The Message of Deutero Isaiah

The Message of Deutero-Isaiah
by H . E B E R H A R D VON W A L D O W
of Deutero-Isaiah presents no new results. Rather, on the basis of the findings of form-criticism, it seeks to draw as consistent a picture as possible of the message of the unknown prophet of the Exilic Age and of the prophet himself. Such an approach has proved in recent decades to be highly stimulating in the interpretation of the Old Testament. The study begins with a brief survey of the present state of Deutero-Isaiah investigation, then goes on with a description and explanation of the major types or genres (Gattungen) found in Isaiah 4055. Finally, the results are applied in a sketch of the major points of the message of Deutero-Isaiah.
T H I S STUDY
The Book of Deutero-Isaiah in Recent Research Of the traditional introductory questions usually dealt with in introductions to the Old Testament scarcely one related to the so-called Book of Deutero-Isaiah is uncontested today. Even the question basic to further investigation, whether any part of Isaiah must be ascribed to an unknown prophet of the Exilic period, is under discussion. Characteristic advocates of the single authorship of the book are Oswald T. Allis and Edward J. Young.1 They try to continue in our day the line established in the middle of the past century by Joseph Addison Alexander,2 All representatives of that line have two things in common : ( 1 ) They reject the attempt of historical-critical research to understand the biblical books as documents of specific historical periods. (2) They argue again and again with passionate self-defense against the overwhelming majority opinion of present scholarship which holds to the existence of a second Isaiah. It is impossible here to discuss these conservative expositions more thoroughly; but we should say that these defenders of the unity of Isaiah serve to remind us of what is undeniable : that our dealing with an unknown prophet called Deutero-Isaiah is based merely on a theory, a well-proved and in every respect a trustworthy theory, but still just a theory.
1. Oswald T. Allis, The Unity of Isaiah (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1950) ; Edward J. Young, Studies in Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954). 2. Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah, Earlier and Later (Glasgow, London: William Collins, Pubi., 1848).
20
Interpretation
Once that theory is accepted there is clearly little need to discuss the historical setting of Deutero-Isaiah, since the major reason for separating Deutero-Isaiah from Proto-Isaiah is the historical picture presupposed in those chapters which are ascribed to Deutero-Isaiah. On the one hand, the prophet seems to refer to the beginning of the comet-like rise of the Persian king Cyrus whose victory over the kingdom of Lydia in 546 B.C. brought hope to the peoples subjugated by the neo-Babylonians (see Deutero-Isaiah, 41:1-5, 25; 44:28; 45:13; 46:11; 48:14f.). On the other hand, the prophet foresees and predicts the quick fall of Babel which occurred in 539 B.C. This means that the close of Deutero-Isaiah's ministry must be dated somewhere before 539 B.C.3 Some scholars have tried to find in Deutero-Isaiah more allusions to historical events than those mentioned here.4 Quite possibly such attempts are right, but because the prophet's language is often obscure it is hardly feasible to produce the required evidence here. A further question connected with the historical setting of DeuteroIsaiah is: Where did the prophet deliver his message? Obviously, he speaks mostly to the exiles as he discusses their counterpleas and objections; and Deutero-Isaiah seems to be well acquainted with the situation in Babylon (see 46:1 f.; 47:1-15). Most likely, then, the prophet lived among the exiles in Mesopotamia. Certainly the existence of prophets living with the exiles in Babylon and delivering their messages there is well attested in a letter sent by Jeremiah to the captives in Mesopotamia at the very beginning of the Exile, shortly after 598 B.C. (Jer. 29:8). In the face of this evidence it seems a little strange that some scholars search for other geographical locations for our prophet, locations such as Palestine, Egypt, or Lebanon.5 Most recently James D. Smart, in his book History and Theology in Second Isaiah,6 proposes Judah and Jerusalem. Admittedly, without direct indications it is hard to make a clear decision concerning locale; so the traditional method of meeting the problem is to ask whether the message of Deutero-Isaiah is more conceivable against a background of Babylon, or, possibly, of Judah. Though Smart so proceeds, his many contributions to the problem do not help
3. An excellent description of the history of the period in question is given by Sidney Smith in "Isaiah Chapters XL-LV, Literary Criticism and History," The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1940 (London: Oxford University Press, 1944), pp. 24-48. 4. See, e.g., Sidney Smith, op. cit., pp. 49-75. 5. See in Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament, An Introduction, trans, by Peter R. Ackroyd (New York : Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965 ), p. 333. 6. ( Philadelphia : The Westminster Press, 1965 ).
261
us. What is needed is a new approach able to furnish new viewpoints and other arguments. The problem of geographic location must be seen in connection with another question : How many chapters are to be attributed to DeuteroIsaiah? Since the German scholar Bernhard Duhm has proposed the thesis that Chapters 5666 must be ascribed to another unknown prophet who lived in Jerusalem in the period just before Nehemiah,7 the crucial question is: What belongs to Deutero-Isaiah, Chapters 4055, or the entire complex, 4066?8 It is obvious that Chapters 5666 reflect much more distinctly the situation in Palestine and Jerusalem than Chapters 4055 reflect the situation in Mesopotamia. Consequently, scholars who ascribe to Deutero-Isaiah the whole of 4066, are inclined to locate it in Palestine,9 while those who separate 4055 from 5666 prefer to locate the first section in Mesopotamia. Finally, there is one more problem not yet satisfactorily solved : Was the message of Deutero-Isaiah delivered orally? Was the prophet, like his great predecessors, among the so-called classical prophets who addressed their audiences directly by word of mouth,10 or did the special historical situation he had to face call for deliverance of his message in writing, perhaps in a little booklet he himself composed similar to various small pamphlets circulated among the exiles? u Such a question may seem academic, but it is important for exegetes, especially when they deal with prophetic texts. It presents the problem of delimitation: Where does a new textual unit begin and where does it end? If the prophet delivered his message orally, then necessarily his units were smaller. On the other
7. Bernhard Duhm, Das Buch Jesaja, Gttingen 1892. 8. Charles Gutler Torrey in his The Second Isaiah (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928) considers Isa. 3466 as belonging to Second Isaiah (with the exception of Chaps. 36 39). James D. Smart, op. cit., ascribes to him Chaps. 35 and 4066. The shortest Second Isaiah, Chaps. 4048, is found in Julian Morgenstern, The Message of Deutero-Isaiah in Its Sequential Unfolding (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1961). 9. Torrey and Smart. An interesting exception is the German scholar, Eduard Knig, Das Buch Jesaja (Gtersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1929), pp. 339 ff. He asserts the unity of Chaps. 4066 but prefers the location in Babylon. 10. Oral delivery is assumed by Johannes Hempel, Worte der Profeten (Berlin: Alfred Tpelmann, 1949), p. 186. His proposal is to understand the prophet as a kind of military chaplain of a Jewish contingent in the Persian army; H. Eberhard von Waldow, ". . . denn ich erlse dich," Biblische Studien 29, Neukirchen, i 9 6 0 ; Georg Fohrer, Das Buch Jesaja, Vol. III ( Zrich : Zwingli Verlag, 19 64 ) , p. 3. 11. Literary delivery is assumed by Joachim Beglich, Studien zu Deutero jesaja, Stuttgart, 1938; reprinted in Theologische Bcherei, Vol. X X (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1963); George A. F. Knight, Deutero-Isaiah, a Theological Commentary on Isaiah 4055 (New York: Abingdon Press, 1965), p. 12; James Muilenburg, on the Book of Isaiah, Chaps. 4066, in the Interpreter's Bible, Vol. V (New York: Abingdon Press, 1956), pp. 381 ff.; Smart, op. cit., P-35-
262
Interpretation
hand, if he delivered his message in writing, his units must have been larger; indeed, he may have composed the entire book as one literary unit. In the second case, we must ask for the principles by which he arranged his ideas, or for a logical sequence of thought which he maintained throughout the whole composition. T h a t is exactly what A. F. Knight tries to find when he says : The whole book thus gives the impression of being carefully produced in the study; and even though sections of it may have been tried out on local audiences, its final form is that of one sustained and unified thesis. . . . The important point to note is that there is a logical sequence of thought throughout his whole sixteen chapters, and that each of the pictures he paints, independent of the whole as it may appear to be at first glance, is necessary for the continued advancement of his argument just at that point where he has placed it.12 Similarly, but with a little more reserve, James Muilenburg states : When the form and structure of the poems have been properly understood, and the subordinate units of strophes or stanzas seen in the relation to each other, it becomes easier to recognize the continuity of the poemsthe way they follow one another from beginning to end.13 Here, then, are two different points of view. Either the prophetic message was delivered orally, and consequently divides into a great number of small individual units; or it was delivered in writing, and consequently divides into large compositions, or even forms a thoroughly arranged whole with a well-planned sequence of thought. At present this seems to be the major question in Deutero-Isaiah research. T h e greater majority of scholars appear, rightly or wrongly, to favor the second possibility. At any rate, a glance into the literature on the subject seems to reveal at least two things : 1. In spite of all efforts no one has yet succeeded in detecting a continuing sequence of thought throughout the chapters in question. Though, admittedly, some order in the sixteen chapters is recognizable, one cannot see in this a continuous advancement of the argument. Therefore, a point must be raised against the view that these poorly organized chapters are a literary unit divided into stanzas or larger sections. Instead we should attempt to focus on the smaller units, characterize them, and comprehend their context. After that, we should put together what we have found in the individual units in order to fathom the structure of the prophet's ideas.
