(OS 064) Leene (Ed.) - Newness in Old Testament Prophecy - An Intertextual Study 2013 PDF
(OS 064) Leene (Ed.) - Newness in Old Testament Prophecy - An Intertextual Study 2013 PDF
(OS 064) Leene (Ed.) - Newness in Old Testament Prophecy - An Intertextual Study 2013 PDF
Editor
B. Becking
Utrecht
Editorial Board
H.G.M. Williamson
Oxford
H.F. Van Rooy
Potchefstroom
M. Vervenne
Leuven
VOLUME 64
By
Henk Leene
LEIDEN BOSTON
2014
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leene, Henk.
Newness in Old Testament prophecy : an intertextual study / by Henk Leene.
pages cm. (Oudtestamentische studin = Old Testament studies, ISSN 0169-7226 ; VOLUME
64)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-26308-6 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 978-90-04-26309-3 (e-book)
1. Bible. Old TestamentProphecies. 2. Bible. Old TestamentCriticism, interpretation, etc. I.
Title.
BS1198.L38 2013
221.1'5dc23
2013033365
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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
I Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 What is New in Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Deutero-Isaiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.2 New and Hidden Things: Isaiah 4055 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.2.1 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.2.2 Isaiah 41:1416 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.2.3 Isaiah 42:59 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.2.4 Isaiah 42:1013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.2.5 Isaiah 43:1621 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.2.6 Isaiah 48:111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.2.7 A Synchronic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.2.7.1 Dramatic Progression in Isaiah 4055 . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.2.7.2 First-Last-Coming-New in Isaiah 4148 . . . . . . . . . 62
2.2.8 A Diachronic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.2.8.1 Redaction-Critical Theories on Isaiah 4055 . . . 70
2.2.8.2 First-New: Relations with Isaiah 139? . . . . . . . . . . 74
viii contents
Trito-Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2.3 A New Heaven and a New Earth: Isaiah 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2.3.1 Structure of Isaiah 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
2.3.2 Isaiah 65 Set in Its Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
2.3.3 Diachronic Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
2.3.3.1 Redaction-Critical Deliberations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
2.3.3.2 Relative and Absolute Dating of Deutero- and
Trito-Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.3.3.3 Relations with Isaiah 4055 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
2.3.4 The Dawn of Apocalyptic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3.1 A New Heart and a New Spirit: Ezekiel 18 and 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3.1.1 Ezekiel 18:2132 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3.1.2 Ezekiel 36:1638 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
3.1.3 The Embedding of Ezekiel 18 and 36 in the Book . . . . . . . 165
3.1.4 Diachronic Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.1.4.1 Papyrus 967 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.1.4.2 Stratification of Ezekiel 36:1638? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.1.4.3 Ezekiels Newness Passages in Diachronic
Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
3.1.4.4 A Comparison between Ezekiel 36 and Psalm
51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3.2 A New Creation and a New Covenant: Jeremiah 3031 . . . . . . . . . 200
3.2.1 Jeremiah 31:2122, 2326 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3.2.2 Jeremiah 31:2730, 3134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
3.2.3 Literary Structure of Jeremiah 3031 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
3.2.4 The Embedding of Jeremiah 3031: A Few Aspects . . . . . . 215
contents ix
Henk Leene
Halfweg, July 2013
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
1 On the double meaning in the heading, see R.G. Kratz, Das Neue in der Prophetie des
Alten Testaments, in: I. Fischer et al. (eds), Prophetie in Israel, Mnster 2003, 122; H. Leene,
Das Neue in der Prophetie: Antwort an Reinhard G. Kratz, in: Fischer, Prophetie, 2329.
2 G. von Rad, Theologie des Alten Testaments, Bd. 2, Mnchen 1960 (91987).
3 J. Moltmann, Theologie der Hoffnung, Mnchen 51966; idem, Antwort auf die Kritik der
Theologie der Hoffnung, in: W.-D. Marsch (ed.), Diskussion ber die Theologie der Hoffnung,
Mnchen 1967, 201238.
2 chapter one
points, even when taking their different accents into account. For Molt-
mann, the principal emphasis on the new can be found in the general
promise-structure expressing Israels relationship to God, reaching back to
the nomadic era of the patriarchs. In this way he subsumes all the Old Testa-
ments future expectations under the category novum, and therefore, unlike
von Rad, does not give prominence to the prophets in this respect.
At most, the prophetic expectations can be distinguished from the Old
Testament corpus in their growing awareness of ultimate boundaries. The
first boundary non plus ultra is about humanity and the cosmos, the second
concerns the finality of human life. According to Moltmann these eschato-
logical boundaries had not been touched previously in the history of Israel.
The prophetic expectations drew these outlines, reached, and on occasion
even crossed them (the resurrection from the dead!) in what could be called
an universalisation and intensification of Israels existing perspectives on
the future.
This represents taking a step further than the approach advocated by
von Rad. Though, Moltmann also reasons that the biblical new signifies
what has been anticipated about the future; and which cannot be extrapo-
lated from either the past or the present.4 He uses two Latin terms, futurum
and adventus, to explain the different perspectives: Die alttestamentlichen
Propheten extrapolieren nicht ein futurum aus den Eingeweiden der
Gegenwart, sondern sie bringen die Zukunft Gottes zum Gericht und zum
Heil worthaft antizipierend in die Gegenwart hinein.5 This focus on the
expected as advent, which is deemed characteristic of Israels expectation in
general and, under its influence, of the Christian hope, would be expressed
most clearly in the prophets. Whatever the prophets hoped for cannot be
derived from their presentquite the contrary: the way they experience
the present is a derivative of what they hope. Following Moltmanns line of
argument, the word new is an exemplary means of appropriately explain-
ing Israels prophetic message.6
pute, Advocacy, Minneapolis 1997 illustrate the influence of von Rads and Moltmanns views:
The substance of the promises is derived from old memories, but the power to generate the
newly promised reality is rooted not in what is old, but in what is fresh and alive about Yah-
weh (638); The oracles of promise are originary utterances without antecedent, certainly
not rooted in or derived from the data or circumstances at hand, but rooted in Yahwehs
circumstance-defying capacity to work newness (646).
introduction 3
Against the background of such broad theological vistas this study must
start with a negative observation. Compared to our modern usage, the word
, new, occurs infrequently in the Hebrew Bible. Even the prophetic
literature uses the word rarely, whatever the studies above may suggest.
The only expectation texts that have are found in Isaiah 4048; Isaiah
6566; Jeremiah 3031; and Ezekiel 11 and 36. The expectations concerned
envisage something new or new things, a new heaven and a new earth, a
new covenant, and a new heart and a new spirit. Our study on newness in
the Old Testament prophecies will concentrate on these texts, seen in their
broader context certainly, but without including high expectations that are
not explicitly expressed with help of the word , such as a new Moses, a
new David or a new Zion.
Furthermore, this study has two premises at its base. On the one hand,
it is highly improbable that the meaning of , occurring so infrequently
in the texts and appearing in such a wide range of literary corpora, can be
captured, reduced and simplified to formulas like replacing the grounds of
salvation or anticipation versus extrapolation. On the other hand, there
are clear indications that the abovementioned texts on newness are inter-
related. It is impossible to ignore the evident intertextual relations between
these texts. This point on intertextuality marks a methodological distinction
between our study and the works of von Rad and his contemporaries. Their
comparisons between the prophetic texts were dominated principally by
one tradition-critical question: How do these texts, with their origins set in
the depressive and destitute prophetic period, deal with Israels source tradi-
tions? Old Testament scholars have become increasingly interested in inter-
textual studies especially since the nineties, making more detailed com-
parisons between prophetic texts possible. The second part of this chap-
ter explains how we will apply this intertextual approach to the texts on
newness. Naturally the valuable insights from previous form- and tradition-
critical approaches must be honoured. The advocated intertextual approach
focuses on the similarities on the surface level of the text (thus, in this
respect, it is less speculative than the form- and tradition-critical methods).
In order to present a more complete picture of the network of prophetic
texts on newness, with their deeper connections, relations and communal-
ity, the new song in Psalms will be included in our intertextual analysis from
the onset.
Where this first chapter introduces the subject newness in relation to
previous scholarship and offers some methodological considerations, the
second chapter deals with newness in the Psalms on Yhwhs Kingship, Deu-
tero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah. The third chapter looks at the new in Ezekiel
4 chapter one
1.2. Intertextuality
7 We have not included a general overview of the literature, and besides the integral
chapter 4, refer to the relevant literature in the sections below where they deal specifically
with intertextual studies [ 2.2.8.24; 2.3.3.3; 3.1.4.4; 3.2.5.3].
introduction 5
activity and allusion to what the text does. Not every borrowing automati-
cally implies that the reader was meant to recognise it, apparent for example
in the case of modern plagiarism. This study will uncover a complex combi-
nation of concealment and disclosure, seen in the almost general silence on
the name of the cited prophet while his words are undeniably cited. We may
assume that the reader is nevertheless expected to recognise the citations
source and to transfer its authority to the new text. The author thus wishes
for his new text to share in the aura of the source text. The intertextual rela-
tion between the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel is a good example of this
authority sharing [ 3.2.5.3].
The term allusion is always associated with the concept recognition.
Three or four steps have been identified to help indicate how a reader or
listener recognises an allusion, namely: (1) the observation that a reference
has been made; (2) the identification of the line(s) in the source being
referred to; (3) the determination of the referring texts new interpretation
in light of the source line(s); and (4) the integration of further passages or
related aspects of the source text in the interpretation of the text making
the reference.8 In this regard, an echo can be best defined as a reference
that complies with the first two steps in the recognition process. A true
allusion always contributes to the meaning of the alluding text. Recognis-
ing the allusion enriches the interpretation. This does not take away that
texts contain allusions on different levels ranging from the superficial to the
profound. These differences have been described as differences in volume.
Compared to the modern literary world in which allusion has become an
established feature, in young scribal traditions like the Old Testament writ-
ings using allusions was not that clearly defined. Still, it remains a useful
term to describe how older texts have been integrated into newer Old Testa-
ment passagesas long as these borrowings match the criteria detailing the
intended readers recognition and more or less lead to the meaningful acti-
vation of the passages from which they were borrowed. Our limited knowl-
edge about the original readers therefore does not become an absolute
restriction, though knowing more would have been an advantage. Rather,
the opposite is true: the literary phenomenon of allusion and other referenc-
ing techniques in the Old Testament indicate that the authors then already
made provision for, assumed and wrote for attentive readers or listeners.9
8 Cf. Z. Ben-Porat, The Poetics of Literary Allusion, A Journal for Descriptive Poetics and
A crucial issue that we believe has still not received due attention in
intertextual comparisons of the prophetic literature concerns the direc-
tion of influence or sourcing. In this light, the concept analogy represents
a welcome addition to the arsenal of terminology detailing the nature of
intertextuality. The concept refers to similar syntactic patterns existing in
clauses, besides their agreements in vocabulary.10 Without a substantial
analogy, it becomes virtually impossible to determine the direction of influ-
ence between texts. In other words, it remains questionable whether there
are sufficient grounds to speak of borrowing between texts when their com-
monality is restricted to their mere vocabulary. The term analogy is used for
both the similarity of patterns and the actual clauses that share these pat-
terns.
Here, the relationship between literature and linguistics comes into play.
The concept analogy with its inclusive system of gradations is interesting
for two reasons. First, there are points of contact between the texts that are
restricted to only common language or jargon. These features do not make
them literary yet, on their own they are too weak to connect one unique
literary work to another. Not every analogy is an allusion. The connections,
not with a unique work, but with a particular genre, or the idiom of a
particular school, may be located somewhere in the border regions between
the literary and the linguistic. Second, each true literary reference, every
deliberate citation in whatever form, requires a clear analogy at its base.
