“Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.”
Now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood—the verse presents the physical deterioration caused by siege and starvation: they are blackened, unrecognizable, skeletal. The transformation from described purity and beauty to this state of degradation is total. The shriveled skin and dry wood imagery suggest extreme deprivation and approaching death. Theologically, the verse emphasizes that judgment penetrates to the body; the physical devastation mirrors the spiritual condition. The loss of recognizability suggests that people are transformed beyond recognition; their identities are obliterated. The verse presents a complete dehumanization; the vivid, vital leaders are now only bones and shriveled skin.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!