12. Op. cit., pp. 12, 34. 13. Op. cit.,pp. 1,385-
263
2. Thus we approach the form-criticism applied to Deutero-Isaiah by Hugo Gressmann, Ludwig Khler, and Joachim Begrich.14 Begrich's Studien zu Deuterojesaja especially represents pioneer work because it takes into consideration all the form-critical principles and categories established by the author's great teacher, Hermann Gunkel, and must be considered a standard work of recent Deutero-Isaiah research. At the present time Begrich's book, and with it the entire so-called form-critical school, does not enjoy wide popularity in the United States. Often this kind of investigation and its results go unmentioned, or are simply brushed off with few words. James D. Smart, for example, merely states in a footnote that scholars like L. Khler and J. Begrich are "treating the text of Second Isaiah as a compend of seventy independent articles and applying to them the methods of form-criticism in order to discover the original character and context of each. This could be done only by ignoring the continuity of meaning in larger units."15 Such a judgment seems to typify the criticism directed against the form-critics. Apparently their major sin is that by focusing on a variety of smaller units they endanger the assumed literary unity of the book. But is it really possible so to argue? Only the results are discussed, not the method of inquiry itself. However, scholarly research must be open to any result even when a pet idea is at stake, in this case the idea that Deutero-Isaiah is a well-composed literary unit. One more point : What is the alleged literary unity of the book? It is no more than an unproved prejudice since, as already mentioned, no one has yet succeeded in showing in the book a generally convincing and acceptable continuity of thought. Sidney Smith in his Schweich lecture discusses form-criticism in more detail.16 Unfortunately, he deals mainly with H. Gressmann and L. Khler whose work on Deutero-Isaiah marks only the beginning of the application of form-criticism to prophetic literature. Smith objects mainly to the variety and contradictory character of the definitions of the forms offered by form-criticism. He should be seriously heard, but two replies must be given : ( 1 ) An exegete who tries by form-criticism to understand the message of Deutero-Isaiah from assumed various individual small units is encouraged in his endeavor by the unsatisfactory and inconsistent results of interpreting our sixteen chapters as a wellcomposed literary unit. (2) Since Begrich there is a certain agreement in the definition of the forms which can be accepted as a rather solid starting point for subsequent interpretation. We shall return to this subject again.
264
Interpretation
James Muilenburg too takes issue with the form-critical position on the unity of Chapters 4055, 1 7 but attempts to do more justice to the method. H e concedes that the Hebrew writers employed literary types and forms, 18 but also insists that from the time of Deuteronomy on We often have a fusion of literary types, a combination of several forms to make a whole. The units are often more extensive than has been generally supposed. What are construed as independent poems are in reality strophes or subordinate units in a larger poem. When the form and structure of the poems have been prop erly understood, and the subordinate units of strophes or stanzas seen in their relation to each other, it becomes easier to recognize the continuity of the poems the way they follow one another from beginning to end.19 So Muilenburg understands Deutero-Isaiah first of all as a work of literary art in which the various forms and types have only a rather subordinate part. This point of view has recently influenced Claus Westermann. 2 0 O n the one hand, Westermann is well known for his valuable publications on form-critical subjects, 21 and therefore one expects from him detailed form-critical analyses. O n the other hand, Westermann has weighed the objections of scholars mentioned in this presentation to what occa sionally was called " t h e scissors and paste 5 5 method, or the "atomizing" method of form-criticism. Consequently, taking into consideration the particular character of the Deutero-Isaiah tradition, he now tries to trace bigger units composed of different forms (Gattungen) or fragments of forms, that is, units, or to put it better, poetic compositions in which certain elements of forms act only in a subservient capacity. So he says that Isaiah 4055 is not a collection of small individual units belonging to different forms of speech (Redegattungen), but a whole developed out of them. Both the units and the whole have to be seen and taken into consideration with equal carethe different parts which have to be understood on the basis of their particular forms, and the compositions in which they are brought together. 2 2
14. Gressmann, "Die literarische Analyse Deuterojesajas," in AW, 34, 1914; Khler, Deuterojesaja stilkritisch untersucht, BZAW, 37, 1923; Begrich, op. cit. 15. Op. cit., p. 18. 16. Op. cit., pp. 6ff. 17. Op. cit., p. 384. 18. Ibid., p. 385. 19. Ibid. 20. Glaus Westermann, "Sprache und Struktur der Prophtie Deuterojesajas," in Forschung am Alten Testament, Theologische Bcherei, 24 (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1964) ; and his commentary, Das Buch Jesaja, Das Alte Testament Deutsch, Vol. 19 (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966). 21. See, e.g., his fundamental book, Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech, trans, by Hugh Clayton White (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967) 22. In "Sprache und Struktur der Prophtie Deuterojesajas, ,, op. cit., p. 167.
265
We may draw these conclusions from our brief survey: 1. The situation in Deutero-Isaiah research is marked by two opposing positions: On the one side is the conviction that Isaiah 4055 represents a well-planned literary unit whose prophetic message is understood as the exegete attempts to trace the sequence of thought and continued advance of the arguments. On the other side is the conviction, stimulated by form-criticism, that the chapters are a collection of primarily individual and independent smaller units arranged in a certain order, and the exegete must stress the characterization and interpretation of these individual units. The second position considers the composition of the entire book to be only a secondary question because even the origin of the arrangement or composition of the whole is undecided whether it must be attributed to the prophet himself, or to one of his followers who wanted to preserve the message of his master. 2. This point raises the question of Deutero-Isaiah's literary or oral deliverance. If Isaiah 4055 is a systematically planned book, then its author must have written in the isolation of his study and must be understood through the medium of his writings. But when we follow the suggestions of form-criticism that the author preferred to use oral forms which later on were written down for preservation, then we can see him standing in the line of his great predecessors, prophets who formulated pronouncements orally and directly in more or less brief utterances following a certain pattern or structure. Only when we have the messenger of God and his auditors immediately facing each other do we have the situation where the formula of the prophetic message, "Thus says the Lord," has its specific sense and impact.23 3. If we accept the theory of oral deliverance, there seems to be no doubt that the prophet very directly addressed his message to the exiles in Mesopotamia. 4. We indicate only briefly how helpful form-critical investigations can be because from it many things emerge which throw new light on current questions or which raise new questions. One question which form-critics should discuss very thoroughly is that of the composition of the Deutero-Isaiah book as a whole. Here the door is already opened by the commentary of Claus Westermann. But another question also must be dealt with : What is the relation between the several forms and
23. See my dissertation, Anlass und Hintergrund der Verkndigung des Deuterojesaja (diss. Bonn, 1953), pp. 170 f. Some points are now out of date, but those in favor of oral deliverance seem to me to be still true.
266
Interpretation
types employed by our prophet and their characteristic subjects and contents? The Major Genres in Deutero-Isaiah Though it is not possible to determine the form of all the textual units of Isaiah 4055, one statement can cautiously be ventured. There are three major genres, or at least fragments of them, which Deutero-Isaiah prefers to use in his utterances. 1. The first is the so-called salvation oracle. This genre must be seen in close connection with the cult to which it, along with the lamenta 24 tion psalm, belongs. Both are parts of the liturgy of the penitential service held at the various sanctuaries of Israel in times of emergency, dis tress, or disaster. The worshiping subject, in the case of personal distress such as illness or persecution by enemies, could be individual members of the people of God; or in case of national disaster such as defeat in war, drought, or grasshopper plague, the worshiping subject could be the entire nation. Hence we have to draw a distinction between the indi vidual and the public or national penitential service. However, the basic structure of both was the same, and parts of either liturgy can be used to reconstruct the other. Three characteristic major parts of the ritual are recognizable: the proper lamentation psalm, the prophetic salvation oracle, and the assurance of being heard. 25 A fourth part may have been the singing of a thanksgiving psalm. It is very likely, however, that the psalm was the central point of a second service held after the promise of the oracle had materialized. So these cultic acts had a clear dramatic sequence leading from the initial invocation and petition through the climax, which was the oracle of God's hearing, on to the closing thanks giving psalm. The salvation oracle recited by a cult-prophet and beginning with a typical messenger formula, "Thus says the Lord," is of special interest in Deutero-Isaiah: Its essential message shows the form characteristic of this type of oracle, or at least of some parts of it.