The modern researchers disadvantage compared to the original reader is
evident. In many cases, the historical sequence of texts may have posed
no problems to the original reader. Whoever would like to understand an
allusion would need to know the chronological order of the texts involved.
It is therefore far more difficult for modern researchers to indicate allusions
in ancient texts correctly. Even so: for all readers and listeners, (an) allusion
is based on (an) analogy. Analogy forms the essential linguistic basis of this
literary phenomenon.
K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Cambridge, MA 2007,
51: Scribes wrote scrolls (rather than books) for the benefit of other scribes (rather than
for private readers). Even so, certain citations when read would have been recognisable
by a broader audience. The recognition of other citations would have required a topical
memory of the source text. In this light comparisons may be drawn between the more visual
Ezekielan citations in Jeremiah [ 3.2.5.3] and the more auditory Ezekielan citations in DI
[ 4.1].
10 For a fundamental study in this regard, see A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, Analogies in Isaiah,
Amsterdam 1993.
introduction 7
Furthermore, the role of the reader can be identified along these lines.
The question that the text may be answering cannot possibly remain a
distant historical reconstruction. For its proper formulation it is equally
dependent on the (modern) readers own horizon. Understanding a ques-
tion means that one has somehow assimilated it and can pose it as ones
own. The same holds true when someone attempts to understand an allud-
ing text as an answer to a question asked by the source text. For example, it
can be argued that the new thing promised in Isa. 43:19 necessarily had to
lead to a dualistic promise like the new heavens and a new earth promised
in Isa. 65:17 [ 2.3.4]. A reader needs to surpass the historical horizon of a
specific text in order to explain the bonds connecting its questions and pos-
sible answers. In other words, we are dealing here with scholarly insights
that should be translated in reverse, back into the totality of human experi-
ence from which the questions were derived.
The purpose of this study, then, is to describe the literary relations between
texts dealing with newness in the prophetic tradition in order to understand
their relationship as the realisation of an intertextual dialogue. One of the
ways to initiate or continue a lively interaction with the greater texts of the
tradition is to allow oneself to be involved in the communication between
these texts.
The subtitle of this book reads an intertextual study. What could have
been an alternative? A study in the history of Israels religion? A biblical-
theological study? History of religions might see texts as windows into for-
eign religious worlds that might eventually remain obscured behind the
texts. In comparison, intertextual studies expose texts on a platform of con-
tinuous dialogue. Here one could think of the difference between the dated
recording of a song, and its score. A score is meant to be replayed. Also in bib-
lical theology the real music must still be played, which it does freshly and
anew each time, even if, as a discipline, it is conducted by a confessional
or systematic interest that an intertextual approach, as undertaken in this
study, per se lacks.
In this regard, the terms eschatology and apocalyptic need to be ex-
plained as they are understood in the following chapters. It is impossible
to circumvent these terms due to the attention they have received in com-
mentaries on the newness texts. Their inclusion in this study helps illus-
trate the negative and positive roles that prejudice unavoidably plays in our
understandingboth blinding and enabling. It is clear that it is unfeasible
to read these Old Testament psalms and prophets without making compar-
isons to later Jewish, Christian and Islamic expectations with which we have
become acquainted in varying degrees. We will, however, resist against any
introduction 9
2.0. Perspective
The central focus in this chapter must fall on the new things in Deutero-
Isaiah. In the lead-up, two versions of the new song for Yhwh, Ps. 96
[ 2.1.1] and Ps. 98 [ 2.1.2], are discussed. During the previous century
the view was generally accepted that the fourth book of Psalms had been
influenced strongly by prophetic conceptions. Thus, Ps. 96 and 98 could be
labelled Deutero-Isaian in some commentaries. We will first analyse these
psalms separately from Isa. 4055 to avoid pre-empting questions on priori-
ties. In a sense, the opening sections of this study on the prophetic newness
texts are propaedeutic: here intertextuality is still an internal issue within
the fourth book of Psalms itself.
The following aspects are treated: the mutual agreements and differ-
ences between Ps. 96 and 98, considering their placements in the compo-
sition Ps. 93100 [ 2.1.3.1]; their most probable diachronic interrelation
[ 2.1.3.2]; their contribution to the double perspective on Yhwhs enthrone-
ment [ 2.1.4]; and in light of these varied mythical representations of God,
the eschatological bias with which these songs tend to be read in modern
exegesis [ 2.1.5].
We then turn to the new things in Deutero-Isaiah. On the one hand,
the meaning of the term new, which occurs in a semantic domain that
also contains the terms former, latter, and coming, is determined; and
on the other, an attempt is made to describe the role of this unique domain
(former-latter-coming-new) in structuring Deutero-Isaiahs dramatic com-
position and conceptual world. In line with the research programme
set for the two psalms, the exegesis of the newness texts in Isa. 41
48 [ 2.2.16] is followed by synchronic [ 2.2.7] and diachronic examina-
tions [ 2.2.8], detailing their contextual imbedding and interrelated-
ness.
The intertextual relations between Deutero-Isaiah and Ps. 96 and 98
are discussed in the scope of this diachronic approach. The first major
results of our inquiry will be formulated at this point. By placing the widely
12 chapter two
discussed connection between Isa. 139 and 4055 [ 2.2.8.2] alongside and
against the connection between Ps. 93100 and Isa. 4055 [ 2.2.8.35], we
wish to give the latter the special emphasis it deserves. The proposal will
be made that this cycle of Yhwh-Kingship psalms should be considered
the most insightful guide to reading the drama of Isa. 4055 properly. In
addition, these first findings of our intertextual inquiry are used to chal-
lenge an assortment of modern eschatological dilemmas, which may either
assist or restrict our understanding of Deutero-Isaiahs promise of the new
[ 2.2.9]. After all, most hermeneutical prejudices are recognised as such
only in retrospect.
The second chapter closes with Isa. 65. In other words, on the following
pages, after a long and adventurous journey and using the new song for
Yhwh as point of departure, we will eventually reach the vision of a new
heaven and a new earth with which the book Isaiah concludes. How does
this dualistic concept unfold within the literary structure of Isa. 65 [ 2.3.1]?
How does it fit into the corpus of Trito-Isaiah as a whole [ 2.3.2]? And to
what extent is the scope of Deutero-Isaiahs orientation of time, which we
propose is so closely related to the concept of time in the fourth book of
Psalms, still applicable in this eventual promise of a brand new creation
[ 2.3.3]?
Answering this line of questioning thoroughly could possibly change the
course of the discussion on the relationship between eschatology and the
apocalyptic in the history of Israels religion [ 2.3.4]. Whilst an intertextual
approach naturally cannot do without religio-historical insights (for exam-
ple, concerning divine enthronement in the Psalms), it is shown that religio-
historical conclusions would equally benefit from a reconsidered intertex-
tual approach.
Arranged in a descending linguistic analogy, these are all the clauses in the
Old Testament containing the term new song:
Isa. 42:10
Ps. 96:1
Ps. 98:1
Ps. 149:1
Ps. 33:3
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 13
Ps. 144:9
Ps. 40:4
The term new song probably occurred first in the individual hymn of
thanksgiving (cf. Ps. 40:4). Yhwh had offered deliverance and therefore the
supplicant raises a new song, encouraging others to join. Here, new says
nothing about the originality of the text, but characterises the song as
an answer to Gods amazing intervention. In the same line of thought,
Ps. 98 could use new in response to Israels deliverance [on the relation to
Ps. 96 2.1.3]. The fundamental division of roles in the individual hymn of
thanksgiving (the supplicant and the onlookers) also has a function in Ps. 98.
From the time of the exile, individual psalm genres helped shape collective
experience.
New song is probably not an original terminus technicus for enthrone-
ment psalm or eschatological song.1 Though, based on Ps. 96 and 98 the term
could have been bestowed such connotations. For example, as a new song,
Ps. 33 also celebrates Yhwhs kingship, and the same can be said for the much
younger Ps. 149.2 We will pay further attention to this issue when treating the
composition of Ps. 93100 below [ 2.1.4].
In the following sections, Ps. 96 and 98 are explored in a first reading.
Their affinity to Deutero-Isaiah is touched upon briefly, but we will postpone
the crucial question on the direction of dependence [ 2.2.8.3]. An initial
observation will suffice for the moment: In Ps. 96 and 98 only the song is
called new and not the divine intervention it answers.
2.1.1. Psalm 96
1 Sing to Yhwh a new song,
sing to Yhwh, oh all the earth.
neuen Knige gebhrt ein neues Lied; cf. 46, 66, 199; A. Weiser, Die Psalmen (ATD, 1415),
Bd. 2, Gttingen 61963, 436: Angesichts des grossen Neuwerdens, das mit dem Advent Gottes
hereinbricht, gengen die alten Lieder nicht mehr; der Erneuerung des Gottesbundes fr das
neue Jahr () muss auch ein neues Lied entsprechen; J.H. Eaton, Psalms of the Way and the
Kingdom: A Conference with the Commentators (JSOT.S, 199), Sheffield 1995, 117 mentions a
new song for a new era. According to T. Longman, Psalm 98: A Divine Warrior Victor Song,
JETS 27 (1984), 267274 a new song is a song celebrating a military victory (269).
2 Ps. 33:13 contains a few clauses that are analogous to clauses in Ps. 98; for an overview
see H. Leene, Psalm 98 and Deutero-Isaiah: Linguistic Analogies and Literary Affinity, in:
R.-F. Poswick (ed.), Actes du Quatrime Colloque International Bible et Informatique: Matriel
et Matire (Amsterdam 1994), Paris 1995, 313340. Ps. 149, like Ps. 98, uses the title for
Yhwh.
14 chapter two
The psalm consists of two strophes of three lines each and two strophes of
four lines each: vv. 13, 46, 710 and 1113. These strophes are grouped in
two stanzas of equal proportions, vv. 16 and 713. In this manner the three-
fold in v. 7 and v. 8 reflects the threefold in v. 1 and v. 2. Furthermore,
declare among the nations in v. 3 corresponds with say among the nations
in v. 10. The stanzas have imperative verses in their first strophe and moti-
vational -sentences in their second.
On the division we follow, see e.g. C. Petersen, Mythos im Alten Testament (BZAW,
157), Berlin 1982, 183184. Many commentaries assume two strophes 16 | 713,
which are subdivided into smaller segments; e.g. H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen (BKAT, 15),
Neukirchen-Vluyn 51978, 834838; A.A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms (NCB), vol. 2,
London 1972, 681; M.E. Tate, Psalms 51100 (WBC, 20), Waco, TX 1990, 514; Th. Booij,
Psalmen (POT), dl. 3, Nijkerk 1994, 153155. The main question is whether a caesura
should be made after or before v. 10; see for the latter, e.g. J. Ridderbos, De Psalmen
(COT), dl. 2, Kampen 1958, 445. A division into three parts has also been advo-
cated: 16 | 710 | 1113 [R. Kittel, Die Psalmen (KAT, 13), Leipzig 5 61929, 315317;
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 15
J.P.M. van der Ploeg, Psalmen (BOT, 7B), dl. 2, Roermond 1974, 147; K. Koenen, Jahwe
wird kommen, zu herrschen ber die Erde: Ps 90110 als Komposition (BBB, 101), Wein-
heim 1995, 67; F.-L. Hossfeld, E. Zenger, Psalmen 51100 (HThKAT), Freiburg 32000,
666667] or 16 | 79 | 1013 [H. Schmidt, Die Psalmen (HAT, 1/15), Tbingen 1934,
178179].
