The 2nd and 3rd Books of Isaiah
Fall 2004 Bible Study

Wrapup

"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."

Greetings

On this chilly night mid-December, there was a wonderful gathering down in the Hall at the ol' country church. I was actually there so I speak first-hand. We were going to discuss that last two chapters of 3rd Isaiah and also ventured to choose a reading for our winter session. Please check below.

Bob was kind enough to put together an overview of Isaiah 65 and 66 and also a sketch of what we may do for the Infancy Narratives.

We opened with two prayers, one very deep and gorgeous and one very deep and quite funny. Bob then guided us down that river of hope for the first part of our discussion. What a fantastic laid-back time it was. We really love reading scripture together and I was feeling Bruce and thought him there. Here follows the overview with many pauses for discussion, insight and general fascination.

ST. JOAN OF ARC SCRIPTURE STUDY
December 14, 2004
Isaiah chapters 65 and 66 (end)

What happened to those psalms of comfort and the songs of the servant which we so welcomed and wallowed in Second Isaiah (chapters 40 - 55)? What's with all the bleakness and doom in chapters 56 - 66? Where did all this ewwwy gore and smiting come from? Has there been any book since Job we have been so glad to wrap up?

The historical context explains some of it. Second Isaiah was a prophecy in the sense of assuring the Jews exiled in Babylon that it was God's will that they give up a life of material prosperity to return to Israel. Second Isaiah promised that the mountains would flatten themselves and the trees would clap their branches to welcome the exiles back home. The streams would flow and the fields would flourish if only the Jews pack up and return to the Promised Land. There they were to rebuild the Temple to the Holy One of Israel which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

Once they got there in 538 BCE or thereabouts, they got distracted by the need to restore the land and other business, and the restoration of the Temple languished. When drought, hunger, and inflation struck, the contemporary prophet Haggai attributed the travails to the failure to keep God's command to rebuild the Temple. Third Isaiah further attributes all this misfortune to partisanship, idolatry, and lack of justice and compassion for the poor. Third Isaiah is prophecy in the sense of calling the people to transformation, to turn back to God, the God who never forgets them, even if that God permits bad things to happen to the chosen people, either to get their attention, or in retribution.

As literature, it is clear that Third Isaiah is an agglomeration of several works, maybe written by several authors. There is no continuity and the themes bounce all over. All we can do is try to separate out the disparate pieces and appreciate them in themselves.

65: 1 - 7 has God threatening those who engaged in rituals practiced by the Canaanites and perhaps carried over by the Samaritans, who merged paganism and Judaism. The people vexing God offered sacrifice not in the Temple but in the gardens and on the streets, they sit in tombs and sleep in caves in an attempt to create dreams of the supernatural, who do not keep kosher, and (expunged from the canonical text but rediscovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Isaiah) engaged in unconventional, ritual sex.

65: 8 - 25 is a stand-alone poem in which God sets out the punishments for idolators and those who have forgotten the One, True God, and then sets out the rewards for the faithful servants of God. Let's read it out loud.

Paul Hanson in Interpretation: Isaiah 40 - 66 p. 245 asks whether this promise of a new heaven and a new earth isn't just "the opiate of the people". He calls on us to distinguish dreams of escape from real life, which leads to resignation and despair, from acts of defiant affirmation that no power will thwart the fulfillment of God's righteous purpose, which engenders hope. It refuses to sacrifice justice to the logic of expediency. On p 242 he says "at a time when the afflicted community was being tempted to take flight into the apocalyptic vision of God breaking into human affairs to save the oppressed single-handedly and without human participation, the invitation to self-examination and engagement was issued. The call to justice and compassion and worship was renewed as the responsible way to get the nation back on the track to peace and security. The people were admonished to integrate into their institutions and social structures the justice and mercy for which they prayed to God." Any application to today's milieu of these words written in 1995?

This poem concludes with a very short version of Isaiah 11, "The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike.." Let's read ch 11 and 12 at the end of tonight's session just because it is seasonal (it was the first reading for the Second Sunday in Advent), and is so hope filled.

Isaiah 66 is composed of two themes: salvation and judgment. Verses 1 through 6 are a tirade against the ritualists, the rich and the powerful who believe that completion of the Temple and the performance of the sacrificial rituals are the essence of the Law. But the prophet says "they have chosen their own ways and taken pleasure in their own abominations." Worship without a clean heart is hypocritical.

Query: Is this a condemnation of the externals of worship? Is the prophet calling for a pure, spiritual, internal worship? What is the role of "sacramentals"?

Verses 7 through 14 are a promise of comfort and prosperity to those who are the servants of God, who "tremble at his word". But the second half of verse 14 through 17 and verse 24 condemn the hypocrites and describe their gruesome fate. Hanson says at page 251 "One might wish, at this point, that Isaiah 40 -66 ...might end on a comforting note similar to the one with which it began in the first verse of chapter 40. Not so. ...While the Bible has through the ages been a source of profound comfort to the bereaved as disconsolate, it resists being placed in the role of matching human expectations. Scripture enters our lives not to confirm our prejudices, not even to confirm our most lofty assumptions, but to challenge and to purify. Perhaps this is the divine reason why the final verses of the Book of Isaiah do not end on the note that would allow us to complete our reading with a sigh of delight."

He goes on to say, however "There is also a human reason behind the harsh vindictiveness of verses 14 - 24....what of the daily pain of seeing the wicked prosper while they [the prophet's righteous disciples] continued to suffer humiliation. How natural to take comfort on the vision of God paying back his anger in fury." But even here, when the text is to be used in worship, verse 23 is to be repeated after reading verse 24: "From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the Lord."

To wrap it up on a high note, let's read Chapter 40, and then Chapters 11 and 12.

Thanks Bob

And read we did. We also discussed Eucharistic Adoration, Yoga, The Virgin Birth, Vatican II, prayer and devotions, sacraments and Red-shifts.

And of course, at two minutes before 8, and right after we finished discussing ch 65, we took the natural break for treats and fellowship. I saw some of what the treat-bearer was bearing on his way in tonight and as a result of my supheranfuzzi <-- (new word) I could hardly make the few steps to Treat Central. When I finally arrived, with the support from a fellow traveler, my vision was blue-shifted with a Kaleidoscope of colors and textures and pieces of pie on plates! When I focused real hard (which came about by relaxing, oddly enough!) I noted some plates contained dark creamy bodies with flaky brown frames, topped with cumulus mounds of whipped cream garnished with Christmas colored candy sprinkles. If this didn't lift your loafers (or your hiking boots), by triangulating, we were also able to bring to focus several other plates that palmed calm and centering yellowish-brown-fruity center bodies, framed again by that flaky crispy flake-n-heimer, topped with a burnt sugar crustily crispy roof. I found out later, after my eyes had cleared, that they were both French in origin. One was called French Chocolate Cream and one went by the name of French Apple. And I have four things to say about that...Are You Kidding Me!!!!!! Mucho Gracias, Dean!

Well, we're living a dream and let's state here for the record, out loud; We have enough! We are grateful. May we share with you?

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