Gene M. Tucker wrote the Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections on the Book of Isaiah 1-39 for The New Interpreter’s Bible. He wrote about interpretation of scripture when he said, “Anyone who reads creates meaning. If a significant text—such as one in these chapters of Isaiah—is to have meaning and life, it will be only in the minds and hearts of its readers, each of whom will encounter something different based on various factors, including experience, culture, and their goals in reading. Moreover, the meaning of this text from antiquity seldom is self-evident; nor can it be taken for granted… the goal of commentary is to open up the text, to encourage an encounter with it, to make it more accessible. Disciplined interpretation wants to engage the text and not a preconceived notion about its meaning.”

I invite you to come to your reading of Isaiah, and any other scripture, with curiosity. Not as an end to conversation, but as the beginning to conversation.

Isaiah is the longest prophetic book in the Bible. The commentary in the Wesleyan Study Bible (WSB) says, “In part, this is because the tradition associated with Isaiah continued to grow over several generations.” Isaiah is really three parts.

Part 1 is chapters 1-39.  These chapters are associated with Isaiah ben Amoz. He received his call in chapter 6 around 742 BCE, the year King Uzziah died. He preached to the southern kingdom, Judah, to the city of Jerusalem, and the kings of Judah. The WSB says, “He was married and had sons, and he seems to have been born into a high social station judging from his easy access to kings and leaders in Jerusalem.”

Part 2 can be found in chapters 40-55.  This section is often called Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah. This section takes place during the Babylonian exile. The Babylonians made everyone leave and they burned down the Temple.  When we read Nehemiah in March we learned that when the Persians defeated Babylon they let the people come back and rebuild the Temple.  Second Isaiah is written when Cyrus of Persia is beginning to take control of Babylon’s empire, probably 545-539 BCE.  WSB says, “the emphasis in this section is entirely on hope and renewal in spite of exile. The God of Israelite tradition is still firmly in control and will redeem God’s people.”

Part 3 is chapters 56-66. The conditions reflected here are those after the return of the exiles.  They’ve returned but have not yet rebuilt the temple. WSB says, “the tone of joy and hope of Second Isaiah is sober and more subdued here.”

Tucker writes, “It is not easy to read a prophetic book. The subject, style, genre, and mood keep changing, often without warning. Readers attempting to follow the train of thought frequently find themselves derailed or at least shifted to a different track… doubtless some of this challenge and disorientation are by design, especially in the individual prophetic accusations and announcements, and sometimes also in the way the book has been put together. But some of the difficulties in following the book arise from its complicated history of composition as well as our unfamiliarity with ancient conventions of speech and literature.”

So that’s why we’re reading it together with the help of the Holy Spirit!

Most prophetic books (except for Jonah) begin with a superscription written by someone other than the prophet, since both the prophet and the book are referred to in third person. This tells us when Isaiah was an active prophet and to whom he spoke- he speaks to Judah and Jerusalem in the days of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

Verses 2-20 could be entitled, “A Lawsuit Against Israel.”
Isaiah calls the people together and gives them a message that God gave him to disseminate. The listeners are the children of God who do not know God. A theme develops that we see throughout Isaiah and other prophets- that celebrating festivals and making sacrifices are not the only things God desires.  God spells out what is desired in verse 16 and 17.  God wants piety and social action.

Verse 21-23 are a lament over sinful Israel. Verse 24 is what is expected—the punishment of God. But not how the people expect.  Tucker writes, “the proclamation of judgment takes a surprising turn. Yahweh will indeed strike (‘turn my hand against you’) the city and people of Jerusalem, but God’s wrath (v. 24) will purify and renew rather than destroy. Then where one would expect the announcement of judgment, instead the Lord proclaims salvation.”