24. See Aage Bentzen, Introduction to the Old Testament, Vol. I, 2d ed. (Copenhagen: G. E. G. Gad publisher, 1952), pp. 154 0 .; and Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, trans, by D. R. Ap-Thomas, Vol. I, pp. 193 if. and Vol. II, pp. 1 ff. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962). 25. Individual Public Lamentation Psalm Ps. 6:1-8; 28:1-5; Ps. 60; 74; 79; 80; 8 3 ; 56:2-9 II Chron. 20:6-12 Prophetic oracle To be supposed here II Chron. 20:15-17 Assurance of being heard Ps. 6:9-1 o ; 2 8:6-9 ; II Chron. 20:19 ( not quoted ) 56:10-13 Ps. 7 9 : 1 3 ; 8 3 : 1 7 1 . Thanksgiving Psalm Ps. 9 ; 18; 30; 34 II Chron. 20:26-28 (not quoted) Ps. 124; Isa. 12:1-6
The Message of
Deutero-Isaiah
267
In its basic structure the salvation oracle can consist of an introduction and a main body. The introduction contains a direct apostrophe and the formula "Fear Not." The body of the oracle can consist of three parts: A. The intervention of God. Here God is the grammatical subject speaking in the first person singular. We find nominal declarations like "I am with you,55 or verbal declarations with the verb in the perfect. B. The consequences of God's intervention. God is no longer the subject. The help of God announced in part A is illustrated by a description of the consequences or accompanying phenomena. C. The objective of God's intervention. Here we find an indication of the objective which God wants to realize through his intervention. Usually it is his own honor or recognition. Part A is the major part of such an oracle. Part B, and even more often part C, can be omitted. Examples of the oracle are : Isaiah 4 1 : 8 13, 14-16; 43:1-4, 5-7; 44:1-5; 46:12 f.; 49:22 f., 24-26; 5414-6, 11-17; 55 : 3"5 Further examples with more modifications are: 43:16-21; 46:3 f.; 49:8-12; 54-7-!0 Recently Westermann has tried to differentiate between these salvation oracles, first characterized by Begrich, and another type related to them as described above but grounded in another cultic situation. He calls it Annoucement of Salvation (Heilsankndigung) ; see Westermann, "Das Heilswort bei Deuterojesaja," Evangelische Theologie (1964), pp. 355-73; and op. cit. Here according to Westermann we find no direct apostrophe, no introductory formula, "Fear Not," but only an announcement of salvation with the verb in the future tense (Isa. 41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 45:14-17, and 49:7-12 [?]). Whereas the true salvation oracle must be seen in connection with the individual penitential service and the priest as speaker, the announcement of salvation is related only to the corresponding public service and a cult prophet. There is no space here to discuss this distinction in detail but two things can be said : ( 1 ) It is doubtful whether it is right to separate in this way the two kinds of penitential ritual which basically belong so closely together. (2) With the oracles it is often fairly hard to decide whether they refer to an individual or to a public lamentation psalm since Deutero-Isaiah sometimes calls the collective entity Israel by an individual name.26 It is enough to keep in mind that for the deliverance of his message Deutero-Isaiah prefers this kind of oracle which is grounded in the penitential service and connected with the lamentation psalms. Some conclusions can be drawn from this observation. In Zechariah 7:1 ff. we learn that immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem and
26. See, e.g., Isa. 4 0 : 9 ; 51:17 fr.; 54:1-8. This problem is also well known in Ezekiel, e.g., Chaps. 16, 23.
268
Interpretation
the deportation of the Judean upperclass, those remaining regularly celebrated penitential days with mourning and fasting. But what are such days without service and worship? We must assume that these were days when penitential services as described above took place, penitential services in which through a lamentation psalm the people who had been punished by their God deplored their fate and pleaded for his help. Perhaps Psalms like 44, 74, 79, and Lamentations 5 can be associated with such services.27 This was the situation in Jerusalem; and in connection with it let us look at yet another text, I Kings 8:46-50, part of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple. It was written by the Deuteronomist and reflects conditions of the Exilic period.28 Here we find allusions to prayers of the exiles for rescue from their unpleasant condition, prayers which from all that we know, must have belonged to the kind of penitential service which we have already found in Jerusalem. There is only one difference. Separated from the temple of Jerusalem, the exiles can no longer pray there; instead they pray facing towards Jerusalem. All this evidence taken together brings us to our major conclusion: Following an ancient custom, the exiles in their desperate situation in Babylon came together more or less regularly to celebrate penitential services where they sang their lamentation psalms and besought their God for help.29 So worshiping, they were united with their worshiping brothers and sisters in their remote homeland. This means that the exiles lived and thought in their religious life in the phraseology and thoughtworld of the lamentation psalms. And one of their fellow sufferers who believed himself to be a prophet legitimately appointed by the God whom they besoughtwe call him Deutero-Isaiahgave in his "oracles of being heard" the greatly desired answer from God. Whether he really participated in these services and officiated as a cult prophet delivering the salvation oracles we cannot be sure, but it is possible that he did since the activity of salvation prophets among the exiles is mentioned in Jeremiah 28:8. For our purpose, it suffices to emphasize the close connections between the penitential services of the exiles, with their lamentation psalms, and the message of Deutero-Isaiah. 2. The second major genre which provides access to the message of Deutero-Isaiah is the prophetic disputation. (See e.g., 40:12-17, 21-26,
27. More detailed in H. Eberhard von Waldow, Anlass und 28. See A. Bentzen, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 97. 29. Cf. on this Ps. 137. Hintergrund.

27-31; 44:24-28; 45:11-13, 18-25; 4 6 : 8 " I ] [ ; 4 8 : I * - i 6 ; 55:8-13)
269
In
order to avoid a one-sided view, we must see this in its entire significance alongside the salvation oracles. These prophetic disputations are not, however, the usual arguing back and forth by persons holding different opinions on a specific subject. Such discussion must be presumed, but the prophetic tradition reproduces only the speech of the prophet impugning the view of his audience. Such a speech can begin by quoting the opinion of the opposing party : "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 'My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?5 " (40:27 ) .30 Usually the debate opens with the basis of discussion focusing on a point of general agreement.31 Then follows the inferred consequence, which comprises what the prophet wants the other party to believe.32 It is typical of these prophetic disputations that elements of the hymns of praise (a type of psalm) or wisdom can be blended.33 From this formcritical observation we can briefly draw two conclusions about the message of Deutero-Isaiah. We have seen the message of Deutero-Isaiah to be closely related to the lamentation psalms; now we discover it to be closely related also to the hymns of praise. This shows that both the prophet and his audience lived in the tradition and theology of the Psalms as they were sung throughout the centuries in Israel's services of worship.34 These services had ceased with the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile following it. What was left to the exiles was that simple kind of worship which they could maintain in Mesopotamia, the penitential service, together with the entire Psalmodie tradition which they brought along to the country of their new bondage. This, Deutero-Isaiah could take up as he delivered his new message of salvation. But the despair of the exiles seems to have been greater than their faith and confidence in ancient tradition. Hence they could not easily accept the message of Deutero-Isaiah. Unquestionably, our prophet must be seen in the line of the so-called pre-Exilic prophets of doom.35 He takes over their
30. In 45:11 in connection with a rebuke. 31. Cf. 40:12-14, a series of rhetorical questions which are not debatable; in 48:121*. and 40:28 f., the point of agreement is expressed in a hymn; see also 40:22-24 or 44:24 ff. 32. Gf. 40:15-17, 25 f., 30 f. In 40:28 we have a gradual transition from undoubted points to the subject in question. Similar is 46:8-11. 33. Hymnic style is seen in 40:21-26, 28-31; 44:24-28; 46:8-11; wisdom in 40:12-17. Gf. on this von Waldow, Der traditionsgeschichtliche Hintergrund der prophetischen Gerichtsreden, BZA W, 85, 1963, pp. 47 ff. 34. Gf. Hans Joachim Kraus, Worship in Israel, trans, by Geoffrey Buswell (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1966). 35. Gf. Westermann, Das Buch Jesaja, pp. 22 ff.
