No Breath In It | What Yahowah Already Said About the Things We Make

There has been a lot of talk about AI this week, about machines outthinking us and what that means for our future. If any of it has you uneasy, here is why I am not worried about it one bit.

A Made Thing Teaches

People have been making things with their own hands and then trusting them for thousands of years. Chabaquwq saw it clearly. A craftsman shapes something, covers it in gold and silver, then turns to it to teach him. But what it teaches is falsehood (sheqer), because there is no breath (ruwach) in it. The craftsman is not fooled by something foreign. He is fooled by his own work.

Mouth, Eyes, Nostrils

Mizmowr 115 works through it part by part. The made thing has a mouth and does not speak, eyes and does not see, ears and does not hear, hands and does not reach out, feet and does not walk. It even has a nose ('aph) and cannot draw breath through it.

That last one is worth stopping on, because 'aph is the same word used when Yahowah breathed into 'Adam's nostrils. The made thing has the opening and nothing to put through it.

And notice where the warning lands. Not on the object, on the people: those who make them and lean on them become like them.

What Only Yahowah Does

Life came a different way. The first man was formed from dust, and he only lived when Yahowah breathed the neshamah chayym into him. That is the line nobody has ever crossed from the other side. Forming is something men do. Breathing is not.

The Earth Is Not Going Anywhere

And Yahowah already told us how this goes. A generation goes and a generation comes, but the land remains standing. He did not create the earth for emptiness (tohuw); He created Her to be settled and dwelled in (la yashab). The Shamayim belong to Yahowah, and the material realm He has given to the children of 'adam. And as long as the earth lasts, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.

An Inheritance, Not Just Survival

It goes further than us merely hanging on. Mizmowr 37 says the same thing six different ways: those who look to Yahowah become heirs and take possession of the land (yiyreshuw 'arets). The humble inherit it. The blessed inherit it. The upright inherit it and dwell on it la'ad, continual and without end. Their inheritance endures le'owlam.

That is not a promise that people survive on the earth. It is a promise that people are set over it, and that it does not get taken back.

Anchored in Dowd and Tsyown

And the whole thing is anchored in one place and one man. Dowd was rooted and established on Tsyown, and Yahowah told him to ask, and the nations to the ends of the material realm would be his inheritance (nachalathka). Mizmowr 48 calls Tsyown the joy of all the earth and says the Mighty Ones established it up to 'owlam, and then adds wa 'ad on top of it. Everlasting, and then keeps going.

Tsyown from the east, across the Qidrown valley

Holding It

So the earth is not facing extinction, and neither is the human race. The one who created it all said so, and He said what comes after: an inheritance, in the land, that holds.

A made thing can be impressive. It can be covered in gold and silver. It cannot breathe, and it was never the thing to fear or the thing to trust. Put your trust in Yahowah.

Do not let the chatter take your peace.

The Words Themselves

Chabaquwq | Habakkuk 2:18-20

What value is a carved idol (pesel) that its maker has shaped (yatsar), a cast image (massekah) that teaches lies (kazab)? For the maker trusts (batach) in his own creation (ma'aseh) to produce dumb idols (eliyl). Woe to him who says to wood ('ets), “Awake!” ('ur), to silent stone (eben), “Arise, it will teach!” (yarah). Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath (ruwach) in it at all. But YHWH is in His set-apart temple (miqdash); let all the earth be silent before Him (chashah).

Mizmowr | Psalm 115:4

Their fashioned and shaped things ('atsab hem) are silver (keseph) and gold (wa zahab), the work and product (ma'aseh) of the hands (ydey) of 'adam (ha 'adam).

Mizmowr 115:5

A mouth (peh) belongs to them (la hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') speak or convey a word (dabar). Eyes ('eynaym) belong to them (la hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') see and perceive (ra'ah).

Mizmowr 115:6

Ears ('aznaym) belong to them (la hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') listen and understand (shama'). A nose ('aph) belongs to them (la hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') smell or draw in breath (ruwach).

Mizmowr 115:7

Their hands (ydey hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') feel, reach out, and take hold (muwsh). Their feet (ragley hem) and yet they do not (wa lo') walk and go (halak). They do not (lo') make a sound or utter a murmur (hagah) in their throat (ba garown hem).

Mizmowr 115:8

Like them (kemow hem) they will come to exist (hayah), the ones who make them ('asah hem), everyone (kol) who relies on them with confidence (batach ba hem).

Mizmowr 115:16

The Shamayim (ha shamayim), the Shamayim belong to YHWH (la YHWH), and the material realm (wa ha 'erets) He has given (natan) to the sons and children (la beney) of 'adam.

