Jeremiah 7:1-9:26

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 226

Jeremiah 7:1-8:3 is a prose section sometimes called the "Temple Sermon." Jeremiah apparently harangued people with this message at the doors of the temple. Their trust that the very existence of the temple would keep them safe and Jersualem inviolable was ill-founded:

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”
      (Jeremiah 7:4) 

The Judahites have failed to do justice. Verses 5-7 hark back to Deuteronomy 28-30. The temple has become a "den of robbers" (v. 11). Jesus will cite this verse when he upsets the temple in his own day (Mark 11:17 and parallels).


The old temple at Shiloh was destroyed (vv. 12-15). Its existence didn't spare the Israelites from being conquered (v. 15). Neither will the Jerusalem temple save the Judahites.


In verses 16 ff. YHWH once again expresses his anger about Judah's idolatries. In verses 25-26, the prophet cites the exodus from Egypt, this time taking a less romantic view than in chapter 2:

From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.

Verse 31 brings the most scandalous accusation against Judah. The people have practiced child sacrifice in the valley of Ben-Hinnom (which gives its name to Gehenna, hell).

As  a result of all this, Judah and Jerusalem will become a wasteland of open graves and rotting corpses (7:32-8:3).

Jeremiah 8:4-17 is a poetic passage detailing again the sins of Judah's people, priests, and prophets. Their repentance comes too late to prevent disaster.

Jeremiah 8:18-9:26 is a collection of poems which the New Interpreters Study Bible interprets as a conversation among several voices including YHWH, Jeremiah, and Judah. Mostly they lament the devastation of Jerusalem. 8:22 asks the question "Is there no balm in Gilead?" which is the source of a well-known spiritual song and which is quoted in Poe's famous poem The Raven.

The Apostle Paul quotes Jeremiah 9:24 in his first letter to the Corinthians though, as usual, he shows no concern for the original context of the quote.

This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
    or the strong boast of their strength
    or the rich boast of their riches
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
    justice and righteousness on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
      (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

In 9:25-26 YHWH announces that he will deal with those who are uncircumcised. the Gentiles whose foreskins are not circumcised and the Judahites whose hearts are uncircumcised.

 

Biblical quotations are from the New International Version. Next: Jeremiah 10-13

Happy International Septuagint Day!

According to an ancient legend, King Ptolemy II of Egypt wanted to add the Torah to his library at Alexandria. He needed the Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek, the common language of the day. To that end he sent to Judea and had 72 Jewish scholars brought to Alexandria. The scholars did their work individually, sequestered in 72 separate rooms for 72 days. When they were finished, the compared their work and discovered that each of them had produced precisely the same translation.

There is probably little of historical fact in this account but it does express something of the esteem in which the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures we call the Septuagint was held. In fact, the legend gives the Septuagint its name. Septuagint is Greek for "seventy." Scholarly references often abbreviate "Septuagint" with the Roman numeral LXX (70).

The Septuagint was the Bible of the early Church. When the New Testament quotes the Old Testament it is usually (if not always) from some form of the LXX text. The Septuagint remains the Old Testament of the Orthodox churches. It is the source of deuterocanonical books--the "extra" books--found in Roman Catholic editions of the Bible but missing from the Protestant canon.

Today is International Septuagint Day.

How to celebrate? I suppose you could bake a cake or send cards. Or, maybe you could read something from the Septuagint. The Book of Tobit is a charming story about a faithful Jew who is blinded by sparrow dung. Really.

If you're feeling a little less ambitious, the story of Susanna, an addition to the book of Daniel, is every bit as charming but not quite so long. It involves a beautiful, virtuous woman, a couple of corrupt civic officials, and a clever young hero.

Jeremiah 4:1-6:30

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 225

Jeremiah 4:1-4 complete the oracle begun at 3:1. Once again the parties responsible for dividing the Bible into chapters and verses have done the text a disservice.

Jeremiah 4:5-6:30 are a new oracle, complete unto itself. It warns of impending disaster, invasion from the north. In verse 10, the prophet accuses YHWH of duplicity:

Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!” 

There was an idea that Jerusalem, as the city of God, was inviolable. Jeremiah's rival prophets promoted the idea. Jeremiah, rightly, recognized that it was a false notion. That he accuses YHWH of deception, here and elsewhere, is one of the fascinating things about Jeremiah.

In verses 19-29, speaking through the prophet, YHWH expresses his own anguish at the pending disaster. Verses 30-31 use imagery familiar from the preceding chapters; Judah is an unfaithful wife only now her lovers have become her attackers.

Legend has it that the cynic philosopher Diogenes carried a lantern in broad daylight searching, he said, for an honest person. Jeremiah 5:1-9 describe the prophet's search for a good person. Neither the Greek philosopher nor the Hebrew prophet were successful. Jeremiah cannot find a righteous person among either among the poor (v. 4) or the powerful (v. 5).

Verses 10-30 accuse the Judahites of idolatry, once again equating the sin with adultery, and using the imagery of animal sex:

They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
   each neighing for another man’s wife.
      (Jeremiah 5:8)

Verses 12-13 denounce Jeremiah's rival prophets:

 They have lied about the LORD;
   they said, “He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
   we will never see sword or famine.
The prophets are but wind
   and the word is not in them;
   so let what they say be done to them.” 

In verses 18-19, which the NIV set as prose, YHWH promises that the northern invaders will not completely destroy Judah. A remnant will be left to testify against themselves:

“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely. And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’"

Chapter 6 describes the coming siege in terms that are urgent, nearly frantic. In verse 11 Jeremiah associates himself closely with YHWH. The prophet is more than a mouthpiece, he feels YHWH's feelings:

But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
   and I cannot hold it in. 

In verse 14 YHWH and the prophet again denounce Jeremiah's rival prophets:

 They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
   when there is no peace. 

Today's portion concludes (vv. 27-30) with YHWH addressing Jeremiah. Jeremiah, the Lord says, is an assayer:

“I have made you a tester of metals
   and my people the ore,
that you may observe
   and test their ways.
They are all hardened rebels,
   going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
   they all act corruptly.
The bellows blow fiercely
   to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
   the wicked are not purged out.
They are called rejected silver,
   because the LORD has rejected them.”

I looked at several translations of that passage. Some of them, like the NIV quoted above, enclose all four verses in quotation marks indicating that YHWH is the sole speaker. Others, like the NRSV, don't add quotation marks at all which, frankly, has the same effect. Quotation marks would not have been a part of the original text. I find myself wondering if it doesn't make sense to read those verses as a dialogue. YHWH says, "I've made you an assayer to test my people." Then Jeremiah gives his report, "They're no good. They're full of impurities."