The last few verses of chapter 1 are confusing until we, as modern readers, learn what the “oaks” and “gardens” are. These are the sacred groves of the Canaanite fertility cult.  So delighting in these oaks and choosing these gardens means participating in worship of something other than Yahweh.  But we are to worship God alone. Tucker writes, “although there is no specific accusation of idolatry, ‘those who forsake the LORD’ are the ones who have participated in non-Yahwistic worship. To ‘be ashamed’ and to ‘blush’ are not the same as being guilty; it is to have one’s guilt exposed.”  These verses call us to consider who and what we worship.

In these chapters we get a lot of prophetic material, assembled from various periods, all about the “day of the Lord.” 
“The day of the Lord” is often used throughout the prophets, to describe destruction.

As we read these chapters it’s important as modern readers to remember the ancient writers and ancient audience, their culture, their symbolic worldview, etc.  Theirs was a patriarchal society. Tucker writes that the meaning of 3:17 is uncertain. The NRSV translates “lay bare their secret parts” while the NIV says, “make their scalps bald.”  The NIV translation is the most accurate reading.

Throughout scripture the way women are treated in a society is a marker of how well that society is doing on a scale of righteousness to sinfulness.  For example, as you read the Book of Judges the treatment of women gets worse and worse which tells the reader that society is going downhill fast.  Isaiah 3:16-4:1 describes the women of Jerusalem and how their status and position will get worse, rather than better.  Tucker writes, “all the images correspond to what is known to happen to women of cities defeated in warfare: the ‘stench’ of death, the ‘rope’ of captivity, the ‘baldness’ already promised. The ‘sackcloth’ that will replace the ‘rich robe’ refers either to poverty or to mourning or to both… the image of the women of Isaiah’s Jerusalem are wealthy and pretentious, and soon to lose all reasons for conceit.”

Isaiah 4:2-6 sees beyond the judgment described in earlier verses.  Tucker writes, “in effect, [these verses] affirm that the prophecies—as the creative word of God—have been effective and that their goal was the purification of the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants.”

Chapter 5 consists of three parts: 1-7 a song of the vineyard, 8-24 a series of accusations in the form of seven woe speeches, and 25-30 an announcement of judgment.

Song of the Vineyard – Isaiah is the “friend of the bridegroom” and sings a song on behalf of his friend. The vineyard represents the bride. It was common in Hebrew poetry for a vineyard to represent the beloved. In the book Interpretation: Isaiah 1-39 Christopher R. Seitz writes, “Did God not do enough for his vineyard? We expect the listeners to indict the vineyard when instead God himself speaks the harsh sentence of judgment… The final verse includes the listeners again. They are the vineyard about to be destroyed! God looked for justice (mispat) but found bloodshed (mispah); for righteousness (sedaqah) but instead found a cry (seaqah). A similar contrast was set forth in chapter 1 where we heard of justice turned into harlotry and of righteousness into murder.”

Woes- what do you think of these woes? Are you surprised by any of them? Why or why not?

Judgment Announcement- verse 25 describes past punishment and the rest of the verses announce future punishment.  Verse 26 says that God will whistle for an invading army to conquer Israel.  This is how the exile was interpreted, that God let the exile happen as a way to punish the people for their idolatry. What do you make of that interpretation?

Chapter 6 is a well known section of Isaiah, sometimes referred to as Isaiah’s call story. Instead of trying to dissect this section of scripture, I invite you to read it and think about what it must have been like to experience what Isaiah describes.

What are seraphim?
Tucker writes, “the seraphim who attended the Lord must cover both their ‘feet’ (a euphemism for their nakedness) and their faces; no one can appear naked before the Lord, and no one can see God directly and live, not even the supernatural beings that guard the throne. Seraphim (literally, ‘fiery ones’; the English simply transliterates the Hebrew) elsewhere are serpents, but here they have six wings. Whatever their form, their function is clear. Like the cherubim in Ezekiel 1, they are attendants around the divine throne, and they praise the Lord.”

In verse 11 Isaiah asks, “How long?” this is a common question in individual complaint psalms, usually the beginning of a petition.  See Psalms 13, 74, 75, 80, 89, 90.  Turner writes, “In the Old Testament, one is allowed to resist, to disagree with, and to challenge even the God whose glory fills the whole earth. Questions are always allowed.”
 