270
Interpretation
interpretation of the catastrophe of 587 B.C., which they foresaw, and 36 like them sees the Exile as a consequence of the sin of Israel. But those who had not been ready to accept the view of the pre-Exilic prophets and their interpretation of history were scarcely prepared to welcome Deutero-Isaiah's message of salvation, and this in spite of their being rooted in the piety of the Psalms and the prayers uttered in the peni tential services. There may have been others who believed in the preaching of the pre-Exilic prophets, but what they now heard from Deutero-Isaiah as answer to their hopes and prayers was too fantastic to be credible. Therefore, Deutero-Isaiah had not only to announce the coming salvation but also like a wisdom teacher to explain and to convince the exiled people of God by the power of argument. This is probably the background of the disputations. We shall later see the points of his prophecy under discussion and the convictions of the exiles which he had to debate. 3. The third major genre of Deutero-Isaiah is the legal speech in court (Gerichtsrede). This term refers not to a single unique type of prophetic speech but to a group of types having in common the presup position of an imagined judicial action.37 The following different forms are possible : 1 ) the speeches of accusation : a ) the accuser's starting a legal action b ) the plaintiff's speech in court 2 ) the speeches of defense : a ) the defendant's starting a legal action b) the defendant's speech in court, or a speech in favor of the defendant
3 ) the speeches of the judge It is important first to identify the participants here. It can be asserted with good reason, though it cannot be here proved in detail, that in all prophetic legal speeches Yahweh is the judge and as such is always iden36. Cf. 4 2 : 2 4 ; 43:22-24, 27; 4 8 : 1 , 4, 8 f., 18; 50:1 ; 51:17 f. 37. See von Waldow, Der traditionsgeschichtliche Hintergrund der prophetischen Gerichts reden, pp. 10 f.; and H. B. Huffman, "The Covenant Lawsuit in the Prophets," JBL 78 (1959), pp. 292 f. 38. Because the Israelite administration of justice and the order of legal proceedings differ from ours, it is indeed difficult to apply modern terms to the Old Testament situation. On the Old Testament legal practice see Roland de Veaux, Ancient Isarel: Its Life and Institution, trans, by John McHugh (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961), pp. 143 ff.; and Hans Jochen Boecker, Redeformen des Rechtslebens im Alten Testament, Wissenschaftliche Monographien, Vol. 14, 1964. Examples of the different types of prophetic legal speeches are: iaJer. 2 6 : 8 f. (Isa. 1:18-20). ibIsa. 1:2 f.; $:i$-iy> Jer. 2:9-13. 2aJer. 2:4-8. 2bJer. 2:29-37; Mie. 6:1-5; Jer. 2:1-3. 3Hos. 4:1-3.

39
271
tical either with the accuser or the plaintiff or with the defendant, and 40 the witnesses, when mentioned, are heaven and earth. Thus Yahweh, for his part, is always judge and legal party in one person. The basis of these prophetic speeches is the legal procedure that took place in the gates of the Israelite cities (Ruth 4). When, however, the prophets employed judicial forms of speech in order to describe the relationship and the argument between Yahweh and his people, it was inconceivable for them that there could be an independent judge over the two opposing parties, Yahweh and Israel, and consequently, in the prophetic concep tion Yahweh became both judge and one legal party. Thus the prophets adopted an impressive form to illustrate and to emphasize the authority of their God as the God of the covenant over the people of Israel, the people of the covenant. In accepting the salva tion acts of her God (deliverance from Egypt, covenant, promise of the land, and fulfillment of the promise), Israel assumes obligations to the God of the Covenant. When Israel fails to meet them, Yahweh as plain tiff can sue for satisfaction, and as judge can inflict penalty. Of special interest in this connection are the legal speeches in which Yahweh plays simultaneously the role of the judge and the role of the defendant accused by Israel. This double role is a unique situation indeed. These speeches indicate by their structure how senseless or presumptuous it is to make claims on Yahweh or to demand justification. Two units in Deutero-Isaiah follow the pattern of a speech of the defendant, 43:22-28 and 50:1-3. Here it becomes evident that some exiles thought that Yahweh had broken or suspended the covenant or failed to meet his obligations.41 In his reply Yahweh simply turns the tables and proves the lapses of the other side. In Jeremiah 2:4 ff. this is followed by the judicial sentence: The accuser is guilty (Jer. 2:13), which provides the basis of the doom to be announced by Jeremiah. But Deutero-Isaiah goes another way. Here, too, the accuser is guilty and not entitled to make claims (43:24, 27 ; 50 : i b ) . Now the sentence ought to come but it does notinstead, an amnesty follows in 43:25. "Par doned after being found guilty," the prophet proclaims in this genre.42 His message of salvation is based on nothing other than sola gratia dei. Besides these two examples of legal speech we find in Deutero-Isaiah still another type, represented by the following passages: Isaiah 41:1-5,
39. 40. 41. 42. See my detailed demonstration, op. cit., pp. 12 ff. Isa. 1:2 ; Mie. 6:1 (here "the mountains and hills") ; Jer. 2:12. Cf. Isa. 40:27 ; 4 9 : 1 4 ; 5 0 : ; or 4 5 : 9 f. Gf. on this Muilenburg on Isa. 4 0 : 2 , Interpreter's Bible, Vol. V3 p. 425.
272
Interpretation
21 -29 ; 43:8-13 ; 44:6-8. Here there is quite another assignment of roles. Of course, Yahweh is the judge, and as such identical with the plaintiff; but the accused are the Gentile nations, and the witness for the plaintiff is Israel. Since no prototypes for this form appear in the writings of the other prophets, we may assume that it was created by Deutero-Isaiah himself. But the idea that the God of Israel judges the Gentile nations was not new. Probably it was developed in the cultic traditions of Jerusalem43 where Yahweh was worshiped as the "Most High," the ruler of all the earth, the judge of the nations, the King of the world (Pss. 24; 93; 94:2; 95:3; 96; 97; 99). Very likely this universalistic concept of Yahweh as Lord of the world and the nations was introduced into the Israelite religion when the Canaanite sanctuary of 'l celyon was made by David into a Yahweh-sanctuary.44 From then on the concept could develop and become part of the festival cult in Jerusalem, to which the above-mentioned Psalms must be related. This is the tradition with which Deutero-Isaiah is connected. It may be that the special situation of the exiles, living as they were in another country and surrounded by old and splendid sanctuaries crowded with worshipers of other gods, led the prophet to new reflections on the traditions of the Jerusalem sanctuary, then in ruins. If so, the result is the court scenes in which Yahweh, the judge of the world, accuses the gods of the Gentile nations; and that result is astonishing because it shows the expansive religious consciousness of an Israelite prophet. The God of a mini-state who had just lost his sanctuary because of his inability to protect itaccording to the opinion of his worshiperswas now going to judge and sentence the gods of the victorious world power! Summing up these traditio-historical considerations concerning the two types of legal speeches we can say : The one, continuing a form of speech used by the former prophets, depends upon the covenant relationship between Yahweh and his elected people, and presents Yahweh as the judge of his covenant people. The other, in which Yahweh is the judge of the Gentiles and their gods, when seen against the traditio-historical background, resumes the cultic traditions of Jerusalem; but as a form of prophetic legal speech, it is creation of the prophet DeuteroIsaiah.
43. See H. J. Kraus, Psalmen I, Biblischer Kommentar Vol. XV, ist ed., i960, excursus 4 on Ps. 24; and, Worship in Israel, p. 203. See also J. Gray, "The Kingship of God in the Prophets and Psalms," Vetus Testamentum 11 (1961), pp. iff.; and H. H. Rowley, Worship in Israel; Its Forms and Meaning (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967), pp. 72 ff. 44. See Helmer Ringgren, Israelite Religion, trans, by David E. Green (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), pp. 60 ff.
