They Will Mount Up With Wings Like Eagles
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor? 14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity. 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? 19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it. 20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved. 21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in, 23 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble. 25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking. 27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”? 28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. 30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; 31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
God is measured against the universe and the idol-makers in turn, and the answer to a complaint about being overlooked is the star count.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Four questions, and each takes something immeasurable and puts it in a household unit — a cupped palm, the span from thumb to little finger, a basket, a pair of scales. The oceans fit in a hand.
Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
Paul quotes this at the end of the most difficult argument in Romans Romans 11:34 and again in Corinthians 1 Corinthians 2:16.
Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
Not a bucket of water — a drop left hanging on the rim after it has been emptied, and the dust that settles on a scale pan and does not move the needle. This is said to people whose lives had just been rearranged by one of those nations.
Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
The largest forest and all the game in it would not make one adequate sacrifice.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? 19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
The answer to the question is a description of manufacture, and the chapter does it twice — once for the rich man's gold-plated version and once for the poor man's, who chooses a tree that will not rot and hires a carpenter to make something that will not be moved Isaiah 40:20. The single quality the budget idol is required to have is that it stays upright.
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
Three times scarcely. Dynasties are described as seedlings that have not got their roots down, and what removes them is breath.
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
The stars are counted and named individually, and not one is lacking.
Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
Only now does the complaint appear that the whole chapter has been answering. It is not that God is too weak. It is that he has not noticed — and the answer given is the roll call of the stars: one who takes attendance of the sky is not likely to have mislaid a person.
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; 31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
The strongest people available are named as the ones who give out. And the order of the promise runs downward — mount up, run, walk — ending on the least impressive, which is the one that takes longest.
settled What this mark means