Chapter 7 is made up of two units involving the prophet’s sons and King Ahaz. The second unit is quoted in Matthew chapter 1. Do you recognize the quotation? How does knowing this story illuminate your understanding of Matthew 1?

According to chapter 8 what ought we to do when we are afraid?

What do you think of those names?  What do you think about naming children symbolically? Names like “A Remnant Shall Return” were unusual in Isaiah’s time.
 
When you think about prophets, what do you imagine?  Tucker writes, “most modern readers, in an age of individualism, tend to think of the prophets as solitary individuals, independent thinkers working outside of and mainly against the established institutions. The allusions to Isaiah’s disciples (8:16) is just one of the many indications that this image misses the mark….one could even call prophecy itself an institution…From the time of David, prophets were mentioned alongside generals and priests as more or less officials of the king.”

What does 9:1-7 remind you of? Are you familiar with this section?

We begin our section today with a refrain- “for all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.” You get the sense that this refrain helps the people to interpret things that have gone bad for them as the effects of divine intervention. The people want to make sense of the senseless things that have happened to them.  Where do you see the desire to make sense out of the senseless playing out today?

In the middle of our chapters today is a section of judgment against Assyria in chapter 10:5-19. Remember, the Assyrians are the ones who exiled the northern kingdom of Israel (the Babylonians exiled the southern kingdom of Judah).

We finish chapter 10 with a section about what will happen to a remnant of Israel and Judah.  “Remnant” is used throughout Isaiah to refer to the people who, after the exile, come back to the Promised Land.  We read about them in Ezra and Nehemiah. The fact that a remnant exists is a sign that God did not completely abandon the people.

You may recognize the beginning of Chapter 11 from Advent.  We read a lot of Isaiah during the season of Advent as we await the birth of Jesus and his second coming.  Turner writes, “Few texts in all of biblical literature are better known or loved than this one—and for good reason. For all who read or hear them read aloud, these verses articulate the deep and persistent human hope for justice and peace, and within the Christian church, this text expresses the promise of a Messiah who would establish peace on earth.”

Jesse was David’s father. God made a covenant with David, found in 2 Samuel 7:8-16.  We call this the Davidic Covenant.  God says to David, “your throne shall be established forever.” As people waited for the Messiah to come and save them, they read this part of 2 Samuel to mean that the Messiah would be descended from David. So, when we read that a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, we remember the Davidic Covenant and the varied hopes for the Messiah.

The beginning of Chapter 11 is all about the coming reign of God - the first verses are about a “new and ideal king from the line of David.  The second element (v. 6-9) promises, “the reign of God in the order of creation with the establishment of peace and tranquility among all creatures, including predators and their prey.”

Turner writes, “As a consequence of the rule of justice and the transformation of nature, ‘the earth will be full of knowledge of the LORD’ (v. 9). Or is it the reverse, that because the earth is filled with the knowledge of the LORD, justice and peace reign?”  Which do you think it is? Why?

The second half of Chapter 11 is about the Return of the Exiles. Turner writes, “in this vision of the future, the Lord not only returns the remnant of Judah and Israel to their land but also gives them political independence and military power. This is achieved first through the reconciliation of the two kingdoms (v. 13) and then through victories over their enemies (v. 14).”

Chapter 12 is a song of thanksgiving. It serves as a liturgical conclusion to the first section of Isaiah (Chapters 1-12). Tomorrow we’ll read Chapter 13, which begins a section of oracles concerning foreign nations, whereas 1-12 mostly concern Judah and Jerusalem. Turner writes, “it is very unlikely that the prophet Isaiah wrote Chapter 12. It was added as the sayings of the prophet were being collected, edited, and saved as a book. The chapter serves as a fitting response on the part of the community of faith to the reading of the promises of salvation.”
 