Just a thought.








Biblical quotes are from the New International Version. The painting of Diogenes came from this website.

Next: Jeremiah 7-9

Jeremiah 1:1-3:25

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 224

Jeremiah 1:1-3 introduce us to the book's titular prophet. Our hero is a priest from Anathtoh, a town in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Israel's first king, Saul, was a Benjaminite. According to the introduction to Jeremiah in the Jewish Study Bible, this would make Jeremiah a descendant of Eli, the priest of Shiloh whom we met in 1 Samuel. Israel's second king, David, removed the "Elide" priests from the office of high priest and installed the Zadokites in their place.

Jeremiah prophesied in Judah beginning in the reign of King Josiah, continuing through the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and right up until the time of the Babylonian exile. Again, the Jewish Study Bible says that Jeremiah, like Moses, is a priest and prophet whose career spanned 40 years.

Verses 4-19 describe Jeremiah's inaugural experience. Appointed by YHWH, Jeremiah, like Moses and others before him, protests that he is not prepared for the job. "I'm too young," he says. As usual, YHWH will have none of it.

Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

      (Jeremiah 1:9-10)

There follow two visions (vv.11-14)  the first involving a pun. In Hebrew the words for "almond tree" and "watching" sound similar. The second vision is a boiling pot from the north. YHWH will pour out disasters from the north in judgment for Judah's idolatry.

The chapter concludes with YHWH telling Jeremiah that the prophet will be an inviolable "fortified city," a description that Jeremiah's opponents would have applied to Jerusalem.

Reading chapters 2 and 3 is something like watching an episode of Divorce Court with YHWH as the husband and Israel as the wife. Their relationship started out happily. YHWH's recollection of their time in the wilderness is rosy and romantic, far removed from the book of Exodus.

I remember the devotion of your youth,
   how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
   through a land not sown. 
      (Jeremiah 2:1b)

Now, YHWH brings his unfaithful bride to court:

“Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD.
“And I will bring charges against your children’s children.”
      (Jeremiah 2:9)

YHWH's beef is that Judah has gone to Egypt and Assyria for help (2:18) and has committed idolatry which is rather graphically described as prostitution (2:20) and adultery. Israel's indiscretions are put in terms of animal sex.

You are a swift she-camel
   running here and there,
a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
   sniffing the wind in her craving—
   in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
   at mating time they will find her.
      (Jeremiah 2:23b-24)

For his part, YHWH insists that he is innocent:

"Why do you bring charges against me?
   You have all rebelled against me."
      (Jeremiah 2:29)

YHWH at first insists that his divorce from Judah will be final, complete, and irrevocable (3:1-5). But then, as the prophet's words turn from poetry to a mix of prose and poem, YHWH's tone softens. The oracle of vv. 6-25 is set in the time of King Josiah whose reforms sought unite Judah with the remnants of Israel. YHWH here says that he would welcome repentant Israel back.

Scripture quotes are from the New International Version.
Next: Jeremiah 4-6

The Great Evolution/Creation Debate

WHO WON?

Full disclosure: I did not watch last night's highly publicized debate between young earth creationist Ken Ham and TV's "Science Guy" Bill  Nye. I don't know who won the debate. I know that partisans on both sides of the question are claiming some measure of victory. I also know that it doesn't matter.

You see, the winner in a debate is not necessarily the one who has the truth on their side. It is the one who is more skilled at debating.

Relgious Instincts

I love Terry Gross and I don't care who knows it. She does one of the most intelligent interviews in any medium. Her National Public Radio program Fresh Air is almost always worth hearing.

Yesterday she spoke with Jennifer Senior, author of All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood. I only heard a few minutes of the interview but this statement by Senior caught my attention:

So, like, my kid at one month looked directly at me at one point and kind of cooed. It was this recognition. It was like oh, like, you're my mom. And I'd like to think that when I'm dying I'll remember that because it was really wild. And if you don't have any religious instincts, which unfortunately I don't, I was like born without them, that is like as close as I'm going to come to awe.

Two things:

1. I wonder why Senior thinks it unfortunate that she lacks religious instincts.

2. Is she right that we are born with religious instincts?

What do you think?

Pre-Jeremiah

Buckle your Bible belts; we are in for a bumpy ride. 

The book of Jeremiah is difficult on many levels, not least of which is its organizational structure, or lack thereof. In her introduction to Jeremiah for the New Interpreters Study Bible, Kathleen M. O'Connor, notes:

Although individual poems and narratives throughout the book are powerfully clear and coherent, the book as a whole can easily confuse readers....Modern linear reading conventions are simply inadequate for making sense of the material.

In other words, the book is a mess.

Scholars have identified at least three layers of material in Jeremiah. 

1. Poetic oracles that come from Jeremiah himself.
2. Biographical material by the prophet's secretary, Baruch
3. Prose sermons added by later redactors who share the theological outlook of the book of Deuteronomy.

Louis Stulman's introduction to Jeremiah in the CEB Study Bible notes:

Some recent interpreters suggest that the book's jumbled order reflects the lived chaos of a crushed and defeated people. Ironically, then, the meaning of the book may be found in its lack of structure!

This is a beguiling idea, though I think that the book's incoherence is more likely a by-product of the process which gave it form than a deliberate rhetorical strategy.

The prophet Jeremiah was active in Jerusalem during the years before its destruction by the Babylonians. When the kings of Judah sought aid from the Egyptians, Jeremiah warned against the strategy. He counseled submission to the Babylonians. He witnessed war, siege, the destruction of the temple, and three deportations of Judahites by the Babylonians.

The introduction to Jeremiah in the Augsburg Fortress Lutheran Study Bible says:

[Jeremiah's] prophecies explain that this chaos was God's divine judgment on the people of Judah because they were unfaithful to God. Most of Jeremiah's listeners thought he was a heretic who opposed the popular religious understandings and practices of the day. Some people thought he was insane. His friends and family stayed away. Religious leaders called for his death.

And:

Jeremiah was depressed, angry, and insecure.

We will be "treated" to some of the prophet's personal laments. 

In the People's Bible Companion, Angela Bauer-Levesque writes.

As a point of caution, the rhetoric used to express the message of having strayed from God’s way is full of powerful and problematic images. Addressed to a predominantly male audience, gendered and racialized metaphors invite the hearers to imagine being raped by divine power and shamed publicly.