273
Other forms or genres of speech appear in these chapters, but they are not so typical of our prophet; furthermore, their identification as types of prophetic speech is too much under discussion to be dealt with here. However, one more genre must be briefly considered. This is the hymn of praise. It is not only the salvation oracles that give Deutero-Isaiah its joyful character, but also the hymnic praise apparent throughout the sixteen chapters. Independent hymns can be found at 42:10-13 ; 44:23 ; 45 45:8 (?) ; 48:20 f. (?) ; 49:13 Hymnic elements can be found in other types of unit, for example, 40:22-24, 28-31; 43:i6f. Sometimes the 46 prophet shapes an entire disputation as a hymn : 44:24-28 and 46:8-11, Actually we find hymnic style throughout the book, especially as adjunct 47 to the names of God. There are two possible reasons for Deutero-Isaiah's repeated adoption of language and formulations which are hymnic in style : ( 1 ) The new prophetic message that Israel's God is about to release his people is by itself reason enough to praise the Lord. (2 ) Furthermore, there seems to be no doubt that the prophet employs hymns used in earlier times in Israel's solemn services to glorify Yahweh for what he had accomplished for the sake of his people. The prophet indicates that the new acts of salvation about to come must be seen as paralleling those mentioned in the older hymns. There is no break; the election is not revoked; there is one continuing line from the first Exodus to the second, the returning home from Babylon. All the considerations presented thus far are based upon determina tion of the major forms and types of speech to be detected in the book of Deutero-Isaiah. All of themsalvation oracles, legal speeches, and especially disputationshave one point in common : They are oral, not written. It might be suggested that Deutero-Isaiah used these types only as literary imitations to clothe his writing,48 but this assumption is decis ively contradicted by the disputations. A debate must be oral. As a literary discussion it lacks reality. Therefore, we maintain the oral deliv erance of the prophetic message; we need not introduce a new picture of a prophet sitting in his study at the desk, meditating and writing about the problems of his time and the will of God. No doubt Deutero-Isaiah
45. Because of the special form of praise these units can be called eschatological hymns of praise; cf. Westermann, "Sprache und Struktur . ..," pp. 157-63. 46. A special form of Deutero-Isaiah is self-praise of God. This is well known in the Mesopotamian world but not in the Old Testament outside of Deutero-Isaiah; cf. . Falken stein and W. von Soden, Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (Zrich/Stuttgart, 1953), pp. 67 f. 47. See 43 : ; 44:2, 6, 24; 48:17 ; 49:7 ; 54:5. 48. This was the idea of Begrich in his Studien zu Deutero je saja.
274
Interpretation
was a great poet, but we have met him out in the world, amidst his contemporaries and fellow sufferers. Knowing what they felt and thought, what they believed and what they doubted, he participated in their services, prayed with them, and face to face with them as the prophet of God, delivered his message. The Major Points of the Message of Deutero-Isaiah i. The salvation oracles. According to all that was said above on the oracles we must expect to find the kernel of the prophet's salvation message here. But before we consider the announcements of God's intervention as found in part A of the oracles which naturally are of special interest here, we must have a look at the introductions because they point to the historical setting and theological background of the oracles. Here we consider two different kinds of epithet and names with which the prophet addresses his audience. a) There are sequences of epithets which sound somehow strange in the mouth of the prophet, like "worm Jacob," " cmaggot' Israel"49 (41:14) or "poor and needy" (41:17). These apostrophes are conceivable only as being originally self-designations of the people in the preceding lamentation song which the prophet takes over and uses to address his audience. Examples of such self-designations in lamentation songs are Psalms 22:6; 40:17; 70:5; or 74:19. Other examples in the oracles of Deutero-Isaiah are 46:12: "discouraged of heart, who are far from salvation"50 and 54:11 : "afflicted, storm-tossed, and not comforted." To these, however, we have no direct parallels in the Psalms. But can the prophet really say that his hearers are far from salvation when he is just about to tell them how close they are? b) Another epithetwith which he usually addresses the exilesis "Jacob-Israel."51 We find the name in the salvation oracles, as in 41:8; 44:1, and 46:3, where it recalls for his hearers their election by God: Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend ; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. ( 41:8 f. )
49. The Hebrew seems to have "You men of Israel." But the parallelism requires something parallel to "worm." Therefore, we should read according to L X X and Job 25:6 rimmat = maggot. 50. The Hebrew has "You stubborn of heart" (cf. Muilenburg, op. cit., p. 542). However, this is not the place for rebuke. Therefore it is better to read according to L X X 'bh* dh and translate as above (cf. Westermann, Commentary). 51. 40:27; 41:8, i 2 ; 42 :24; 4 3 : 1 , 22, 28; 4 4 : 1 , 21, 23; 4 5 : 4 ; 4 8 : 1 2 ; 49:6.
275
The passage shows that Deutero-Isaiah understands Israel, even the part of her now living in exile, as the fulfillment of the promises once given by God to the patriarchs. For our prophet, Israel's history of elec tion begins with the election of the patriarchs, as it does in the Yahwisticstratum of the Pentateuch. It may be remarked further that the prophet not only recalls Israel's election in his apostrophes. He does so also in his hymnic predicates attached to God's name (41:13; 45:5). The reference to the election of Israel at the beginning of the salvation oracles is rather significant. It points to the inner reason behind the fa vorable hearings of Yahweh which Deutero-Isaiah is about to announce. The election is not revoked in spite of Israel's apostasy and in spite of the catastrophe of 587 B.C. There is no doubt that most of the units where the election is mentioned by Deutero-Isaiah are salvation oracles.52 In the main body of the oracle, the announcements that Yahweh has heard or that Yahweh is about to intervene are of particular interest. Very often they are only general intimations,53 possibly because such a general announcement was what the worshipers in their distress wanted to hear. The nature of the intervention would be obvious from the particular situation. This shows that explanations of the general announcements are not absolutely necessary. Therefore, we must assume that in the prophet's speech the word of God which the prophet pronounces as his revelation consists only of these general statements, formulated in the first person singular. All of what follows, especially in parts and C, must be under stood, not as the direct word of Yahweh, but as the word of the prophet who wants to illustrate, to clarify, to explain and to apply it to the con crete situation of his audience. Thus this part of the prophet's speech is indirectly the word of Yahweh.54 In some examples (41:15, 18; 5513) the general announcement is followed by more detailed assertions in the first person singular. Here the prophet seems to make his application in the form of a pronouncement from Yahweh because he feels that he states exactly what Yahweh purposes. In these intimations, and in part where the consequences of the intervention of God are drawn, we find the following issues :
52. Other examples are 44:21 f. (prophetic admonition), or 4 4 : 2 4 and 48:12 (disputation) ; cf. also 51:1 f. 5 3 . 4 1 : 1 0 ( 1 3 ) ; 41:14, 17; 4 3 : 1 , 5; 4 4 : 3 ; 4 6 : 4 , ^ 3 ; 4 9 : 8 , 14-16, 25; 5 4 : 4 , 7 f.; 5 5 : 3 . 54. In 4 1 : 1 4 the end of the Word of God itself is indicated by the formula, "Says the Lord." We have the same situation, with the Word of God itself and its application, in the prophetic announcements of judgment (announcement of doom = Word of God; foundation = Word of the prophets) ; cf. Westermann in Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech, pp. 56 ff.
276
Interpretation
Yahweh destines all enemies to perish (41:11 f., 15 f. ; 49:26). Wealth and treasures of the richest nations of the day are given as ransom for Israel (43:3) ; their kings and princes must bring the Israelites home and serve them (49:22 f.). From then on the people of God will live in everlasting peace because no weapon fashioned against them can be effective (54:17). Yahweh gathers and brings home his people. From all directions the released turn home (43:5 f. ; 49:12 ). Yahweh builds an enormous highway for the returning people (49:11 ). However, the concept of a gathering-home should be placed in a larger context. The audition account in 40:3-5 places it at the very beginning of the book in the central position, although here the super-highway is used for the theophany of God. The unit 40:9-11 55 describes how Yahweh who came in a theophany gathers his people and leads them home, and the vision account, 52:7-10, describes the end of the homeward procession under his leadership. Then the homeward procession suddenly becomes the procession of a king ascending his throne in his capital.56 The unit 43:16-21 provides an important complement to the motif of the return home from the exile. Deutero-Isaiah sees it as analogous to the exodus from Egypt. The new exodus will replace the core of the old creed, Deuteronomy 26:5-9, which is that Yahweh has liberated Israel from Egypt, and will introduce a new basic saving event, deliverance from Babylon.57 The return home is followed by the rebuilding of the country and its cities (49:8, 17-21; 54:11-14) and a new apportionment of the land (49:8). Hence the position of Israel is similar to her experience after the first exodus and the occupation of the land under Joshua. A new
55. This looks like an imitation of a scene in which a messenger is instructed to announce a victory. 56. This seems to be the first passage in the O.T. referring to an enthronement of Yahweh. It is very likely that Ps. 47:9 is dependent on Deutero-Isiah. All the Old Testament references, e.g., Pss. 9 3 : 1 ; 9 6 : 1 0 ; 9 7 : 1 ; 9 9 : 1 , must be translated, "The Lord Is King," which means, "The Lord is King forever" (cf. Otto Eissfeldt, "Jahve als Knig," ZAW 46 (1928), pp. 81 ff., reprinted in Kleine Schriften, Vol. I (Tbingen: J. G. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1962), pp. 172 ff., but cf. also J. Gray, op. cit., in VT, 1961, p. 2. When in the conception of DeuteroIsaiah Yahweh comes to Jerusalem to commence the eschatological age with his own enthronement, this implies another important idea. There is no place for a Messiah in the conception of Deutero-Isaiah, for a Messiah is always a king. That means, e.g., that neither the Ebed of the Ebed-Yahweh songs nor Cyrus is to be understood as a Messiah. The Servant-Messiah problem is discussed in Muilenburg's commentary, pp. 412 f. and Rowley, The Servant of the Lord and other Essays on the Old Testament (London: Lutterworth Press, 1965) PP 6 l ff 57. See also 4 2 : 1 3 ; 4 8 : 2 1 ; 52:12 (cf. Exod. 12:11), cf. Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. II, trans, by D. M. G. Stalker (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), pp. 246 ff.; and Chr. North, The "Former Things" and the "New Things" in Deutero-Isaiah, in Studies in Old Testament Prophecy, ed. by H. H. Rowley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1950), pp. i n ff.
