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

Second Isaiah 49-53

"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

I have some good news in that I saw John and Noel out at the old country coffee shop a couple days ago! Noel looked great. She has asked for our prayers for their granddaughter and family and for she and John. She will be going back to Sr. Kinney institute for a week or so for more therapy. Their email isn't working yet at their new place and they miss us!

I missed again for the umpteenth evening in a row and here is what Cristina had to say about the evening...

Tonight was a slow night at the old country church. People seemed a bit tired, maybe for many reasons (low blood pressure, changing of season, too much gardening work, but especially, Andrea and I think, for the fatigue due to this last week before the election day...it is stressful!). For all these reasons I think that as a group we should apologise with Betty who did her usual wonderful job as a facilitator and didn't get as much enthusiasm from us.

(Here is the overview. We also heard from Betty that "Rita, our generous treatster, dipped into her fabulous recipe box for another bar concoction with lots of chocolate chips and good goo on a crust. Don't know what she called it, but everyone wanted more of it.")

Deutero Isaiah Oct 26

Tonight, we are deep into Isaiah-so deep, in fact, that I (and I hope you also) can benefit from a refresher overview in order to keep my perspective and to be able to use and apply what I am exposed to.

Doctrinally, the explicit formulation of monotheism and the conception of the messianic deliverance are developments that were not in Isaiah 1-39. They are here. Also here is the unity of Israelite beliefs in creation, in the divine government of history and in the divine will to save. Because Yahweh is the creator, even the greatest world powers are insignificant. As creator, he uses the powers of nature as his instruments to accomplish his will, and his will is to deliver Israel. Moreover, deliverance of Israel is the first step in the establishment of his reign. In this reign, Israel is his servant, his witness, his mediator to the nations. In this he governs history. This is based upon the prophetic worldview: that Yahweh governs the course of events and leads it to a term, which He has established. Remember Cyrus? This is illustrated by the account of Cyrus, the unexpected instrument who performs the impossible: restore people written off the pages of history bv their conquerors, the Babylonians (who had done a rather good job of it). Needless to say, this worldview was not shared by other people.

That Israel is the people of Yahweh is an ancient and basic belief. 2nd Isaiah has added the expression of a tender love and compassion; of forgiveness. Big feature in 2nd Isaiah- salvation is the coming of Yahweh, not only His deeds or His message. This union of creation, history and saving will is a statement of monotheism, which has no parallel in earlier writings. Reflecting on this destroyed the faith of some Israelites, but the prophet's view was that God's moral will and world government of Yahweh were as broad as His creative acts-so the gods of the nations were not His competitors, they were nothing!

The redemption and restoration of Israel is described as a new exodus but with embellishment: the desert they will pass through will bloom, etc. The relation between these wonderful descriptions and the shabby reality of a postexilic Palestinian community is big but they are actually attempts to present the saving acts of God, which will be fulfilled, only in the end of history. This is a big explanation for me; it makes great sense this way. For the Israelites, in conceiving history as a process, described the past in terms of the present and the present in terms of the future and in this way expressed both its unity and its continuity.

Four of the short poems that make up Second Isaiah are in some ways a little apart -they are called the Servant Songs. Isa 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12.

In Isa 42:11-4 is the Commission of the Servant Yahweh says to Israel it can communicate his power by its activity. Former royal functions are now exercised by all the people.

49:1-6 or more The servant is commissioned to lead the people. This is modeled on the Moses (Ex3:l-4:17) and Jeremiah (1:4-10) type call where there is resistance, excuses, then acceptance. The task is to bring Israel back to Yahweh in Zion but not limited to that. The "nations" will be enlightened.

50:4-9 The Disciple teaches the People. Isai is one who knows the divine plan of darkness/light, punishment/restoration so he can teach the people. He is like the faithful lamenter in Lam 3:30 (turns his cheek) and is faithful (as in Psalms).

52:13-53:12 Divine speech frames a speech by a different person in the third person. The genre is the individual thanksgiving psalm (53:1-11a) but the rescued person is silent and the many tell of his rescue of them. Who are the speakers in 53:1-11a, the nations or Israel? Who is the servant? Does the servant die and undergo resurrection? How does the servant "bear the sins of many"?

Notes to help: 50 v.3 In ancient belief it was dangerous to look at one who was an obvious object of divine anger.

v. 8 perverted judgment - the kind that befell Job

v. 9 condemned criminals did not receive honorable burial

v. 10 guilt offering - the Servant is compared to the victim of an atonement sacrifice Leviticus has stuff on sacrifice Lev 4, probably

v. 11 and 12 - Yahweh suddenly becomes the speaker.

For next week there has been a slight change of plan. Some people felt that it would be too stressful to have our minds on the election for the whole night and they would prefer to just have a normal Bible Study night. Others replied that our minds would be on that issue anyway, so...to make a long story short, this is the plan: since tonight we covered last week chapters 49-51 plus 52-53 (facilitated by Betty with a nice overlook on the 4 Servant Songs), next week we'll have 1 hour of normal Bible Study during which we'll cover only 2 chapters (54-55), with which we'll conclude Second Isaiah, and then from 8 to ...whenever we'll have pot luck (everybody brings whatever he wants, but basically nothing sophisticated) and political discussion, fighting, boxing, singing, dancing and any other kind of anti-stress technique.

For next week:

• Facilitator All (READ CHAPTERS 54-55!!!)
• Opening prayer Jane/Rita
• Closing prayer Cristina
• Potluck All

I second all of those notions, including the big hug!
Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694