Never thought I’d live to see childbirth likened to mining a quarry, but that is the meaning of Isaiah 51: 1-2. We just don’t usually think of our own birth that way, as though mined from a quarry. Nobody, but nobody I have ever known has likened childbirth to mining from a quarry. Yet there it is in Isaiah. Why had I not noticed this before?
“Listen to me, you who are pursuing righteousness, You who are seeking Jehovah. Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug.” (Isaiah 51:1)
What rock is that? What quarry is that? The next verse answers.
“Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you.” (verse 2) Don’t ever say that the Bible writers were of the Victorian era. Imagine—likening childbirth to mining a quarry!
Furthermore, the metaphor is extended—twice. Not only is Abraham the rock, but Jehovah also describes himself that way in Deuteronomy 32:18. There, the Israelites “forgot the Rock who fathered you, And you did not remember the God who gave birth to you.” Is God both the rock AND the quarry here? Clarifying, or maybe adding more mystery still, Paul later describes a “Jerusalem above” which served as “mother” to the early congregation, for the early congregation is the second extension of that metaphor. Christ is the rock upon which the entire Christian congregation is built. Simon is renamed Peter, a word that means rock, and is given the keys to direct its early doings on earth.
“Simon Peter answered [Jesus]: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In response Jesus said to him: “Happy you are, Simon son of Joʹnah, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father in the heavens did. Also, I say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my congregation, and the gates of the Grave will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you may bind on earth will already be bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loosen on earth will also be loosened in the heavens.” (Matthew 16:16-19)
Alas, only a remnant of either stays faithful, of the Christian congregation or of the ancient nation of Israel. It goes poorly for them when they do not, to the point that they “bow down so that [their enemies] may walk over you!’ So you made your back like the ground, Like a street for them to walk on.” (vs 23) It’s as graphic a metaphor as the quarry!
And, for now, I’m not even going to touch the “stone” that was “cut not by human hands” and hurled into the feet of the statue Daniel saw. Nor will I mention one friend, a father, whose home I visited and he had somehow acquired a model replica of that statue, multi-colored to indicate the bronze, gold, silver, copper, etc, standing about a foot tall. “Do you shoot pebbles at its feet via slingshot for family study?” I asked him.
No matter where one looks, it is all humans forgetting their Maker. Verse 13 poses the question: “Why do you forget Jehovah your Maker, The One who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth?”
Forsake God and he forsakes them. They are left to their own devices. Fearsome though the Jews were in battle, they were no match for the professionals. The Book of Isaiah logs how the ten-tribe kingdom to the north (a product of Rehoboam’s pig-headedness) forgot Jehovah their Maker, and then the remaining two-tribe kingdom to the south also forgot. Though delivered once in Assyrian times, they were not delivered again in Babylonian times. There, they would have to settle for a later remnant to be released.
The ten tribes were decimated by Assyria, its survivors scattered throughout that empire. The remaining two tribes were decimated by Babylon, survivors exiled into Babylon itself, except for the lowly peasants, initially left to remain, but subsequently organized by rabble, whose put down would see them killed off.
They are glutted with own counsel in the meantime. This is easier seen in the present day, because the present day is where we live. “Why do you Witnesses always have to assume things are getting worse? What does that belief do for you?” some atheist asked me. It helps me to explain why the Doomsday Clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight and not 10:30 AM.
There is material progress in the modern day, no doubt about it. If you measure life by gadgets or by the demand for back-breaking work, it has improved for most. But if you measure it by any cognitive feeling of well-being, it has gone down the drain—or, in the words of my non-Witness dad, “the world is going to hell in a hand basket.” If you are in the house-to-house ministry, open by saying, “The world is crazy, and we think the Bible helps—in explaining why it is crazy, offering hope for the future, and guidance on how to live in the meantime.” People may or may not think the Bible helps, but no one in may part of the world will deny that it is crazy
When I was a boy, there was one and only one possible “end of the world” scenario: nuclear war. I was not a Witness then and would not become one until my 20s. Today there are a dozen or more “end of the world” scenarios, most some variant of pollution or mismanagement of the earth. The very latest one is the changes AI may bring upon humanity. These things make people anxious and anxiety is an ever-present backdrop of life today. Recently I read of significant swaths of college students—was it one third?—reporting they were anxious “all of the time.” Substance abuse is pandemic today, as is loneliness. At least a third of all Americans are on some sort of antidepressants. They feel they need that to cope with life. Trust in the good will of others is at a low. One never knows when a complete stranger will do you harm for no reason at all. “Whistleblowers” arise in every field to convince us that no institution can be trusted. A 1968 Truth Book statement that humans cannot live together in peace—have they improved in that aspect since or have they become more contentious? In short, there is no stability in life for many, and lack of stability plays havoc with the emotions, even if materially you’re better off than back in the day.
****** The bookstore
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