277
phase in the relation between Yahweh and Israel can begin but this one will not end in ruins again because Yahweh gives his spirit to his people (44:1-5). Here is something new in contrast to the past. The transformation of nature. Israel has a new existence in a new period of salvation-history (Heilsgeschichte) in a new world. The world has lost its threatening character. Where in the past there were wilder ness and desert, now there are rivers, pools of water, pastures and gar dens with trees, 41:18 f.; 43:19; 49:9. This re-creation of the world begins with the construction of the enormous highway, 43:19; 49:11? on which the exiles are led home by their God who has revealed himself in a theophany. All these motifs combined make it clear that the returning home sketched as a second exodus inaugurated a new age of the world and a new period of salvation-history (Heilsgeschichte). Extermination of Israel's enemies, enthronement of Yahweh in Jerusalem, transformation of the world, are all announced as the commencement of a new eschatological age in which everything attains its goal. The event comes about immediately: "Now it springs forth, Do you not perceive it?,55 says the prophet. This immense picture found in the salvation oracles must be considered to be the core of Deutero-Isaiah5s message. In part C of his salvation oracles the prophet declares that as a result of all that Yahweh has done in his cosmic final revelation, everyone and everything will acknowledge him, rejoice in him, and praise him, 41:2; 43:7, 20; 44:4 f. ; 49:13, 23, 26. Everything else in Deutero-Isaiah must be understood to supplement, illustrate, and explain what is said in the salvation oracles in answer to the petitions and pleas of the exiles. 2. The disputations. One theme of almost all the disputations is cre ation. Deutero-Isaiah frequently refers to creation, not because of any special interest in cosmology, but because he sees the creation of the world as the beginning of history and Yahweh who created the world as the master of history.58 These references appear exclusively in the first part of the disputation at the starting point of the reasoning.59 Their claim, then, is obviously not questioned by the audience; only what the prophet deduces is dis puted.
58. Gf. von Rad, op. cit., pp. 240 f. 59. 4 0 : 1 2 , 22, 28; 4 4 : 2 4 ; 4 5 : 1 2 , 18; 4 8 : 1 3 .
278
Interpretation
Some examples can be given. As creator of the universe Yahweh knows everything and must be able to help, 40:27-31. Or if he has performed the creation without any advisor or assistant, 40:14, then he is the unique God, with no other deity beside him, 40:25 ; 45:20-21 ; 46:9. Furthermore, he must be the Lord of the nations in the world and the ruler of their history, 40:15-17 and 23. The idea of monotheism had always existed in Israelite religion, but a monotheism carried to the point where the existence of other Gods is simply denied, that is, a theoretic monotheism, is absolutely new with Deutero-Isaiah. Probably, therefore, the audience resisted it. Another line of argument concerns the foretelling of events by Yahweh and the reliability of his word.60 Yahweh has fulfilled what the former prophets announced (44:26), which undoubtedly means the judgment of Israel. Westermann comments: "An unheard of thought in antiquity, a God shows himself to be God through the defeat of his own people!5561 This provides the basis for another even more controversial point of the message: the vocation appointed to Cyrus, the Persian king, by Yahweh, the God of little, defeated Israel. The matter is discussed in five units.62 For Deutero-Isaiah it is Cyrus, who has just performed his first world-shaking deeds, who gives the impetus to the arrival of the new eschatological age announced by the prophet and elaborated in his salvation oracles. The prophet dares to call Cyrus "shepherd of Yahweh55 (44:28); "man of my counsel55 (46:11); "whom the Lord loves55 (48:14) ; and "His anointed55 (45:1). This idea was almost certainly too much for even the most pious Israelites. Nevertheless, for DeuteroIsaiah it followed from the premise that Yahweh, the one God, was the creator of the world and the master of all world history. Also it helps to explain why we find this controversial subject only in the disputations and in two legal speeches, 41:1-5, 21-29, which treat it just as do the disputations. Even today some scholars refuse to believe that Deutero-Isaiah was the source for this controversial aspect of his message. Apparently the basic question concerns whether Deutero-Isaiah conceives of Cyrus as the Messiah. If he does, then one must decide whether such a bold idea is possible within the eschatological conception of an Old Testament
60. 44:25 f.; 4 5 : 1 9 5 4 6 : 1 0 ; 4 8 : 1 6 ; 55:10 f. 61. Westermann, Commentary, p. 16; the translation is my own. 62. 44:24-28; 45:11-13, 18-25 ( v 2 I ) i 46:8-11 ; 48:12-16.
279
prophet. Begrich, for instance, thinks it is, and holds that in the prophet's view of the future the Persian, Cyrus, is the Messiah. Smart and others, however, hold that no prophet of Israel could have called a pagan king the Messiah of Israel and conclude that these messianic Cyrus passages are textual accretions, or that they have been misinterpreted.63 But both alternatives are open to the objection that for Deutero-Isaiah Cyrus is not the Messiah because, as we have indicated above, there is no place in his message for a Messiah. Yahweh himself is the eschatological king (52:7-10) ; and the statements made of the Persian which lead some scholars to the messianic interpretation belong to the ancient Near-Eastern court style,64 a style which also influenced the language of messianic prophecies. On the other hand, if this way of referring to Cyrus is nothing but the result of misinterpretations, one wonders why the alleged misinterpretations occur exclusively in the genres of disputation and legal speech, that is, precisely at those places where the matter is discussed. We must insist then that there is no reason to eliminate artificially the Cyrus motif from the message of Deutero-Isaiah. On the contrary, form-critical analysis shows it to be an original part of the message, and furthermore, points to the fact that it was frequently disputed. Another question must be raised on this subject: If Cyrus was part of the prophet's message, where and how did he speak of Cyrus? Since the disputations are not really proclamations, we would expect to find mention of him in the salvation oracles where the general announcement of Yahweh's intervention is made. But that is not the case. The reason may be that for the announcement of the Cyrus-events DeuteroIsaiah used another form more adequate for what he wanted to say, an imitation of a type of oracle given to kings, as in 45:1-7, where the text follows the style and pattern of an oracle which was part of the oriental enthronement ritual. A close parallel to the text is the so-called Cyrus cylinder. There it is Marduk who has committed to Cyrus, "The righteous ruler according to his heart, whose hands he grasped," the task of subduing Babylon.65 This means that in Deutero-Isaiah the Cyrus
63. Begrich, Studien zu Deutero jesaja, pp. 128 ff.; Smart, op. cit., pp. 23 fr., who asserts: this idea "has been introduced into his (Deutero-Isaiah's) writings by the clumsy though wellmeaning activity of a later editor," p. 24. 64. Cf. von Rad, op. cit., pp. 243 ff. 65. Cf. on this, Westermann's Commentary, pp. 128 ff. and J. B. Pritchard, Ancient NearEastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 2d ed. (Princeton, N. J.: University Press, 1955), PP-3I5I-
28
Interpretation
theme is found not only in disputations but also in genuine oracle style. 3. The contents of the prophetic legal speech in court. Two different types of prophetic legal speech in court emerged from our form-critical discussion. In each Yahweh is the judge, but in two units he is simul taneously both the judge and the defendant accused by Israel. This type we found to be related to the tradition of the covenant. On the other side, in four units Yahweh as the judge becomes identical with the prose cutor, and the Gentile nations are accused, while Israel acts as the witness for the prosecution. The theological concept behind this second type of legal speech we found to be grounded in the ideology of the festival cult of Jerusalem. Because of the difference between them we must consider the two types of legal speech separately. Let us look at Yahweh's defense speech in 43:22-28. Israel insists that by bringing Yahweh all kinds of offerings she has met all her obli gations to him under his covenant with her, and now she demands that Yahweh reciprocate. Perhaps for many exiles that claim was the back ground of their petitions in the penitential services. But suddenly Yah weh, in the role of the defender, rejects all such claims and insists that he never required the service of sacrifice. With this turn of the argument we find Deutero-Isaiah to be in the tradition of the pre-Exilic prophets with their critique of the accomplish ments of the cult.66 Instead of cultic activities, says Micah: He [Yahweh] has made known to you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ( Micah 6:8). It is precisely here, however, that the self-styled accuser was deficient; so Yahweh turns the tables and becoming the accuser declares, "But you have burdened me with your sins . . ." (43:24b, 27). The accusation should provide sufficient cause for the conviction and sentencing of Israel. That is exactly the way the argument goes in the legal speeches of the pre-Exilic prophets (Jer. 2:4ff.) where proof of guilt serves as cause for the doom which they are about to announce. But not so in Deutero-Isaiah. Here the proof of guilt furnishes the back ground for the announcement of forgiveness and makes clear the theo logical difference between Deutero-Isaiah and his prophetic predeces66. Amos 5:21-25; Hos. 5:6; 6:6; Isa. 1:10-15; Mie. 6:6-8; Jer. 7:21 f. Cf. on Isa. 43:2228 von Waldow, ". . . denn ich erlse dich," pp. 73 ff.
