26 December 2024
The (Devil of a) smell is in the detail
Cath Fisher
I arrived at my destination. My car had suitcases full of books and I had enough food (and chocolate) to last me five days. My family had gifted me time away to do focussed work on the next chapter of my PhD. Friends had loaned me their holiday home and my dog was with me to ensure I took adequate breaks. I was ready to write!
I opened the door to the house and was struck by an unusual smell. As I settled into the house, the smell was something I simply could not ignore. I moved the fridge where the smell was the strongest but there was nothing obvious giving off an odour. “There’s a dead body,” I decided. But where? I went upstairs and opened the door into the roof space. “Pwahh!” It stank!! It was an overwhelming smell. I masked up, crawled into the darkened space and then I saw it. The body of a decomposing possum. The smell of death was visceral. It made me want to cry. It made me feel sick. I wanted to get away as fast as I could from the repulsive smell of death and decay!
My experience of an intense death-stench gave me emotional, physical, and thought-provoking insight into the absolute repulsiveness of Judah’s condition in Isaiah 5:1–7. But where is the “intense death-stench” in that passage I hear you ask? Truly, the smell is in the detail. The final word of Isaiah 5:2 and 5:4 (be’ušîm) is variously translated as “wild grapes,” (ESV) “bad fruit,” (NIV) or “sour ones” (NET). But the word relates to smell. It is the smell of dead fish out of water (Isaiah 50:2) or the stench of corpses (Isaiah 34:3). Instead of the choice vines in the vineyard producing sweet tasting, life-giving grapes, this vineyard has produced the grossly unpleasant smell of death.
"It made me feel sick. I wanted to get away as fast as I could from the repulsive smell of death and decay!"
Our sense of smell, like the gift of our other senses, enables us to understand and to engage with the world around us. Smell evokes memories and provokes emotions. The smell of a rose brings a smile to your face creating momentary delight and pleasure. There is the comforting aroma of freshly baked bread, the clean, fresh smell of rain, and the sweet odour of a newborn baby. These are pleasurable smells—smells that you want to be around, smells that remind us of pleasant memories. On the other hand, I wonder if you’ve opened the fridge door and been overwhelmed by the smell of off food, or like me, unexpectantly encountered the stench of death. Were you instantly revolted? Did you immediately know what was responsible? Did you swiftly act to remove the offensive smell?
The horror of the vineyard’s death stench in Isaiah 5:1–7 is intensified because of the devotion of the owner in setting up his vineyard. The owner found fertile land and worked hard. He dug it. He cleared it of stones. He planted it with choice vines. He built a tower to protect it. He made a winepress in anticipation of its produce. The vineyard cost the owner physically, financially, and emotionally. After a wait of years, the time finally comes—harvest! He eagerly looks for produce that reflects his hard work and his planting of choice vines. Horror! The vineyard in which he delighted has produced an intense death stench!
What would be your first action? Begin ripping up the vineyard? Walk away and have nothing more to do with it? Surprisingly, this owner doesn’t rush to action but takes time to reflect. He wants to understand, and he wants others to understand as well. The owner asks those with the knowledge and experience of vineyards to cast judgment. Where does responsibility for the intense death-stench lie? Did he, the owner, do something wrong? Or is the vineyard itself responsible for its horrible death-stench? Answering the question allows people to both vent their emotions and to use their intellect in deciding whom to vindicate, and then to announce a verdict. When the owner announces that he will destroy the vineyard, bringing down everything he built up, won’t the audience cheer him on? This is no over-the-top reaction by the owner. He hasn’t gone berserk. There is no remedy for this vineyard. It has terminal problems that cannot be fixed any other way. Or can it?
"Those who fearlessly condemned the vineyard for its death-stench are brought to realise that it is they themselves who reek of death."
In a final twist, the vineyard owner is revealed as the God of hosts and the vineyard as God’s own people (Isaiah 5:7). Those who fearlessly condemned the vineyard for its death-stench are brought to realise that it is they themselves who reek of death. And so, we return to the question that God asked: What more was God to do for his people? Answer: Absolutely nothing. Question: Why then, did God’s people become the smell of death to God? The questions give pause for introspection. Why do people exchange life for death? Why do people exchange God for self? God must act to address the stench of death and decay for it brings shame not just on the vineyard but also on God, the owner.
How would you describe the “smell” of God’s people, the church, in your location? How would you describe the “smell” you emit as God’s person? Is it the perfume of life in Christ, or does it have the death-stench of wilful disobedience? Imagine if a stink bomb went off every time we acted with ungodliness, injustice or unrighteousness! Do we smell of life or death? How would God describe our “smell”?
Thinking about smell gives us a different perspective. Have you thought about using smell as a way of helping yourself, your small group, or your congregation understand and experience God’s perspective when there is injustice and unrighteousness? You might consider bringing a dead animal or reeking, rancid food into your church! I don’t recommend it, but it would certainly make an impact! But you could tap into people’s lived experiences of smell to help them understand God and understand themselves.
"Smell matters because we are embodied people whom God has gifted with all our senses."
Smell matters because we are embodied people whom God has gifted with all our senses. Smell triggers our emotions, engages our thinking, it evokes memories (both good and bad), and informs our behaviour. Understanding the absolute repulsiveness of a death stench gives us a way to tangibly experience and conceive of God’s view of behaviour that does not rightly reflect God’s character or values. Instead of diluting a lack of righteousness by describing it as “bad,” “wild,” or “sour,” we need to smell it for what it truly is: the intense stench of death. Engaging our sense of smell enables the biblical text to sneak past the “watchful dragons”[1] of our self-defensiveness that stops us understanding the true repulsiveness of our unrighteousness.
God has done absolutely everything for us in Christ Jesus. My prayer is that, as God’s people, we do not produce the death-stench of lives that bear no relationship to the love, care, grace, and provision that God has shown each one of us. Praise God for his forgiveness when we repent of our unrighteousness. May our lives produce sweet fruit that has the fragrance of life and is a pleasing aroma to God.
Cath Fisher
SMBC PhD student
[1] C.S. Lewis, “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said,” New York Times, Nov 18, 1956, (ProQuest Historical Newspapers: 'The New York Times' (1851–2009)), 310.
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