For the most part, the book of Jeremiah is unremittingly gloomy.  There is a small ray of hope in chapters 30-33. These chapters are sometimes called the "Book of Comfort." Their placement at the center of the book may be intended to emphasize their message.

The book of Jeremiah is about 1/8 shorter (c. 2700 words) shorter in the Greek Septuagint (and Bibles based upon it) than in the Hebrew of the Masoretic text (and Bibles based upon it). The material in these two sources also occurs in different order. A Hebrew manuscript that conforms closely to the Septuagint version was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Fragments of a version more like the Masoretic text were also found there. Concordia Publishing House's The Lutheran Study Bible cites the fourth century translator Jerome as suggesting that the Septuagint version is a condensation of the Masoretic text. I think it more likely that there were simply two different recensions of Jeremiah in circulation at an early date. The longer version found its way into the Masoretic text; the shorter was translated into the Septuagint. The people of antiquity were far less concerned with finding an authoritative original text than we moderns seem to be.

Isaiah 64:1-66:24

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 223

The communal prayer begun at Isaiah 63:7 continues through chapter 64. Israel asks YHWH to come down from heaven (v. 1) as he did at Sinai (v. 3). The community confesses its sinful unworthiness, comparing itself to a menstrual rag (v. 6) which reminds us of the typical Hebrew aversion to bodily fluids. The reason Israel seeks YHWH's help is that their cities are in ruins (v. 10) and the temple is in ruins (v. 11).

The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 65:1-2 in his letter to the Romans 10:20-21. As Paul applies this quote verse 1 refers to the Gentiles and verse 2 to the Jews. In their original context it is clear that these verses refer only to Israel. YHWH complains that he has revealed himself to Israel (vv. 1-2) but was annoyed with their idolatrous ways and pagan worship practices (vv. 3-5). YHWH will dump their sins into their own laps (vv. 6-7) but promises that a righteous remnant will be redeemed and restored (vv. 9-10). Verses 11-16 reiterate and reinforce these ideas.

Verses 17-25 YHWH states that his acts of restoration will fundamentally alter the fabric of reality. Heaven and earth will be made new. Jerusalem will become a new Eden.

Chapter 66 begins with YHWH once again declaring his sovereign transcendence (v. 1). Though he favors the humble and contrite (v. 2a), the sacrifices of the haughty are unacceptable, unclean, and abominable (vv. 2b-4) So, the people of Israel is told to do right regardless of the cost to their reputations. YHWH promises to put things right (vv. 5-6).

In verses 7 ff. Jerusalem is described as "mother Zion." She gives birth effortlessly and consoles her citizen children. Verse 13 applies the mother imagery to YHWH himself who comforts his people.

Isaiah 66:17 once again proclaims judgment against practitioners of pagan rites within Israel. Verses 18-21 are a prose oracle declaring that the nations will help Israel return.  Gentiles will come to worship YHWH at Jerusalem. Some of them, astoundingly, will even become priests and Levites (v. 21).

The last two verses of Isaiah return to the theme of the new heavens and new earth. In this new reality everyone will worship YHWH but the corpses of rebels will lie shamefully exposed. The image of their bodies beings consumed by worms and fire is used as an image of eternal judgment in Mark 9:48. Certainly Isaiah didn't imagine a hell of eternal, conscious torment. We will have to wait to see if that's what Mark had in mind.



Next: Jeremiah 1-3

The Effects of Gender Language

Back in 2012 I wrote a series of blog posts dealing with issues of biblical translation, including this post concerning gender language. If you share my concern for these topics you might want to check out a 2-part series titled "Footnoted" on the Junia Project blog. It's author, Rebecca Card-Hyatt. cites a footnore in the English Standard Version:

“Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church.”

This footnote first occurs in Matthew 5:47, “And if you greet your brothers only …” I remember thinking “Huh?! Totally didn’t know this! Interesting!”

One hundred and thirty-five times later I was in shock. Brothers, brothers, brothers, brothers. This footnote (or the truncated footnote “brothers and sisters”) appeared at the bottom of more pages than not in my New Testament.  I had always mentally translated “brothers” to something like “fellow Christians” without a second thought. But here, in no uncertain terms, translators were telling me that the original language provided the choice between brothers and brothers and sisters, and they had chosen the former.  There were other options brothers was an intentional choice.

For the first time in my life, I looked at the Bible in my hands and wondered if it was actually for me.

Click through to read the whole thing. It is worth it.

Rebecca Card-Hyatt does an excellent job of describing the effects that masculinist language can have on a woman's spirit. Readers might also want to ponder the effects that it can have on a man's spirit.

Isaiah 59:1-63:19

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 222

Third Isaiah had to deal with the fact that the exiles return to Jerusalem and Judah was not nearly as rosy as Second Isaiah had promised. This is not to say that Second and Third Isaiah were necessarily different people. They may have been the same person or, they may have been more than two. That is, the portions of Isaiah that are identified as Second and Third Isaiah may have been the work of a whole Isaianic school of prophets.

Who knows?

In Isaiah 59:1-15a  the prophet addresses the fact that YHWH seems aloof. The problem, he says, is the persistent injustice among YHWH's people. Verses 15b-20 are a separate oracle in which injustice is now a Gentile problem. YHWH promises to help Israel. Verse 21 is a short prose passage in which YHWH promises to pour his Spirit on Israel. The Apostle Paul will quote this verse in Romans 11:27 to the effect that Israel, and not just the Gentiles, will be saved.

The oracles in the book of Isaiah fall into three broad time spans: pre-exilic (First Isaiah), exilic (Second Isaiah), and post-exilic (Third Isaiah). Within any of these sections, however, the oracles don't seem to be arranged chronologically. The unrestrained joy of chapters 60-32 suggest, according to the New Interpreters Study Bible, that these oracles come from shortly after the return from exile, before the people got weary of rebuilding.

Isaiah 60:1-22 speak of Gentiles coming to help rebuild Jerusalem.  In its account of the visit of the magi the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 2) alludes to, but does not quote, verse 6:

Herds of camels will cover your land,
   young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
   bearing gold and incense
   and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. 

This may be the origin of the camel in nativity scenes. Matthew says nothing about camels, or any other animals, in the stable. In fact, Matthew says nothing about a stable.

Verse 10 promises that Gentiles will come to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra had other ideas.

In chapter 61 the prophet,speaking for himself, says that he has been anointed with God's Spirit. According to Luke 4:18-19, Jesus used this as the text of his first sermon:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor....
      (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Isaiah 61:8 exemplifies Isaiah (all three Isaiahs) at his/their best:

"For I, the LORD, love justice;
   I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
   and make an everlasting covenant with them."