These are oracles against foreign nations. They are very, very harsh.  It helps to think about this from the hearer’s perspective. If you are oppressed and suffering because of a tyrant who does whatever they want, without care or concern for anyone else, then Verse 11, for example, sounds good: “I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and lay low the insolence of tyrants.”

Chapter 13:1-14:27 are oracles against Babylon. There is a lot of war imagery used, and we see a list of the horrible consequences of war in 13:14-18.  These verses are very hard to read. These are the hideous acts people suffered and still suffer because of war.

Turner writes, “this text, like most of the oracles against the foreign nations, cannot be worked easily into a theological scheme or brought into line with conventional understandings of the world or of God. It is troubling and therefore, provocative. Like so many prophetic texts, it cannot be domesticated or brought under our control.”

These verses remind us of Psalm 137 which concerns Babylon and is equally graphic and cruel.

Turner writes, “Context and perspective are everything here.  This poetry, comes from the time of the Babylonian exile and later, expresses the point of view of those oppressed by the superior power of Babylon. An important function of the text is to enable its readers to identify with the oppressed… especially those who are comfortable and have lived their lives in powerful nations, may come to learn something of the feeling of living under the thumb of aggressive forces over which they have no control. Secondly, the Lord’s judgment against Babylon sounds like a cry for revenge, especially insofar as it seems also to entail salvation for Israel… before we rush to condemn such feelings out of hand, it is valuable for us to acknowledge that such emotions are deeply embedded in the human experience and that they may be related to the cry for justice… moreover, these texts enable us to recognize such vengeance within ourselves, to put us in touch with our own heart of darkness. To be sure, the desire for revenge is nothing to be proud of, but the reality must be acknowledged, else it cannot be exorcised. Feelings of hatred need to be confessed in order to be forgiven.”

The end of Chapter 14 is an oracle concerning the Philistines. This is the only one of the proclamations with a date, “in the year that King Ahaz died.” This is addressed to Philistia, but the real audience is Judah. Turner tells us that the Philistines are “occupants of five coastal cities and have been enemies of Israel since before the time of David.”
 

Turner writes, “The themes of death and destruction continue, as do the notes of lamentation and the tone of mourning heard in the previous proclamations of Chapters 13-14.”

These chapters are proclamations against Moab. We learned a bit about Moab when we read Ruth in June. Ruth was a Moabite.

Turner writes, “These chapters are filled with cries of grief, descriptions of suffering, and images of mourning rituals. Since this is not the grief or suffering of an individual, the chapters call attention to the communal, corporate dimension of suffering and the response to it... First, people work through grief in part by expressing it, by acknowledging loss instead of denying it. Second, just because conventional and perhaps even cliché language is used does not mean that the expression of grief is not genuine… Third, in addition to the support given by stable words and actions, one is enabled to work through grief with the support of the community, whether of the nation, the neighborhood, or the family… The notion that there is such a thing as private grief is a price we pay for the modern understanding of individuality. As personal and as painful as it may be, grief is experienced in and with communities. If there is a lesson here it is a call to bear one another’s burdens and to rely upon our communities when we grieve.”

Turner writes, “The theological theme that runs through these chapters is a broad one: the affirmation of the Lord’s authority over the nations. Somewhat more specifically, the dominant and unifying message is that Judah is to beware of entangling foreign alliances, whether with Damascus (Syria), Israel, or whatever power rules in Egypt. Instead, they should trust in the Lord alone.”

17:1-6 is about Damascus, although 4-6 concerns “Jacob” or the northern kingdom of Israel.
17:7-11 is all about the effect of idolatry.
17:12-14 is an announcement of judgement against the unidentified enemies of Jerusalem. Chapter 18 is a proclamation concerning Ethiopia (Cush).

The Ten Commandments forbit idolatry. Exodus 20 begins, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” Turner writes of Isaiah 17, “this text sets against idolatry and magical practices a call for people to remember the God of their salvation. Thus it concerns habits of the heart and an understanding of faith as commitment by recalling the God who is their refuge. Faith certainly entails ritual practices and the expression of ideas, but fundamentally it is the decision about whom—or what—to trust.”