281
sors. These predecessors announce the judgment which for them is still in the future. For Deutero-Isaiah, however, the judgment is past and the penalty is in the present. Thus in the theology of Deutero-Isaiah, forgiveness is not generous cancellation of judgment and penalty, but early release of the convict. Yahweh's other defense speech in 50:1-3 follows exactly the same pattern. The people accuse Yahweh of having divorced Israel as one would a wife, or of having sold her into slavery for debts. Hence he has violated his covenant with her. Then follows the turning around of the accusation by Yahweh, and finally his release of Israel. The central subject of these units is the possibility of punishment within the covenant relation; but, since it is within the covenant, amnesty and redemption follow. This announcement comes not directly in an oracle; rather it is announced indirectly in argumentation. According to the different assignment of roles the other four examples of prophetic legal speech have other contents.67 In a legal proceeding Yahweh accuses the Gentile nations and, as the judge, passes sentence. The issue is Yahweh's claim to be the only God; " I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no God" (44:). 6 8 He proves his claim entirely by his ability to announce future events. The paradigm case here is the announcement of the Cyrus-events in 41:1-5. Though Yah weh has predicted them, none of the would-be gods have. This raises a question : Where are these prophecies referring to Cyrus? Perhaps they occur in the message of Deutero-Isaiah as described above. But another consideration is even more interesting. As it is well-known, today we have a voluminous oracle literature of the ancient Near-Eastern peoples which shows how much these peoples believed that future events were predicted by their gods. Does Deutero-Isaiah reject their beliefs? The answer is given by his reference to Cyrus. The Persian's achieve ments meant the destruction of the Babylonian empire. There is, how ever, no indication that an ancient deity had ever announced the destruc tion of his own city, state, or empire. But for Deutero-Isaiah a god proves his divinity by predicting and accomplishing the destruction of the community which worships him. This is exactly what the God of Israel has done; and Israel is called in as Yahweh's witness to bear it testimony (43:80.).
67. 41:1-5, 21-29; 43:8-13; 44:6-8. 68. Gf. 4 3 : 1 1 .
282
Interpretation
The result of the argument is the judgment passed by the judge, Yahweh, who now speaks for himself: Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nought ; an abomination is he who chooses you. (41:24). The important fact in these four units is that in them Israel is given a special commission to the Gentile nations. Through her Heilsgeschichte, through the judgment and redemption which she has experienced from Yahweh, Israel is to testify to the Gentiles who and where the unique God is.69 That brings us back to the salvation oracles where we discovered the objective of God's action: "The people, whom I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise" (43:21) ; "Then all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob" (49:26). The Servant of the Lord If we are to have a complete picture of Deutero-Isaiah's message we must mention, however briefly, the Ebed-Yahweh, or Servant of the Lord. How does this enigmatic figure fit into the framework described above? Almost everything about the problem is under discussion, from the question whether the relevant textual units are originally part of the book, to the question of form-critical definition, and further to the question of the servant's identity, a matter which seems to be as old as the songs themselves.70 Anyone who attempts to offer a "new solution" should know that "new" must stand for "one more" and "solution" for "attempt."71 Nevertheless, in spite of the difficulties and complexity of the problem every new generation of scholars has to deal with it anew, in part at least because of the impact which Deutero-Isaiah's servant of
69. Some scholars have dealt with this subject in a special way and speak of a "Missionary Commission of Israel," cf. Rowley, The Missionary Message of the Old Testament, 2d ed. (London: The Carey Press, 1955) ; however, see the critique on this in P. A. H. DeBoer, Oudtestamentische Studien, Vol. X I (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1956), pp. 80 ff.; and N. H. Snaith, The Servant of the Lord in Deutero-Isaiah, in Studies in Old Testament Prophecy, ed. by Rowley (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950), pp. 187 ff. There seems to be no doubt that Israel has a particular commission to the Gentile nations, to testify that Yahweh is the one and the true God. But I decline to call this "mission" because Israel is not supposed to send missionaries to the heathen. See also von Rad, op. cit., pp. 248 f. 70. Excellent surveys of the literature and the different views on the Servant of the Lord are found in Chr. R. North, The Suffering Servant in Deutero-Isaiah, 2d ed. (Oxford: University Press, 1956) ; and Rowley, The Servant of the Lord and other Essays on the O. T. 71. Cf. Julian Morgenstern, The Suffering Servanta New Solution, in VT, Vol. X I (1961), pp. 292 ff. and 406 ff.
283
the Lord has had on the development of New Testament Christology.72 We hesitate to enter here into a closer investigation of the Ebed-Yahweh problem for methodological reasons. One should not encumber the general interpretation of Deutero-Isaiah with necessarily uncertain theories of the Servant. On the other hand, understanding of the general ideas may provide at least some help for the interpretation of these units, perhaps the most obscure of the Old Testament. We admit at the outset a decisive prejudice, namely, that the Servant units are an integral part of Deutero-Isaiah's message and not subsequent accretions or anything of the kind.73 We are therefore impressed by the similarity between the Servant in the context and the Servant in the songs and could conclude that the two figures are identical. If it is generally accepted that the Servant of the context is Israel (43:10; 48:20), then the Servant of the songs must also be Israel. In both the context and the songs the Servant Israel must fulfill a commission to the Gentiles to bring them the right knowledge of Yahweh.74 On the other hand, we are impressed by the individualistic features of the Ebed in the songs, especially in 50:4-9 and 52:1353:12. That brings us to the old question : Who can this individual be? "About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?55 (Acts 8:34). It is very hard to give an answer.75 However, two things should be considered. We saw in Deutero-Isaiah's message that the king of the coming eschatological age is Yahweh himself (52:7-10). It follows that there is no room for a messianic interpretation of the Servant, or for anything else leading in that direction.76 On the other hand, in many passages the Servant seems to be described as a prophet.77 Already in the womb he is called by Yahweh (49:5) and appointed to a special ministry to bring back Israel to Yahweh. The Servant is given as a "light to the nations55 (49:6). In another song
72. Cf. Hans Walter Wolff, Jesja 53 im Urchristentum, 2d ed. (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1950). 73. Cf. Eissfeldt, op. cit., pp. 340 f. However, S. Mowinckel holds that these four poems **. . . form a separate group within the collection of Deutero-Isaiah's sayings which came into being in the circle of his disciples" in He That Cometh, trans, by G. W. Anderson (Oxford: Blackwell, 1954), p. 188. But when he continues ". . . and this is now almost universally accepted by all Old Testament scholars," then he seems to be exaggerating slightly. 74. Cf. especially 42:1-7; 49:1-6 with 43:8-13; 44:6-8; 4 8 : 2 0 ; 4 9 : 8 ; 5 5 : 4 1 . On the socalled collective interpretation cf. H. H. Rowley, op. cit., pp. 35 ff. 75. Cf. Rowley, op. cit., pp. 3 ff. 76. Linguistic and form critical reminiscences concerning an ideology of the king should not be emphasized too much, as seems to be the case in the very thorough investigation by Otto Kaiser, Der Knigliche Knecht (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1962). 77. Cf. on this Mowinckel, Der Knecht Jahws (Kristiana: Grndahl & Sons, 1921).