YHWH loves justice.

Chapter 62 declares that Zion (Jerusalem), once a deserted city in a desolate land is now called "Hephzibah" ("my delight is in her") and "Beuelah" ("married"). Lots of happy wedding imagery in this chapter.

Isaiah 63 starts off a bit darker with an oracle of judgment against edom (vv. 1-6). In verses 7 ff. the Israelites pray in the first person singular. YHWH shared their distress in exile (v. 9), and brought them home in a new exodus (vv. 11-14). Now they seek YHWH's help in rebuilding the temple (v. 18). This prayer doesn't really end until Isaiah 64:12 so let's just say, "To be continued...."








Biblical quotations are from the New International Version. The image of the Magi mosaic from the basillica of S. Apollina Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy came from this website. 

Next: Isaiah 64-66

No Rapture

For the church, the experience of being called into God's heavenly world is no escapist "rapture"; in John's revelation Christians go to the presence of God through tribulation and martyrdom, not instead of it.

      --M. Eugene Boring, Revelation: Interpretation,
        A Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

Something to consider before you shell out the coin to see the latest Nicolas Cage movie.



Something else to keep in mind...

Isaiah 54:1-58:14

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 221

In Isaiah 54 the prophet uses a new metaphor for Jerusalem. The city is like a woman, widowed at a young age, now remarried, I guess. The point of the metaphor is found in verses 7-8:

“For a brief moment I abandoned you,
   but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
In a surge of anger
   I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
   I will have compassion on you,”
   says the LORD your Redeemer.

In verses 9-10 YHWH tells Jerusalem what he told Noah after the flood, "Never again."

Verses 11-17 describe the city restored, glorified, perfected, and protected. There is probably a little hyperbole in this passage.

Chapter 55 invites the thirsty to come to YHWH's free banquet. It seems that Second Isaiah believed the restoration of Jerusalem would usher in a golden age.

Verses 8-9 are another declaration of YHWH's transcendence:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways...”

YHWH's word is effective (vv.10-1). Return to Jerusalem will bring joy (vv. 12-13).

Chapter 56 begins the section known as Third Isaiah, a collection of oracles addressed to the former exiles, returned to Jerusalem, and facing the daunting tasks of rebuilding. Third Isaiah shares with his predecessors an ongoing concern for social justice, an abhorrence of idolatry, a commitment to the notion of YHWH's sovereignty, and a universalistic idea of  salvation.

Chapter 56 tells the Jerusalemites that if they "maintain justice" salvation, that is the restoration of the community, will come to them. Devout foreigners and even eunuchs will be welcome in the temple which will be "a house of prayer for all nations" (v. 7). This universalism is a stark contrast to the ideas of ethnic purity found in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Isaiah 65:9-57:2 are an oracle condemning the "watchmen" and "shepherds" of Israel as blind drunkards. Apparently bad leadership in Jerusalem was still a problem in the postexilic period.

Chapter 57:3-13 condemn idolatry and pagan worship practices. The Harper Collins Study Bible notes that "Pagan practices still threaten the struggling postexilic community in Judah." The prophet describes those practices in sexual terms. It's a simple equation. Going after other gods is like cheating on YHWH. Idolatry = Adultery.Verses

Verses 14-21 promise peace for the righteous. Not so much for the wicked.

Chapter 58 returns to the theme of justice. Fasting without doing justice is displeasing to YHWH.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
   ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
   and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
   and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.”
      (Isaiah 58:3-4)

Do what is right, the prophet says, and YHWH will come to your aid.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
      (Isaiah 58:9a)

Prosperity will follow justice:

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
      (Isaiah 58:12)

Scripture quotes are from the New International Version. Next: Isaiah 59-62

Isaiah 49:1-53:12

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 220

Isaiah 49:1-6 is the second of the four passages that are traditionally called "Servant Songs." Scholars used to claim that these passages predicted a Messiah, and particularly Jesus of Nazareth. I guess some scholars still do claim this. Better scholarship, however, says that these passages should not be read apart from their context. The image of the servant, a personification of the Israelite community, occurs throughout the writings of the anonymous prophet called Second Isaiah. Sometimes the servant seems to refer to an individual within the community, probably the prophet himself, although arguably even those references are to the whole community.

So, in brief, the Servant Songs are not a real thing. Having said that, three of the traditional Servant Songs occur in today's reading.

In Isaiah 49:1-6 the servant speaks for himself. His task is to gather Israel to YHWH (v. 5) which sounds like an individual though I don't think the idea of the community gathering itself is too far-fetched. The CEB Study Bible suggests that the Servant may be a portion of the community called to bring the reluctant remnant along. Perhaps the prophet identifies himself with his nation to such an extent that the image of the Servant might stand for them both at the same time. Whatever the case, YHWH tells the Servant that this mission is too "small," "light," or "little" a thing. In keeping with Isaiah's universalistic emphasis, the Servant is now called to be a light to the nations, so that YHWH's salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Verses 8-13 declare once again that the Israelite exiles are to return home from Babylon via a miraculous highway through the desert.

In verses 14-18 Israel complains that "YHWH forgot me." The Lord's response uses a remarkable feminine image. YHWH is like a nursing mother. She cannot forget the child at her breast.

Verses 19-26 promise that Judah will be repopulated. Overpopulated, even. Israel's oppressors will be humiliated and punished.

Chapter 50 begins with YHWH's assertion that he did not divorce Israel (vv. 1-3). Apparently the time in Babylon was a temporary separation.

Verses 4-11 comprise the third of the traditional Servant Songs. Here the Servant, whose role is to teach, describes the humiliations to which he has been subjected. When we get to Jeremiah we'll see that he was mocked and belittled for preaching YHWH's message. It might make sense to think that Isaiah, or Second Isaiah, was also treated harshly by his fellow Israelites but I can think of no other passage that suggests this. On the other hand, Israel as a whole has been subjected to abuse by its Babylonian captors. The Servant declares that YHWH is coming to vindicate him.

Isaiah 51:1-2 basically refers to the people of Israel as "a chip off the old block."

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
   and who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
   and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
look to Abraham, your father,
   and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
   and I blessed him and made him many.

This is the only reference to Sarah outside of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The favor that YHWH showed for their ancestors extends to Israel in Isaiah's day. They were saved. Israel will be saved (v. 3).

Verses 4-6 proclaim that even though the earth may pass away, YHWH's salvation is endless. Verses 7-8 tell us that the righteous will be preserved and their enemies destroyed.