Now we have proclamations against Egypt.  Tuner writes, “Why will the Lord bring such troubles upon Egypt? Verses 11-15 answer that question, providing the reasons for punishment. The indictment cites the ‘princes of Zoan’ for their arrogance, for their claim to wisdom, and especially for their reliance on ‘sages’ who have no idea of the plans of the Lord of hosts against Egypt.”

The Five Cities
Turner writes, “the five cities in Egypt will speak ‘the language of Cannan’ and ‘swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts’ probably refers to the presence of Jews who had brought Egyptians into their faith. There is good evidence from papyri discovered at Elephantine near Asswan that this was in fact the case in the fifth century BCE, if not earlier. Hebrew is one of the Canaanite dialects.”

Poor Isaiah having to walk around naked and barefoot for three years! Turner writes, “it is easy for modern readers to miss the power attributed to prophetic symbolic actions in antiquity. Isaiah’s strange public nakedness does not simply dramatize something, although it does do that. It is more than a visual device to communicate a message; it is a ‘sign and a portent’ (v. 3). In the prophets’ understanding, as well as that of their contemporaries, such acts set events into motion… the act can embody and even set the future into motion. Examples can be found in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. By entering a schoolhouse and sitting in a formerly all-white classroom, a young woman in Arkansas performed a genuinely prophetic symbolic action. She changed the future, and the future was like her act. Through peaceful civil disobedience, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others embodied their dream for a new world and started it on its way.”

There are three separate units in Chapter 21 concerning the wilderness of the seas, Dumah, and the desert plain.

Turner writes, “Isaiah 21:1-10 is one of the more difficult passages to understand in the book, and thus it has produced quite diverse interpretations. Speakers, addressees, scenes, topics, and moods shift so quickly that the reader becomes dizzy.”

What we do know is this passage (21:1-10) concerns the fall of Babylon. This is a vision, which is common in prophetic works (think Ezekiel and the valley of dried bones, and many more passages from Ezekiel). Isaiah and Jeremiah have few visions.

In the proclamation concerning Dumah (verses 11-12) the question is asked, “What of the night?”  This is better translated, “What is left of the night?” The one who asks is wondering what time it is. The sentinel responds with a nonanswer—that morning came and so will the night. Turner writes, “the message could be this: Since morning came, and so did the night, be aware of the cycle of good times and bad and keep on asking which is which; keep inquiring.”

The desert plain referred to in verses 13-17 is the northern Arabian desert. These verses express concern for an Arab group that was attacked while announcing judgement on another Arabian group, the people of Kedar. Turner writes, “the announcement of verses 16-17 advances the leading theme of the oracles concerning the foreign nations in Isaiah 13-23, as expressed in 23:9 (concerning Tyre): “The LORD of hosts has planned it—to defile the pride of all glory, to shame all the honored of the earth.” Yahweh is over all nations and peoples. Although reasons for the Lord’s intervention against Kedar are not spelled out, they are implied in the judgement against its ‘glory.’”

It is not obvious why Chapter 22 is in this section of Isaiah, as this chapter has two distinct parts (verses 1-14 and 15-25). Both sections deal with people and events in and around Jerusalem. But Chapter 22 is stuck in the middle of chapters that are all oracles against foreign nations.

The leading motif of the first section (verses 1-14) is the Day of the Lord. Turner writes, “As in other prophetic allusions to the theme, this one concerns the day when the Lord will intervene in human affairs, ordinarily by means of a holy war against the Lord’s enemies. As Amos made clear, however, those enemies could turn out to be the Lords’s own people (see Amos 5:18-20) … Usually the Day of the Lord is seen in the future, but here it concerns the past.”

The second section has two prophecies concerning officials in the royal household, Shebna and Eliakim. It seems like Shebna has constructed an impressive grave for himself. Shebna has no relatives there, so he’s an outsider, an interloper, he doesn’t belong. Turner writes, “When the prophet calls him a ‘mighty man’ or ‘my fellow’, his tone is ironic and contemptuous. Shebna has taken advantage of his position and misused his office.”
 
