In a 1988 article in JSOT , Edgar Conrad points to the two royal narratives of Isaiah (chs. 7, 36-39) as the structural keys to the book. Drawing on his earlier study of “fear not” passages, he summarizes his thesis thus: “The close relationship between these two narratives extends to the larger contexts in which they occur, for each royal narrative is followed by a ‘Fear not’ oracle addressed to the community: the Ahaz narrative (Isa. 7) is followed by... Read more
Edgar Conrad’s monograph on the “fear not” passages of the Old Testament concludes that they “represented stereotypical language used to encourage a warrior before battle.” In Isaiah, there are two such “War Oracles” addressed to kings: Ahaz in chapter 7 and Hezekiah in chapter 37. But Conrad also claims that there are “War Oracles” addressed to the entire nation: “Yahweh addresses the community directly with War Oracles (10.24-27; 41.8-13; 41.14-16; 43.1-4; 43.5-6; 44.1-5). The use of the language stereotypical of... Read more
In a 1993 essay in JSOT , David Carr summarizes some of the recent work on the unity of Isaiah. In contrast to the scholarship of the last couple of centuries, contemporary scholars are focusing on the signs of compositional and literary unity in the book. He points, for instance, to the very tradition division of the book at the end of Isaiah 39. After 39 chapters that focus on Jerusalem’s bloodguilt, promising forgiveness and expiation but never making good... Read more
Some ruminations on Sarah Palin, politics, and celebrity at www.firstthings.com. Read more
Mead again: “Jefferson’s dispatch to Tripoli and Algiers of a punitive mission against the Barbary pirates was the first but by no means the last such expedition sent out by American presidents. The village of Quallah Battooo on the coast of Sumatra was shelled and burned by an American force sent by Jackson,” in retaliation for the massacre of some American sailors. The marines were back later “when the inhabitants continued obdurate in their disrespect for the flag.” Then: “In... Read more
Mead again ( Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World ): “As early as 1832, the United States sent a fleet to the Falkland Islands to reduce an Argentine garrison that had harassed American shipping. The Mexican War was, of course, the greatest example of American intervention [in Latin America], but by the Civil War, American forces had seen action in Haiti (1799, 1800, 1817-21), Tripoli (1815), the Marquesas Islands (1913-14), Spanish Florida (1806-10, 1812, 1813,... Read more
It’s remarkable how long Americans had designs on annexing Canada to the United States. Theodore Roosevelt wrote in 1887 that it was a shame that the US hadn’t “insisted even more than we did upon the extension northward of our boundaries.” It would have been better for “Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba” if they had been part of the US, since they would “hold positions incomparably more important, grander, and more dignified than they can ever hope to reach either as... Read more
Mead again: He points out that between the Constitution and the Civil War, American Presidents had far more international and diplomatic experience than during the twentieth century: “of the first nine presidents of the united states, six had previously served as secretary of state, and seven as ministers abroad . . . . Six of the fifteen American presidents who served before Lincoln had been both secretary of state and minister to Great Britain; a seventh, Jefferson, had been secretary... Read more
In his lively and readable Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World , Walter Russell Mead emphasizes early America’s dependence on foreign trade. A Congressman said in 1846 that Illinois needs “the market of the world” for its agricultural products, since “Ten counties of that State could supply all the home market.” In short, “Access to foreign markets was a requirement for American farmers, in remote settlements,” and they knew it. For many politicians and thinkers... Read more
Leclerc challenges Young and Motyer’s resort to systematic theological categories in their interpretation of Isaiah 5:16: “the holy God will sanctify Himself in righteousness.” Bringing in notions of holy-as-separate or holy-as-transcendent or even holy-as-divine-attribute misses the point. Rather, “God’s holiness is honored as he himself is exalted by justice in the human realm . . . . The exaltation and sanctification of God are accomplished through the enactment of a just social order, the precise remedy to the conditions described... Read more
Leithart
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