What are the tools that help us make sense of the world especially when we are on the vulnerable side of life?
The Babylonian exile brought the people of Judah into a new and stark reality - just one more minority among many in the empire’s marketplace. The prior identity was proud - formed of belonging over generations to the land and its laws, a mix of territorial theology, temple and deity, language and local symbols. But the identity that would eventually become ‘Judean’ and later “Jewish’ would be forged in foreign context - a religious rather than national sense of uniqueness - that would take generations to formulate. One of the biggest challenges to the Judean exiles, addressed in these chapters by the prophet named Isaiah - is the exposure to the vastness of the world and the many forms of worship totally different than what was familiar to them back in Judah. Even the exposure to the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s pagan pantheon paled in comparison to the life under Babylon, its many deities and elaborate religious rituals. In order to maintain a sense of self and to contain their theology, Judah’s spiritual leaders, this prophet being among them, had to come up with whatever they could to keep glorifying the God of Israel - and minimize the importance of all other gods - including the prominent ones that were part of the Babylonian political-religious system.
How best to battle the polytheistic reality? What can offer YHWH an advantage over all the triumphant gods of Babylon? If not victory - what else can the God of Israel offer his exiled, humiliated people? The prophecies of Isaiah in these chapters attempt to respond to this new challenge - in many ways so familiar to us, living in the 21st century, after a millennia of multi-cultural attempts to figure this out. If anything - it’s the new reality of Israel, once again on the land with law and power that is challenging what has become the socio-theological norm and is now upturned, again.
One of Isaiah’s tools is satire. Again and again he will attack the pagan paths of idol-making, and ridicule the artisans who worship the idols they co-create. Again and again he’ll mock the making of false gods while giving Israel a sense of its eternal purpose - to persevere, to not lose hope, to patiently await its redemption, no matter what.
In chapter 41 the prophet imagines a celestial trial - all the nations of the world compete with Israel, each one presenting their own deity - and who will be the one to win them all? Even when Babylon will rise or Persia rising in the east - it is the one god that is running the show.
But the reality is that humility will have to be the main ingredient, for now. And also - humor. And to illustrate this challenging reality the prophet choose a weird attribute - naming the people as the lowest of the low:
אַל־תִּֽירְאִי֙ תּוֹלַ֣עַת יַעֲקֹ֔ב מְתֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲנִ֤י עֲזַרְתִּיךְ֙ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֔ה וְגֹאֲלֵ֖ךְ קְד֥וֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
“Fear not, O worm of Jacob,
O men of Israel:
I will help you
—declares YHWH —
I your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 41:13-14
Wow. Really, Worm? What happened to the lion of Judah? How have the people sunk so low?
Many interpreters have tried to get to the bottom of this unflattering, if maybe realistic depiction of the proud people reduced to refugees among so many stronger nations.
The Midrash writes: “Just like a worm attacks the mighty cedar tree with just its tiny mouth so Israel have prayer in their mouths to handle all adversity.”
One can imagine that the theological tools needed by the exiles can include humility and honesty - knowing their relative place in the eco-system and the food chain. But also the power of patience to know that even worms have agency and power, a role and the ability to change forces way greater then them. Earlier in the book of Isaiah he makes references to the worms of the underworld - the maggots that consume all matter. And in other places in the bible there is reference to the silkworms that produce the precious dye required for the fabrics of the holy tabernacle.
Yes, be humble, says Isaiah to the people of Judah in their Babylonian reality - but be proud, too. Our time will come. For now, we know our place and one day we will be back, along with our deity, and use our words and faith to lift up who we are, no matter what we’ve been through and what others think of us.
It’s astounding to read these words today, thousands of years and exiles later.
The diasporic self-image of a worm-like jew cringing in the face of danger, now replaced by Israeli hubris back on Judean land. What have we learned from being worms and what can we still learn to keep on owning our relative place in the world, not from fear or self loathing, but with sincere respect for our uniqueness, one among the many living creatures and creations in the global garden and its eternal compost pile?
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