Isaiah, through the best and worst of times
Many scholars of the Bible are cautious folks. I became familiar with some of them in seminary, and I found that they were not quick to jump to conclusions. Similar to scientists, they carefully consider past scholarship before making assertions, and peer review is an important part of their profession. That doesn’t mean that there is consensus on every topic in the field. Of course there are ongoing debates — some even contentious — but there are also areas of agreement.
One is that the book of Isaiah was not written by a single individual. Now, you might find a handful of literalists who think that is the case (they tend to hang out with the folks who deny climate change is real), but considering Isaiah covers events that occurred over a period spanning more than 100 years, their opinions are probably not worth your consideration. So when I refer to “the words of Isaiah,” I do so with the understanding that these writings were collected across generations before being compiled into the book of Isaiah we know today.
Nothing against the other writings you’ll find in the Bible, but Isaiah is a true heavyweight. It’s the longest of the prophetic books. Isaiah is frequently quoted by Jesus (more than any other prophet). And it covers a critical period of time in the history of our spiritual ancestors, from the rule of the Assyrians until after the Persians conquered the Babylonians.
In a few weeks, the season of Advent will begin, and words from this scripture will be quoted more often than usual. In churches and in The Messiah, we’ll hear Isaiah’s words used (and, sadly, sometimes abused) to predict the coming of Jesus. Isaiah had great meaning before the birth of Jesus, though, and that’s what we’ll concentrate on today.
Isaiah 65, our scripture passage, appears near the end of the book. By this time, the Assyrians have invaded the northern kingdom of Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah has been conquered by the Babylonians, who took many from Judah into exile in Babylon. The Persians have conquered the Babylonians, and some of the surviving exiles (and their descendants) have chosen to return to the land from which they were forcibly removed, but that land has been devastated by past conquest. In short: A lot of bad stuff has gone down.
These struggles are reflected throughout Isaiah, and chapter 65 is a response to them, but more than anything else it points back to the earliest chapters of Isaiah. There you’ll find the prophecy that says,
In days to come
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. (2:2)
And another:
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. (2:4)
As well as,
For the LORD of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and high. (2:12)
These words had been shared for generations before today’s scripture came to be. Some who were subject to the Babylonian invasion and exile would have known of them. As they were going through those horrible experiences, they must have wondered when God’s promises would finally be realized.
There are a lot of superlatives tossed around in today’s culture. For instance, it seems each election in our country is referred to as “the most important in our lifetimes.” Many issues are presented as so critical that our lives depend on them. One of my neighbors often reminds me how kids these days are the most vandalous in history. Some folks even think that we are on the precipice of the end times.
The older I get, though, the more I realize that there is always someone saying such things. If you were to look at the newspaper from any given era, you’ll find reports of negative trends, tragedy, corruption, crime, conflict, and struggle. Though we might be able to reflect on some years that were better than others in our own lives, as a species we are plagued by the human condition, and that results in the outcomes reported in the news.
That said, I hope you voted last week (or earlier). And there are existential issues facing us, such as climate change and the threat of nuclear conflict. Regardless of where we are in the ebb and flow of the best and worst of times, though, our call as people of God does not change.
There is danger in superlatives, because they can lead us to extremes, and once there we can lose sight of our call. Those who differ from us, whether in nationality or religion or orientation or identification or political alignment, become the other; and once they are othered, they become less than human; and once they become less than human, they become expendable.
Those might sound like harsh words, but if you look at the history of Christian faith, you’ll find examples like the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Doctrine of Discovery, as well as systematized patriarchy, racism, and homophobia. If you look at the history of our country, you’ll find the genocide of indigenous people, slavery, and even some unjust wars. So even those collections of people that hold promise often fall short of their potential.
One of the conflicts that is sometimes described with superlatives is over what our children are taught in school. There are some who think the historical occurrences I described earlier have no place in the classroom. Thus this quote from biblical scholar Hyun Chul Paul Kim caught my attention:
In today’s education field . . . many universities are investing in the so-called STEM majors at the expense of the humanities, including the subject of history. As an inevitable side effect of the capitalistic system, collective memory of human history is shrinking or disappearing. Nevertheless, history must be taught and continue to teach us not only the atrocities of the others but also our own wrongdoings. (Kim, 291)
As a father who has been encouraging his daughter to major in engineering, this gave me pause.