13. Singing the new song proclaims Yhwhs liberation and relates his mar-
vellous deeds. There are no reasons for assuming addresses before the im-
peratives in v. 2 and v. 3 other than the address in v. 1, even though it sounds
illogical that all the earth must tell something among the nations. We find
the same transition in v. 9 and v. 10; some commentaries reason that v. 3 and
v. 10 are addressed to Israel, but within the confines of the psalm this possi-
bility is less likely.3
Between the worldwide spatial dimensions of vv. 1 and 3, a prominent
indication of time is provided in v. 2: the message must be proclaimed
day by day. The two parallel series, his namehis liberation (2) and
his gloryhis marvellous deeds (3), convey the content of the message.
What liberating intervention and which remarkable deeds of Yhwh are
meant?
In the associated Ps. 98 these words imply a historical experience [ 2.1.2].
The same could be accounted for in Ps. 96.4 Though, three reservations can
be made: (a) In the first stanza of Ps. 96 the motivation to sing is based on
Yhwhs acts of creation, differently to Ps. 98. (b) Israels historical liberation
is not articulated in Ps. 96:13 as clearly as it is in Ps. 98:13. (c) With
one thinks less of a singular act in this first song; although day by
day is formally connected to spreading the message, this provision readily
extends to encompass the liberation itself, as it can be experienced over a
longer period of time.5
3 So too E. Zenger, Das Weltenknigtum des Gottes Israel (Ps 90106), in: N. Lohfink,
E. Zenger (eds), Der Gott Israels und die Vlker: Untersuchungen zum Jesajabuch und zu den
Psalmen (SBS, 154), Stuttgart 1994, 151178, esp. 161: Sagt unter den Vlkern (zueinander): ;
alternatively Hossfeld-Zenger, Psalmen, 667. A further question is whether the address to
Israel may be accepted once Ps. 96 is read as the intended continuation of Ps. 95 [ 2.1.3.1].
4 According to H.L. Ginsberg, A Strand in the Cord of Hebraic Hymnody, ErIs 9 (1969),
4550, esp. 46 both terms in Ps. 96 indicate Yhwhs salvation for the whole world. According
to Anderson, Psalms, 682, in Ps. 96:3 can indicate both acts of creation and salvation.
Koenen, Komposition, 72 applies the word in Ps. 96 to Yhwhs acts as creator, in Ps. 98 in
contrast to his acts of salvation [further 2.1.3.1].
5 It is unlikely that is aimed at the ber mehrere Tage sich erstreckenden
46. Yhwhs elevation above the gods provides the motivation for the pre-
ceding calls. The two verses commencing with are arranged in a chiasm,
with the scheme Yhwhall the godsall the godsYhwh. The motivation
starts with nominal clauses and then refers to creation in a verbal clause.
That the whole earth must sing to Yhwh (v. 1), answers the assertion that he
was the sole creator of the heavens (v. 5). Heaven displays Yhwhs splendour
and majesty, strength and glory. Here a poetic personification of divine char-
acteristics may be considered. It is they, and not the gods of the nations, that
keep Yhwh company in his dwelling. The sanctuary, with which the strophe
ends, could thus be identified with the heaven just mentioned;6 but it could
simultaneously refer to Yhwhs earthly sanctuary, providing the clue for the
remainder of the song.
710. The third strophe reminds of the first, not only in the use of imperatives
at the start of the verses, but also in the recurring words peoples (vv. 7
and 10), all the earth (v. 9) and nations (v. 10). Two sub-strophes can be
distinguished, vv. 78 and vv. 910. The whole suggests a procession in which
the nations, like Israel, are making their way to Jerusalem, according to
their families, bearing gifts. Once in the temple of Jerusalem they receive
the instruction to proclaim the kingship of Yhwh across the world. The
exclamation [ 2.1.4] as such only means that Yhwh is or has become
king. Though, since this sovereignty must now be made known everywhere,
the psalm equally intimates that Yhwh accepts his kingship openly on this
very occasion. Given that Yhwh has just revealed himself as king, there are
no further reasons for the nations to doubt the worlds stability. The direct
speech in v. 10, which starts with , runs through to the end of the
verse. Yhwh will act as a just judge over the nations, and this everyone ought
to know.
6 In this respect the psalmist does not differ in opinion from the cultic sceptic whom
we will encounter in Isa. 66:12, discussed at the end of this chapter [ 2.3.2]. See also
H. Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (FRLANT, 148), Gttingen 1989,
222 on Ps. 29: Ragte der irdische Tempel nicht in die himmlische Sphre hinein, wre er fr
die ihm zugedachte Funktion auf Erden untauglich.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 17
7 Most think of a participle, see e.g. F. Delitzsch, Biblischer Kommentar ber die Psalmen,
Leipzig 51894, 616; Tate, Psalms, 511; D.M. Howard, The Structure of Psalms 93100, Winona Lake
1997, 64. Alternatively, e.g. C.A. Briggs, E.G. Briggs, The Book of Psalms (ICC), vol. 2, Edinburgh
1907, 313; E.J. Kissane, The Book of Psalms, vol. 2, Dublin 1954, 125; Weiser, Psalmen, 430;
J. Jeremias, Das Knigtum Gottes in den Psalmen: Israels Begegnung mit dem kanaanischen
Mythos in den Jahwe-Knig-Psalmen (FRLANT, 141), Gttingen 1987, 130131; Eaton, Kingdom,
121; cf. Booij, Psalmen, 159 n. 24, all think of a perfectum.
8 Perhaps one could speak of a tension between the writhing and the crying out for joy
of the earth in Ps. 96. This tension would then only be absolved at the end of the psalm cycles
dramatic movement, in Ps. 100 [ 2.1.3.1].
18 chapter two
2.1.2. Psalm 98
1 A psalm.
Sing to Yhwh a new song,
for he has done marvellous deeds.
His right hand has brought him liberation,
his own holy arm.
2 Yhwh has made his liberation known,
before the eyes of the nations he has revealed his righteousness.
3 He has remembered his kindness and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the liberation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to Yhwh, oh all the earth,
break forth and cry out and sing.
5 Sing to Yhwh with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of singing.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn,
shout for joy before the king, Yhwh.
7 Let the sea thunder, and whatever fills it,
the world and those who live on it.
8 Let the rivers clap with their hands,
the mountains together cry out
9 before the face of Yhwh, for he has come
to rule the earth.
He will rule the world in righteousness
and the peoples in equity.
After the heading, the psalm can be divided into two stanzas, 13 and 49.
Each stanza consists of two strophes: 1 and 23; respectively 46 and 79.
The division into two stanzas reminds of Ps. 96.9
9 The division of Ps. 98 into two (13, 49) or three strophes (13, 46, 79) is open
to discussion. For an overview of the possibilities, see P. Auffret, la face du roi YHWH:
tude structurelle du psaume 98, in: Idem, Merveilles nos yeux: tude structurelle de vingt
psaumes dont celui de 1 Ch 16:836 (BZAW, 235), Berlin 1995, 7076, esp. 70. Though both
stanzas carry a movement from invitoire to motif (75), this does not correspond precisely
with the subdivision into strophes.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 19
1. The first strophe contains a call to sing a new song and is followed by
a motivation: the liberation was achieved through Yhwhs own handwork.
The most difficult question in the exposition of Ps. 98 is how to under-
stand this liberation. Schematically three opinions can be determined in
the exegetical literature, namely: (1) the cultic; (2) the future eschatologi-
cal; and (3) the historical point of view. The last group is subdividable into
what could be called the specific historical (3a), and the general historical
view (3b).
(1) The cultic view argues that the narrated liberation merely evokes what
is experienced in the cult. This view is inadequate on logical grounds.
If it could be assumed that the songs performance had been accompa-
nied by a cultic action, then the song would have expressed what this
cultic action referred toand not vice versa. Cultic interpretations do
not relieve us from the obligation of indicating which reality the action
might intend.10
(2) The future-eschatological point of view amounts to the following:
though the liberation had been accomplished within the imaginary
world of the text, in reality it still has to come.11 The reader must weigh
this opinion against the alternative: that what he himself might be
inclined to think still lies in the future, is a given fact according to the
text. The decisive criterion in this dilemma appears to be the imperati-
val form of the hymn. The urgent calls for praise and recognition reveal
a tension between the readers own inclination and what he ought to
see according to the text. In a futurist standpoint on the sung salvation,
this tension would fall away.
(3a) Many commentaries consider the historical experience of Israels re-
turn from exile as the psalms subject. This view directly opposes Mo-
winckels categorical statement that die Thronbesteigungspsalmen
keine zeitgeschichtliche Anspielungen enthalten.12 According to Mo-
winckel, who rejected the idea that Ps. 98 could be dependent on Isa.
4055, the arm of Yhwh in v. 1 refers to the creation struggle;13 but this
is unlikely, even when not accounting for the diachronic relation to
Deutero-Isaiah [ 2.2.8.3]. The text of the psalm makes unambiguous
10 Thus Weiser, Psalmen, 435438 speaks of a cultic representation of Yhwhs previous and
future salvation.
11 See e.g. W.O.E. Oesterly, The Psalms, London 1939, 426.
12 Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien, 38.
13 Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien, 50.
20 chapter two
historical references in its use of the house of Israel and the nations
as actants. However, we must concede that a specific, non-figurative
indication of the end of the exile is indeed absent from Ps. 98.14
(3b) The last may lead to points of view such as that held by Tate: Ps. 98
has no specific historical reference () and should not be forced into
the mould of the exodus or the restoration from exile, or any other
specific historical context. The psalm encompasses the whole range
of Yahwehs victories.15 The choice between the specific-historical (3a)
and this more general-historical interpretation (3b) depends on the
context in which Ps. 98 is read; the psalm itself offers no definite clue.
At most it can be said that Ps. 98 rather presents the liberation as one
resounding victory than as a series of victories. We will return to this
point in 2.1.3.1.
23. The motivation from the first strophe, which different to Ps. 96 uses just
the perfect tense, is elaborated in the second strophe. The theme of deliver-
ance forms the most important bridge with the first strophe, represented by
the root . A new element is found in the being made known. The centre
line expresses Yhwhs kindness and faithfulness to the house of Israel, and
is enclosed by lines revealing how the nations have seen his liberation take
effect before their eyes. The expression He has remembered for the sake of
his and his , does not appear elsewhere in the Old Testament
(see too Ps. 25:6), but is comparable to He has remembered for the sake of
his ( Ps. 106:45; cf. Lev. 26:45). Both expressions remind of Yhwhs lib-
erating intervention set in the extension of a previous history of salvation.
The idea that this intervention reveals a beneficial world order rests in the
word that accompanies in v. 2: .
46. The second half of the song repeats the movement from calling to moti-
vation. This time the calling consists of a series of imperatives directed at
the (inhabitants of) the whole world. They are invited to sing for joy under
the accompaniment of musical instruments and to cheer Yhwh as king. The
( v. 6) is also used in 2Kgs 9:13 as an instrument at the inauguration
of a king. The link between this and the previous strophe suggests that
with the realisation of his act of liberationYhwh has accepted his divine
14 The only psalm that explicitly deals with the return from exile is Ps. 126; implicitly
kingship. According to the psalm the two go hand in hand. Ever since the
nations have had to witness Israels liberation, nothing remains for them
but to acknowledge Yhwh as king.
79. Jussive sentences express the wish that the sea and the continent, rivers
and mountains, must contribute to the celebrations at the inaugural feast.
The clapping of hands, here resounding in the clatter of rivers, character-
istically accompanies enthronements in the world of the Old Testament.
The motivation to invite, not only all the inhabitants of the world but more-
over the totality of the created reality, to this royal inauguration, follows in
v. 9, and is formulated in line with Ps. 96:13. Israels liberation denotes Yhwhs
accession to the divine kingship, and this accession marks the beginning of
his righteous rule over the nations.16 As king, Yhwh will pass judgement in
all fairness, and in this way, with Israels deliverance as main orientation, he
will bring about a peaceful world order.
