Isaiah 45:9

"Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, 'What are you making’? or 'Your work has no handles'?" (Isaiah 45:9 RSV)

Comment:

The key to understanding Isaiah from chapter 44:24 to 45:13 is that the prophet (actually Second Isaiah, writing about 100 years later than the earlier chapters) is praising Cyrus, the Persian king who is conquering the Babylonians who destroyed Jerusalem and took its people captive. This is the only time in all of Hebrew scripture that a non-Jew is praised as a 'messiah'—a man commissioned by God to do great works. The fact that Cyrus does not know, or honor, the Hebrew God is of no importance, the prophet insists; God works with whom God chooses. To those who refuse to realize the spiritual role for which Cyrus has been chosen, verse 9 offers a taunting rebuttal. “Who are you,” the prophet says in essence, “to dictate to your Maker how his work should be accomplished?” The taunting holds true for us today when we presume to fully grasp the totality of the divine, instead of surrendering to it and gratefully experiencing its Presence and Power in our lives.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed