January 2, 2009

• The Book of Isaiah Chapter 1 V.8 Part 1

  The Book of Isaiah

  Chapter 1 V.8 Part 1

   

  Isa 1:8  And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

   

  This is interesting. The word daughter has the following connotations:

   

  1) daughter

  a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin

  1) as polite address

  2) as designation of women of a particular place

  3) as personification

  4) daughter-villages

  5) description of character

  2) young women, women

   

  And then look at the meaning of Zion.

  Zion = “parched place”

  1)  another name for Jerusalem especially in the prophetic books

   

  Now, I already knew this was another name for Jerusalem, which means “vision of peace.”

   

  What has caught my attention here, is the seemingly obvious contrasts in meaning. Looking beyond the standard meaning of daughter to some of the more detailed definitions here, we find a designation in the reference to “women” of a particular place, as a personification and description of character.

   

  That’s pretty deep because when you connect it with Zion; you see an entirely different thing than a “vision of peace.” Daughter of a “parched place?” How could this same “daughter” be a “vision of peace?”

   

  I see this as synonymous with us as people. I think this speaks of how God sees us, versus where we actually are at or how we see ourselves. God sees Israel as a “vision of peace,” but, how is Israel walking? They are walking like a “daughter of a “parched place,” which says to me that they are lacking the water of the word. They aren’t feeding enough on God and His word…nor on His spirit, but they are catering to their own.

   

  And I could be wrong, but it seems to me, per my recollection, that we only see the words “daughter of Zion” when the prophets are lamenting their spiritual condition, and are foretelling the hardship they will go through as a result of turning away from God.

   

  Zion: monument; raised up; sepulcher (from Hitchcock’s)

   

  Then again, Hitchcock’s gives it the definition above. Looking at it from this perspective I had to look up sepulcher just to ensure that I really understood the meaning. I don’t like analyzing off of a word in which I only have an idea of the meaning.

   

  Sepulcher, according to the dictionary is a burial vault, or a receptacle for sacred relics. In other words, it’s a house of the dead. Wow. That kicks this up even more. I had no idea that is what Zion means.

   

  Between the two meanings I found, I’m stunned. I’m just thinking of all those “Sing oh daughter of Zion” songs. They are coming back to me with a slightly different spin.

   

  So in other words, the daughter of Zion is a character analogy of a parched (and withered) monument to dead relics. Whoa. No wonder the prophets used this term so frequently in lamenting the condition of Israel.

  • 5:05 pm
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