In this and the previous section we have seen that it is not easy to explain
either Ps. 96 or 98 without aligning them side by side. Therefore, they
are compared in greater detail in the next section, where it will also be
determined to what extent the literary environment of the fourth book of
Psalms (Ps. 90106) can guide us further with their interpretation.
16 Yhwhs coming in Ps. 98 reminds of his victorious return to the temple in Ps. 24:7, 9, but
due to the judicial aspect, the portrayal of the theophany in Ps. 50:3 also comes to mind.
17 For the similarities, see e.g. Howard, Psalms 93100, 144149.
22 chapter two
Ps. 96 Ps. 98
Yhwh Yhwh
gods
peoples peoples
house of Israel
temple
heaven
earth earth
sea sea
fields
trees
rivers
mountains
(a) Ps. 96 is addressed more explicitly to the peoples than Ps. 98. All the earth
is invited to sing a new song at the start of Ps. 96, while in Ps. 98 the first
call to the whole world is made in v. 4. An invitation to the families of the
peoples (96:7), to approach the courts of the sanctuary bearing gifts, cannot
be found in Ps. 98. In addition, Ps. 96 strikes a more universal note than Ps. 98
by applying the word to all the peoples (96:13) and not restricting it to
Israel (98:3). At the end of Ps. 96, Yhwh promises faithfulness towards all the
nations.
(b) According to Albertz, the nouns of the root were first used to indi-
cate Yhwhs Rettungstaten in the Old Testament and gradually the meaning
expanded to cover all Gods acts, soda pl schlielich auch das Schp-
fungshandeln mit umfassen kann.18 Both psalms use the words and
side by side. Though, Ps. 96 especially elaborates the concept ,
notably to encompass creation and indicate the difference between Yhwh
and the gods in this creational context; while Ps. 98 rather connects to
the word and focuses on the liberation of Israel more strongly. In
this regard, attention is drawn to the alternative sequences
18 R. Albertz, Art. , in: THAT, Bd. 2, Mnchen 1978, 413420, esp. 418; in the same spirit,
J. Conrad, Art. , in: TWAT, Bd. 6, Stuttgart 1989, 569583, esp. 576577. On in Ps. 96
and 98 see also K. Koenen, Jahwe wird kommen, zu herrschen ber die Erde: Ps 90110 als
Komposition (BBB, 101), Weinheim 1995, 72.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 23
(Ps. 96) and ( Ps. 98), each being at home within the structure
of the respective psalm.
(c) Both psalms proclaim Yhwhs coming as king, but with one noticeable
difference between their perspectives. Ps. 98 suggests that Yhwhs enthrone-
ment is taking place at this very moment. This immediacy can be seen in
the joyous shouting (), blowing the horn, and the clapping of hands.19
The festive homage reaches a climax in Ps. 98 compared to Ps. 96. Alterna-
tively, Ps. 96 projects Yhwhs present kingship back to the very beginning
of creation by connecting it retrospectively to the firm establishment of
the world. This comes close to Ps. 96 and 98 contradicting each other. The
unbiased reader may ask: Has Yhwh been king from time immemorial, or
must he still become king today? In any case, here the two songs are com-
plementary. We will explore this unmistakable tension further in the next
sections.
19 M.Z. Brettler, God is King: Understanding an Israelite Metaphor (JSOT.S, 76), Sheffield
Recent studies have shown that these two songs are embedded within a
larger composition.23 How, considering their complementary natures, do
they fit in the greater whole? A few methodological principles require clar-
ification as an introduction to our contextual observations. When can a
psalms placement in a collection contribute berhaupt to its meaning?
This may be possible if a psalm (a) shares common vocabulary with other
psalms in its vicinity. From a readers point of view, such repetitions across
psalm borders represent a minimal requirement for the establishment of
contextual cohesion. Their cohesive effects escalate (b) where communal
phrases or entire analogous clauses can be indicated; or (c) if several word
repetitions support each other in connecting the two psalms. Such repeti-
tions can lead a reader to identify (d) a common theme, the rhetorical devel-
opment of an argument, or the progression of an action within the sequence
of a psalm collection. The sequence can be called dramatic if the reader has
the impression that the connected psalms carry him through a succession
of actions. Word repetitions that are not supported by neighbouring word
repetitions and do not signal communality in theme, rhetorical strategy or
action, hold little significance, or even escape the readers attention.
In a panoramic view from Ps. 96 and 98 over the psalms in the direct
vicinity, the truly meaningful contextual links stretch back no further than
Ps. 93 and forward no further than Ps. 100.24
Tate, Zenger, Millard and Koch. Howard, Psalms 93100, 419 provides an instructive overview
of studies on structure and redaction history of the Psalms since the 1970s. E. Beaucamp,
Le Psautier, vol. 2, Paris 1979, 136 speaks of Ps. 100 as the doxological finale of the collection
Ps. 91100. According to M.E. Tate, Psalms 51100 (WBC, 20), Waco, TX 1990, 508509, Ps. 96
99 consists of two twin-psalms, 9697 and 9899, which together form an ABAB pattern due
to their parallel content. P. Auffret, Yahv regne: tude structurelle du psaulme 93, ZAW 103
(1991), 101109, esp. 101 views Ps. 93101 as a structured unit. E. Zenger, Israel und die Kirche im
gemeinsamen Gottesbund: Beobachtungen zum theologischen Programm des 4. Psalmen-
buchs, in: M. Marcus et al. (eds), Israel und Kirche heute: Beitrge zum christlich-jdischen
Gesprch. Fs. E.L. Ehrlich, Freiburg 1991, 238257, esp. 240242 sees a 7+1 pattern in Ps. 93100;
see also F.-L. Hossfeld, E. Zenger, Psalmen 51100 (HThKAT), Freiburg 32000, 707709 on the
concluding function of Ps. 100. Koenen himself attempts to demonstrate that the composition
stretches over Ps. 90110. K.A. Deurloo, ist Knig geworden geschichtlich verstanden
(Ps. 90100), in: H. Pavlincov, D. Papouek (eds), The Bible in Cultural Context, Brno 1994,
8186 limits it to Ps. 90100. Other authors are sceptical about the planned arrangements
of larger groups of psalms; see e.g. N. Whybray, Reading the Psalms as a Book (JSOT.S, 222),
Sheffield 1996.
24 This is not to say, for example, that Ps. 93 cannot have connections with Ps. 9092. The
Ps. 96 and Ps. 93 are connected by three consecutive clauses in 96:10 taken
from 93:1: Yhwh is king, the world is firmly established, it cannot be shaken.
Their recurrence causes a dramatic effect: what dates back to primeval ages
and has been confirmed to Israel through Yhwhs torah and temple, must
nowaccording to 96:10be openly acknowledged by all the peoples. In
this light, the repetition of strength in 96:6 from 93:1 may be observed as
an additional link.25
Little effort is required to make sense of the word connections between
Ps. 94:2 and 96:13. The phrasing that Yhwh has come to rule the earth can be
understood as a response to the petition presented earlier to the ruler of the
earth to rise up against the wicked.26 Here too, a dramatic progression can be
observed: a passionate plea precedes the divine answer. The call for judicial
intervention in Ps. 94 follows the declaration of Yhwhs eternal kingship in
Ps. 93, which in turn agrees with the sequence of the two themes (Yhwh
as king and judge) in Ps. 96. Furthermore, these relations guide us in our
interpretation of Ps. 96:13: ruling the world, in light of Ps. 94, means silencing
the wicked in their arrogance.
Ps. 95 and 96 are also related to each other. The terms great and above all
gods, used in connection with Yhwh in Ps. 95:3 and Ps. 96:4, deepen the con-
sonance between these two psalms. The same can be said for the connection
via come and bow before in 95:6 and 96:89. The sequence between the
two psalms allows for the invitation presented within a we-group (Israel
as cult community) to precede a similar invitation to all the peoples. The
main effect of this sequential arrangement is that it brings the new song
Ps. 96 into clear historical perspective. After remembering Israels journey
through the wilderness in Ps. 95 (Massah and Meribah!), the new song Ps. 96
encourages viewing a new phase in the history of salvation. Based on its own
historical experiences (Ps. 95), Israel could recognise the kingship of Yhwh
25 Cf. E. Zenger, Das Weltenknigtum des Gottes Israel (Ps 90106), in: N. Lohfink, E.
Zenger (eds), Der Gott Israels und die Vlker: Untersuchungen zum Jesajabuch und zu den
Psalmen (SBS, 154), Stuttgart 1994, 151178, esp. 158.
26 Cf. Koenen, Komposition, 6970. Compare the relation between Ps. 93 (waters of the
chaos) and 94 (the wicked) with Isa. 57:20: the wicked are like the tossing sea. On the close
relation between Ps. 93 and 94 see also Howard, Psalms 93100, 105109; in summary 173.
However, it is surprising that Howard does not pay any attention to the question-answer
relations between Ps. 94 and 9698. In this regard the single word field, to which hif.
(94:1), with Yhwh as subject (96:13; 98:9), and ( 97:3) belong, is important. They
also appear as typical terms of the theophany in Ps. 50:2, 3. The question-answer relation
that determines the structure of the whole cycle is formulated as a theme in Ps. 99:6.
26 chapter two
long before the time of recognition that has now come for the entire family
of mankind (Ps. 96).
Many words and phrases from Ps. 96 return in Ps. 97.27 They can be
arranged as follows:
(a) all the earth, the peoples, the world;
(b) be glad, rejoice; praise;
(c) the earth that trembles, and this before the face of Yhwh;
(d) the association between the heavens and the glory of Yhwh;
(e) all the gods, that are mere idols and must bow before Yhwh who is
king and thus elevated above all the gods.
Especially the indicated word connections in (c) suggest a communal ac-
tion: Yhwhs theophany in Ps. 97:26 is a visual portrayal of his coming to rule
the earth in Ps. 96:13. Understood in this way, the reading of as a per-
fect clause in 96:13 [ 2.1.1] finds support in Ps. 97, where the world has
seen Yhwh appearing as ruler (v. 4), just as Zion has heard his judgments
(v. 8).
The threads from Ps. 97 continue in Ps. 98. The righteousness that has
been revealed before the eyes of the nations reminds of the righteousness
in 97:1112, and the kindness and faithfulness he showed to the house
of Israel (98:3) reflects on the faithful in 97:10.28 As the true Israel, these
faithful and righteous ones are the very beneficiaries of Yhwhs liberating
arrival as king and judge; which in turn answers the earlier plea in Ps. 94
for Yhwhs righteous intervention. The liberation through Yhwhs holy arm
(98:1) can be understood, using this model of interpretation, as the righteous
being delivered from the hand of the wicked (97:10).
In this way, two aspects of the divine intervention are emphasised
through the dramatic sequence in Ps. 96-97-98. These aspects are arranged
in the same sequence in Deutero-Isaiah, as we will demonstrate later in this
chapter [ 2.2.8.4]: first the shaming of the wicked (Ps. 96 and 97a) and sec-
ond the liberation of Yhwhs devotees (97b and 98).
Due to its placement in the cycle, Ps. 99 suggests that the verdict over the
idolaters has now been carried out. Thus, once more peoples are spoken
of, as are Yhwhs kingship, his greatness and formidability, and his being
27 Cf. Koenen, Komposition, 73. Howard, Psalms 93100, 143: () Psalms 96 and 97 are
unique among Psalms 93100 in sharing so many terms that are not used elsewhere in the
group.
