In some ancient near-east religions, death was said to swallow its victims. For example, in the Baal cycle, Death, personified as
Mot,
swallows Baal (UT 67,i,67, which I think corresponds to
KTU 1,4,vii,14-20). The Bible repeats this imagery in a few passages, with
Mot being replaced by
Sheol, or sometimes
Erets, the earth.
Isaiah 5:14 says "
Sheol expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth";
Proverbs 30:15-16 and
Habakkuk 2:5 describe
Sheol as being unsatisfiable (which could be described as having an insatiable appetite); and then you have the whole account of
Korah and his compatriots being swallowed by the
Erets and going alive into
Sheol in
Numbers 16:28-34 (and elsewhere).
But the Bible also offers a divine response to this theme in
Isaiah 25:6-8, in a description of Yahweh's banquet. Whereas death swallows its victims, verse 8 says
Yahweh swallows death:
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
A-freakin'-men.
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