top of page

Scarecrows in a Cucumber Field

Talitha Arnold


Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. - Jeremiah 10:5 (NRSV)

“The job of a poet,” says poet (and friend) Anita Skeen, “is to put two unrelated words together to create a new reality.” An example is her poem “Rorschach Cows,” inspired by driving past a pasture filled with Holsteins and realizing they looked like a herd of ink blot tests. I can’t remember the point of the poem, but I’ve never looked at cows or psychology tests the same way since.

Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Bruggeman makes a similar point in his book, Finally Comes the Poet. For Bruggeman, poets and prophets share the same call: linking unlikely words to get our attention. Sometimes those pairings open us to new possibilities. Think Isaiah’s pairing of lions and lambs or swords and plowshares. Other times poets and prophets jolt us to the truth.

Jeremiah compared the gold statues of his people’s idols to scarecrows. They couldn’t speak, walk, or get anywhere by themselves. Moreover, the idols weren’t like just any old scarecrows, but ones in a cucumber field. The leaves of cucumber vines are so big that crows can’t get to the cucumbers, so they generally leave such fields alone. Thus, not only are the scarecrows (aka idols) lifeless and immobile, they’re also worthless and not to be feared.

I’m not a gardener, much less a farmer, so I probably need to find a phrase other than “scarecrows in a cucumber field” to describe my idols. It may take a while. In the meantime, how would you describe yours?

Prayer Thank you, God, for your poetic prophets whose words can wake us up. Amen.

Recent Posts

See All
Our Daily (Fill in the Blank)

Sometimes the prayer for daily bread took on other tangible forms. I prayed for daily sunrises, daily walks, or a daily check-in with a coll

 
 
 
When I Am Afraid

Breaking the silence, asking for help, giving thanks, remembering the covenant and God’s past deliverance from fear and falling. Maybe that’

 
 
 
God Bless

The day after the inauguration, Psalm 145 reminds us that—no matter who occupies the White House or walks the halls of Congress—when we pray

 
 
 

Comments


bottom of page