28 Compare also // in 97:11 with // in 98:9.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 27
elevated above all peoples. In Ps. 99, the role of the idols and their devotees
(cf. 96:4; 97:7) however appears to have ceased.29 Furthermore, the combina-
tion between strength (cf. 96:6, 7) and justice (cf. 97:2, 8) is interesting in
99:4: The strength of the king loves justice. The term equity connects anew
to Ps. 96 and 98. In this way, the justice and righteousness you have done in
Jacob (99:4b) refer back to the previous psalms, especially Ps. 98, reminding
of the redemption which the reader had witnessed a few moments ago. In
all, the trisagion in Ps. 99 establishes Yhwhs presence in the temple, follow-
ing the action of his coming in Ps. 9698.30
Ps. 100 takes up the invitation directed at all the earth in Ps. 96 to come
before him with joyful songs and to bless the name of Yhwhalbeit with
a different accent. What appears to have fallen away since Ps. 96 is the call
to all the earth to tremble before the face of Yhwh. This confirms that the
sentencing of the idolaters has taken place in the meanwhile (97:7), and is
now a closed episode in the drama. Ps. 100 can be understood as following:
all the earth is eventually involved in the liberation of Israel, without reserve.
Anyone from anywhere in the world who recognises Yhwh as God, may
like Israel belong to the sheep of his pasture.31 The reoccurrence of the
term , faithfulness, in 100:5 from 96:13 is a prominent signal. Yhwhs
faithfulness towards the peoples stated by Ps. 96 in a coherence, which is
still full of tension due to their potential allegiance to other gods, is freed
from whatever restrictions at the close of Ps. 100.
The impression of a continuous action in Ps. 93100 is thus clear. It is
created whenever the reader feels that he is witnessing an event that has
not yet taken place earlier in the cycle, particularly Yhwhs coming to rule
the earth. This coming is stated as a fact in Ps. 96 and 98, and in Ps. 97 it
is portrayed in detail. Yhwhs arrival coincides firstly with the shaming of
the worshippers of idols in Ps. 96, and secondly with the liberation of Israel
in Ps. 98. The preceding prayer in Ps. 94 looks eagerly forward to it. The
following trisagion in Ps. 99 looks back on it thankfully. If the earth were
beseeched to shudder before Yhwh in Ps. 96, in Ps. 100 she cannot but shout
for joy at Yhwhs universal goodness and faithfulness.
When we reconsider the term liberation in Ps. 96 and 98, it is clear from
the surrounding cycle of psalms that its exposition tends towards a historical
32 Th. Booij, Psalmen (POT), dl. 3, Nijkerk 1994, 161 (our translation); contra F. Delitzsch,
Biblischer Kommentar ber die Psalmen, Leipzig 51894, 658 and many others. On the cycle
as a whole see also Deurloo, Knig, 86: Die Dramatik, die man in dieser Reihe von Liedern
wahrnehmen kann, bringt ein historisches Thema auf liturgische Weise zum Ausdruck.
Koenen, Komposition interprets the cycle eschatologically, see e.g. 70.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 29
not long before the appearance of Nehemiah in the 5th century. Whatever the case,
the text of Ps. 98 possibly brings us close to the second temples inauguration as
such.
In anticipation of the diachronic relationship to Isa. 4055 [ 2.2.8.3] the fol-
lowing preliminary remarks are offered on the historic vagueness in this cycle of
psalms. The Persian liberation had not yet become crystallised into the historical
picture as suggested by DI and esp. Ezra 16. On the contrary, the cycles inclusion
of Ps. 98 reflects its sustained vagueness or impetus for generalisation. The move-
ment from Ps. 98 via DI to Ezra 16 seems to travel in the opposite direction, i.e. to
historical anchoring of this immediate cultic experience. Songs of liberation in our
own culture still precede the detailing of the liberation narrative. Within the cycle,
the most concrete expression of the liberation is the temple itself, as representing
the place of Gods advent and full presence. But as mentioned above, our proof for
this possible development is kept in trust.
It cannot be a coincidence that Ps. 96 is associated with the (first resp.
second) temple in 1Chron. 16 and the heading of the LXX-version. The
temple of Jerusalem is exceptionally prominent in the cycle Ps. 93100 (see
93:5; 95:2, 6; 96:6, 8; 98, 56; 99:5, 9; 100:4). Similar to a liberation monument
in our modern world, this temple signified to Israel its coming to rest, after
experiencing a turbulent past.33 This might explain why no need was felt for
any further historical references in this cantata.
33 According to G. Braulik, Gottes RuheDas Land oder der Tempel? Zu Psalm 95,11,
in: E. Haag, F.-L. Hossfeld (eds), Freude an der Weisung des Herrn: Beitrge zur Theolo-
gie der Psalmen. Fs H. Gro, Stuttgart 1987, 3344 Ps. 95:11 reminds of Deut. 12:9, but does
already indicate the place where Yhwh will establish his sanctuary in Deut. 12:9?
Regardless, it is clear that my rest at the close of Ps. 95 implicates the temple as the place of
Yhwhs unique presence (cf. Isa. 66:1), and in the cycle this forms a deliberate bridge to the
next psalm.
34 H. Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (FRLANT, 148), Gttingen
35 Cf. J. Jeremias, Das Knigtum Gottes in den Psalmen: Israels Begegnung mit dem kanaa-
nischen Mythos in den Jahwe-Knig-Psalmen (FRLANT, 141), Gttingen 1987, 122, who refers
to Stolz and Loretz.
36 See e.g. BHK and BHS; C. Petersen, Mythos im Alten Testament (BZAW, 157), Berlin 1982,
independent psalms in Ps. 98:13, 47 as done by H. Gunkel, Die Psalmen (HK, 2/2), Gttin-
gen 41926 and O. Loretz, Ugarit-Texte und Thronbesteigungspsalmen: Die Metamorphose des
Regenspenders Baal-Jahwe (Ps. 24,710; 29; 47; 93; 95100; sowie Ps. 77,1720; 114) (UBL, 7), Mn-
ster 1988.
38 H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen (BKAT, 15), Neukirchen-Vluyn 51978, 846.
39 So too Zenger, Weltenknigtum, 158165.
40 Cf. Booij, Psalmen, 154, 167. He mentions (169 n. 1) a selection of older commentaries in
support of this diachronic order. Jeremias, Knigtum, 135 tends towards seeing Ps. 98 as the
oldest, even though he insists elsewhere that the question of dependence cannot be solved
(131). D.M. Howard, The Structure of Psalms 93100, Winona Lake 1997, 150 also sees Ps. 98 as
the elder. In comparison, H.L. Ginsberg, A Strand in the Cord of Hebraic Hymnody, ErIs 9
(1969), 4550 says of Ps. 98: at first sight it looks like an abridgment of 96 (47). A. Weiser,
Die Psalmen (ATD, 1415), Bd. 2, Gttingen 61963, 436 argues that the one psalm need not be
modelled on the other, because they share the same cultic situation and are bound to the
same liturgical formulas that sufficiently explain the similarities.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 31
torium for cultic use, consisting of Ps. 93, 95, 96, 98 and 100, which was expanded later with
Ps. 94, 97 and 99 for a more realistic sense. Our discussion tends towards the point of view
that also in other respects, it is not easy to differentiate between these layers.
43 For an extensive discussion on the dating of Ps. 9699, see e.g. Tate, Psalms, 505507;
(while this is his programme in the remainder of the psalms he discusses, except Ps. 114).
45 See e.g. H. Irsigler, Thronbesteigung in Psalm 93?, in: W. Gro (ed.), Text, Methode und
mittelten) Wort als Gebot, Gebet(sformular) oder Orakel. Such a solution is necessary when
32 chapter two
one insists on holding onto both the psalms textual unity and superior age, but this is not
evident.
47 See in particular KTU 1.24; the Song of the Sea in Ex. 15; Ps. 74:1217 in a complaint about
the destroyed temple; Isa. 44:2728. Conclusively on this tripartite mythopoetic pattern,
see T.N.D. Mettinger, In Search of the Hidden Structure: YHWH as King in Isaiah 4055,
in: C.C. Broyles, C.A. Evans (eds), Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an
Interpretive Tradition, vol. 1 (VT.S, 70/1), Leiden 1997, 142154, esp. 144145.
48 O. Loretz, Ugarit und die Bibel: Kanaanische Gtter und Religion im Alten Testament,
Darmstadt 1990, 50 sees redactional additions in Ps. 93:1a, 1b2, 5; cf. Loretz, Ugarit-Texte,
274303. The idea that the tricola on their own indicate the superior age is contested by
Ps. 100. Hossfeld-Zenger, Psalmen, 646 sees only v. 5 as exilic or post-exilic addition in order
to actualise a pre-exilic temple song vv. 14.
49 The pre-exilic dating of Ps. 29, often mentioned in one breath with Ps. 93, is sometimes
also questioned, see e.g. S. Kreuzer, Gottesherrschaft und Knigtum Gottes, SVT 61 (1995),
145161, esp. 149 n. 11 (lit.).
50 Ps. 9397 and Ps. 146150 form the longest series of psalms without title, besides
Ps. 111119.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 33
psalms in the cycle that implore the righteous to praise Yhwh in their closing
verses. The adjacent heading, then, informs that this call could be answered
by singing the song that follows. An inconspicuous unique for the
Psalmssuffices for this purpose above Ps. 98. All that is added to in
the heading above Ps. 100 is the forward pointing ( cf. v. 4). In Ps. 98,
via its root points to the triple in vv. 45 (elsewhere in the cycle
only in Ps. 95:2).
This function of the headings as redactional links would mean that they
provide no indication of an original liturgical usage of Ps. 98 and 100.51 These
headings only serve to indicate the very devotee introduced in the preceding
verses as the one who is entitled to sing the new song, because he has
actually acknowledged the coming of Yhwh as a reality in his personal life.
The devotee is the cycles implied singer.52
Was it not the same devotee, who sought divine righteousness on behalf
of the widows and orphans at the beginning of the cycle (Ps. 94)? And is
it not the same devotee, who following closely in the footsteps of Moses,
Aaron and Samuel, knows Yhwh as the God that answers those who call
his name (Ps. 99)? From this it becomes clear that the entire dramatic
question-answer structure of the cycle Ps. 93100 correlates with personal
piety, the same piety that is hinted at by the headings just mentioned. This
point of view will have an effect upon our discussion on the eschatological
character of the songs in question [ 2.1.5].
of Psalms 96 and 98, in: J.W. Dyk et al. (eds), Unless Some One Guide Me Fs K.A. Deurloo
(ACEBT.S, 2), Maastricht 2001, 211228, esp. 227. According to Hossfeld-Zenger, Psalmen, 687,
in MT might indicate a small caesura in Ps. 93100. Our proposal suggests the precise
opposite of a caesura.
52 Compare this to the harsh transition between Ps. 95:11 and 96:1: while Israels stubborn
desert generation may not enter Yhwhs rest, in Ps. 96 nota bene all the families of the
peoples are invited to enter his sanctuary! One could argue that Ps. 93100 not only offers
post-cultic meditation, but actually also evokes one to go to the temple. However, it is likely
that the songs that were composed specifically for the cycle, like Ps. 96 and 100, do not avoid
a certain idealising of the temple worship.
