Poetic Satisfaction (Isaiah 55)

In English, poetry has sounds that rhyme
Conveying thoughts in ways that are sublime
In Biblical Hebrew, it’s the ideas that rhyme
In the ancient language, it’s a cadence of thought
Often, in ancient Hebrew, one line of poetry will make a statement, and then the next line will say basically the same thing, but with different words. One line will of poetry will say something, and the next line will repeat that idea, in slightly different form.
Which is why I say that the ideas rhyme, even if the sounds of the words don’t.
An example from Psalm 24:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it
The world and its inhabitants too
Because God is the one who established it on the seas
God set it firmly on the waters.
Do you see how the ideas are repeated? Do you see how the thoughts are duplicated?
The first line talks about the earth; the second line talks about the world. Different word, but the same thing.
The first line says the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
The second line says all the inhabitants too. “Everything in it” would certainly include “all the inhabitants.” There is redundancy. There is repetition of ideas.
That’s how it is in Hebrew poetry.
The third line: “Because God is the one who established it on the seas…” That idea is repeated in the fourth line: “God set it firmly on the waters.”
In Biblical Hebrew, it’s the ideas that rhyme.
In the ancient language, it’s a cadence of thought.
Many of the prayers and blessings of the Bible are written in poetry. Last week, in worship, we heard the blessing Isaac gave to his son Jacob. (He meant to give it to Esau, but was tricked into giving it to Jacob.)
A part of that blessing went like this:
Let peoples serve you,
  and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
  and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Do you see and hear the repetition of ideas in that? “Let peoples serve you; let nations bow down to you.” Those two lines say basically the same thing! “Be lord over your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” Those two lines say basically the same thing!
Different words, perhaps with a slight change in nuance from the first line to the second, but basically, the same idea. A rhyming of ideas.
Today’s scripture is from Isaiah 55. Isaiah is a book of prophecy, and nearly the entire book is written in poetry.
Check this out:
“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come buy and eat…”
The idea there is repeated in the next line:
“Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Do you see it? The first line tells those without money to buy, and the second line says tells them to buy things without price.
Let’s go on to the next two lines…
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread… and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”
And this… This is where it gets interesting. This is where understanding Hebrew poetry can help us better understand the meaning behind it.
Look at these two lines. These two lines of poetry are structured in a very similar way. They both ask, Why do you do [something] for that which does not fill your hunger or leave you satisfied?
And the two somethings are: spending your money, and spending your labor.
If we understand that Hebrew poetry repeats ideas, then we can see that spending your money and spending your labor are paired up; and based on our knowledge of how Hebrew poetry works, we know that these two words are intended by the poet to represent similar, if not identical, ideas.
But spending our money, and spending our labor… are these really similar or identical ideas?
We often talk about giving to the church, and we often distinguish between giving our money and giving our time. Everyone is capable of giving both money and time, although some might be capable of giving greater amounts of money, while others might be capable of giving greater amounts of time.
And the way we talk about these things makes it sound as if giving money and giving time are two very different things.
But Isaiah uses them in this poem as if they are equivalent; Isaiah repeats them; Isaiah rhymes their meanings, as if they mean the same or practically the same thing…
We know these two ideas are meant to be rhymed in meaning because nearly every other line in this chapter has meanings that rhyme. Reading on, we see that, in verse 3, it says: “Incline your ear,” and then, in the next line, “listen.” The same idea, repeated.
And look at verse 6, which says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found,” and then repeats that idea by saying, “call upon him while he is near.”
Here, in verse 2, “spending money” and “spending labor” are used in a rhyming sort of way.
Clearly, in Isaiah’s mind, spending money and spending labor are paired up as equivalents, two ideas that mean the same thing.
In Isaiah’s mind, the two ideas rhyme perfectly. Spending money and spending one’s labor are the same.
They’re the same, because they both represent a person’s life-energy.
Let’s say a person gives one hour of labor to a cause; and let’s say a second person goes to work and works for one hour, and earns 10 dollars, and then gives those ten dollars to that same cause.
The first person’s hour of labor, and the second person’s ten dollars, are the same, because they both represent one hour of life-energy.
