Deena Grant, «A Brief Discussion of the Difference between Human and Divine hmx», Vol. 91 (2010) 418-424
The term, hmx, is a frequent descriptor of anger in the Bible. Notably, its syntactic context depends on whether hmx describes human anger or the anger of God. The syntax of human hmx highlights the experience of being aggrieved whereas the syntax of divine hmx emphasizes the consequence of provocation. As such, human hmx tends to be the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of passive verbs that describe the experience of being provoked. By contrast, divine hmx tends to be the object of transitive verbs and the subject of passive verbs that describe God’s reprisal. Additionally, divine hmx occurs as part of the curious construct &alquo;cup of hmx&rlquo;. We believe that these observations reflect an underlying struggle to reconcile the anthropomorphic idea of an emotional God with an omnipotent and invulnerable deity.
422 DEENA GRANT
Leben of these descriptions 17. In light of our observation that divine hmj
focuses on its targets, we suggest the substance alluded to in the
descriptions of God’s poured hmj and his cup of hmj is blood.
Though human anger is not a tangible substance that can be poured or
drunk, human blood is such a substance. In fact, human blood is the
substance most frequently described as poured in the Bible 18. Moreover,
we observed above that Jeremiah 25 describes the cup of hmj as a cup of
wine and Isaiah 51 links it to drunkenness 19. In their discussions of God’s
hmj, Isaiah 51,17-21 and 63,2-6 identify wine with blood 20.
There has been much debate over the Sitz im Leben of the image of
17
God’s cup of anger. Following H. Gressmann, W. HOLLADAY, Jeremiah. A
Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah Chapters 1-25 (Hermeneia;
Philadelphia, PE 1986) 673, suggests that the image of the cup of God’s anger
arose out of an Israelite cultic meal that was held in the sanctuary. According
to this theory, drinking from God’s cup of wine represents an “anti-banquet
. . . a grotesque and macabre reversal†of a festive banquet that would have
wine. H. BRONGERS, “Der Zornesbecherâ€, Oudtestamentische Studien 15
(1969) 178-179, disagrees and points out that there is no other food present to
indicate a banquet. He suggests, instead, that the substance in the cup of
God’s anger is poisoned wine (compare to Hab 2,15). W. MCKANE, A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on Jeremiah. Commentary on Jeremiah XXVI –
LII (ICC ; Sheffield 1996) 488, counters that wine itself makes a feast and that
Brongers’ suggestion does not explain why Jeremiah identifies, at least
initially, the drink with wine. MCKANE (Jeremiah, 489-491) suggests that
given the lethal nature of the cup’s contents, the image of drinking is modeled
after the “trial by ordealâ€, outlined in Numbers 5,16-28. While the “trial by
ordeal †may or may not be the rite that lies behind the image of drinking from
Yahweh’s cup, McKane’s suggestion suffers from the same sort of problem as
does Brongers’ model. It does not explain why the prophets identify the
substance within God’s cup as wine. Hence, it is not surprising that MCKANE
(Jeremiah, 491) accedes “The ‘trial by ordeal’ model does not itself constitute
a sufficient interpretation of the ‘cup of wrath’ passages, because it does not
explain why the contents of the cup should be wineâ€. In fact, he entertains the
possibility that the contents within the cup are wine. We point out that neither
“ anti-banquet †(Holladay, McKane) nor the “trial by ordeal†(McKane) take
into account the wartime setting of both Jeremiah 25 and Isaiah 51.
See Gen 9,6; Jer 7,6; Ezek 14,9; Ps 79,10.
18
Note that Jeremiah 25 juxtaposes the image of God forcing the people
19
drink wine and fall by the sword against the image of God trampling a
winepress to make wine (25,30). With this association, Jeremiah identifies
God’s production of “red†wine with God’s demand that the people drink and
be bloodied. Jeremiah 46 reinforces the link between drinking and blood that
is spilt by the sword when it describes God’s sword drinking the blood of the
people (46,10).
Isaiah 63,2-6 describes God staining his clothes red with wine when he
20