Imagine the talk at the dinner table that night.

"Who does he think he is? He calls himself a prophet? A man of God would never do that! God wouldn't ask someone to do something like that!"

"He's crazy, I tell you. Completely insane. I've always said that Isaiah was a few bricks shy of a full load."

"I'm telling you right now, we're going to the temple tomorrow and having a talk with the high priest. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. Either that crack-pot, Isaiah, gets thrown out of the temple for good or I'm not going to give one more shekel to the Temple renovation project!"

Yes, God told him to do it. God is a God of metaphor and the prophets were his mouthpiece. The people refused to heed God's words, so God told Isaiah to give the good religious people of Jerusalem a word picture they could not ignore.

The more I study God's Message the more I conclude that God is not as concerned about social propriety as many of the people who claim to be His most faithful followers. God is much more concerned with our sincere and active love - our honest and humble obedience than he is about our propriety and public image.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and dieselbug2007

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 7

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Names. Then God told Isaiah, "Go and meet Ahaz. Take your son Shear-jashub (A-Remnant-Will-Return) with you." Isaiah 7:3 (MSG)

Names have meaning. There can be historical meaning in a name (Just ask any "Doubting Thomas"). There can be linguistic meaning in a name (Thomas is derived from an ancient word meaning "twin," which was always a head-scratcher for me because I'm not a twin, but my brothers are). Names have literary meanings (Little Tommy Tucker, for example). Names give way to nick names (Tommy, T, TV, Tompt, and Tommer Toes are a few I've had through the years).

Our names are metaphors. Something which represents something else without using "like" or "as." The word "Tom" represents me. It's not "like" me. "Tom" is me. For better or worse, names become intensely personal metaphors to which all sorts of meaning can and will be attached in many different layers.

I find it fascinating that Isaiah chose to name his son Shear-jashub which means "A Remnant-Will-Return". The name of Isaiah's son was part of his prophecy. Isaiah's life-long message is of judgement and redemption, of doom and hope. He tells of Jerusalem's imminent fall and devastation, but also of God's eventual redemption and salvation. Today's chapter is a microcosm of his message. Doom is coming (in the form of Assyria's seige of Jerusalem) but also salvation (a virgin-born Messiah).

Part of Isaiah's message is that after the people are taken into captivity, eventually a remnant would return to Jerusalem (the prophecy was fulfilled and the story told in the book of Nehemiah). So, Isaiah names his son Shear-jashub and his son becomes, metaphorically, a part of Isaiah's message. Shear-jashub represented the future, and his name represented God's prophetic message. Isaiah's child became a living, breathing, walking representation of his life-long sermon.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and pio1976

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Daniel 7

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A child with a road map. "And there it ended. I, Daniel, was in shock. I was like a man who had seen a ghost. But I kept it all to myself." Daniel 7:28 (MSG)

Children see and perceive things through the limited lens of their knowledge and experience. There are certain things that they simply cannot grasp or understand. At the same time, children possess a simple, abundant faith that tends to fade with time in direct proportion to the increase of knowledge and experience.

"Get your coat on. Get in the car. I'm taking you somewhere special," I said to my daughters when they were small. They did not know the destination, how to drive the car, nor which streets to take. They simply trusted me to get them to that special place. When we arrived at the amusement park, toy store, or donut shop they finally understood where I was taking them.

I have studied the prophetic writings of scripture numerous times. I have read books, listened to lectures, engaged in debates and meditated on the passages in an effort to wrap my mind around the images and their metaphorical meanings.

In the end, I find myself standing before the prophetic writings like a two-year-old holding a road map. For the life of me I can't completely grasp or understand their message. I kind of get it, but a clear understanding constantly eludes me. Nevertheless, I do have simple faith in my Heavenly Father who has said to me, "Pick up your cross and follow me. I'm taking you someplace special."

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Judges 5

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Music is metaphor. "That day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:" Judges 5:1 (MSG)

Metaphor (n.) – something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else.

God is a God of metaphor. The Creator expresses Himself in His creation. Made in the image of the Creator, we express ourselves in creative ways, like song. Music becomes a significant metaphor. It not only expresses the thoughts, feelings and emotions of the song writer, but we attach meaning to it. Song becomes a metaphor for a specific time, place, person, or event in our lives.

