“Woe to the crown of haughtiness of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are smitten down with wine!” (Isaiah 28:1)
The Prophet time and again denounces ego's fantasies and illusions as the cause of our separation from God's ways and attributes. He referred previously to Ephraim as our Jewish rebelliousness and stubbornness to follow vain and futile pursuits that draw us down to addictions, obsessions, attachments and destructive patterns. Once again he brings us to metaphorical images of drunkards, withering flowers, and fatness as the excess we desire and pursue in material fantasies and illusions, triggered by our haughtiness. In spite of this, God reaffirms His promise to remove them all.
“Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, as a storm of mighty waters overflowing, that cast down to the earth with strength.” (28:2)
God is our Creator and know our strengths and weaknesses at the moment of making the right choices. He gives us free will and also makes us aware of the consequences of our options, either positive or negative. Hence He expects us to learn from our decisions and their outcome. However, this learning process is not eternal or endless because it has a purpose for us, as part of God's Plan for His Creation.
The Torah and our Jewish Prophets announce a positive purpose for a positive end in humankind, regardless the predicament of negative trends in consciousness. This goodness for the sake of goodness will prevail, and the Creator made it clear through our Prophets. Isaiah presents allegories related to powerful cleansing waters to wipe out from our consciousness all that opposes Love's ways and attributes, for these are the sole references for the Final Redemption and the Messianic Era.
“The crown of haughtiness of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot. And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, which when one looks upon it, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.” (28:3-4)
As we have mentioned in previous commentaries on this matter, the “end of times” and “the day of the Lord” relate to the end of our current dualist consciousness -- pending between negative and positive --, and the beginning of a unified and harmonized consciousness through which our only interest will be the knowledge of the Creator. These strong wiping waters are the fully revealed ways and attributes God wants us to manifest in every level and dimension of life. Our material fantasies and illusions will disappear as fast as ripened fruit when it time has come to fall from the tree.
“In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of His people.” (28:5)
Once the Creator reveals His Presence in us, it will be the transcending moment when we will become totally aware of our Essence and true identity as Jews. We will meet the indescribable beauty of the permanent connection with our Creator, and our destiny as His people. In the following verses (28:6-14) the Prophet continues reminding us the effects of our separation from His ways and attributes. God in His eternal Love announces the Final Redemption, in spite of our marriage to negative trends and ego's fantasies and illusions. This is our covenant with death as the field where truth does not exist.
“Because ye have said: 'We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether-world are we at agreement; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves'.” (28:15)
God exposes the iniquities and destruction we inflict on our own consciousness, derived from lies with which we live and conduct our beliefs, thoughts, feelings, emotions, passions and instincts. As we live by and for lies and falsehood, we make them our only references and purpose, turning them into addictions, attachments, habits, and obsessions. They become the house where we dwell and where we hide from the transcending truth of Love's ways and attributes, in which we find our real freedom and Redemption.
“And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be annulled and your agreement with the nether-world shall not stand; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.” (25:17-18)
God's justice and righteousness are the ethical foundations of His Love for all His Creation. These comprise the truth He wants to make prevail in the world by sweeping away the lies of negative trends in consciousness. Living in the truth of all that is good is the automatic annulment our marriage to the nothingness of ego's fantasies and illusions. Goodness comes from God: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving kindness endures forever.” (Psalms 118:1), hence goodness and loving kindness are His guidelines and ground rules. These are the expressions of His wisdom, from which we are made and are destined to be, have and manifest.
“This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts: Wonderful is His counsel, and great His wisdom.” (25:29)
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