Chapter 11: The Book Of Isaiah 40-55 (Second Isaiah) PDF

Chapter 11 The Book of Isaiah 40-55 (Second Isaiah) 1. Second-Isaiah (40-55) Traditionally, the Book of Isaiah had been considered to be a book penned by the same author, the prophet Isaiah. However, with the rise of modern criticism at the end of the 18th century, questi...

Chapter 11 The Book of Isaiah 40-55 (Second Isaiah) 1. Second-Isaiah (40-55) Traditionally, the Book of Isaiah had been considered to be a book penned by the same author, the prophet Isaiah. However, with the rise of modern criticism at the end of the 18th century, questions were raised in regard to its authorship and date of writing. Even in the 12th century, the Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra expressed doubts in regard to its unity. It was not until 1789 that J.C. Döderlein, following the suggestion of J.G. Eichhorn in 1783, that a definitive observation was made: chapters 40-66 are independent works of an author who lived towards the end of the Babylonian exile. Later on, B. Duhm further divided chapters 40-66 into two works. 2. Authorship and historical background Isaiah 40-55 has no superscriptions, indicating the time and place of its writing. One can only infer the place and the period of the ministry of Second Isaiah. The book of Isaiah has a distinctive style and mood. The study of the content of the book also suggests that 40-55, unrelated to the prophecies of Isaiah, forms a unified part of the book. The main arguments that lead to this conclusion are the following: a) The appearance of the name of Cyrus in 44,28 and 45,1. The Cyrus named in these passages as well as the one referred to in some other verses as the great warrior raised up by YHWH to save His people from captivity was the Persian king Cyrus the Great. b) The content of the prophet’s message. The content of the book is better situated and more appropriate in the 6th century among the exiles in Babylon rather than in the circumstances of the 8th century BC. c) The theological teaching. The theology of Second-Isaiah has strong affinities with other 6th century OT writings. 3. Outline of Deutero-Isaiah I. Oracles of Hope for Babylonian Exiles: 40-48 II. Oracles of Restoration for the Nation: 49-55  INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS 70 4. Themes and messages of the book 4.1 The new exodus There is a new cry, almost like a new profession of faith: “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!” (48,20;44,23). This redemption will take the form of exodus/deliverance from Babylon to the Promised Land of Israel. This new exodus will surpass the first exodus (Isa 52,12; 48,21) since YHWH Himself will lead Israel and bring it home to Zion. This exodus will take place without hindrance and accompanied by the rejoicing of nature (41,17-20; 42,16; 43,19- 21;49,9-13;55,12-13). The event will happen very soon. The prophet himself saw it coming: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (40,9). The purpose of this new exodus is the return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the city (49,16-23; 51,3.11; 54,1-3) and of the temple (44,26.28; 52,11). This return is already being actualized. Second-Isaiah regarded the Persian king Cyrus as YHWH’s shepherd (44,28). He was even called messiah (45,1; 48,14). Cyrus, not anymore Israel’s kings, exercised dominion over the people as the Lord willed it (41,25; 44,28). He is then assumed within the Lord’s greater plan of salvation. As Schmidt puts it, “The “political” is, as it were, one sector within the “theological,” within a faith and hope that are related to history. In the final analysis, it is Yahweh himself who wins the victory (42:13; 49,24f.; etc.)”1 4.2 Message of hope The prophet offers a message of hope. He speaks to the victims of this tragedy, “all the remnant of the house of Israel” (46,3). To this generation who was mired in hopelessness (49,14; 40,27;45,15), the prophet offers a vision of hope (see above discussion of exodus). However, the people would not hear and see (42,18-25; 43,8) and “are no more open to Second-Isaiah’s message of consolation than they had been to his predecessor’s announcement of judgment.”2 In this promise of salvation, the prophet had to deal with foreign faiths. This is done mainly in defense of the same promise of hope. In the exile, the power and glory of the Babylonian divinities are impressively shown (46,1). The question therefore comes to the fore: Who is truly God? How would one know it? The criterion is “the efficacious word, the correct announcement of times, of what is already past and what is still to come (41,21-23.26). The point is that gods are nothing since they do nothing and say nothing (41,24.29). Does this conviction mean monotheism? Are other gods’ existence denied? Efird believes that the Israelites understood that YHWH was the only existent God; all the others were not. This worship of an only God (monotheism) cancels out the existence of other gods. Isaiah, according to Efird, meant this: “…there was no longer any doubt about the worship of Yahweh; one worshiped Yahweh or no god at all because there was no god other than Yahweh.”3 There is a contrasting opinion. According to Schmidt, the passages from Deutero- Isaiah hardly point to the belief of a sole existing God with the exclusion of other gods. 1 SCHMIDT, Old, 262. 