34 chapter two
Ps. 47:9
cf. Isa. 52:7
Isa. 24:23
Mic. 4:7
Ps. 146:10
Ps. 93:1
Ps. 96:10
cf. 1Chron. 16:31
Ps. 97:1
Ps. 99:1
cf. Ex. 15:18
That the qatal-x form of this utterance differs in meaning from the x-qatal
form has been shown to be a fruitful working hypothesis. The qatal-x form
(for example, Ps. 47:9) emphasises the action, the x-qatal form (for example,
Ps. 93:1) makes a statement about the person who has completed the action,
and indicates that this action has signified him hence forth: It is Yhwh, who
is (has become) king. The meaning is not affected whether one describes
the clause as a compound nominal clause,53 or a pendens clause;54 but it is
less accurate to call it a static clause, as if every reference to an action would
have disappeared from it.55
Apart from what they mean, the functions of the two types of clauses have
been discussed. Do they concern acclamation and proclamation formulas
associated specifically with enthronements; or could a kings subjects have
raised the exclamation repeatedly during his reign, such as after military
victories? The first suggestion seems to apply to the qatal-x form, which is
known from non-theological usage as proclamation (2 Sam. 15:10 Absalom;
Studien zur berlieferungsgeschichte alttestamentlicher Texte (TB, 93), Gtersloh 1997, 125
153, esp. 136137; W. Schneider, Grammatik des Biblischen Hebrisch: Ein Lehrbuch, Mnchen
2001, 44.4.
54 See e.g. B. Janowski, Das Knigtum Gottes in den Psalmen: Bemerkungen zu einem
stative point of view. For a survey of the discussion of , see e.g. W.S. Prinsloo, Psalm
93: Jahwe is van altyd af Koning over alles en almal, NGTT 34 (1993), 248261, esp. 250 n. 13.
He does not reject the inchoative aspect in Ps. 93:1, even though he reasons that the psalm as
a whole emphasises the stable and permanent nature of Yhwhs kingship (258). J.H. Eaton,
Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom: A Conference with the Commentators (JSOT.S, 199),
Sheffield 1995 places the accent differently: But granted that the order subject-verb conveys
an emphasis on Yahweh as king, rather than his rivals, the contexts remain firm ground for
finding in an event-laden proclamation (117). Eaton underlines the contemporary
theological importance of recognising the inchoative character of the utterance (124).
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 35
2 Kgs 9:13 Jehu). The second is more likely applicable to the x-qatal form,
which then served as a call to celebrate, and could have been used directly
after the enthronement or equally well during other festive occasions.56
To avoid the interpretation being anticipated terminologically, many
commentators prefer the neutral designation Yhwh-Kingship psalms.
These could be divided into two groups: (a) 93, 97 and 99, thematic psalms,
to use a term of D. Michel; (b) 47, 96 and 98, psalms following the pattern of
the imperative hymns. One disadvantage associated with the term thematic
psalms is that it (unintentionally) suggests that these songs are mere med-
itations. The main question in this section is to what extent enthronement
remains a useful concept when explaining Ps. 93100.
To begin, an observation that we have not encountered anywhere else.
According to the exhaustive overview above, all the other instances with
are literarily dependent on Ps. 93:1. The formula has been identi-
fied readily as a remerging characteristic of the Gattung by form criticism;
though its being repeated should be seen foremost as a stylistic feature
within this unique cycle, as we have learned from recent research [ 2.1.3].
If reminds of a pre-exilic New-Years ritual, then its traces should be
detectable in especially Ps. 93:1. In this sense, Ps. 96:10 (cf. 1 Chron. 16:31), 97:1
and 99:1, can be viewed as reprisals and/or reinterpretations of a liturgical
formula that has retained most of its original couleur locale in Ps. 93:1.
Did Israel have an enthronement feast of Yhwh? Before answering this
question we will first inquire about the dating of Yhwhs presentation as
king.57 Three prominent arguments suggest that this imagery indeed be-
longed to the theology of Jerusalems temple during the Judean monar-
chy. These arguments are based on certain Old Testament passages, data
from the Canaanite Umwelt, and the unquestioned acceptance of the royal
imagery in large parts of the post-exilic literature. Texts like Isa. 6, Ps. 24 and
48 are widely regarded as pre-exilic. It is difficult to fathom how Yhwh could
have established or maintained his cult in Jerusalem without measuring up
to the royal features of El and Baal. Retrospectively a prophetic discussion
evolved whether Yhwhs kingship guaranteed Jerusalems unassailability,
but not about the notion of his kingship as such. Unmistakable reserves in
priestly circles could have been a post-exilic reaction to the eschatological
58 For the post-exilic celebration of Yhwhs kingship on the Feast of Tabernacles, see Zech.
14:1617.
59 In this regard, E. Otto, Mythos und Geschichte im Alten Testament: Zur Diskussion
einer neuen Arbeit von Jrg Jeremias, BN 42 (1988), 93102 and Janowski, Knigtum, reacting
against Jeremias, Knigtum.
60 Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart, 185.
61 KTU 1.2; on the problem of the distance in time between Ugarit and the OT, see Petry,
Entgrenzung, 115116.
62 Cf. E. Talstra, Oude en nieuwe lezers: Een inleiding in de methoden van uitleg van het Oude
Here we come across a difference from Ps. 29, which is often mentioned in
the same breath as Ps. 93 due to its mythical connotations. In his study on
Gods conflict with the sea, John Day notes that Ps. 29, whilst not concerned
with ultimate origins, seems to locate the Chaoskampf in nature rather than
in history (cf. vv. 3, 10).64 Combined, these observations suggest a causal rela-
tion. Where there are no direct associations between the myth known to us
from Ugarit, and Israels historical experience, as in Ps. 29, the need falls away
to fix the divine enthronement to a date that would precede history. This
theme of precedence plays a decisive role in Ps. 93. Here possibly Days ques-
tion why the Baal myth did not associate the victory over Yam with creation
is answered in retrospect.65 The salient point is then not that this victory
would be repeated annually. The annual repetition of Baals enthronement
in Ugarit, as often suggested in religio-historical studies, appears to be based
on a confusion between the time of the calendar and the time of the myth,
as confirmed in the concise statement of F. Heiler: Das Alltgliche und
Alljhrige wird als einmalig gefat.66 The myth is therefore not a reflection
of the changing of seasons, but the changing of seasonsaccording to the
mythis the annual reflection of a divine act that has taken place, once and
for always, in another dimension of time. But even if these perceptions ring
true and Baals enthronement took place just once,67 like Yhwhs enthrone-
ment singulire in Ps. 93, this does not imply that it was necessarily set in
an ultimate beginning. Without excluding the possibility that this fixation
could have been influenced by an integration of elements from Baal and the
speaks of the pedestal of the anfangslos ( )emporragenden Gottesthrones. The point here
does not appear to us to be that Yhwhs kingship is anfangslos, but that its commencement
precedes all experience and remembrance.
64 J. Day, Gods Conflict with the dragon and the sea: Echoes of a Canaanite myth in the Old
tinction between Baals battle with Yam on the one hand, and Baal and Anats battle against
Leviathan, Yam, Ar, and other powers on the other (KTU 1.3 and 5), the latter of which could
be associated with the creation of the world (1213). Day does not consider whether several
variants of the same mythical motif may be involved. Loretz, Kanaanische Gtter, 158 under
certain conditions sees die Mglichkeit, das Wirken Baals als ein wahres, sekundres Schp-
fungsgeschehen zu verstehen.
66 Cited by J.C. de Moor, The Seasonal Pattern in the Ugaritic Myth of Balu, Neukirchen-
68 On El as the creator in the Ugaritic pantheon, see Day, Conflict, 1718; Loretz, Kanaan-
ische Gtter, 155. Here it must be emphasised that Ps. 93 only speaks of the creation in terms
of a fundamental order, and not of creation as cosmogony as seen in Ps. 95:5; 96:5.
69 Blowing the horn and the clapping of hands are viewed as evident enthronement
motives, even if Ps. 98 mentions Yhwhs kingship in only one nominal phrase (v. 6).
70 Naturally the discussion on the dating of many of the mentioned texts is more extensive
than can be mentioned here. The strongest support for a pre-exilic date (of the basis text) of
the Song of the Sea is found in DI and exilic psalms referring/alluding to it (see e.g. Spiecker-
mann, Heilsgegenwart, 113). Ps. 47 virtually relates Israels entire history to Yhwhs ascension
as king and thus goes one step further than Ps. 98. Regardless of whether Ps. 47 indeed uses
certain formulations from the monarchical temple liturgy (see e.g. Loretz, Kanaanische Gt-
ter, 104105), it essentially remains a post-exilic song.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 39
second anyway. There is also the noteworthy phenomenon that the further
the primordial mythical battle fades from the picture, its colours reappear
portraying Yhwhs battle for his eventual, eschatological kingshipas if the
demythologising of the beginning gave licence to more exuberant, mytho-
logical colouring at the end.71 But the presence in the Old Testament of this
twofold perspective on Yhwhs becoming king is undeniable.72
In Ps. 96 we see these opposing views fused together, as under laboratory
conditions [ 2.1.3.2]. Especially from this psalm it becomes clear how they
form the two theological pillars of the dramatic cycle Ps. 93100. In the for-
mula in 97:1 and 99:1, the two perspectives on Yhwh becoming king
amalgamate. In other words, distinguishing inauguration from celebration
no longer has a point in these thematic songs. But, let us ponder once more
on the newness of the new song itself.
71 This occurs on a small scale in the cycle itself: no battle in Ps. 93:1, then a battle in Ps. 98:1.
72 For M.Z. Brettler, God is King: Understanding an Israelite Metaphor (JSOT.S, 76), Shef-
field 1989, the double vision on Yhwhs kingship in Ps. 93, 96 and 98 is especially a matter of
perspective: there is ambiguity as to whether the psalmist is envisaging God as becom-
ing king, or as king, depending on whether the perspective is from the nations, who are only
now seeing the great extent of Gods sovereignty, or from the Israelites, who always knew that
God is sovereign (153). In that sense, from the foreigners perspective, God is becoming king
(157). Though, the point appears to us that the singers or readers of the cycle are invited to
place themselves alternately in both perspectives.
40 chapter two
hymns of the Lucan birth narrative of Jesus and in the book of Revelation.73
More generally, the coming of Gods Kingdom is seen within Christianity as
the summary of what eschatology focuses on. The eschatological interpre-
tation of Ps. 98 and similar songs cannot be detached from Christian expec-
tations.
When a central concept from a religious tradition is affected extensively
by the effective history (Wirkungsgeschichte) of particular texts, it remains
good practice to reassess such a concept from time to time in an up-to-
date interpretation of these texts. This counts for eschatology too. Is the
concept still hermeneutically helpful, and if so, in what sense? Or does it
instead restrict our understanding and should rather be abandoned from
the interpretation? These are the questions that Mowinckel asked himself
in his 1922 study on Yhwhs enthronement festival and the origin of escha-
tology. He knew that he was not free from Christian preconceptions when
he attempted connecting the two, and therefore he endeavoured to retain
his own cultic interpretation of the specific psalms, not only against the his-
torical but also against the future-eschatological interpretations he found in
the commentaries of the day.74
Since then, reviews have distinguished mostly between theological, his-
torical, eschatological and cultic interpretations in explaining the Yhwh-
Kingship psalms.75 Under a theological interpretation is understood: the
psalms verbalise the theologoumenon of Gods (eternal) lordship. Historical
interpretations connect them to historical events like the return from exile,
orto mention another spectacular episode from Israels historythe mil-
itary victories of the Maccabees in the second century bce. In eschatological
interpretations these psalms would predict the revelation of Gods kingship
in the end times. Cultic interpretations, such as proposed by Mowinckel,
assume that the divine enthronement is dramatised by reciting mythical
texts during a ritual of the new years festival, and that the psalms in ques-
tionperhaps not in their current form but certainly as a genremust be
traced back to such annual festivities. We have illustrated some of these
approaches when discussing Ps. 98 [ 2.1.2].