In a similar way, let’s say a person who earns $50 dollars an hour donates fifty dollars; and a second person who earns $10 an hour donates ten dollars. The first person’s $50 and the second person’s $10 are the same, because they both represent one hour of life-energy.
And both are equal to one hour of labor.
The way Isaiah rhymes the ideas of spending money and spending labor is helpful in other ways. Let’s say you need a new computer, so you go to the store where you find one computer on sale for 400 dollars, and another computer on sale for 800 dollars.
The 800 dollar computer is obviously nicer, but is it worth the extra cost?
Well, let’s say you earn 25 dollars an hour. To buy the 400 dollar computer, you would have to work 12 hours, because 12 hours times $25/hour equals 400 dollars. 12 hours - or, 1 ½ days, if you work 8 hours a day.
To buy the 800 dollar computer, you would have to work 24 hours.
So to help you decide which computer to buy, you can ask yourself: is the 800 dollar computer worth 24 hours of my life-energy? Or can I be happy with the 400 dollar computer, which only requires me to sacrifice 12 hours of my life-energy?
Or, maybe you’d decide that even 12 hours of your life-energy isn’t worth a new computer, and you decide to keep using the old computer you have at home for another couple of years.
Then again, maybe you’d decide that 24 hours of your life is no big deal to own a nice computer; heck, you’d be willing to sacrifice 48 work hours - which is six 8-hour work days - in order to get the really really nice computer that costs $1600!
Whatever you decide, you will have been helped in your decision-making process by understanding the relationship between labor and money.
But Isaiah doesn’t just want you to understand the relationship between labor and money; Isaiah wants you to use that understanding to help you make wise choices.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
And what is it that satisfies? What is it that is good? What is the rich food in which you can take delight?
That which satisfies, that which brings you delight, is certainly worth you spending your life-energy for…
Sociologists and psychologists have noted how the happiness that comes with new purchases begins to fade mere moments after the purchase is made. New clothes, new toys, even that new computer you want… a new phone, a new car… The level of happiness starts to drop almost immediately after purchasing.
But that’s not true for everything. If you make an investment for the future, you feel good, and that good feeling lasts. It lasts because, as time goes by, you see the results of your investment.
Every week, you give to the church. The money you give represents many hours of life-energy, many hours of labor. And through the ministry of this church, lives are changed. The hungry are fed. People experiencing life struggles are shown support. Young people know that they are loved, and their faith develops here as well as at church camp.
In so many ways, the money given to the church is multiplied… and the satisfaction of those who give is also multiplied.
This is hard to understand when you’re young. I used to think that people who said such things were just saying them because they wanted my money.
But now I know: it’s true. You can multiply your satisfaction when you give to the church.
I should point out that I kind of have a reputation of being the stingy one in my family. I don’t like to spend money.
Except, that’s not quite true. I love to spend money on things that matter. On things that bring deep, lasting satisfaction.  
But it’s true, I do hate to spend money on things that don’t matter. On things that won’t bring lasting satisfaction. On things that we will enjoy today, and throw away tomorrow.
God wants us to find deep satisfaction and lasting joy. Did you catch that in today’s reading? God wants us to experience deep satisfaction. God wants us to experience joy. God wants us to find experiences in which we can take delight. Those words - “satisfaction” and “delight” - are right there in the scripture.
But not if it’s cheap satisfaction. And not if it’s at the expense of my neighbor’s lasting satisfaction and joy.
The true, deep, lasting satisfaction only comes when we are able to devote our life-energy to things that bring a shared satisfaction. A satisfaction that comes to our neighbor as well as to us.
The pursuit of cheap, self-centered satisfaction is a root cause of many problems we have today, including inhumane working and living conditions throughout much of the world, as well as the huge amounts of trash we create daily. Plastic is polluting our land and the ocean. Fish and sea creatures in even the deepest, most remote parts of the ocean have been discovered with plastic in their bodies.  We live in a throwaway society, and a throwaway society is incapable of bringing us lasting satisfaction and joy.
But if we can pursue a deep, lasting satisfaction, this will be a wise and worthy use of our life-energy. If we can pursue the things that really matter, we will receive the wine and milk Isaiah talks about, in which we and our neighbors can take delight. We will eat what is good, and delight ourselves in rich food.