LEBANON, CARMEL, AND SHARON - A: 3rd Sun of Adv

First Reading: Isa 35:1-6a, 10 (11 December 2022)

“The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song” (Isa 35:1).

Above are four action words that summarize the Isaianic prophecy in its foretelling of the happiness that springs forth from a desert land (v. 1). The Hebrew word used here is midbār, which literally means “desert, wasteland, barren wilderness, desolate land that supports little life…” (cf. Kohlenberger/Mounce). This idea of lifelessness is magnified by the succeeding nouns in verse 1, viz., siyyāh—a “desert, parched land, dry land, waterless region” (ibid.)—and ‘arābāh—a “desert plain” from which the proper name Arabia etymologically comes from.

This description of the barrenness of the locale denotes that no human persons could ever survive in such a place, given their frequent dependence to a water-source to survive daily. The prophet, meanwhile, promised the impossible: this desolate locality would rejoice on account of the trees and flowers that would soon grow and blossom (v. 2a).

This richness is emphasized by the mention of three domains that are known in antiquity for their fecundity and lushness.

The first one is Lebanon, which is a body of mountain ranges in Syria (cf. Easton’s Bible Dictionary). It is popular for its cedars (i.e., cedrus libani), which Solomon himself imported as supporting beams of the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 5:20). This profitability is a result of Lebanon’s robust wildlife as aptly described in 2 Kgs 14:9 and Songs 4:8. This splendor is accentuated, too, by the perpetual presence of snow on its zenith, manifesting its abundance in water. Isaiah’s statement that this productiveness would be transferred to the Judean desert (Isa 35:2) is a testament of God’s care of the Judeans who were still recovering from their earlier defeat to the Assyrians/Babylonians.

The second territory mentioned is Carmel, a word in Hebrew that literally means “fertile land, fruitful land; this can refer to an orchard of plantation” (cf. Kohlenberger/Mounce). Accordingly, this term points to any beautiful park. In the Scriptures, Carmel is known to have produced excellent vineyards (2 Chr 26:10) and rich pastures (Isa 33:9, Jer 50:19, Amos 1:2). It is renowned for its scenic beauty; hence, the head of the bride is compared to this town (cf. Song 7:5) as well as David’s beautiful wife named Abigail who hailed from it (1 Sam 27:3). But most importantly, Carmel is the site of Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal that firmly established Yahweh’s lordship over all other deities (cf. 1 Kings 18).

The third land is Sharon, which is a stretch of fertile hill country in Palestine. It is renowned for its extraordinary beauty being a rich “plain, level country” (cf. ibid.) along the Mediterranean Sea. It is for this reason that it is praised in 1 Chr 27:29; Isa 33:9; 35:2; 65:10. When coupled with the rich land of Carmel that is marked by fertile orchards, Sharon becomes in turn the locality for a healthy flora, most notably when Songs 2:1 employs the expression “rose of Sharon”, suggesting the abundant flowers blooming from its terrain.

If God can make all these lands fertile, abundant, and beautiful despite the general environment of futility, emptiness, and misery, there is then nothing that impedes anyone from improving.

- Rex F. Fortes, CM