Does the Book of Isaiah Describe the Iron Dome?

This morning, I posted on my political/Israel Facebook page the following:  “Rocket attacks in Israel have gone from one every six minutes to one every few seconds. Isaiah 4:5 describes God spreading a canopy over His people. Now would be a good time.”

The passage of Isaiah 4 intrigues me because it also describes how God will create over every structure a “cloud by day” and “a smoke and a glow of flaming fire by night.” Most of you, like me, probably associate that description to the protection afforded the Jews as they left Egypt.  I’ve always just assumed that description was a poetic analogy of how God would someday protect His people again.  But what if Isaiah 4:5 is a description of the Iron Dome?

When a friend of mine, Courtney Druz, read my Facebook post she sent the following message to me: (Incidentally, she was interrupted while typing her message as sirens sounded where she lived and she had to seek shelter. Thank God she was able to resume her message.) “We in Israel are seeing so many prophecies of Isaiah coming to life around us. But I didn’t realize the awesome accuracy of this particular verse in explaining our situation. Many of us understand that the Iron Dome and our soldiers operating it are truly a vessel for the miracles of Hashem. Probability and nature simply cannot explain how completely this device is protecting us from Hamas missiles. But this verse goes beyond even that description. The interceptions truly look like a cloud in day, fire at night.”

Iron Dome by Day  photo: MSNBC

Iron Dome by Night  photo: Jerusalem Online

She then directed me to Rashi’s commentary on Isaiah 4. Regarding 4:5, Rashi states, “Seven chupoth (shelters or canopies) are mentioned here – cloud, smoke, splendor, fire, flame, shelter, Shechinah.”

I’m not a Bible scholar, and my friend is quick to point out that neither is she.  But if Isaiah is indeed describing God’s shelter/canopy via the Iron Dome, what a vivid reminder that God can use anything to perform a miracle.  Sometimes living in the 21^st century dulls our senses to the splendor and glory of God that constantly surrounds us. But today I was reminded that an ancient God can still do anything He wants in our modern age by any means He chooses.