I say again: Regardless of where we are in the ebb and flow of the best and worst of times, our call as people of God does not change. Nor does God’s promise.
That brings me back to Isaiah 65. The mountain that was described at the beginning of Isaiah is again promised, this time as a new heaven and a new earth. A peaceable kingdom of abundance will arrive for all God’s people, even those who chose not to return to the land from which they were exiled. And other themes from Isaiah are addressed as well. As biblical scholar Adele Berlin writes, “the people wondered whether God listens to their prayers. God answers this question here: In the future, God will answer prayers before the people even utter them.” (Berlin, 895) Indeed, “all that is confused and wrecked in divine-human exchange is gone.” (Seitz, 554)
Some changes to earlier assumptions are also introduced. Whereas in Isaiah 11, a new era is “ushered in by an ideal Davidic king,” Isaiah 65 “leaves the human king out of this re-prediction.” (Berlin, 895) In addition, “YHWH directly indicts the stubborn and the wicked . . . presumably the compromising, self-serving, privileged group. It is as though God the powerful parent counterattacks the bully, while shielding the abused children with arms around them.” (Kim, 288) God’s people have endured enough suffering, and will now be protected.
But just as for us now, the call for the people of God is the same, and you can look to Isaiah chapter 1 for what that entails:
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
In doing so, as Christopher Seitz says, “the comforted of God become vehicles of transformation for the nations and the outsiders to God’s word and ways.” (Seitz, 560) God’s kin-dom is partly realized through the actions of God’s followers.
That’s a phrase you’ll sometimes hear among Jesus-followers. The kin-dom of God is here, but not yet. It is sometimes realized in part when we engage in the pursuit of justice or offers of love, but the full realization is still on the horizon.
Isaiah 1:27 says that, “Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.” The work of Jesus on earth was not a separate effort from what the prophets described. He was a living embodiment of their words. He was not about ceremony and status and worldly power; rather, he spoke truth to that power and subdued it through humility. Following in the footsteps of the Assyrians and Babylonians and Persians, the Romans of his day were simply the latest of the historical forces to attempt absolute rule over God’s people. The cycle continues today, as does our work amidst the powers and principalities of our world.
In the coming season, you might hear those familiar lines from the book of Isaiah that some interpret as pointing to the birth of Jesus. But amidst that, I hope we don’t lose sight of the overall “true and inspired” “vision of Isaiah . . . because the gospel recapitulates its word and establishes beyond doubt the work of God, which is God being satisfied with nothing less than total reclamation of the world.” (Seitz, 560)
It’s on the horizon, although it’s not here yet. It’s sometimes revealed in our acts as Jesus-followers, but its full realization will occur in the future. I like how John de Gruchy puts it:
Christian hope is rooted in reality, but it is also a ‘hope against hope’, a hope which often flies in the face of reality because it is based on the faithfulness of the God who surprises us in ways which enable us, in the end, to say ‘Amen’. Indeed, our text declares that it is a vision that only God can bring to reality. Although we are called to participate with God in the struggle for justice and peace, in the end it is God who will surprise us all by the way in which the new world is born. For it is God who finally creates the ‘new heavens and a new earth’. (de Gruchy, 65)
Regardless of where we are in the ebb and flow of the best and worst of times, our call as people of God does not change. Nor does God’s promise.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Works Referenced
Berlin, Adele and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
De Gruchy, John W. “A New Heaven and a New Earth: An Exposition of Isaiah 65:17.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 105 (November 1999) 65–74.
Franke, Chris A. “Isaiah 40–66,” in Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, ed. Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Kindle edition.
Kim, Hyun Chul Paul. Reading Isaiah: A Literary and Theological Commentary. Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2010. Kindle edition.
Schuele, Andreas. “Who is the True Israel? Community, Identity, and Religious Commitment in Third Isaiah (Isaiah 56–66).” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2019, Vol. 73(2) 174–184
Seitz, Christopher R. “The Book of Isaiah 40–66: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Volume IV. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015.
