Before anyone gets too excited, this picture is from last winter (February 2014) where the town I live in experienced one of the snowiest winters on record. This past Friday (November 14th), we saw the first snow flurries of the season and for those who like snow, it puts a certain excitement in the air. Ever since my first winter in Germany in 1994, I have always loved watching snow fall. The cold, crisp smell of snow in the air, the reflection of the light as the snow falls at night are not only comforting but relaxing as well. Within the Bible there are various snows that are mentioned that I always think of as I watch the snowfall. To me, just as the rainbow is a reminder of God’s promise never to judge the sinfulness of man by flood again, snow also is a reminder of God’s goodness and grace towards man.
The purity of snow shows the sinful nature of our own self-righteousness
Within the book of Job, as he is beginning to question all that he believes about the Lord, he states: If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment (Job 9:30-32). Snow water is often considered one of the cleanest forms of water. Back when I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, I loved going to the Cascade Mountains along the trails and loved doing the hiking trips of Mount Rainier. At one station, you could take a cup and catch meltwater from the glacier and drink it. It is a clean taste that has the ability to quench any physical thirst; and if you let the cold water run over your hands, there’s something about the way your hands feel afterwards – as if they are more clean than they have ever been. Job is saying that even if he were to wash his hands in the purest of water, his hands would still not be clean enough for the Lord. This is just what Isaiah said when he wrote, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). It is of the similar mindset when the apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No matter what we try to do on our own, our sense of purity and righteousness is contaminated by the flesh. Think of the physical contrast between a yard when snow begins to fall – the snow in all its white purity seems to bring out the darkness, the filth, and the decay on the ground around it.
Snow as a picture of judgment against sin and rebellion
There are a few places in scripture where the phrase “white as snow” is used when referring to the results of God’s judgment. The first time this phrase occurs is the results of a brief rebellion led my Miriam, the sister of Moses. Not only was she questioning Moses’ position of leadership and his marriage to an Ethiopian woman: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it (Numbers 12:1-2). As she challenged Moses authority, the Lord interceded for him: And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Numbers 12:5-10).
