Divine Judgment Against the Nations (Especially Edom), With the Return of the Redeemed Exiles to Zion

Above:  Map Showing the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire

Image in the Public Domain

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READING SECOND ISAIAH, PART II

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Isaiah 34-35

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The Hebrew prophetic books are repetitive.  I recall, recently, reading Ezekiel 25-32, in which YHWH denounced various Gentile nations for opposing the Jewish people.  I read that same theme in Isaiah 34.  The chapter opens by addressing the nations and peoples of the (known) world.

For the LORD is angry at all the nations,

Furious at all their host;….

–Isaiah 34:2a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

In the fifth verse, however, the focus narrows to Edom, that frequently hostile cousin people of the Hebrews.

I have already read the oracles of divine judgment against Edom in Amos 1:11-12; Isaiah 21:11-12; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Ezekiel 25:12-14; and Ezekiel 35:1-15.

The oracles against Edom in the Book of Obadiah awaits me, after I complete my blogging through Second Isaiah.

For it is the LORD’s day of retribution,

The year of vindication for Zion’s cause.

–Isaiah 34:8, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Isaiah 34 and 35 contrast the fates of Edom and the Hebrew exiles in the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.  We read of the destruction of Edom (which happened).  We also read of the renewal and return of Hebrew exiles.  We read of the impending end of the Babylonian Exile.  We read of a reverse exodus, an exodus from Babylon:

And a highway shall appear there,

which shall be called the Sacred Way.

No one unclean shall pass along it,

But it shall be for them.

No traveler, not ever fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

No ferocious beast shall set foot on it–

These shall not be found there.

But the redeemed shall walk it.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

And come with shouting to Zion,

Crowned with joy everlasting.

They shall attain joy and gladness,

While sorrow and sighing flee.

–Isaiah 35:8-10, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Second Isaiah introduces the themes of the end the Babylonian Exile, the return to the homeland, and the restoration of the covenant relationship with YHWH.  These themes, not unique to Second Isaiah, permeate other portions of Hebrew prophetic literature, too.  And they are on the forefront of Second Isaiah.

I also notice the presence of the themes of exile and exodus.  Walter Brueggemann writes that exile and exodus are the two major themes in the Hebrew Bible.

Just as the Hebrew prophetic literature is repetitive, so must I be.  I come to this point by a reading project that has taken me through, in order:

1. Hosea,
2. Amos,
3. Micah,
4. First Isaiah (1-23, 28-33),
5. Zephaniah,
6. Nahum,
7. Habakkuk,
8. Jeremiah,
9. Lamentations, and
10. Ezekiel.

I am not parachuting into Isaiah 34 and 35.  I do not pretend to know what that balance is or where it should be.  I will not get too big for my theological britches, at least not in that matter.

Neither am I a fundamentalist.  I acknowledge that Second Isaiah and other prophets projected their attitudes onto God some of the time.  As Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel wrote, prophets were people, not microphones.  I admit that I project my attitudes onto God.  I confess that I need to know that I do this, and to stop doing that, as much as possible.

I also acknowledge that divine mercy upon and deliverance of the oppressed may be catastrophic for the oppressors and their allies.  One may describe this in several ways, including divine judgment and karma.  As the Bible teaches, people will reap what they have sown.

Nevertheless, I take no pleasure in the fate of Edom.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 7, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS RALPH MILNER, ROGER DICKINSON, AND LAWRENCE HUMPHREY, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1591

THE FEAST OF FRANCES FLORENTINE HAGEN, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT HEDDA OF WESSEX, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF LEO SOWERBY, EPISCOPAL COMPOSER AND “DEAN OF CHURCH MUSIC”

THE FEAST OF THOMAS HELMORE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND ARRANGER AND COMPOSER OF HYMN TUNES

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