Isaiah 51:9-23 Call upon YHWH for aid and invoke a motif from Canaanite mythology:

Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,
   who pierced that monster through?
Was it not you who dried up the sea,
   the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea
   so that the redeemed might cross over? 

The sea monster Rahab here stands for Egypt. Once again Second Isaiah is invoking the story of the exodus, one of his favorite motifs.

Waking from sleep is a refrain in this section. YHWH (51:9), Israel (51:17) and Jerusalem (52:1) are all told to wake up.

Chapter 52 is about the restoration of the holy city. Verses 3-6 are a prose passage with another reminder of the exodus. Verse 7 includes the famous words:

How beautiful on the mountains
   are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
   who bring good tidings,
   who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
   “Your God reigns!” 

The messenger's good news is that YHWH will take his people home (vv. 7-12).

The fourth and last Servant Song is found in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. The Servant, Israel, has been humiliated but will now be restored and exalted. This passage is a traditional reading for Christian Good Friday services where it serves as a meditation on Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus was "lifted up" on the cross and bore the suffering of sinners who had gone astray like sheep.

Personally I find this application of the passage meaningful. It is an aid to contemplation on and comprehension of Christ's cross. It just isn't what Isaiah originally had in mind.

In context, Isaiah was saying something else. He was not predicting Jesus' Passion but was saying that Servant Israel, formerly humiliated, is now being exalted. Lifted up, Israel draws the Gentile nations to YHWH. The nations that used to stray after idols, now confess that Israel's suffering was actually on their behalf.

Isaiah truly seems to believe that the exiles return to Jerusalem will serve as a beacon leading all nations to the worship of YHWH, the only true God.





Scripture is quoted from the New International Version. I lifted the image of Meister Franke's Man of Sorrows from this page at Wikipedia. Next: Isaiah 54-58

Isaiah 45:1-48:22

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 219

Isaiah 45:1 calls Cyrus of Persia the Messiah. The Septuagint renders the title as Christ. English translations like to render the word "anointed" which is, after all, its meaning. But don't miss the significance of this verse. Cyrus, a non-Israelite, is YHWH's chosen Messiah, his anointed Christ, who will liberate God's people.

Only Cyrus doesn't know it (Isaiah 45:4).

Still, there is no use arguing with YHWH (verses 9-10), who is, after all, Almighty (verses 11-12) and can do as he pleases, even making Cyrus his Messiah (verse 13).

Reading through this chapter I was unsure to whom verses 14 ff. were addressed. The Sabeans, Egyptians, and Cushites, (YHWH gave them as a ransom for Israel in Isaiah 43:3) are acknowledging that YHWH is God to someone. Israel? Cyrus? Apparently I'm not the only one confused. The New Interpreters Study Bible favors Israel. The Jewish Study Bible says Cyrus.

In Isaiah 45:23, YHWH swears by himself. As the only true God, who else can he swear by?

By myself I have sworn,
   my mouth has uttered in all integrity
   a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
   by me every tongue will swear.
      (Isaiah 45:23)

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul quotes the last part of that verse in his letter to the Romans 14:11 and alludes to it in Philippians 2:9-11.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
   and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father.
      (Philippians 2:9-11)

Chapter 46 brings us yet another screed against idols, this one specifically targeting the God's of Babylon.

I find that Isaiah sounds very much like my Calvinist friends in these chapters, putting a heavy emphasis on YHWH's sovereignty.

I form the light and create darkness,
   I bring prosperity and create disaster;
   I, the LORD, do all these things.
      (Isaiah 45:7)

Remember the former things, those of long ago;
   I am God, and there is no other;
   I am God, and there is none like me. 
I make known the end from the beginning,
   from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
   and I will do all that I please.’ 
      (Isaiah 46:9-10)

That last bit even hints of a doctrine of predestination, though I think it is better read as a statement that God can and will do what God has said he will do.

Chapter 47 declares that Babylon will be humiliated. Babylon was YHWH's instrument to punish Israel but now Babylon will be punished for it cruelty. (Doh! You did what I told you to do!) The image in this chapter is of a noble woman, a queen, living in reduced circumstances. Once proud Babylon is now mocked. Her wisdom and sorceries are useless.

Isaiah 48 is an oracle directed toward Israel. They have been stubborn, stiff-necked and hard-headed.

For I knew how stubborn you were;
   your neck muscles were iron,
   your forehead was bronze.
      (Isaiah 48:4)

They have been idolatrous.  And they have paid a price.

See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
   I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
      (Isaiah 48:10)

Now YHWH is setting them free (verse 20). The image of water from a rock (verse 21) recalls the exodus ( Exodus 17:1-7, Numbers 20:2-13). The chapter ends with a verse that sounds suspiciously like something my grandmother used to say:

“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
       (Isaiah 48:22)

No rest for the wicked.
     (Grandma)

The verse seems a perfect non sequitur to me. Maybe you can make more sense of it. It will occur again in Isaiah 57:21 and may make more sense there.





Scripture quotes are from the New International Version. The picture of Cyrus of Persia came from this website. Next: Isaiah 49-53

Isaiah 42:1-44:28

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 218

There are four poetic passages in Second Isaiah that have traditionally been identified as "Servant Songs." These are Isaiah 42:1-4 (or 9), 49:1-6, 50:4-11, and 52:13-53:2. What unites these passages is their descriptions of an ideal servant of YHWH who is tasked with a mission, who suffers, and who redeems YHWH's people. The identity of the servant has been the subject of debate. Is it the prophet himself? (Some passages such as 49:4 seem to refer to an individual apart from Israel). Is it the Israelite community? (Throughout second Isaiah Israel/Jacob/Judah are called "servant"). Or is it the Messiah, specifically Jesus?

More biblicisitic commentators don't hesitate to suggest that Isaiah was predicting Jesus. For instance the NIV Study Bible note says:

There are four "servant songs" in which the servant is the Messiah.

And Concordia Publishing House's The Lutheran Study Bible says:

[N]either an individual nor Israel collectively can qualify as the Servant described in vv 1-9 and in the other Servant Songs....In these passages it becomes increasingly clear that Isaiah is not speaking "about himself or about someone else" among his fellow Israelites but is proclaiming "the good news about Jesus."

Concordia's The Lutheran Study Bible also identifies Isaiah of Jerusalem as the writer of all of the oracles in the book that bears his name.

