At the climax of Isaiah 33, the prophet envisions a restored and secure Zion, its regular feasts back in place and Yahweh (or His Davidic Son) reigning in beauty. But the image of restoration is not taken from the glory-days of Solomon. Jerusalem will be undisturbed, but not because its walls are impregnable or its temple glorious. It doesn’t appear to be a city at all, but a tent that will not be folded up (v. 20). Instead of a... Read more
Tinker, tailor, spy. Yahweh is declared to be Israel’s Judge, Lawgiver, and King in Isaiah 33:22. As Thomas Leclerc ( Yahweh Is Exalted in Justice ) points out, Yahweh is assuming responsibility for the failures of Judah’s leaders. Judges take bribes and ignore the pleas of the weak (1:17, 23, 26; 5:23), but Yahweh is coming to Judge, and His Branch will judge in righteousness (11:4). Law has been perverted as the people ignore it (5:24; 24:5). Kings like Ahaz... Read more
Isaiah 33 is arranged into two fairly neat chiasms. The first goes from verses 1-13: A. Woe to the destroyer, v. 1 B. Prayer for mercy in time of distress, vv. 2-3 C. Yahweh exalted, vv. 5-6 B’. Land laments, vv 7-9 A’/C’. Yahweh arises, is exalted, lifts Himself, and lets distant lands know what He does, vv. 10-13 J. Alec Motyer ( The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary ) suggests this for the second part of the... Read more
Only twice in Scripture are the words “treasure,” “wisdom” and “knowledge” used together. In Isaiah 33:6, Yahweh promises that after He destroys the Assyrian destroyers, He will fill Zion with justice and will open the fourfold treasure of wisdom – salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Yahweh. Earlier, the Branch from Jesse was given the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and fear (Isaiah 11:2), but in chapter 33 Isaiah says that the riches of the Spirit will spread from the... Read more
I flew into Toronto recently on a smallish regional plane from Chicago. It was a wild landing, the plane flopping this way and that in a strong wind. At times, we seemed certain to land wing-first, not the kind of landing one dreams of. Even after we landed, we could feel the wind pushing the plane sideways. As soon as we were securely on the ground, we all clapped and everyone started chattering excitedly. Do I owe the pilot –... Read more
Robert Solomon concludes an article that analyzes the reasons given for condemning kitsch with this defense of the emotions associated with kitschy art: “it seems to me that the real objection to kitsch and sentimentality is the rejection (or fear) of emotions and, especially, certain kind of sentiments, variously designated as ‘tender’ or ‘sweet’ or ‘nostalgic . . . . But the rejection extends as well to the gloomier emotions, and Karsten Harries warns us: ‘how easy it is to... Read more
In a decades-old article, Robert Solomon criticizes the “liberal American sexual mythology” found in the work of Tom Nagel: “His analysis is cautious and competent, but absolutely sexless. His Romeo and Juliet exemplify at most a romanticized version of the initial phases of (hetero-)sexual attraction in a casual and innocent pick-up. They ‘arouse’ each other, but there is no indication to what end. They ‘incarnate each other as flesh,’ in Sartre’s awkward but precise terminology, but Nagel gives us no... Read more
VanderKam quotes 2 Maccabees 3:1-3’s claim that “King Seleucus of Asia defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses connected with the service of the sacrifices,” and comments: This continues “the centuries-old practice that the foreign overlord of Judea pay at least a part of the expenses involved in the Jerusalem cult.” He cites Ezra and Josephus’s quotation of an edict of Antiochus III. The prophetic visions of kings supplying sacrifices and other materials for Israel’s temple worship thus had... Read more
1 Maccabees famously includes a letter from King Areus of Sparta to Onias, high priest of Israel, in which it is stated that “the Spartans and the Jews . . . are brothers and are of the family of Abraham.” Scholars dismiss the genealogical connection, and many even deny that the letter is authentic: Would a Spartan king claim ancestry with a barbarian people? But James C. VanderKam ( From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile ) assembles... Read more
Explaining the adjuration of Song of Songs 2:7 (repeated in slightly different form in 8:4), Cheryl Exum ( Song of Songs (Old Testament Library) ) helpfully points to the connection with the theme verses of the Song, 8:6-7: these are the only places “where love is spoken of in the abstract and virtually personified.” The repetition of the adjuration “is rather like a riddle or puzzle” until we reach the climax of the poem in 8:6-7. The paradox is, “If... Read more
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