Melt

Solids become liquids when sufficient heat is sustained over an adequate amount of time. As the temperature reaches the melting point, the molecules within the solid begin to move so quickly and chaotically that they are no longer able to sustain their grasp on each other and so they begin to flow away from each other, changing what once was a solid into a liquid. This phenomenon of melting was both observed and instigated by the ancients.

Though people in Bible times did not fully understand the physics behind the process of melting, they did observe it happening in many situations. For example, the higher elevations in the Promised Land received snowfall during the winter months. As the seasons changed and temperatures moderated, that snow melted (Job 6:16; see also Ps. 147:18). A more common example was the intentional melting of beeswax (Pss. 22:14; 68:2; 97:5; Mic. 1:4). The equivalent of today’s signature was executed in the ancient world by making an impression in a softened substance with a signet ring or stamp seal that was unique to the owner. That impression was most frequently made in clay, but it could also be made by pressing the seal into wax.[142] Beeswax was also melted during the lost-wax casting process. The artisan began by shaping a positive model out of wax of the object being produced. Then clay or sand was packed around the wax model in order to create a mold. Careful application of heat hardened the mold into the shape of the wax model while at the same time melting the wax from the mold. A molten metal such as silver, copper, iron, lead, or tin that had been heated in a crucible or furnace was then poured into the mold and hardened to produce a religious object, tool, or weapon (Ezek. 22:20–22).

Wax was prepared to receive the unique impression of a signet ring when it was heated to the melting point.

The average person’s knowledge of and experience with melting meant that this process could be used as a metaphor by the biblical authors. While melting had positive and utilitarian roles in the ancient world, the Bible almost always presents figures of melting with a negative connotation. People’s hearts melted when difficulties in life came. This image is used to describe a loss of resolve, confidence, or courage in the one who had undergone that change in state. Personal challenges in life such as illness or a storm-tossed sea could also cause such melting (Ps. 107:26; Isa. 10:18; NIV “wastes away”). “My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me” (Ps. 22:14). People’s hearts also melted metaphorically in the face of divine judgment that was precipitated by sin at the personal or national level (Isa. 13:7; 14:31; 19:1; Ezek. 22:20–22; Nah. 2:10).

The Bible also speaks of the mountains and the earth melting. Psalm 97 introduces this phenomenon together with lightning as the way in which the Creator of this world demonstrates his existence and power: “His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth” (Ps. 97:4–5). The hard limestone mountains of the Promised Land erode at a rate of about one centimeter every one thousand years. But should he wish to do so, the Creator who shaped the mountains could melt them down in an instant and reform them afresh. This will literally take place during the formation of the new heaven and the new earth (2 Pet. 3:12–13).

The melting of the earth or mountains is also a symbol of divine judgment: “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts” (Ps. 46:6). Because mountains were often symbols of religious or political power in the ancient world, they became representatives of those forces that opposed the advance of God’s kingdom that would be metaphorically melted down by divine judgment (Mic. 1:4; Nah. 1:5).[143]

A storm-tossed sea is among the experiences in life that can cause one’s heart to melt.

Phrases that contain the term melting are strewn across the books of Exodus through Joshua and into 1 Samuel in a literary string that invites our attention. Consider the implications of whose hearts should have been melting and whose hearts actually melted in the following settings. The song of Moses introduces this image shortly after the Red Sea crossing: “The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away” (Exod. 15:15). But when it came time to enter the Promised Land, a discouraging report caused not Canaanite but Israelite hearts to melt in fear (Deut. 1:28; Josh. 14:8). Hope was again revived by the assessment of Rahab given to the two spies who penetrated Jericho. She told them that “all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you”—saying it not once but twice (Josh. 2:9, 11). The spies repeated that image in their report to Joshua, and it was confirmed later when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River (Josh. 2:24; 5:1).

The great miracles that had ushered the Israelites into the Promised Land disabled the resistance. There was nothing to stop their aggressive advance through the country except for reservations or disobedience in the hearts of God’s people. Although God had forbidden them to take spoils of holy war as their own, Achan was not able to resist. As a result, when the Israelites went to war against a more modest force at Ai, the Lord allowed disaster to strike. Achan’s sin precipitated a surprising and horrible defeat. “At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water” (Josh. 7:4–5).

Throughout the period of the judges, there is no mention of nations whose hearts melted at the sight of God’s people. The next time we see this metaphor used is when Saul’s son Jonathan made a daring raid on a Philistine outpost. The Lord shook the ground and sent a panic through the Philistine ranks. “Saul’s lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions” (1 Sam. 14:16).