2 SCHMIDT, Old, 258. 3 EFIRD, Old, 87-88.  CHAPTER 11: THE BOOK OF SECOND ISAIAH 71 Rather, there is a “denial of their power and ability to direct and predetermine the course of history. Prophecy (cf. 44:25f.) thus becomes a kind of proof for Yahweh as true God.”4 In this polemics of the prophet, the first commandment is being actualized (42,8; 48,11). In the scathing remarks against idols, the prophet is bringing into mind the second commandment (40,19-20). “In them the Yahwistic faith uses a contrasting alien religion, which is even reduced to a caricature, in order to bring out its own special character and superiority and to profess its belief in a living God who is incomparable and cannot be imaged (see Pss 115; 135).”5 Now Second-Isaiah sees the first commandment as having a mark and influence on the contemporary situation. In the future, the prophet hopes that the commandment will be obeyed throughout the whole world. In this respect, the people of God are asked to be a ‘messenger’ and ‘witness’ (42,19; 43,10.12; 44,8; 55,5). Is there any idea of mission here? It doesn’t seem to be so, but the meaning seems to be the increase of the people of God through the addition of foreign people (56,6-8; Zech 8,20-23). 4.3 The four servant (hÎwh◊y dRbRo) poems The four servant poems are: 42,1-7; 49,1-7; 50,4-9; 52,13-53,12. The personality of the servant and his mission become complex if seen in a: Positive sense – the servant refers to the beloved one of YHWH, redeemed by Him. It could be Israel, the prophet or his disciples. Negative sense – the servant refers to Israel as blind, deaf, burdened by its sins. One of the hotly discussed questions is the identity of the Servant of YHWH. Who is this hÎwh◊y dRbRo? The responses are varied: 4.3.1 Collective interpretation In this kind of interpretation, the hÎwh◊y dRbRo is understood as the personification of Israel, either as an entire people or the whole community of exiles. This kind of interpretation finds its support and argument from the context of Israel as servant (44,1- 2; 49,3). However, Schmidt argues that 49,3 is a later addition, since the Servant, who has a mission to fulfill (49,5-7). He is very much the opposite of the blind and deaf people, since he willingly accepts his fate (50,5-8). 4.3.2 Individual interpretation The servant of YHWH is a particular individual. This person can be of the past, present or future. The possibilities of this individual person are also varied: 4.3.2.1 Traditional messianic-eschatological personality The songs of hÎwh◊y dRbRo are actually foretelling a figure who has not yet appeared. This has ancient roots in Judeo-Christian tradition. The problem with this view is that the Servant in Isaiah is not a figure of David. Furthermore, his concern is to bring Israel back home. Projecting the Servant into the future presents some other difficulties. It can be admitted that 42,1-4 may refer to a person who has not yet arrived. But 49,1-6 and 50,4-9 cannot be seen in this way, since they point to the past sufferings of the Servant. 4 SCHMIDT, Old, 263. 5 SCHMIDT, Old, 263.  INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS 72 4.3.2.2 Individuals of the past These persons can either be kings or prophets. The ones who can have a claim to Servant of Yhwh are Moses (Num 12,3-8) and Jeremiah whose literary connections with Second Isaiah are notable. 4.3.2.3 Autobiographical interpretation The Servant of YHWH is no other than the author of Second Isaiah. This is the most widely accepted view. According to Schmidt, this view “can appeal to the Servant’s task of preaching and to the first-person form of the second and third songs; on the other hand, the fourth song, which shows certain special characteristics, even from a linguistic standpoint, must be ascribed to a different author, most likely from among Second Isaiah’s disciples (“we”).”6 4.4 The innocent sufferer In connection with the Suffering Servant is the tradition of the innocent sufferer. By remaining with the ‘deaf and blind’ Israel, the servant became the source of redemption and font of salvation of those who rejected him. See Isa 53:1-8. