Isaiah uses the image of “root” a number of times in his prophecy (the word appears 7x). From the root of Jesse a Branch grows (11:1, 10). In chapter 14, the root that struck Philistia produces serpentine fruit that will cut Philistia to the root (vv. 29-30). In these early uses of the word, it refers to a national tree cut down to nothing – no branches, trunk, or even stump is left. Only roots. When something (Branch of viper)... Read more
In a section discussing early nineteenth-century American expansion, Robert Kagan’s Dangerous Nation: America’s Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (Vintage) , from which I drew the last several posts, includes several quotations from JQ Adams in which he makes an appeal to “nature” to justify American expansion across the Continent. He considered Spain’s holdings in the Americas to be contrary to nature. Other great powers of the world should become accustomed to America’s... Read more
Said smiling Alexander I to future President John Quincy Adams, “On s’agrandit toujours un peu, dans ce monde.” (From Adams’ diary, May 6, 1811.) A multiply revealing statement: The smile, a worldly smile, a smile of co-conspiracy; the Tsar’s evident presumption that he and the US Minister to Russia shared a secret; the French, the language of Enlightenment, the language of the Russian court, the language also of sophisticated international elites of the time; and of course the substance of... Read more
John Quincy Adams was stung by British sneers that the US was a “peddling nation” with “no God but gold.” But we’ve shown them: The Brits are now attempt to “alarm the world at the gigantic grasp of our ambition.” This is America’s future: “If the world do not hold us for Romans they will take us for Jews, and of the two vices I would rather be charged with that which has greatness mingled in its composition.” Read more
One last response to Witherington’s criticisms of Defending Constantine , and I’d be an ingrate if I didn’t express my appreciation for the many positive things that Witherington said about the book. I’m grateful that he thought the book worth interacting with at all. His final criticism concerns my attempt to offer a non-pacifist way of reading the Sermon on the Mount. Witherington writes, “the attempt to minimize Jesus’ call to non-violence in Mt. 5 is weak. How exactly is... Read more
In a post some months ago, I suggested that Isaiah 1:2-6 was a unit of the opening chapter. After further examination, it seems that 1:2-4 forms a separate section to itself (David Dorsey makes this same division). The verses are not perfectly symmetrical, but they are sufficiently so to indicate that they function as a small unit. I’ve bold-faced the relevant connecting words: A. Hear, Hear B. Yahweh speaks C. Sons I reared revolted D. Ox and donkey know ,... Read more
Back to Witherington, and nearly done. Several of his comments defend against my charge that pacifists tend toward Marcionism. He writes: “it is not Marcionism to recognize that the OT tells the story of covenants that Christians are no longer under, and which the NT says quite clearly reflects God dealing with the hardness of human hearts problem, God dealing with fallen humans where they are. God’s perfect will is not revealed in the blood and guts narratives of the... Read more
A friend, Wes Baker, offers these additional thoughts on Genesis 3:15 as a Messianic prophecy: “First, it seems clear to me that Rev 12 is a direct reflection on the woman and seed of Isaiah 66, which in turn is a meditation by Isaiah on Gen 3.15. Pointing out the middle step can be helpful to show that Rev is not proposing anything novel. Rather it is simply following a trajectory already present within the OT. “Also, Gen 5.29 explains... Read more
At the end of his comments regarding Genesis 3:15, Witherington says that “even if [the passage] were a reference to Christ, Christ solved the Satan problem not by being a warrior messiah and thus by killing but by dying on a cross!! Jesus was the antithesis of a warrior messiah when he came.” Yes, of course. Jesus “solved the Satan problem” by dying on a cross. To that extent, Witherington and I are in happy agreement. Imagine the two of... Read more
INTRODUCTION In the “burden” of Babel, Isaiah sketched the big picture of political history. In the burdens concerning Philistia and Moab, he prophesies that Yahweh will be faithful to His promise to David and will make Zion a refuge, not only for Israel but for the Gentiles. THE TEXT This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died. Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of... Read more
Leithart
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