Devotional Isaiah 54:11

Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Isaiah 54:11: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.”

We need to keep in mind that Hebrew is constantly drawing a picture for us. Here the nation of Israel is pictured as a people being tossed around in the sea.  My study partner mentioned how stones or gems are polished by putting them together in a container and adding water and then tossing the container around allowing the stones to bounce against each other rubbing them smooth and polishing each other.

This picture seems to really fit here.  The word stone is the same word used by David for the five smooth stones he picked up.  These are stones that have been beaten by the waters and smoothed out. All it’s impurities have been beaten out of them.  The KJV translation of “pavak” is fair colors.  Actually “pavak “ means antimony. It it’s primitive form  ”pavak” means an eye liner.  The Egyptians used antimony as makeup around the eyes to enhance the eyes like an eyeliner.   This stone that has been polished is now placed in antimony, something to enhance it’s beauty and to show it off, like putting a stone in a setting for a necklace or ring.

This really expresses something very important to anyone who has been tossed around by the storms of life.  In Isaiah 54 we are being pictured stones being toss around which results in these stones being polished and then they are laid in a setting.  The word for “lay” is a hiphil participle, it and has the idea of laying to rest.  So even as the storm tosses you around, God is polishing you and preparing you for a rest.

Then he will lay your foundations.  This word foundations is “yasak” which is the same word used for intimacy or intercourse.  The KJV says that this intimacy will be built upon a sapphire.  The words “saphir” is really referring to a lapin lazuli which is a deep rich blue color.  Ancients used to grind up lapin lazuli and mix it with milk to be used as a aphrodisiac and also to be used to help heal an open wound like an ulcer. Thus, this foundation or intimacy will be built upon a healing ointment.

So what is being pictured is that as we face all the storms of life and are being battered by these storms , what is really happening is that God is polishing us as gem stone, making us smooth stones free of all the rough edges and impurities.  We are then placed in a beautiful setting, amtimony to be shown off by Him.  Yet, we may still carry a lot of the pain and heartbreak from the storms, but God will build a foundation of intimacy upon a balm of healing.

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