ונותרה בת–ציון כסכה בכרם כמלונה במקשה בעיר נצורה
And the daughter of Zion is left as a sukkah in a vineyard, a guard house in a cucumber patch: the city of Nazareth.
Isaiah 1:8.
Contextual exegesis of the verse (some of it still forthcoming) implies that the Hebrew word בת translated "daughter," should instead be translated "branch." Though the consonants בת usually refer to a "daughter," nevertheless the lexicons all note that it is in fact read, in the plural (נוות), in Genesis 49:22, as "branches." In Isaiah 1:8, context dictates that the consonants be translated "branch," thus speaking of the "branch of Zion."
And the Branch of Zion is left as a sukkah in a vineyard . . ..
Not only is a "
sukkah" constructed of twisted branches (בנות), and not only does it represent a reprise from the storm, a sanctuary or refuge, but the righteous are found inside. The statement found in the Gospel of Thomas, 77, was recently debated in the Scriptural Debates forum:
(77) Jesus said: I am the light that is above them all. I am the all; the all came forth from me, and the all attained to me. Cleave a (piece of) wood; I am there. Raise up a stone, and you will find me there.
Split a Branch, cleave a Branch, and inside the Branch (inside the archetypal
sukkah) you'll find what the exegesis of Isaiah 1:8 is looking for. What follows the fact that Isaiah 1:8 is speaking of the
Branch of Zion as a macrocosmic, or archetypal
sukkah (a shelter from the storm constructed of a broken branch or branches), has thrown even the best exegetes a good beatin.
And the Branch of Zion is left as a sukkah in a vineyard . . . a guardhouse, or scarecrow, in a patch of cucumbers.
Even the best exegetes, and I have Keil and Delitzsch currently in mind, are dumbfounded about how a "scarecrow in a patch of cucumbers" relates to the "Branch of Zion"? In their commentary, they reference Isaiah 1:8 concerning their exegesis of Jeremiah 10:4. And the word that leads them to Isaiah 1:8 is precisely the word translated as a "patch of cucumbers" in Isaiah 1:8: מקשה. -----In Jeremiah 10:4 the word is linked with תמר such that they reference the apocraphal Letter of Jeremy in order to try to better understand what's being said in Jeremiah 10:4 and perhaps Isaiah 1:8?
(Note: Ew., Hitz., Graf, Näg. follow in the track of Movers, Phöniz. i. S. 622, who takes מקשׁה se acc. to Isaiah 1:8 for a cucumber garden, and, acc. to Epist. Jerem. v. 70, understands by תּמר מקשׁה the figure of Priapus in a cucumber field, serving as a scare-crow. But even if we admit that there is an allusion to the verse before us in the mockery of the gods in the passage of Epist. Jerem. quoted, running literally as follows: ω ̔͂σπερ γὰρ ἐν οἰκυηράτῳ προβασκάνιον οὐδὲν φυλάσσον, οὕτως οἱ θεοὶ αὐτῶν εἰσὶ ξύλινοι καὶ περίχρυσοι καὶ περιάργυροι ; and if we further admit that the author was led to make his comparison by his understanding מקשׁה in Isaiah1:8 of a cucumber garden; - yet his comparison has so little in common with our verse in point of form, that it cannot at all be regarded as a translation of it, or serve as a rule for the interpretation of the phrase in question. And besides it has yet to be proved that the Israelites were in the habit of setting up images of Priapus as scare-crows.)
It's amazing that the spirit of exegesis, if not the Holy Spirit, sees to it that the passage above is included in Keil and Delitzsch's exegesis and commentary even though they, Keil and Delitzsch, admit they can make nothing of it. Why then did they add the note above when they concede they can make nothing of it? The Holy Spirit often works that way in his undergirding of the spirit of prophesy. The note above, provided by Keil and Delitzsch over a hundred years ago, lends itself to a generation of exegetes who have the modern tools to cross-reference these things at the speed of light; or at least the speed of a good Mac computer, uncovering elements of the sacred word otherwise lost to the ravages of time.
John
