"A Pronouncement: The Word of Jehovah," poetry

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Sardis, BC), 2022.

Introduction

More than 70 years had passed since the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The date of about 443 BCE, when Malachi wrote the Bible book bearing his name, found

the people spiritually awake, full of loyalty to Jehovah;

husbands loyal to their wives;

sacrifices to Jehovah the finest of the flock;

the priests spiritual pillars, zealous examples for young and old?

The answer: No! Jehovah's point of view for spiritual dysfunction in Judah can be found at Malachi 2:3: "I will scatter dung on your [the priests'] faces." What does that mean? Jehovah, disgusted by lame sacrifices burned on his altars-the Mosaic Law required priests to reject them!-naturally felt repulsed. "Where is the honor due me?" He said. (Malachi 1:6) Many other practises that marked a kind of spiritual death in the land deeply disturbed Jehovah, this God of Abraham. The poems in this collection explore this low ebb of spirituality.

An excerpt

Chapter Four

Rootless,

This stubble (thorny?),

Rolling about,

Through open gates,

Bouncing off stone walls,

Thick fences,

Without any branch

To grab a doorwell,

Skirt,

Hand, or hope;

Watch it roll between myrtle

Trees (so aromatic!, spicy!),

Even towering palms

That sway, like doubts,

In hot winds;

There it speeds

Across the wilderness

Of anger and drought,

Leaping up,

Crashing down;

O look!-a flame!

Fire! Crackle!

Flashing! Smoke!

Where has the stubble gone?

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).