Again, I list my comments under the verse that I thought of them as a way of being specific about my insights. Like Rick, I am recording my thoughts tabula rasa (I am speaking tongue in cheek, as Rick was). I may modify them later.
54:1 (1) The barren woman theme is redolent of Genesis, if I am remembering Genesis correctly. Is the barren woman simply a metaphor for Israel? Or is it something more? (2) What does the proliferation of sons from the barren woman indicate? How are they more than those of the married woman? (Is a particular married woman from Genesis in mind?)
54:2 The tent metaphor in this verse seems to suggest that the "family" under the "tent" will push a normal "tent" to its limits. But could the metaphor also invoke a sense of hospitality? (Granted, this is further from what I gather is the immediate context.)
54:3 (1) The female subjects of the verbs seem to suggest the barren woman continues to be the subject of this section. (2) What does it mean to "be heirs (or 'take possession of') the nations?" Again, does this suggest hospitality toward the nations? Or does it suggest slavery or destruction of the nations? Do the uninhabited cities in the second part of this verse suggest destruction of the peoples that make up the nations?
54:4 How does widowhood fit into the imagery of a barren woman? These two metaphors seem to conflict with the concept of the barren woman in Genesis. How does a widow bring forth offspring?
54:5 (1) If the barren woman is a widow, does this mean that YHWH died? (2) What does "God of all the earth" suggest? Is this a reference to land or people? The previous imagery seems to be ambiguous, and here the ambiguity continues. Either God is god of all the people that comprise the nations, or God is god of Israel who now dwells in the cities of all the peoples who died. (Is there another option?)
54:6 (1) The placement of spirit (ruah) is a bit ambiguous. I put it with what goes before (she who is hurt in spirit) rather than what comes after (spirit of YHWH). (2) K-B suggests "a wife who was married as a virgin (intact)" instead of "wife of youth." The context, however, does not seem to require the idea of "intactness" within this imagery.
54:7 (1) "I have left you for just a little while"--it was God who left (i.e., initiated the divorce), which makes sense, yet this seems noteworthy. (2) Apparently, after this "divorce," God fell in love again.
54:8 The "perpetual loving-kindness" seems doubtful in light of what YHWH did when his anger flowed. How can the people trust him? How will they know that YHWH will not do this again when his anger flows again?
54:9 Okay, now I am understanding a little better. YHWH is swearing never to be angry again just as he earlier swore to Noah never to flood the earth again. This is a bit strange. It seems easier to swear never to act in a certain way in one's anger than to swear never to be angry. Is YHWH becoming less human at this point?
54:10 The "covenant of my peace," then, must refer to YHWH's swearing never to become angry again.
54:11 (1) What are the precious stones set in? Eye make-up?! Or is this perhaps just something decorative that decorates the setting around the precious stone as eye make-up decorates the area around the eye? (2) I didn't know anything about the rock lapis-lazuli until I read this passage.
54:12 (1) Does shemesh (lit., in the plural, "suns") really refer to battlements (K-B)? Battlements certainly seems to fit the context better than suns, but how can we determine this? (2) There are a lot of precious stones here that seem to be somewhat elusive in the exact mineral they refer to.
54:13 What does it mean to be pupils of YHWH?
54:15 Is the best translation of the end of the verse "he who attacks you will fall on you" or "he who attacks you will fall on account of you?"
54:16 The craftsman plays a different role here than earlier in Deut-Isa, where he made idols.
The small inconsistencies of metaphor (e.g., the barren woman who is also the widow) are fascinating to me. These wrinkles may give us clues concerning the social context of the composition of this text. For example, the barren woman and widow imagery adds a new layer of complexity to the stereotypical barren woman story from Genesis. Not only does the woman lack offspring, but her husband (YHWH?) has also died.
Justin
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Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how easy it is to follow your blog. It makes replying a bit easier on specific points. Don't worry, I won't steal your style for my own blog. =)
I like your question in 54:5, on whether God had died. Perhaps to the people it seemed that God and died and abandoned them. If we had an all-powerful God deliver out of Egypt and raise us up, it would make sense to me wondering if God was still there after the Babylonian's conquest.
In 54:8 I'm with you on if the people can trust God. I've taken note of this trust issue elsewhere. It seems like God is having to become an apologist for himself more and more in this text. Perhaps the community did not respond well to the prophet who was proclaiming this message. Just a thought there.
Thanks for your thoughts and see you Wednesday!
Travis K.W.
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteInsightful post. For me, the barren woman reminded me of Sarah (of Abraham and Sarah). I wondered if God was re-instituting a new covenant with Israel ala the original one with Abraham and Sarah.
I think the widow imagery threw many of us. I think I had a similar interpretation to Travis, seeing it as a referral to God's disappearance.
I also agree with Travis that God is sounding somewhat like an apologist. I want to use the analogy of an abusive husband who promises to be good for now on. In my blog, I compared to a tough-love parent. But I agree with Travis and your take on it - putting myself in the place of the people of Israel, would I trust God or the prophet claiming that we now had God's favor and protection again.
Perhaps that is why (what I see is) the reference to Abraham and Sarah regarding the barren woman. This would be such a powerful narrative/symbol for the Judeans - their origin story, that it would probably be very convincing for the exile (or in Israel audience). Perhaps the same with the Noah story. Well, I think I've gone on longer than I meant to.
Lot's of agreement with Travis here - your blog is easy to follow, well organized.
Thanks,
Howard
Your focus on Genesis and the barren woman raised a question for me when you began discussing the tent imagery: Was this woman nomadic? Also, it seems that the tent is the woman's tent, not the man's tent, or am I miss reading the text? I had not originally thought of the image as an allusion to a Genesis story (nor had I originally translated the section referring to Noah as referring to Noah...), but I have to think about what the image is now which is a great observation.
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