The same year that Concordia published The Lutheran Study Bible, Augsburg Fortress released its own Lutheran Study Bible (without the definite article). This book takes more recent scholarship into account:

In the late- nineteenth century, scholars identified four texts from Second Isaiah as "servant songs"..., frequently interpreting them apart from the context of the book and attempting to discover the particular identity of the servant. Christians tended to see the servant as an individual and identified him with Jesus, who like the servant suffers, is rejected, and bears the sins of many.... Jewish readers saw the servant corporately as Israel .... It is now agreed that the four passages must be read in the context of the book and in relation to other texts that seem clearly to identify Israel as God's servant (41:8- 9; 42:19; 43:10; 44:1- 2, 21; 45:4; 48:20). Still, in the traditional four servant songs, the servant is given a particular commission or task that sometimes sounds quite individual. In 49:1- 6 and 50:4- 11, the servant speaks directly and sounds like the prophet. Certainly the servant is Israel, but it may also be true that sometimes a particular member of Israel represents the whole people.

The CEB Study Bible takes a moderate approach to the question:

Christian tradition tended to read this and the other servant passages in Second Isaiah...as predictions of Jesus. The context of these passages shows that the servant was a model for returning Israel for Second Isaiah's earliest readers. Since Jesus also lived as a model Israelite in his time, it makes sense to understand him in terms of these passages without excluding the earlier understanding of the prophet's readers.

Personally I see no sense in taking the Servant Songs apart from their context in the book of Isaiah or their historical context. The servant is Israel and, perhaps occasionally, the prophet. In context, the Servant Songs do not speak of the Messiah and certainly were not meant as predictions of Jesus' life and career. They do, however, provide excellent material for meditation about Jesus. The New Testament's use of Isaiah's servant imagery indicates the continuity between the two Testaments. In Jesus Christ the God of Israel continued to work in ways that were consistent with his character as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

In chapters 40-41, YHWH challenged the gods--"worthless idols"--of the nations. No other god is so powerful. YHWH is in charge of all nations, and YHWH is going to bring Israel, what's left of it, home.

Chapters 42-44 continue the same oracle. Chapter 42 begins with the servant passage discussed above. Verses 10-17 are a song of praise to YHWH (commanded by YHWH?) who will bring Israel home through the wilderness. Verses 18-28 declare that Servant Israel has been deaf and blind. I have already noted that vision and hearing, especially the lack thereof, are themes of Isaiah.

We pause to note that no one has tried to equate the servant of 42:19 with Jesus.

Who is blind but my servant,
   and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,
   blind like the servant of the LORD? 

Chapter 42 ends with a statement that God sent Israel into exile as punishment verses 23-25.

In Chapter 43 YHWH speaks tenderly to Israel. Isaiah 43:1 is sometimes quoted, without regard to context, in reference to Christian Baptism. This promise is to a community, not an individual.

But now, this is what the LORD says—
   he who created you, Jacob,
   he who formed you, Israel:
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine."

YHWH will redeem them because they are his people. Other nations are given in ransom for Israel, whatever that means. In verses 14-28 YHWH proclaims that he has been faithful to Israel though Israel has been unfaithful to YHWH. But YHWH is doing a new thing (verse 19), taking the exiles home.

In Isaiah 44:1, YHWH calls Israel "Jeshurun," a name that mans "upright." Verses 7-20 mock idols and those who make and worship them. Have I mentioned that Second Isaiah really dislikes idols? Verses 21-24 declare YHWH's forgiveness for Israel's offenses and call on nature to join in a psalm of praise.

Verses 24-28 declare that Jerusalem and the towns of Judah will be inhabited once more. In verse 28 YHWH

...says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
   and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
   and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’ 

Cyrus is, of course, the Persian emperor who conquered Assyria and permitted the Judahite exiles to return to their homeland. In Isaiah YHWH's power is so expansive that even Cyrus, the pagan conqueror, is his unwitting subject.




Scripture quotations are from the New International Version. Next: Isaiah 45-48

Isaiah 36:1-41:29

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 217

Chapters 36-38 of Isaiah are virtually identical to 2 Kings 18:13-20:18 and were probably copied from that source. These chapters  comprise a prose narrative of the Assyrian threat against Jerusalem. Hezekiah seeks Isaiah’s advice. Not surprisingly, Isaiah tells the king to trust YHWH. The city will be safe. All of this comes to pass when YHWH’s angel kills Assyrians in thir camp. Isaiah further says that Sennecharib, king of Assyria will go home and be assassinated. Again, it is no surprise when this actually happens.

 Hezekiah is taken ill but prays to YHWH and is granted another 15 years of life. Isaiah offers Hezekiah a sign and YHWH makes the sun move backward.

When Babylonian envoys visit Jerusalem, Hezekiah foolishly shows off all of his palace treasures. Isaiah declares that, therefore, the Babylonians will conquer Jerusalem in a couple of generations. Hezekiah takes this as good news since it means that there will be peace during his own reign.

Most of the differences between this account and its parallel are small, a word here and a word there. Some of the changes seem deliberately editorial to me. Of course it is possible that the redactors who added this account from 2 Kings may have been using a variant text from the one that ended up in the Masoretic text. Any of these possibilities presents difficulties for those who maintain that the written text of the Bible is in some way inerrant.

A curious difference is that Sennecharib is said to have “dug wells and drunk foreign waters” in 2 Kings 19:24. The parallel verse, Isaiah 37:25 lacks the word “foreign” (though the New International Version “helpfully” adds it and thereby harmonizes the two passages).

More significantly, 2 Kings 18:14-17 told how Hezekiah at first capitulated to Sennecharib and, to pay tribute, stripped the gold from the doors of the temple. This passage is omitted from Isaiah. I speculate that this may be to make Hezekiah look better.

Isaiah 38:9-20 is a prayer of Hezekiah’s that is missing from 2 Kings. Again, this may be an addition to enhance Hezekiah’s reputation.

Scholars call Isaiah 40-55 "Second Isaiah" or "Deutero-Isaiah." The oracles in these chapters have linguistic and thematic similarities to those of earlier chapters but the historical setting is very different. First Isaiah addressed the people of Jerusalem during the period of the Assyrian threat (c. 742-701 BCE). Second Isaiah is the work of an anonymous prophet, or perhaps an Isaianic school of prophets, who spoke oracles of hope to the Judahites living in exile in Babylon (c. 605-538 BCE).



In chapter 40 YHWH tells the prophet to "Comfort my people" with the news that they will return to Jerusalem in a new exodus. They will travel a miraculous highway in the wilderness:

 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the LORD;
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain."
      (Isaiah 40:2-3, NIV)

All four Gospels apply verse 2 (punctuated differently) to John the Baptist. He is the "voice calling in the wilderness."

Verses 19-20 proclaim that idols are worthless, one of Second Isaiah's favorite themes.


