Pollution Linked to Moral Conduct - the Hebrew Word "chaneph"

These are notes for an incomplete "Concept" page.

Information is being added as the Bible Pages are added. In the end, everything will be compiled, further information added (as necessary), broken links connected, etc.

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Cross-references Parent Topic a Related Topics b Links to Additional Materials c

Note: The comments about murder are fully compatible with God's commands to Noah, just after the Flood.

O.T. passages, from the Hebrew word "chaneph."

General Statement

A general statement of a polluted linked to moral conduct.

Isaiah 24:5 Isa 24:5 - The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

Humans are created in the Image of God. The two sins that are described having the greatest impact on "polluting the land" are those sins that are the greatest violation of what it means to be the Image of God.

Bloodshed

Bloodshed pollutes the land by destroying an image bearer. "Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image" (Genesis 9:6).

In the case of murder, the only way the land can be cleansed is by the death of the murderer. (He cannot "bargain" for his life.)

Numbers 35:30-33 Murder Num 35:30-31, 33 - Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die. Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death. / So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it. Accidental Bloodshed Even in case of accidental bloodshed, there would be restrictions placed upon the one who caused it - though his life would be spared. This shows how serious bloodshed is. (Exactly how such restrictions would be applied in a New Covenant context is not certain.) Num 35:32 - You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

An example: Israel failed to destroy the wicked nations of Canaan, but learned their wicked practices instead (which is why they later had to go into captivity). One of these practices was the murder of their children, which they turned into a "religious" activity.

Psalm 106:34-42 Failure to destroy the wicked, choosing instead to follow their abominable ways. Psa 106:34-36 - They didn't destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them, but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. These evil ways included bloodshed, thus polluting the land. Psa 106:37-39 - Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. Therefore, God let their enemies (who's ways they practiced) to rule over them Psa 106:40-42 - Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance. He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand. God warned them what would happen (Deuteronomy 7:1-26, for example). He explained why it would happen. But they ignored him... and it happened!

Sexual Sin

The "unity" and "plurality" of marriage is designed to reflect the nature of God. This relationship is part of what it means to bear the Image of God. To violate the nature of marriage (as defined by God - Genesis 2:24) is to profane the nature and character of God. Sexual sin is not the trivial matter that the wicked would want us to believe, but is serious enough to be described as polluting the land.

This passage focuses on a variety of sexual sins related to divorce and adultery - along with the spiritual counterparts to the physical act. In this passage, the people no longer considered either to be a serious matter!

Jeremiah 3:1-10 Physical sexual sin Widespread divorce and remarriage - polluting the land. Jer 3:1a - They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Won't that land be greatly polluted? ... Their conduct paralleled their spiritual conduct They claimed they belonged to Yahweh (the God of Israel), but they were unfaithful in heart, and united to a variety of "gods." Jer 3:1b-2 - ... But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yahweh. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see; where have you not been lain with? By the ways have you sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. Consequences - judgment #1 Lack of rain; drought. Yet they remained unrepentant. Jer 3:3-5 - Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed. Will you not from this time cry to me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth? Will he retain his anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way. Consequences - judgment #2 The Northern kingdom (Israel) was destroyed ("divorced") in judgment. Yet the southern kingdom (Judah) still refused to repent, but continued in her "spiritual adultery." Jer 3:6-8a - Moreover Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute. I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she didn't return: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, ... Jer 3:8b-10 - ...yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says Yahweh.

Additional Passages

These show how the word is used in other contexts, but are not necessarily related to this specific topic.

(Other verses) Jeremiah 23:11 describes the leaders as being morally and spiritually "polluted" (also translated as "profane" or "godless"). The whole land was full of people who were like this... therefore the land was experiencing drought - v. 10. Daniel 11:32, part of a prophecy about Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c. 215 BC – 164 BC), who would use flattery to "pollute" those who would be willing to violate the covenant of God. Micah 4:11, a reference to Judah's enemies, who want to "pollute" the land - the word being used in a different sense, as a reference to their desire to desecrate anything that God may have called "sacred."

Scripture Pages that Link to Here

Isaiah 24:1-23

The "pollution" described here is a moral pollution. The Hebrew word translated here as "pollution" (chaneph) is used in several other passages to describe the effects that sexual sin and murder have on the land.

It is because of this moral pollution that God will send an Ecological Disaster.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.