Arising from the Dust

There are several words in Hebrew for “dust” (אָבָק ah-VAHK, אֲדָמָה ah-dah-MAH, and עָפָר ah-FAHR, for example), but the one that seems to appear most often in the Old Testament is ah-FAHR. It means “dust, dirt, earth, soil”. In the scriptures, however, it has many symbolic meanings. Dust signifies “humility, humiliation, contrition, sorrow, corruption, sin, worldliness” and even “death”, both physical and spiritual.

In reading the Old Testament in Hebrew, it’s interesting how often the word surfaces in different contexts. Here are a few passages that shed light on these symbolic meanings.

“And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.” (Joshua 7:6)

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:13,14)

“My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.” (Psalms 119:25)

“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Genesis 3:14)

This last reference offers a strong contrast to what we are to do in leaving behind all association(s) with worldliness, corruption, and spiritual death.

“Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” (Isaiah 52:2)

I’m struck by the order and beautiful simplicity of the process. Lying in dust is equivalent to spiritual death, or the sleep of death. We then arise at God’s call, leaving the corruption of earthly appetites and sin behind, even going so far as to shake off whatever traces of our former, worldly selves might still be clinging to us. Then the majesty of the Lord’s mercy becomes apparent as we are invited to sit down. This isn’t an insignificant invitation. I'll mention two examples that underline the graciousness of God in this respect.

First, in ancient Middle Eastern culture, sitting down generally involved two types of social interactions; sitting in counsel/judgment or sitting within a close social circle. On the first point, the most common words for chair in Hebrew are כִּסֵא  (kee-SEH) and קָתֶדרָה (kah-teh-DRAH ). If the second word sounds familiar that’s because it’s the root of cathedral, which originally meant a place (seat) of judgment. As for sitting within close social circles, the seating would normally happen at meal time or at night once the day’s work was over. In both cases, those whom the Lord sanctifies (frees from sleep/spiritual death and worldly corruption) are invited to assume their place of friendship within His Kingdom.

Secondly, the verb "to sit (down)" in Hebrew (לשבת, lah-SHEH-veht ) holds a broader meaning than exists in English and other Western languages. It carries the additional idea of "to dwell or reside", so the Lord's invitation to arise from the dust and then to sit down carries the implied message that once we are cleansed we may stay permanently with Him.