Isaiah 25:8 - "He will swallow up Death forever..."
Another short excerpt from my siyyum:
Moed Qatan concludes on an uplifting note with the verse from Isaiah 25:8 - "[God] will swallow up Death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth, because the LORD has spoken."
My teacher, Rabbi Neil Gillman, in his book, The Death of Death (p. 51), observes that Mavet - Death - is personified. This is one of a number of passages throughout the TaNaKh that pictures God in combat with Death, and that implies that God has not yet subdued the forces of anarchy and chaos. It's as if the personified Death exists independently of God, but Isaiah foretells the day when people will no longer die; that is, he predicts the "death of death," a day in which there will be no more tears of sorrow.
When that day comes, the verse from Zechariah 14:9, which concludes the Aleynu prayer, will be fulfilled: "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; on that day the LORD shall be one and His name one."
Moed Qatan concludes on an uplifting note with the verse from Isaiah 25:8 - "[God] will swallow up Death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth, because the LORD has spoken."
My teacher, Rabbi Neil Gillman, in his book, The Death of Death (p. 51), observes that Mavet - Death - is personified. This is one of a number of passages throughout the TaNaKh that pictures God in combat with Death, and that implies that God has not yet subdued the forces of anarchy and chaos. It's as if the personified Death exists independently of God, but Isaiah foretells the day when people will no longer die; that is, he predicts the "death of death," a day in which there will be no more tears of sorrow.
When that day comes, the verse from Zechariah 14:9, which concludes the Aleynu prayer, will be fulfilled: "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; on that day the LORD shall be one and His name one."
posted by Jay Lapidus at 4:23 PM
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