Such a classification, though, is far too schematic. In older commen-
taries the explanations already differed from psalm to psalm. Especially in
the last decennia, the boundaries between these types of expositions have
dans l exgse moderne, in: R. de Langhe (ed.), Le Psautier, Louvain 1962, 133272.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 41
become less harsh. The relation between the myth as represented within the
cult and Israels historical experience is reflected on more thoroughly. This
reflection is expressed when formulations such as historicising the myth
and mythologising the history are used.76 Newer definitions of the concept
eschatology in Christian theology have also resulted in cultic and escha-
tological interpretations not necessarily excluding each other. Rather than
having to choose between a cultic, historical, or eschatological explanation,
we can attempt to grasp the relation between cult, history and the universal
recognition of Yhwhs kingship according to the psalm as it lies before us at
a particular moment.77
Under the mythologising of history is understood: the interpretation of
historical remembrance or experience in terms of the myth, more particu-
larly, the myth of the divine battle. In a broader sense one could call every
reference to God in a historical narrative a mythologising of history, but
the term is not meant in this sense in relation to these psalms. The mythic
conflict being deployed by them provides the language with which mean-
ing is given to history. Sometimes the inverted phrase, historicising of the
myth, is used, but a formulation in which the myth takes the front posi-
tion seems to describe the matter the most accurately. It is the myth that
determines which memory or which experience is selected for being of his-
torical significance: just those memories or experiences thataccording to
the psalmistdisclose the very base of existence itself.
76 See esp. J. Jeremias, Das Knigtum Gottes in den Psalmen: Israels Begegnung mit dem
ment psalms (in case Ps. 93, 97 and 99) in favour of a cultic interpretation in the line of
Mowinckel, but he thereby recognises their eschatological dimension in a slightly different
sense: As a vivid encounter with Yahweh, it was a coming face to face with the ultimate. In
this sense the festal psalms had an eschatological force (122). Elsewhere he speaks of realized
eschatology or eschatology beginning to be realized (126). See e.g. also Th. Booij, Psalmen
(POT), dl. 3, Nijkerk 1994, 169 in his commentary on Ps. 98: At the point when all of creation
is called to recognise Yhwh as Judge, his coming can hardly belong to a distant eschatological
end-time. Our psalm though creates the impression that this coming, as a result of the acts
towards Israel (v. 13), brings with it the finalisation of salvation and the beginning of a new
situation (cf. Ps. 82:8; Isa. 51:5) (our translation).
42 chapter two
78 Cf. Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart, 222 responding to the Song of the Sea: Tempel-
theologie ist berhaupt nicht eschatologisch orientiert. Vielmehr hat Jahwes Kmpfen und
Siegen jedesmal endgltigen Charakter, weil es sein Kmpfen und Siegen ist.
79 Ex. 15:1416 mentions the impact of Yhwh victory in Philistia, Edom and Moab, but is
Israelite phenomenon, see the Mesopotamian parallels, e.g. in J.B. White, Universalization
of History in Deutero-Isaiah, in: C.D. Evans et al. (eds), Scripture in Context: Essays on the
Comparative Method (PTMS, 34), Pittsburgh 1980, 179195. The singular universalistic mythol-
ogising of precisely this liberation history of Israel is remarkable, understood as a unity, within
the monotheistic context of the OT.
newness in the psalms on yhwhs kingship 43
81 Incidentally those that had celebrated the revelation of Yhwhs kingship as presentic
reality, would have done this with a sense of pretence. This aspect of the cult as play has been
described convincingly by J. Huizinga, Homo ludens: Proeve ener bepaling van het spel-element
der cultuur, Haarlem 21940, 3334 (our translation): Apart from its formal features and its
orientation of joy, an essential characteristic is inextricably associated with real play: the
awareness, however much it is pushed into the background, that one just acts. Even the
holy action performed with dedication goes hand in hand with this awareness according to
Huizinga.
82 This approach deviates from Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien on three points. (1) Mo-
winckel does not distinguish clearly between myth and history [see above]. (2) With escha-
tology he was still thinking of end-time expectations, different from the hope-on-short-term,
which he found was typical of the enthronement festival as such. (3) According to him, escha-
tology came into being out of the growing tension between the exalted cultic experience
and the disappointing reality on the outside. To explain why the disappointment did not
lead to Israel eventually abandoning the hope as elsewhere, the extraordinary vitality and
44 chapter two
Deutero-Isaiah
2.2.1. Methodology
Views on the first and the new in Deutero-Isaiah developed along different
lines in the twentieth century. The diversity can be attributed to different
insights on the literary horizon in which the key texts are believed to be
given meaning. Is the interpretative framework the small, form-critically
defined literary unit? Does it consist of a larger group of units? Or should
one above all attempt to understand the texts within the composition of
Isa. 4048 or 4055 as a whole?
vision on the redaction history of Isa. 4055 [ 2.2.8.1]. U. Berges, Jesaja 4048
(HThKAT), Freiburg 2008 agrees on the essential points with the view defended in
Leene, Vroegere, which we are attempting to place in a broader context with this
study.
To commence we will offer a summary of the assumptions that have risen
from our previous study on the subject. At this point they do not yet describe
the concepts first and new, their meanings or references, but only the meth-
odological principles that may guide their inquiries.
(a) Mostly, the literary units that make up Isa. 4055 cannot stand on their
own in their current format. They are geared towards the literary environ-
ment and require this environment for their expositions. This is also crucial
for the terminology of time under discussion.
first last
first [incl. last] coming
first [incl. coming] new
(c) Within the arrangement of the units in Isa. 4048, the semantic field first-
last-coming-new, along with other factors, has a dominant function. The
following represents a pattern that is often repeated in different variations: a
unit dealing with the relation between first and last is trailed by a unit about
what is coming and/or a unit on the new. The composition thus contains a
sequence of cycles, where each cycle appears to be organised, more or less,
according to the pattern first-last-coming-new.
84 For an overview on the secondary literature treating the dramaturgic approach to DI,
One could call this section the initial climax in this studyif a scholarly
work may itself also employ a few dramatic techniques. It will lead us to an
unorthodox proposal regarding the time in which Isa. 4055 originated [
2.2.8.5]. A reflection on history and eschatology in Deutero-Isaiah draws this
second part of the chapter to a close [ 2.2.9].
The yiqtol clauses continue in the third strophe (v. 16). It is built on the
contrast between what will happen to the mountains and hills that are
turned to chaff and what Israel itself will do: rejoice in Yhwh. With the name
Holy One of Israel, the end of strophe III grasps back to the end of strophe I.
It is a much-debated question whether these mountains and hills symbol-
ise concrete enemies of Israel.87 There against, elsewhere in Deutero-Isaiah
the mountains and hills are seen as more abstract barriers obstructing the
pathway of the return, an interpretation that is supported by the direct con-
text of 41:1416. Totally different terms are used for Israels human opponents
in 41:813. The imagery of 41:1416 should rather be seen as a preparation for
1720. The association between the immense obstacles that are to be cleared
and the revelation of Yhwhs glory in the desert (cf. 40:35) seems to be the
decisive factor in linking 41:1416 to its immediate sequel.
From these observations it can be determined that any interpretation of
the unit becomes stranded in superficiality as long as the literary vicinity is
left out of view. The oracles of salvation 41:813 and 1416 are often seen as
a diptych. However, there is a remarkable difference between 41:813 and
1416 regarding their dimensions of time. In its preamble 41:813 places
heavy emphasis on the correlation between Abrahams earlier election,
what Israel is currently experiencing and may expect will happen shortly;
this seems to be a continuation of the correlation between first and last,
over which 41:4 speaks in so many words in connection to Cyrus. What
41:813 adds to this first-last is the announcement of things to come: the
fall of Israels current opponents, who give the impression that they possess
divine powers but are in reality merely humans. Therefore, within 41:113 the
whole range of first-last is completed to include coming things for the first
timewe will return to this point in greater detail below. In 41:1416, the
topic is quite different, namely, the contrast between what Israel is at the
moment (a worm) and what it nevertheless may become (a new threshing
sledge) through Yhwhs word of salvation, here expressed with performative
power. The agreement in genre with the previous section 41:813 cannot
disguise this dramatic leap.
first-last 41,0107
coming 41,0813
new 41:1416
Thus it appears that the word new in 41:15 provides us with a first hint, a
first key we can reach, intended for the drama that will follow. New directly
receives a far deeper meaning in this semantic network than a fleeting
reading of the poem might suggest. One can hear too much in texts, but
also too little. The provisionally indicated relations with the neighbouring
poems will be discussed more systematically in 2.2.7.2.
clause, which relates the calling of the servant in the past. This calling took
place ( v. 6), which is to say, in accordance with the entire creational
order (set out in strophe I). The servants task, namely to embody Gods
covenant with the people and to shine as a light for the nations, stretches
out into the future as it is described by the three infinitive sentences of
v. 7.
The third strophe clarifies for the you-plural addressed readers how
Yhwhs honour is at stake in the fulfilling of this task by the servant. In this
connection, the new things Yhwh is announcing (v. 9) cannot possibly refer
to anything else than to the work of the servant. Without vv. 67 the term
in vv. 89 would lack a clear point of reference within this poem.
What more is meant precisely with these new things? The new does not aim
at the person of the servant himself, but at the salvation that he will mediate
through his actions.
Within the confines of the agreed synchronic approach, we have to grasp
further back into the preceding context to find the reference of the first
things that have already come.
In Isa. 41:4 Yhwh asks who could be behind Cyruss rise to power: I,
Yhwh, am the first and with the last I am the same. He who had called the
generations from the beginning is the one who has now stirred up Cyrus.
What Israels tradition narrates about the beginning of history is not without
relevance for the meaning of what is happening on the world stage today.
On the contrary, the two are matched, according to Deutero-Isaiah. They
converge as first and last.
They are associated in a somewhat different formulation based on the
same roots as first things relating to their result; they relate as to their
. Yhwh based the proof of his divinity on their coordination, which,
from 41:14, he presented in a trial scene with the nations. In a subsequent
trial scene an identical proof of divinity is requested from the other party,
the idols as reduced to their makers: The first things, what were they? Tell
us so that we may consider them and know their final outcome (41:2223).
Hereby the same opposition between first and last is intended that governs
41:4. Can the makers of idols, the focus is here on them, establish their own
first-last actions against the first-last actions of Yhwh?
In 41:2223 we see this first opposition (- ;cf. -
41:4) being subordinated to a second opposition, setting the outcome of
these former actions over and against things yet to come, or :
or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may
know that you are gods. These things to come apparently comprise further
events on the world stage. In 41:25 they are likewise associated with Cyrus,
52 chapter two
Apart from the emphatic closing line this proclamation of salvation has a
perfect concentric structure. The thematically contrasting strophes vv. 1617
and vv. 19b20 are arranged around the central strophe vv. 1819a, which
details the first and new things. Across from the road through the sea we
find the road through the desert, across from the mighty waters of the sea
the rivers in the wilderness, across from the exhausted horses the revering
plaintive animals, which will precede the people that Yhwh has formed in
praise and worship.
This contrast (between 1617 and 19b20) offers an unambiguous expla-
nation of the terms first things and something new within the horizon of
the poem. The first things refer to what precedes in the poem, something
new refers to what will follow in the poem. The suggestion made by sev-
eral commentators that the doom of Judeas downfall is meant with the first
things that should no longer be remembered [ 2.2.1; 2.2.8.2], takes too lit-
tle account of the poems own concentric structure.
The first things therefore first of all indicate Israels exodus from Egypt,
recalled in vv. 1617. With this, not everything has been said about them
in light of the broader context. In 43:9 Yhwh is asking about first things,
ancient traditions that would have to be confirmed in current, liberating
experiences. Yhwh is the only one who can boast of them and appeal to
his servant Israel who has witnessed them. The work Yhwh undertakes with
Cyrus, he has announced far in the past. Thus nobody can prevent this
work. In 43:14 Yhwh performatively declares that he hereby sends Cyrus
to Babylon. In this way Yhwh sets all thein 43:9 still assembled for the
trialnations to flight, including the Chaldeans in their proud ships.