284
Interpretation
(50:4) the Servant says of himself: "The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught,55 and in 49:2 he states: Yahweh "made my mouth like a sharp sword.55 These passages indicate that the Ebed5s ministry is a prophetic ministry to the world, and what he has to proclaim he knows by inspiration from Yahweh. Still, the Ebed seems to be a special kind of prophet. We have observed that he is to bring Israel back to Yahweh. Thus he is to reestablish or to renew the divine covenant over all Israel. Such a commission brings him into a close parallel with Moses, who was the mediator between Yahweh and Israel when the covenant was made on Mt. Sinai, and who sometimes was understood as the first prophet (Deut. 18:15 ff. ). Indeed the parallel is closer even than that. In the second phase of his task the Ebed is to be the "light of the nations" and "a covenant to the people55 (42:5-9). 78 After reestablishing the ancient covenant over all Israel, the prophet is appointed to extend it throughout the world of the nations. What at the beginning of Israel's history had happened on Mt. Sinai, with the theophany of Yahweh and the mediatorship of Moses, is now to be repeated on a larger scale in Jerusalem (40 :g-i 1 ; 52:7-10) where the cosmic final theophany of Yahweh takes place and where now the Ebed-Yahweh is the mediator. And there is yet another parallel. Whereas the covenant of Sinai was preceded by the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the establishment of the covenant of the nations is preceded by the deliverance of Israel from Babylon (48:20f.). Also, as in the first exodus the key figure was Moses, in the second exodus the key figure is the Ebed-Yahweh. Thus the prophetic figure, the Ebed-Yahweh, is a kind of second Moses, or as he has been called, a Moses redivivus.79 But when the songs are further examined, this view of the prophetic Ebed-Yahweh runs into trouble. In the very first phase of his commission he encounters opposition. Thus he complains: "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity55 (49:4); and according to 50:6 the people even mocked him :
I gave my back to the smiters, And my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard, I hid not my face, From shame and spitting.
Finally, he was murdered (53:8).

78. Concerning the interpretation of this difficult formula, see Muilenburg, op. cit., pp. 468 f. The parallelism suggests that "People" is here a parallel to the following "Nations," cf. 49:8. 79. Cf. Bentzen, Messias, Moses redivivus, Menschensohn (Zrich: Zwingli-Verlag, 1948), pp. 64 ff.
285
With the picture of the Ebed-Yahweh now before us, we must ask: Who is this prophet? We should recall what our form-critical investigation brought to light concerning Deutero-Isaiah himself. Though appointed prophet by Yahweh to answer the petitions of the exiles and to announce the beginning of the salvation era, he failed to get a proper hearing. As the contents of the disputations show, his message seems to have been weighted down with too many things unacceptable to his hearersall that he said about Cyrus, and, in connection with that, about the uniqueness and exclusiveness of Yahweh. These ideas lead directly to the second phase of the ministry of the Ebed-Yahweh, which was to expand the covenant until it covered all the nations. Therefore, we conclude that the Ebed-Yahweh of the songs is the prophet DeuteroIsaiah himself. With this we come to the so-called autobiographic interpretation which was first taken into consideration as early as the New Testament (Acts 8:34), and has been lately introduced into scholarly discussion by Sigmund Mowinckel.80 Deutero-Isaiah, it is said, considering himself to be standing at the beginning of the new eschatological age, regarded himself as a second Moses, but because he so regarded himself and because of the crucial points of his message he experienced opposition which increased until he was murdered. This brings us to the fifth song, which deals with the Servant's death. Admittedly, here the autobiographic interpretation runs into particular problems. How can the prophet explain his own death? The alternatives are either to interpret Chapter 53 as an anticipation of the prophet's own sufferings and death,81 or to understand it as coming later from one of the prophet's disciples who tried to find some sense in the tragic end of his master.82 One major problem remains. Should the Ebed-Yahweh be equated with Israel, an identification which seemed so striking at the beginning of our consideration of the Ebed-Yahweh? Or should the autobiographic interpretation suggested above be combined with the Israel-hypothesis? If, however, one thing has become clear in the study of the Ebed-Yahweh problem during recent decades, it is that neither possibility by itself can completely satisfy. Present research attempts to combine the differing views. For that attempt, in the Ebed-Yahweh songs the prophet DeuteroIsaiah sees his experience, that of trying to accomplish his prophetic
80. See Mowinckel, op. cit. Since this publication Mowinckel has given up the theory; cf. He That Cometh, p. 248. 81. That is what Mowinckel did in his Der Knecht Jahwas, p. 38 f. 82. Cf. on this, North, The Suffering Servant in Deutero-Isaiah, pp. 78 ff.
286
Interpretation
task at the threshold of the new eschatological age, as typical of the destiny of prophets like himself. Hence, as Deutero-Isaiah sees it, Israel as the Servant of the Lord has to fulfill a like commission to the Gentile nations, and must face the same experience of rejection, suffering, and finally death. The prophet speaks of his own sufferings to demonstrate what the sufferings of Israel will be. 83 It is of special interest, then, to see how the Ebed's death is spoken of : 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. (53:5) This means suffering and dying for the sake of otherssuffering of the innocent for the redemption of the guilty. Nowhere does the Old Testament speak more deeply about suffering, sacrifice, and redemption. Here a completely new feature is introduced into the message of DeuteroIsaiah. Now we see the prophet and his message as a unit. Not only was his word the message; so also were his suffering and dying. Against the background of Isaiah 53 it is impossible to consider the message of Deutero-Isaiah apart from his personality and destiny, or what he experienced apart from his message. If this is right, here then is the Old Testament's most impressive preparation for the New Testament. For the New Testament writings deal not only with what Jesus taught, as important as that is, but also with something more importantwhat Jesus was and what happened to him : Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, He was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, And he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ( I Cor. 15:4t.) This was the content of the earliest Christian confessions and not Jesus5 teachings.
83. This approach to the Ebed-Yahweh songs is similar to what H. Wheeler Robinson says in his monograph, The Cross of the Servant (1926), which is reprinted in, The Cross of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), pp. 55-114; cf. also Eissfeldt, Der Gottesknecht bei Deuterojesaja (Jes. 40-55) im Lichte der Israelitischen Anschauung von Gemeinschaft und Individuum (Halle/Saale: M. Niemeyer, 1933) ; in English, "The Ebed-Yahweh in Isaiah XL-LV in the Light of the Israelite Conceptions of the Community and the Individual, the Ideal in the Real," Expository Times, 44, pp. 261-68.
287
The other theological problem involved in our interpretation of the Ebed-Yahweh in Deutero-Isaiah is that of corporate personality.84 When the community is viewed as a corporate personality, the whole community can be represented by an individual, or the individual, who is necessarily part of a community, can be represented by the community. "There is a fluidity of conception, a possibility of swift transition from the one to the many, and vice versa, to which our thought and language has no real parallel,55 says H. Wheeler Robinson. "The whole group is a unity, present in any of its members. . . . There is no consciousness here of any transition, just or unjust, from the one to the group; the point is the group can be actually treated as one.5585 This typical feature of Israelite thinking casts some light upon both the Servant songs and their context. There we find Israel as a community represented by an individual, and conversely as an individual described with the characteristics of a community of which he is an extension. With this we conclude our remarks about the message of the prophet Deutero-Isaiah. However, when we thus interpret the message of our prophet, one group of final questions must at least be mentioned. How did this message, orally delivered, become a book? Who was responsible for the book? What is the logic of its arrangement? But since our subject was the prophet's message, and since the message had its structure before the book appeared, we are excused from discussing the problem here. Our understanding is that the investigation of Isaiah 4055 must not begin with the question of the book's composition, but rather must end there.
84. Cf. on this, Robinson, op. cit., pp. 75 ff. ; and by the same author, Corporate Personality in Ancient Israel, 2d ed., Facet Books, Biblical Series 11 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967) ; or Aubrey R. Johnson, The One and the Many in the Israelite Conception of God (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1961 ). 85. Op. cit., p. 77.
^ s
Copyright and Use: As an ATLAS user, you may print, download, or send articles for individual use according to fair use as defined by U.S. and international copyright law and as otherwise authorized under your respective ATLAS subscriber agreement. No content may be copied or emailed to multiple sites or publicly posted without the copyright holder(s)' express written permission. Any use, decompiling, reproduction, or distribution of this journal in excess of fair use provisions may be a violation of copyright law. This journal is made available to you through the ATLAS collection with permission from the copyright holder(s). The copyright holder for an entire issue of a journal typically is the journal owner, who also may own the copyright in each article. However, for certain articles, the author of the article may maintain the copyright in the article. Please contact the copyright holder(s) to request permission to use an article or specific work for any use not covered by the fair use provisions of the copyright laws or covered by your respective ATLAS subscriber agreement. For information regarding the copyright holder(s), please refer to the copyright information in the journal, if available, or contact ATLA to request contact information for the copyright holder(s). About ATLAS: The ATLA Serials (ATLAS) collection contains electronic versions of previously published religion and theology journals reproduced with permission. The ATLAS collection is owned and managed by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) and received initial funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The design and final form of this electronic document is the property of the American Theological Library Association.

The Message of Deutero Isaiah

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

The Message of Deutero Isaiah

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

The Message of Deutero-Isaiah