Bere'shiyth | Genesis 2:7

Then They formed and fashioned (wa yatsar) YHWH, the Mighty Ones ('Elohym), accordingly 'Adam ('eth ha 'Adam) from the material elements of the soil ('apar min ha 'adamah). They breathed (wa naphach) into his nostrils (ba 'aph huw') Her breath of nourishment for a lifetime(s) (neshamah chayym – life-giving conscience). And 'Adam/the man came to exist (wa hayah ha 'Adam) with a living soul (la nepesh chay).

Qoheleth | Ecclesiastes 1:4

A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the land remains standing.

Yesha'eyahuw | Isaiah 45:18

Indeed (ky), this is what (koh) He says ('amar), YHWH: “I created (bara') the Shamayim | Heavenly Realm and Abode of the Observant Ones, and formed and planned (wa yatsar) the material realm (ha 'erets). And then I made Her, He fashioned and established Her (kuwn hy') not to be (lo') for emptiness and lifelessness (la tohuw). He created Her (bara' hy') to be settled and to dwell (la yashab). I, YHWH, and there is no other continuance ('owd).”

Mizmowr 37:9

…but those looking forward with confidence for YaHWaH (weqowey YaHWaH), they will become heirs, inheriting the land (hemah yiyreshuw 'arets).

Mizmowr 37:11

And the humble and unpretentious (wa'anawiym) will become heirs, taking possession of the material realm (yiyreshuw 'arets), and they will take pleasure and delight toward and extending to an indefinite period of time ('al rob) of peace, prosperity, completeness and an overall state of favorable circumstance (shalowm).

Mizmowr 37:18

YaHWaH knows and is deeply involved in the days and times of the blameless and innocent ones (yemey temiymim), and their inheritance and hereditary property (wenachalatham) will endure forever, into eternity (le'owlam tihyeh).

Mizmowr 37:22

Because indeed (ky) those who are blessed by Him (meborakayuw) will become heirs, taking possession of the material realm (yiyreshuw 'arets), but those accursed by Him (uwmequlalayuw) will be cut off (yikarethuw).

Mizmowr 37:29

The upright, innocent and just (tsadiyqiym) will become heirs, taking possession of the material realm (yiyreshuw 'arets) and they will dwell and remain (weyishkenuw) for eternity, continual and without end upon it (la'ad 'aleyha).

Mizmowr 37:34

…and He will lift you up to a higher elevation (wiyrowmimka) into becoming an heir and taking possession of (laresheth) the material realm ('arets).

Mizmowr 2:6

And me (Dowd) (wa'aniy), I have been rooted and established (nasaktiy) by My King and Ruler (malkiy) upon Tsyown | Empowering Directions and Guidelines Posted Along the Way ('al tsyown), my set apart and elevated mountain (har qadeshiy).

Mizmowr 2:8

Ask and inquire (she'al) from me (mimeny) and I will give over (we'etenah) the nations and people (gowyim) as your inheritance (nachalathka) and it will be your property and possession (wa'achuzathka) to the ends and extremities of the material realm ('aphsey 'erets).

Mizmowr 48:3

Beautiful, proper and lovely (yapheh) is the physical height and elevation of this land mass (nowph), the joy, delight and merriment of (masows) all (kol) the material realm (ha 'erets), the mountain of (har) Tsyown.

Mizmowr 48:15

For indeed (ky) These are (zeh) the Mighty Ones ('Elohym), our Mighty Ones ('Elohym 'anachnuw), everlasting and into eternity ('owlam) and forever, continual and without end (wa 'ad), He (huw') will carry us away from (nahag 'anachnuw) the proximity of death and dying ('al muwth).

Bere'shiyth | Genesis 8:22

During each and all of the days of the domain of human interaction — sown offspring and produce and the appointed season when what was sown reveals its outcome, and an apathetic cold of lacking enthusiasm, and heat of intense passion and energy, and summer symbolic of the final stage before judgement and harvest, and winter symbolic of the season of withdrawal and preservation, and day — the interval in which something becomes visible or active, and night — the time of invisible activity and hidden renewal, they will not cease and come to an end.

Read Straight Through

The made thing that teaches — Chabaquwq 2:18-20

Part by part — Mizmowr 115:4-8, 16

The breath that made a living soul — Bere'shiyth 2:7

The land remains — Qoheleth 1:4

Not for emptiness — Yesha'eyahuw 45:18

The inheritance — Mizmowr 37:9, 11, 18, 22, 29, 34

Dowd and the nations — Mizmowr 2:6, 8

Tsyown, 'owlam wa 'ad — Mizmowr 48:3, 15

As long as the earth lasts — Bere'shiyth 8:22

Renderings of Chabaquwq 2:18-20 by Clint Reese and Bere'shiyth 8:22 by William Baskin. Mizmowr 115 rendered for this post. All others by T. Haston.