SYNERGISTIC SYMBOLISM

Now I give up. This picture is just crazy. No way can I analyze it. Yet Faithful Reader(s) just knows I'm going to try.

Nope. You're on your own. I'm not even going to explain what I see. I'm not even going to speculate about mini Abe or the rabbit carving a ham. I'm telling you, I'm stumped.

As a grad and undergrad, I've been exposed to my share of symbolism. I stopped trying to figure out what stood for what when I though a ruler named McFlecknoe was sitting high on a throne ruling his kingdom from a seat of power.

How could I have known that the poet was talking about an ineffective, laughable king sitting on top of, well, a pile of poop he'd made? "High on a throne of his self-made he sits." I had heard all my life of self-made men. That's when I knew that I would have to wait for my instructor to tell me what I had missed.

I missed some more this week in BSF in our study of the book of Isaiah. I thought God was angered at His people, the northern kingdom of Israel (and He was) and He was going to use Assyria to discipline them. But with "His hand stretched still," I thought it meant in my ESV edition that He would show His grace (and He eventually would) by restoring the country. It seems I had misinterpreted still and He was still angered and His hand was more in a fist. I had pictured open palm, steady, not clutched.

You can never be too old (or young) to miss symbolism. I'm certain that there's going to be a ton more that I miss in Isaiah. Out of 66 chapters, we're only on Chapter 9, so there's a good chance I'll add to my misinterpretation. Hmm 66. Aren't there 66 books in the Holy Bible, too? And 66 chapters. I may be on to something.

And doesn't Isaiah backwards spell Haiasi? Well, maybe I'm looking a little too deep.