The whirling him around and throwing him far away is an allusion to the exile into Assyria.  Plus, he’ll be removed from office (steward and master of the house), and his position will be given to Eliakim. But eventually they will all fall – for the peg will “give way,” “be cut down and fall.”

Chapter 23 ends the section of the oracles concerning foreign nations. This one is about Tyre. It would be helpful for us, in the interpretation of this chapter, to know who wrote it and when, but that is not clear.  Turner writes, “Virtually all interpreters agree that it could not originate in the eighth century BCE at the hands of Isaiah of Jerusalem. Moreover, the chapter would have developed over several centuries, with the first part (verses 1-14) earlier than the second (15-18).”

We see in Chapter 23, like in other places in scripture, the dangers of pride.  What do you think about pride? Why is it dangerous?

Chapters 24-27 make up a section of Isaiah in both form and content.  The section could be called “The Isaiah Apocalypse.” When you hear the word apocalypse, what do you think of? Is it positive or negative? Threatening and scary or comforting and something you long for?

Turner refers to these chapters when he says, “the announcements in chapters 24-27 encompass the whole earth and all who live in it. Moreover, it appears to proclaim the final drama of history rather than a startling and significant turning point for particular peoples; that is, its ideas are eschatological, dealing with the last things. Furthermore, specific motifs or ideas appear that are generally found in apocalyptic literature, including the resurrection of the dead (26:19), divine judgment on the angels (‘heavenly host,’ 24:21-22), and their imprisonment, the trumpet of the Lord calling for the elect (27:13), an eschatological banquet of the nations on Mt. Zion (25:6-8), the Lord’s defeat of Leviathan (27:1), the darkening of the sun and moon (24:23), and others.”

Chapter 24 is all about the Day of the Lord, when God will destroy the earth and reign on Mt. Zion. Turner writes, “the chapter’s conclusion indicates that the goal of the destruction of the earth is the reign of the Lord and the manifestation of the Lord’s glory. This glory will be recognized and praised throughout the earth.”

Chapter 24 uses the word “pollution” many times.  We think about air pollution, water pollution, noise and light pollution.  The author and original audience would have thought of pollution as a moral and religious concept. We see throughout the Bible the dichotomy of clean and unclean. When something is polluted in this sense, it becomes unclean, no longer pure.

We begin Chapter 25 with joy. Chapter 24 promised the Lord’s reign, and in Chapter 25 we celebrate it.  Chapter 25 ends with judgement, but not for the whole earth like in Chapter 24, just for Moab.

The best-known lines in this chapter are verses 7-8.  Turner writes, “they express the deepest human hopes for an end to mourning, to death itself, and to all grief, and they do so in highly evocative images and poetic cadences.”  Paul paraphrased these lines in 1 Corinthians 15:26,54-55 when he wrote, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death ... When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

What do these verses from Isaiah and 1 Corinthians mean to you? Are they familiar?

Chapter 26 is made up of three parts. Verses 1-6 announce that one day the inhabitants of Judah will sing a song thanking the Lord for victory. Verses 7-19 “contain prayers for help, meditations on the travail of the Lord’s righteous ones, and expressions of hope.” Verses 20-21 contain “an unidentified voice [that] calls people to seek cover, for the Lord is coming in wrath to exercise judgment on the earth.” Turner writes, “Only the last lines of this chapter contain strong apocalyptic images and motifs. The remainder blends the moods and languages from the life of communal prayer with reflective meditation on the ways of God, the latter reminiscent of wisdom literature.”

Verse 19, “Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise…” is often thought of as ‘proof’ of the resurrection that we look forward to.  But this is similar to the valley of the dried bones (in Ezekiel 37), it’s a comforting statement that means their nation will live again. Turner writes that it “most likely announces the rebirth of the nation that considers itself to be dead.”

Where do you see rebirth in your life? In society? In the world?

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