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? This description of the suffering servant influenced the writing of Psalm 22. The innocent sufferers contribute to the salvation of the very community that persecutes them. Along this line, the value of vicarious suffering is considered. One’s suffering has atoning power. This power of atonement of one’s suffering is not something strange to the contemporary of Jesus. In the time of the Lord, there are four chief ways to make atonement for one’s sins: a. Repentance (atoning for the sins of omission) b. Sacrifice on Yom Kippur (repentance and sacrifice atone for any transgressions against something prohibited) c. Suffering (repentance, sacrifice and suffering atone that which merits God’s destruction) d. Death (repentance, sacrifice, suffering and death are necessary to atone for profaning the name of Yahweh) 6 SCHMIDT, Old, 267.  CHAPTER 11: THE BOOK OF SECOND ISAIAH 73 In respect to death, there are also levels of atonement: a. Any death: has the power to atone sins if coupled with repentance. This is also true for a criminal who, before his execution, would pray, “May my death be an atonement for all my sins”. Thus he atoned for his sins. b. Any individual Israelite: had the power of atoning if he made this kind of declaration on hi deathbed. c. Death of a righteous man: his death is even more powerful. His suffering will be advantageous also for others. Eg. (c.a.)The death of innocent children atoned for the sins of their parents. (c.b.) The death of the high priest meant that those guilty of murder my leave the cities of refuge. d. Death of a witness of faith: this kind of offering is even more powerful. Judaism praises martyrdom because it brings the wrath of God to a standstill (2 Macc 7,37-38: “I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our fathers, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by afflictions and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly fallen on our whole nation”.) See also 4 Macc 6,29: “Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs”. Rabbinic teachings on the value of suffering for oneself abound: a. Among all the things which God created in His universe, He created nothing that is useless. He created the snail as a cure for a wound, the fly as a cure for the sting of the wasp, the gnat as a cure for the bite of the serpent, the serpent, as a cure for a sore, and the spider as a cure for the sting of a scorpion. (Sab. 77b) b. Why has God created both wicked and the good? So that the one should atone for the other… In the same way He created poor and rich, that one should be supported by the other. (Pes.R. 201) c. R. Joshua b. Levi said: He who accepts gladly the sufferings of this world brings salvation to the world. (Ta’an. 8a) d. Beloved are sufferings, for they appease like offerings; yea, they are mor beloved than offerings, for guilt and sin offerings atone only for the particular sin for which they are brought in each case, but sufferings atone for all sins… (Mid.Ps. on 118,18) This conviction is present in Jesus’ words on the night before he suffered and died: a. Mk 14,24: This is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many. b. Lk 22, 19: This is my body which will be given for you. In the NT, the suffering servant is Jesus Himself. He is the servant of YHWH since the Lord Jesus “appears as redeemer by plunging his own life and goodness into the midst of Israel and all the world, bearing the full brunt of sin and sorrow, and thus overcoming evil by his own divine goodness.”7 “Redeemer” is a title that Christians apply to Jesus. In early biblical times, the word (lEaø…g) is applied to kinsperson belonging to the same family or tribe (Lev 25,25.41; Ruth 7 SENIOR, Catholic, RG 303.  INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS 74 2,20). In its secular usage, then, as in the book of Leviticus, the term “signifies the liberation of property from a charge, whether that charge was an ordinary debt or whether it had been incurred through a vow. The deliverance was to be effected in this case by payment or by exchange. In cases of poverty, where no payment was possible, the nearest of kin was made responsible for performing the work of redemption.”8 Second Isaiah uses this secular term and applies it to God. YHWH redeems Israel as a conscientious parent (Isa 43,1-7) and spouse (54, 1-10). YHWH redeems Israel and brings the people back to the Promised Land (41,17-20; 43,16-21). We, Christians, use this term for Jesus who did what He was supposed to do on our behalf, His kinsfolk. Jesus is indeed the Suffering Servant, the Innocent Sufferer, the Redeemer who saved us be means of the rejection and suffering He endured (Matt 8,17; Phil 2,6-11). Indeed, Jesus “brought the theology of redemption to a sublime perfection.”9 8 R. GIRDLESTONE, Synonyms of the Old Testament, Grand Rapids, MI 1986 reprint, 118. 9 SENIOR, Catholic, RG 303.