The Scriptures are full of...
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The Scriptures are full of repetition. Verse 14 of this text echoes the more famous Isaiah 40, with its “Make straight in the desert a highway ... every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill made low.” Verse 16, “for from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life,” echoes the creation story in Genesis. The image of the wicked tossing like the sea is not unlike the image of chaff being driven away by the wind in Psalm 1. Indeed, this entire passage from Isaiah 57 is one more rehash of the constant prophetic theme: God has turned his face from you because of iniquity, but he will have mercy and return with healing and comfort.
Why this repetition? Why do we tell the stories of the Crucifixion of Jesus,
of the Holocaust in Germany, of Vietnam over and over again?
>One reason is that we tend to make the same mistakes over and over. We all know the old saying, “He who is ignorant of history is doomed to repeat it.” Another reason is that the same basic human personality types crop up in every generation. There is the personality that always goes by the book; the personality that accuses others of the transgressions that are, in fact, its own worst failings; the personality that manipulates others with subtle mindgames; the personality that always rocks the boat just for the sake of rocking the boat. The list goes on. We need to repeat the stories because, while the specific actors and situations change, the plots and problems remain the same.
— Jech
Why this repetition? Why do we tell the stories of the Crucifixion of Jesus,
of the Holocaust in Germany, of Vietnam over and over again?
>One reason is that we tend to make the same mistakes over and over. We all know the old saying, “He who is ignorant of history is doomed to repeat it.” Another reason is that the same basic human personality types crop up in every generation. There is the personality that always goes by the book; the personality that accuses others of the transgressions that are, in fact, its own worst failings; the personality that manipulates others with subtle mindgames; the personality that always rocks the boat just for the sake of rocking the boat. The list goes on. We need to repeat the stories because, while the specific actors and situations change, the plots and problems remain the same.
— Jech
