Isaiah 44:1-5

For me, this painting by Moshe Berger illustrates well the theology behind Isaiah 44:1-5. God's "otherness" towers sheer above humanity, like the verticle column in the painting. God chooses, however, to be incredibly involved with earth. The divine plan is to pour out blessing on us, as illustrated in the painting by all the Hebrew letters tumbling down and spreading out over creation. God's blessing issues in spine-tingling fecundity; check out the swarming dynamics at the bottom of the artwork. God's true servants become fruitful, multiply, and "sprout like grass on the prairie, like willows alongside creeks" (Isaiah 44:4).

I like Berger's art because it marvelously gets at the archetypal, mythopoetic ideals to which Scriptures such as Isaiah 44:5 and Genesis 17:2, 6 are directing our gaze.

For an interactive art exhibit on the book of Psalms with a painting by this insightful artist of each poem in the Psalter (each with a meditative annotation), click here.