WORD STUDY – HUNK OF TIN

Isaiah 1:25: “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all they tin.”

 

I’m a little hunk of tin,

Nobody knows what I’ve might have been

Got four wheels and a running board,

I’m a Ford a Ford a Ford,

Honk, Honk, Rattle, Rattle, Crash, Crash

-The Ford Song – Early 20^th Century

 

Looking at pictures of the old Model T Ford, it is a wonder they ever stayed together and didn’t fall apart on its first run.  When compared to other luxury cars of the day, such as the Duesenburg, the Ford’s Model T appeared to be nothing but a hunk of tin.  The word for tin in the Hebrew is badilik from comes from a Semitic root word badal meaning to cause a separation, to depart or make a division, hence you have the word evolving to mean tin as tin is a very unreliable metal.  Anything put together with tin will quickly fall apart or separate. The above nonsense song we used to sing as children at summer camp was intended to be a real slam at Ford in the early 20^th century and how cheaply it was built. How many of us as Christians feel like we are an old Model T Ford or Tin Lizzie as they were called?

 

In one of Clive Cussler’s novels, his hero, Dirk Pitt, is a collector of classic automobiles.   We have one scene in a novel where Dirk Pitt hops into one of his classic automobiles, a 1929 Duesenberg luxury car, and out chases a whole team of bad guys driving in late model Mercedes Benzes. The Duesenbergs were built so solid and tough it could travel over terrain that the best built cars today (with the exception of those built for off road) could not travel.

 

You see automakers in 1929 did not lack the skill or technology to develop a first class automobile, it is just that few could afford them and so Henry Ford made his fortune by producing an automobile that most people could afford although it was just a rattle trap. People were willing to settle for a hunk of tin as that was all they could afford. The sad thing is that too many Christians are willing to settle being a Model T when God stands ready to make them into a Duesenberg.

 

God may turn out his hand for two purposes, either to inflict punishment or to offer help and protection. It would seem in the case of Isaiah 1:25 that God is turning his hand to inflict some form of punishment. The word turn is shuv and has the idea of turning in the sense of restoration or renewing. The word itself has a paragogic Hei and thus it has the idea of a complete and total restoration, like being born again. Despite the fact that God’s hand is used in this case for punishment, we see from the Hebrew word shuv (turning) that this turning of his hand is meant for restoration for renewing us from a hunk of tin to a Duesenberg. Of course the only way a Model T can become a Duesenberg is to be born a Duesenberg, or be born again.

 

Curiously the writer says esterop kavar which is rendered as purely purge away.   Literally this means to refine in purity (esterop) in an abundance (kavar). Again the writer is showing that this transformation that God performs in the refining process is a complete transformation.

 

In this process he will take away all our tin or that which easily falls apart and separates us from God. The word for take away is sur which is in a Hiphal form with a paragogic Hei and thus it would mean that he will bring about events that will remove every trace of that which tends to separate us from God.

 

No matter what happens, no matter what type of refining process we are going through ultimately God is removing everything in us that would separate us from Him.  He is removing all our tin. He is renewing us and changing us from a hunk of tin or a Model T Ford into a Duesenberg so when the evil one starts chasing us we will not fall apart even when he chases us into rough terrain.

 

Oh sure, you can settle for being a cheap Model T and avoid the refining fires. However, when the enemy comes after you, you will be wishing you had gone through the esterop kavar or the process of having all that tin, which which separates you from God, removed. In the end you will find that it is worth those refining fires to be transformed from a Model T into a Duesenberg of God.