God’s helping, admonishing, destructive, and revivifying actions in
such “putting” and “making” accompany Israel through their history. During the
exodus, he makes the sea dry (Ex. 14:21) and puts darkness (maʾap̱ēl) between Israel and their pursuers (Josh.
24:7). He puts a hook into the nose of Israel’s enemies (2 K. 19:28 = Isa.
37:29) and makes their city into a “possession of the hedgehog” (Isa. 14:23).
He makes the nations judges (lemišpāṭ)
over Israel (Hab. 1:12). He exposes Jerusalem by setting it in the center of
the nations (Ezk. 5:5) and secures the throne of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 43:10;
cf. the reference to Yahweh’s own throne in the oracle of judgment, 49:38). He
makes Israel’s or the enemy’s land a “desolation” (šammâ, šemāmâ: Isa. 13:9; Jer. 6:8; 18:16; 25:12; 51:29;
Mic. 1:7; Zech. 7:14; their cities in Jer. 19:8; Zeph. 2:13; mountains in Mal.
1:3; people in Jer. 25:9; Hos. 2:5[3]; cf. Lam. 3:11) or into a “forest” (yaʿar: Hos. 2:14[12]) or “ruin” (ʿawwâ: Ezk. 21:32; ḥorbâ: Ezk. 35:4; ʿî:
Mic. 1:6; cf. meḥittâ in
Ps. 89:41[40]). He makes rivers into a “desert” (miḏbār: Ps. 107:33; Isa. 50:2) and makes a “grave” for Nineveh
(Nah. 1:14). Those suffering from war, banishment, and distress find that God
has made them into a “spectacle” (roʾî:
Nah. 3:6), a “plaything” (māḏôn: Ps.
80:7[6] [NRSV “scorn/strife”]; cf. Job 7:20, “target”), a “song of mockery” (māšāl: Ps. 44:15[14]; Ezk. 14:8[?]),
“filth” (seḥî: Lam. 3:45;
Biblical Aram. newālû:
Dnl. 2:5), subjecting them to scorn (ḥerpâ:
Ps. 39:9[8]; 44:14[13]). Finally, the combination of śîm + ke + PN
functions similarly as a threat of judgment (Jer. 29:22; Hos. 11:8; cf. Gen.
48:20 in relation to blessing). (G. Vanoni, “שִׂים,” in TDOT
14:109)