What songs take you back to a specific place or time? Here's a few of mine:

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters takes me back to the "way back" of my family's wood paneled station wagon as we drove down I29 south of Sioux City on a return trip from my grandparents house.

Reunited by Peaches & Herb represents making out with my girlfriend at an 8th grade party the night the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviet Union on the way to their miracle on ice.

We are the World is my freshman year at Judson College, VHS movies, and Genesis Players spring tour.

The list could go on and on. There is a reason Deborah and Barak created a song to mark Sisera's fall. It helped the nation remember a significant event. It reminded the people of God's provision, the nation's faith, and their victory. The lyrics of that song are still reminding us of the event 3,000 years later.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and epiclectic

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 40

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Whenever the Cloud lifted from The Dwelling, the People of Israel set out on their travels, but if the Cloud did not lift, they wouldn't set out until it did lift. The Cloud of God was over The Dwelling during the day and the fire was in it at night, visible to all the Israelites in all their travels. Exodus 40:36-38 (MSG)

God is a god of metaphor. He expresses Himself in what He makes. He gives us word pictures that speak of deep, spiritual truths through every day objects. Bread and wine are  Christ's body and blood. The water of baptism is Jesus, the "Water of Life," who washes our sins away. The cloud and the fire in Exodus are metaphors God's presence. They were a constant reminder to the Israelites that God was with them.

Metaphorical reminders are a good thing. They keep us mindful of important truths.

This past Saturday, as we celebrated my daughter's wedding,  I wore a ring on my right hand. It was my grandfather's ring. I don't wear it a lot. I pull it out on special family occasions because it helps me to be mindful and grateful of those generations who have gone before us and made these celebrations possible. There is nothing magical about it. It's just a tangible reminder of loved ones who cleared the path for us.

The Israelites, wandering in the Sinai desert, needed tangible, visible reminder of His presence. I don't think we're any different in our own wanderings. We all need tangible reminders of God's truths as we make our own journeys through this life.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 13

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Hands clasped in prayer. "Redeem every firstborn child among your sons. When the time comes and your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you tell him, 'God brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. Exodus 13:13 (MSG)

When I was a child, our family had a few rituals. At dinner, we held hands and my father prayed for the meal. We, as children, then said a Dutch prayer our grandparents taught us. As I grew, I began to understand the depth of the simple, daily act. Holding hands not only served to keep young children from grabbing at the food, but created a unified circle of family holding each other hands. Touching. Clasping. The individual was part of a whole that was greater than himself/herself. Our father praying silently established his spiritual leadership and his prayer was a humble reminder that even dad recognized he was under a higher authority. The Dutch prayer spoke of history, of family, of the reality that our daily journey is part of a larger story.

God is a God of metaphor. The Passover meal represented the story of deliverance from Egypt. The Passover meal became Communion which represents the sacrifice of Jesus. Baptism metaphorically speaks of a person being buried in the likeness of Jesus' death, raised in the likeness of Jesus' resurrection, our sins washed away. Ritual, on a grand scale and on a daily basis, teaches us Truth with a depth of meaning that mere lecture or conversation can't reach.

I sit today and think about our daughters. One is getting married in a few weeks. The other is going to be graduating from high school in a few months. Have I instilled metaphors and simple ritual that will still resonate in their hearts when they have children of their own?

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and soldiers media center

Facebook readers: Spacing and formatting issues result in the auto import from the original blog post. My apologies to all English teacher types.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 12

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The Passover meal. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, God will pass over the doorway; he won't let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin. Exodus 12:23 (MSG)

Many years ago some friends came over and prepared a Passover meal to celebrate with my family. To this day, I remember how blown away I was as we went through the ritual of the meal. There were so many parts of the story and the meal that, metaphorically, point directly to Jesus, who would arrive centuries later.

I love the way God's message fits together. As I read about the blood of the lamb covering the doorposts of the Israelites and Death "passing over" those who were covered by the blood of the sacrificed lamb, I can't help but think of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb whose blood covers us and swallows up Death through the power of His resurrection.

I've known many people who avoid reading the Old Testament because it's not always easy to connect the history to our lives today, But, without the story of the Passover, it's hard to fully appreciate the depth of who Jesus was, nor the way God's plan is woven through history.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and rmommaerts