Biblical Winters

 

[Young Elihu to Job & company]

"God's voice thunders with marvelous things;

He does great things we cannot deeply know.

For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,'

And to the shower of rain, Be mighty rain torrents'...

From the Breath of God ice is given,

     And the broad waters are frozen."  (Job 37:5, 6, 10)

Praise Yahweh from the earth:

Fire and hail, snow and clouds, 

Strong wind doing His will...

Let them praise the Name of Yahweh,

For His Name alone is exalted;

His splendor is above the earth and heavens. (Psalm 148: 7a, 8, 13)

He sends forth His command to the earth;

His word runs swiftly forth.

He dispenses snow as wool;

He scatters hoar-frost as ashes.

He hurls His hail as fragments--

Who can stand before His icy cold?

He sends forth His word and melts them;

He causes the wind to blow,

         and the waters flow.  (Psalm 147: 15-18)

[Yahweh says]

"For just as the rain comes down

     And the snow from the heavens

     And does not return there

     Without watering the earth,

Causing it to bring forth and sprout

     So that it yields seed to the sower

      And bread to the eater,

Thus is My Word which goes forth from My mouth:

It does not return to me void,

But does what I delighted

And advances those things for which I sent it."  (Isaiah 55: 10-11)

"Come, now, let us reason together.

Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red as crimson,

They shall be [white] like wool."  (Isaiah 1:18)

[King David leads us in saying]

"Cleanse me with hyssop* and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."  (Psalm 51:7)

(original translations c.m.b.)

*Ezov, the hyssop of the Bible-- a flowering herb in the mint family, which was used for cleansing. The plant was used to "sprinkle" liquids.  A hyssop stalk was used to life a sponge to Jesus' lips as He hung on the cross, to give Him something to wet His lips as He thirsted.

[Thee God I come from, to Thee go]

                                                           

Thee, God, I come from, to thee go,

 All day long I like fountain flow 

From thy hand out, swayed about 

Mote-like* in thy mighty glow.         

Hopkins in his early years

What I know of thee I bless, 

As acknowledging thy stress 

On my being and as seeing 

Something of thy holiness.     

Once I turned from thee and hid, 

Bound on what thou hadst forbid; 

Sow the wind I would; I sinned: 

I repent of what I did. 

Hopkins as a young priest

Bad I am**, but yet thy child.

Father, be thou reconciled. 

Spare thou me, since I see 

With thy might that thou art mild. 

I have life before me still 

And thy purpose to fulfil; 

Yea a debt to pay thee yet: 

Help me, sir, and so I will. 

Hopkins in later years

But thou bidst, and just thou art, 

Me shew mercy from my heart 

Towards my brother, every other 

Man my mate and counterpart.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., 1885

                                                                 

*speck-like

**should not be taken as a call to wallow in poor self-esteem; rather, this recognition of original sin helps us understand the lack of perfection in all of us and our need for God's forgiveness.  We all want to go off our own ways, and we are not naturally altruistic and loving towards others. 

Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poetry Foundation