Verse 21 introduces a poetic refrain "Do you not know? Have you not heard?" The almighty YHWH is God of all nations. He will give strength to his people. He will give them "eagle's wings" (verse 31). It is a wonderful image but it reminds me of a certain contemporary hymn of which I am not fond.

Chapter 41 continues the themes of chapter 40. The nations tremble before YHWH (verse 5). YHWH favors Israel, though it is just a "worm" or an "insect" compared to God (verse 14). Verses 6-7 and 21-29 are more diatribes against idols.





I borrowed the photo of the eagle from this website. The eagle that Isaiah had in mind was not an American bald eagle, a bird that is unknown in the Middle East. In fact, Isaiah might have been thinking of a vulture.

Next: Isaiah 42-44

Isaiah 31:1-35:17

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 216

Don't rebel against Assyria. Don't turn to Egypt for help. Trust YHWH.

That is a vest pocket account of at least some of Isaiah's preaching. I can see why the leaders of Jerusalem dismissed the prophet's message as childish gobbledygook (Isaiah 28:9-10). It might have been easy to write Isaiah off as naive. Mad even. Surely he didn't understand international politics. The pragmatist might say "Trust God but row for shore." Isaiah was no pragmatist. His motto could have been "YHWH take the wheel!"

Curiously, Isaiah seems to have read the situation correctly. Egypt was no help. The Assyrian campaign against Jerusalem was called off.

Isaiah 31 reiterates the themes of chapter 30. Turning toward Egypt is an act of treason against YHWH. The Lord himself will destroy Assyria.

The Harper Collins Study Bible states that Isaiah 31:6-7 are a "call to repentance originally addressed to the Northern Kingdom." If so, these words are out of place:

Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.

The Jewish Study Bible notes seem to assume that these verses are addressed to Judah.

This is the first passage in which Isaiah calls on the nation to repent since 6. 9, where God ordered Isaiah not to engender penitence among the Judeans.

The Judahites were, arguably, also Israelites.

Chapter 32, verses 1-20 describe the justice and righteousness that will exist when an ideal king rules presumably at the "end of days."  In verses 9-15 the prophet addresses the women of Jerusalem a little more respectfully than he did in 3:16-4:1. The women are complacent and their city will be devastated. Isaiah calls them to repent and promises prosperity.

Chapter 33 brings the prophecies of First Isaiah to an end. YHWH will defeat Assyria. Only the righteous will live in Jerusalem.

Chapter 34 is an oracle ostensibly addressed to "all nations."

The LORD is angry with all nations;
   his wrath is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
   he will give them over to slaughter.
      (Isaiah 34:2)

Very quickly, however it narrows its focus down to Edom. Things will not go well for Edom. It will become a desert, a haunt for unclean wild beasts and demons.

The desert owl and screech owl will possess it;
   the great owl and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom
   the measuring line of chaos
   and the plumb line of desolation.
Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
   all her princes will vanish away.
Thorns will overrun her citadels,
   nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
   a home for owls.
Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
   and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures will also lie down
   and find for themselves places of rest.
      (Isaiah 34:11-14)

The New Revised Standard Version and the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh version translate that last verse to include "goat-demons" and the "lilith" (a "kind of demon" according to a textual note in the JPS Bible).

While all of this is bad news for Edom, it is good news for Judah. Chapter 35 tells how the desert where Edom once stood will blossom as the Judahites, in a new exodus, return from their Babylonian captivity on a miraculous highway. There may be a little prophetic hyperbole here.



Scripture quotes are still coming from the New International Version, though I'm not always sure why.
Next: Isaiah 36-41

Isaiah 28:1-30:33

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 215

 Chapter 28 returns us to the prophecies of First Isaiah. The oracles in today's portion date from the time of King Hezekiah of Judah.

The argument of chapter 28 seems to go like this: The rulers of Israel (called Ephraim here) are condemned as self-serving gluttons and drunkards. (verses 1-6) Samaria, the capital of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Jerusalem's leaders are no better. The priests and prophets mock Isaiah as a speaker of gibberish (verses 9-10). The prophet turns their mockery back against them (verses 11-13) and proclaims YHWH's judgment (verses 14-22). Jerusalem's leaders have made a covenant with death but the city will stand by YHWH's power and grace. Like a farmer, YHWH uses the necessary techniques in judicious measure to bring about the desired results (verses 23-29).

The image of the foundation stone in Isaiah 28:15 was applied to Jesus in the New Testament (Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:6-8)

See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
   a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
   will never be stricken with panic. 

Trusting in YHWH and establishing justice are hallmarks of Isaiah's preaching.

Chapter 29 begins with an oracle about Jerusalem, here called "Ariel." According to the Jewish Study Bible this Hebrew word can  mean either "hearth of God" (i.e. an altar) or "lion of God." A textual footnote in the New Revised Standard Version suggests the former which, in context makes good sense. The New International Version translates "Ariel" as "altar hearth" at Isaiah 29:2. The translation is interpretive but not unjustified.

The gist of the oracle seems to be that Jerusalem will be besieged and punished but, finally, spared.

Verses 9-14 declare that YHWH has metaphorically blinded, that is confused the prophets. These prophets, we must assume do not include Isaiah. The reason: worship without corresponding ethical action. The result: YHWH will do something surprising. What might that be? Isaiah doesn't say. Why spoil the surprise.

Verses 15-24 proclaim bad news to those who fail to subject themselves to YHWH but promise good news to those who are humbled by circumstance, the meek and poor. Good news for the poor and a concern for social justice are common concerns for the biblical prophets.

Chapter 30:1-18 is an oracle occasioned by Hezekiah's rebellion against his Assyrian overlords. Hezekiah refused to pay tribute and sought aid from Egypt. According to Isaiah, YHWH did not think this was a good idea. Still, YHWH stood ready to forgive (verse 18),

Verses 19-25 are a prose section expanding on the idea of forgiveness. It promises blessings for repentance. The reference to towers falling in verse 25 is not clear to me.

Verses 27-33 pronounce judgment against the Assyrians.



Scripture quotes are taken from the New International Version.
Next: Isaiah 31-35

Isaiah 23:1-27:13

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 214

Chapters 13-22 of Isaiah contained a series of oracles concerning various nations, peoples, and cities. They were, in order: Babylon, the Philistines, Moab, Damascus, Cush, Egypt, Babylon (again), some Arabian cities,  and Jerusalem (specifying two individuals in that city). Now, in chapter 23 the Phoenician seaport city of Tyre gets its turn.

