Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 17 · January 17
A Brand From the Fire
“And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
The LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
The scene is a courtroom: Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. That is the prosecutor's position; Psalm 109 asks for exactly this against a guilty man, let Satan stand at his right hand. The accuser has taken his place and he is entitled to it.
Notice what the reply does not contain. No evidence for the defence, no character reference, no argument that the charge is overstated. The next verse explains the silence: Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. The high priest of Israel is in court wearing something the text refuses to make polite. The case against him is sound.
What gets said instead is a name and a history. The LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.
Then the question: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? A brand is a stick already burnt, hauled out of a fire it was well into. Amos used the picture of a nation that barely survived: ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. It concedes the scorching, and names who did the hauling.
The sentence follows: Take away the filthy garments from him. Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Get the accusation you rehearse when you are driving alone down to one line in your own handwriting. Set the angel's answer beside it, and notice that his answer never once disputes the charge.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 17 is Stronghold (Nahum 1:7).