Tyre was attacked and defeated by the Assyrians in 734 and again in 701 BCE. Isaiah may have had one of these incidents in mind. Verses 1-14 are an oracle about Tyre's destruction framed by the words "Wail, you ships of Tarshish!"

Verses 15-18 describe the restoration of Tyre after 70 years. That restoration is partial at best. Once a great merchant city, Tyre is now reduced to the status of a prostitute (verses 15-16). The 70 years is probably a symbolic number signifying a period of desolation. Psalm 90:10 says that 70 years is the span of a human life. Jeremiah 25:11 says that Judah will be in bondage to Babylon for 70 years.

Chapters 24-27 make up the "Isaiah Apocalypse." Though embedded in the section that scholars call "First Isaiah" these chapters may well have been written in the Persian period (i.e. after the return from exile) or possibly the even later Hellenistic period according to the notes in the Jewish Study Bible. The preceding chapters dealt with specific times, places, and events. These chapters speak about the end of the world in more general terms.

In chapter 24 we read that YHWH is about to lay waste to the earth. While people--possibly Judah, maybe all people--praise God for this display of power, verse 16 tells us that the treacherous still betray.

Chapter 25 is a song of praise for God's salvation. Though it is unspecified, there may have been a historic referent for the fortified city that is reduced to rubble in verse 2.

Verses 6-9 are a common reading for Christian funerals. They describe a future time when all people will be nourished and comforted at "this mountain" which I take to be Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Whether this passage reflects a belief in life after death is an open question. This may be an early hint of a doctrine of resurrection or, as the Jewish Study Bible notes, it may use the imagery of dying and rising, like Ezekiel 37, as a metaphor for restoration, revitalization, and return from exile.

Verses 10-11 are an ugly swipe at Moab that seems out of place in this section.

On the question of life after death Chapter 26 doesn't help much. Verse 14 states bluntly:

The dead do not live; shades do not rise—
   because you have punished and destroyed them,
    and wiped out all memory of them.
      (New Revised Standard Version)

While verse 19 contradicts it:

 But your dead will live, LORD;
   their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
   wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
   the earth will give birth to her dead. 

I quoted the NRSV above because, as it so often does, the New International Version translates the difficulty away. The NIV renders verse 14:

They are now dead, they live no more;
   their spirits do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;
   you wiped out all memory of them. 

Chapter 27 is a vineyard song similar to the one we read in 5:1-7. Here the emphasis is on YHWH's ongoing care for the vineyard. Verse 4 says that YHWH is not angry but there is still a note of warning. Verses 9-12 describe the desolation of exile and the joy of return. At least I detect joy in the imagery of the harvest.




Except where noted Scripture quotes are taken from the New International Version. The Isaiah icon came from wiki. 

Next: Isaiah 28-30

Isaiah 18:1-22:25

THE YEAR OF BLOGGING BIBLICALLY: DAY 213


Today we continue reading a collection of oracles against the nations that began in chapter 13. I suspect this collection is arranged thematically rather than chronologically. That is, though they are all attributed to First Isaiah, my guess is he spoke them at different times and only later did some redactor group them together.

Isaiah 18:1-7 is an oracle against the nation that was known in Hebrew as Cush but which we are more likely to call Ethiopia. The oracle is bracketed by a pair of verses  describing the Cushites in the same words:

a people tall and smooth-skinned,
   ...a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
   whose land is divided by rivers.
      (Isaiah 18:2 and 7)

The smoothness of their skin may suggest that the Ethiopians, unlike the Judahites and most of their neighbors, were clean-shaven. During Isaiah's time there were Ethiopian pharaohs who ruled over Egypt. The point of this oracle is that the fearsome Cushites will one day submit to YHWH and bring tribute to Jerusalem.

Isaiah 19:1-15 is a poem describing disasters, and the resulting civil unrest, that YHWH will bring upon Egypt. If Judah is turning to Egypt for aid against the Assyrians, Isaiah says, it won't work out well.

Next comes a prose section (Isaiah 19:16-25) in which the prophet declares that Egypt will submit to Judah and that, one day, Assyria, Egypt, and Judah will live in peace under YHWH. Isaiah is universalisitic like that.

Chapter 20 tells how Isaiah spent three years walking naked and barefoot as a prophetic act-sermon to illustrate that Egypt and Cush ("those in whom we hoped" v. 6) would be taken captive and led away--naked and barefoot--by the Assyrians. Public nudity was considered shameful in ancient Israelite culture.

Isaiah turns his attention toward Babylon in 21:1-10. The watchman's refrain "Babylon has fallen, has fallen!" will be echoed in the book of Revelation (14:8, 18:2) where John the Seer equates Rome with Babylon. The actual Babylon fell to Persia in 538 BCE.

Isaiah 21:11-12 is a short, curious oracle against Dumah (verse 11), a town in northern Arabia. A footnote in the New International Version suggests that Dumah, which means "silence," is intended as a wordplay on "Edom." Maybe. The town of Dumah appears to be a long way off from Edom on the maps I've consulted. The Septuagint does insert "Edom" where the Masoretic text says "Dumah" and "Seir" (later in verse 11) is unquestionably Edom. I'm not sure what to make of this short passage. A note in the CEB Study Bible says

[T]he oracle headings in Isaiah 21:1,13; and 22:1 refer to indefinite locations, leaving the referent of this one in doubt. What sounds like a chance exchange between a a sentinel and an inquirer minimizes the impact of the momentous news of Babylon's defeat, perhaps as if to say, "Empires come and go."

Isaiah 21:13-16 is an oracle about "the desert." It encourages the people of Dedan and Tema towns, like Dumah, in northern Arabia to welcome Judahite refugees. The Kedarites who, according to Genesis 25:13, were offspring of Ishmael, are in for judgment.

Isaiah's oracle in 22:1-14 comes close to home. The people of Jerusalem are partying on the rooftops, celebrating a victory--or at least a non-defeat--and putting their trust in human abilities, weapons, preparations, and resources. They should have been repenting, not partying. Isaiah says YHWH is still mad.

The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
      (Isaiah 21:14)

In 21:15-19 the prophet gets personal. It seems a self-aggrandizing government official named Shebna has been building a monumental tomb for himself. (Archeologists have uncovered such a tomb though the name is partially missing). Isaiah says that he will be replaced by someone named Eliakim. The end of the chapter gets a little confused but it may be that Eliakim engages in nepotism and proves no better than his predecessor.

The picture of the inscription from what may be Shebna's tomb came from wiki. Scripture quotes are from the New International Version.
Next: Isaiah 23-27