The text in 43:16 leaps associatively from these Chaldean vessels over onto
the Sea of Reeds and Egypts military power. When it is told to forget the
former things, they expressly concern former history that first manifested
its actuality in the contemporaneous world events. The same holds true
in 43:18 as we have determined in 42:9: where the first things contrast
the new, these first things automatically include what happened last: their
actual confirmation in the present. Do not dwell on Egypts former defeat,
regardless how intensely history replays before your eyes, brought on by the
humiliating downfall of the Chaldeans.
The new that is about to show itself in 43:19in 42:9 there was just the
announcement of the new things before they show themselvesis iden-
tified as a road, and above all as water in the desert, an image of a com-
plete creational metamorphosis. The newness in Deutero-Isaiah is no longer
directly related to Cyrus and the fall of Babylon, but refers to something far
more incredible. The most tangible explanation, apart from the imagery, is
56 chapter two
to say that this new will finally bring Israel to its destination: praising Yhwh.
As in the previous passages on the new things (42:89 and 42:1013), hon-
ouring and praising Yhwh form the goal of the action in 43:1921.
How does Deutero-Isaiah develop further after this announcement of
newness? In several places between Isa. 43 and 48 we will encounter other
terms from the domain first-last-coming-new. It remains noteworthy, how-
ever, that the root is not used in this intervening section. In 44:67 the
attention falls on the opposition first-last and the opposition first-coming,
which is also the case in 46:911. These passages will then not be discussed
in further detail in this study on newness.88 For the ensuing argument, the
observation may suffice that Isa. 4447 draws the attention to the con-
temporary world events, the shaming of the idol makers, to Cyrus as he is
understood in light of Israels tradition and ultimately in light of the entire
creational order. The things to come concerning my children, which one
may safely inquire Yhwh about according to 45:11, also relate to what Yhwh
will accomplish through Cyrus. New things are not on the agenda in Isa. 45,
equally not in Isa. 46 and 47.
We must wait until Isa. 48 for the next occurrence of the opposition first-
new, and then until the chapters conclusion to re-encounter the revitalising
vision of the water in the desert, which we have retained since Isa. 43 as the
most characteristic metaphor of the new.
1987, 192202.
newness in deutero-isaiah 57
the calamity that Cyrus has brought down in the meantime on the city
of Babylon self. With the earlier predictions of this event, in line with the
previous chapters, one should not think of prophecies in the restricted sense
of the word. Once again, the first things are related to the totality of Israels
earlier history of redemption in its predictive power. It is these former things
that have come to their historical fulfilment in the fall of Babylon.89
As justification for the early announcement of Babylons fall, the fla-
grant disobedience of Israel is mentioned. Would this people, without this
announcement from the beginning, not have been hasty to ascribe Baby-
lons fall to their idols? Isa. 48 takes up a theme that was touched upon in
thein essence directed at Israelpolemics of idolatry presented in Isa.
44 and 46. The coming of the former things has resulted for Deutero-Isaiah
in Israels own unmasking as idolater. Nothing less but also nothing more is
achieved through this fulfilment by Yhwh, due to the religious attitude of
the historical Israel. In their convergence, tradition and experience do not
have the ability to effect real change in people. History verifies that Yhwh is
right, but how painful for Israel is its own thus attested wrong.
In vv. 6b11 Yhwh reveals the new things. Only at this moment are they
created. Yet again they were not that new, we could see them glimmer
through, as hidden things, deep in the delves of the preceding drama.
According to the text the new things, too, are associated with Israels rebel-
lious nature since it was in the womb, but then in the sense that there will
now resolutely come an end to this rebelliousness when the new is created.
This takes place in the remarkable metathetic statement in Isa. 48:10.
One would expect this to read: I choose you, but not for silver, I smelt you
in the furnace of affliction. By exchanging the phrases between the colons,
the lines receive unprecedented emphasis in which the direct link between
oppression and election comes to the fore: I smelt you, but not for silver,
I choose you, in the furnace of affliction. But, in this illogical verse there is
something else. It contains a performative utterance, with all its features:
Hereby I choose you. The construction + qatalti has been used in this
89 Cf. M. Albani, Der eine Gott und die himmlischen Heerscharen: Zur Begrndung des
manner previously in Deutero-Isaiah; one can refer to Isa. 41:15, the verse
relating Israels transformation into a new threshing sledge [ 2.2.2].
The reader is therefore encouraged to envision Yhwhs statement in 48:10
realising the purifying change to Israel at this precise dramatic moment.
Surrounding this performative utterance we find statements in v. 9 and v. 11
about Yhwhs praise and honour. They remind strongly of 42:89, see also
43:21. It is the new that truly empowers Israel to be recreated, so that Yhwh
can finally receive the recognition due to him as God from his people.
Does Isa. 48 also speak of the servant of Yhwh? In Isa. 42 the redemption
mediated by the servant was indicated as the new. To answer this question
we need to explore the remainder of the chapter. Interpreters have long
surmised that it must be the same servant of Yhwh from Isa. 42 that speaks
for the first time in Isa. 48:16b: And now the Lord Yhwh has sent me with
his Spirit.90 If one follows this explanation, the direct relation between that
verse and the realised change in Isa. 48:10 is obvious. In this regard the
corresponding positioning of v. 10 and v. 16 in the parallel structure of Isa.
48 is important, which we will analyse in more detail below [ 2.2.7.2].
With all respect to the mysteriousness of the text we see no other plausible
alternative than that it must be the one that Yhwh has sent in v. 16, in
whom so to say the purified Israel stands before us. He, who still refrained from
speaking in Isa. 42, makes himself known for the first time as the servant of
the Lord in Isa. 48. In this manner he personifies the transformed Israel, and
calls, with the power of Yhwhs Spirit, the readers in vv. 1719 to adopt a new
way of life.91
Like Isa. 48 began with the audience refusing to identify themselves with
the holy city, it ends in vv. 2022 with a call to them personally to finally
depart from Babylon. In the sequel to this calling, as in 43:19, they must
journey through the wilderness. Between Isa. 43 and 48 such a compelling
imagery of a creation-like change was not encountered. Here too, a close
connection with previous statements on the new things can be established
that offers our interpretation extra support. Those that take the instruction
of the servant to heart and so accept the ostensible hardships of the return,
will have to acknowledge in retrospect that they did not thirst when Yhwh
led them through the deserts.
90 A convincing exposition of this view can be found in U. Berges, Jesaja 4048 (HThKAT),
With this we see all the lines related to the new things from the preceding
part of the drama come together in Isa. 48.
92 See e.g. A. Laato, The Composition of Isaiah 4055, JBL 109 (1990), 207228. He subdi-
vides Isa. 4053 according to a chiastic scheme ABABA. The cycles are: 40:12 prologue;
40:342:17; 42:14(!)44:8; 44:946:2; 46:348:21; 48:20(!)52:12; 52:1353:12 epilogue. The very
fact that Laatos main caesuras are often placed differently to where they are usually assumed
shows to what extent a top-down procedure has contributed to the scheme. The impression
is made on several occasions that the scheme has been imposed on the text rather than being
deduced from it. Laato sees Isa. 5455 as a summary.
newness in deutero-isaiah 61
the voice of the servant can already be heard through the prophetic question in
the prologue: What shall I cry? (40:6). On the other hand the dramatic action
of the book compels identifying him with the servant Jacob-Israel. In the servant
of the songs according to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh realises his creational word to his
people. This word would have returned void to Yhwh (cf. 55:11) if the transformed
Israel had not stood before us in this servant. Israel himself is thus the prophet
of the drama. One could counter with the argument that the identification of the
servant (a or b) depends on whether he is being discussed in either a synchronic or
a diachronic approach to Isa. 4055; even if one were to conclude synchronically
with one servant figure, a diachronic analysis would expose the different literary
ingredients with which it is composed. This is correct. Though, diachronically
isolated servant texts provide little ground to make biographic deductions of the
servant as Deutero-Isaiah. We shall also see that the image of the prophet Jeremiah
was more likely influenced by the servant of the Lord than the other way around [
4.2.2].
For an oversimplified dismissal of the problems of the Servant Songs, see H.M.
Barstad, The Future of the Servant Songs: Some Reflections on the Relationship
of Biblical Scholarship to Its Own Tradition, in: S.E. Balentine, J. Barton (eds), Lan-
guage, Theology, and The Bible. Fs J. Barr, Oxford 1994, 261270. For the servant as his-
torical founder of a sect: J. Blenkinsopp, A Jewish Sect of the Persian Period, CBQ 52
(1990), 520. On the servant as a motif rather than a specific character: P.R. Davies,
God of Cyrus, God of Israel: Some Religio-Historical Reflections on Isaiah 4055,
in: J. Davies et al. (eds), Words Remembered, Texts Renewed. Fs J.F.A. Sawyer (JSOT.S,
195), Sheffield 1995, 207225, esp. 218. On the identity of worm (41:14), blind servant,
suffering servant: P.D. Stern, The Blind Servant Imagery of Deutero-Isaiah and its
Implications, Bibl 75 (1994), 224232. For a renewed petition for the servant as a sec-
ond Moses: K. Baltzer, Deutero-Jesaja (KAT, 10/2), Gtersloh 1999, 4447. The view
of Berges, Jesaja 4048 on the servant as the transformed Israel agrees with ours.
On the identification of the servant and Zion-Jerusalem, see: H.J.M. van der Woude,
Geschiedenis van de terugkeer: De rol van Jesaja 40,111 in het drama van Jesaja 4055,
Maastricht 2005, 219228 (critically); K.D. Jenner, Jerusalem, Zion and the Unique
Servant of Yhwh in the New Heaven and the New Earth: A Study on Recovering
Identity versus Lamenting Faded Glory (Isaiah 15 and 6566), in: A.L.H.M. van
Wieringen, A. van der Woude (eds), Enlarge the Site of Your Tent: The City as Uni-
fying Theme in Isaiah (OTS, 58), Leiden 2011, 169189 (in agreement): two different
roles of one and the same personification of Jerusalem (184). In our approach, Zion-
Jerusalem and the servant represent two different roles, while Jacob-Israel and the
servant play one developing role in the drama.
The alignment between Isa. 4148 and 4954 is thus more dramatic than
thematic in nature. The most prominent link is carried in the singular action
that extends over the parts. The role changing of the two queens, Babylon
(Isa. 47) and Zion (Isa. 51) can be understood in this light. The concept of
changing roles itself indicates to what extent dynamic and dramatic cate-
gories can contribute towards describing the relations between passages in a
work like this. At the end of the next section, limiting ourselves to Isa. 4148,
62 chapter two
(1) 41:120; 41:2142:17. The literary units in the complex 41:120 are closely
linked by word repetitions and semantic isotopies, as several researchers
over the past decades have demonstrated. These units cannot possibly stand
on their own. It would appear that especially the terms used for first, last,
93 For an overview of the characteristics of Isa. 4055 as a dramatic text, see Leene,
Vroegere, 3037 and 181183 (lit.); Berges, Jesaja 4048, 6473 (lit.). Baltzer, Deutero-Jesaja, 29
38 compares Isa. 4055 to liturgical dramas from Babylon, Egypt, Greece and the Hellenistic-
Jewish world, and does differentiate between the category dramatic text and the sub-
category drama in its strict sense. Concerning the latter, it is not as much a question whether
Isa. 4055 is adaptable for the stage (Baltzer Deutero-Jesaja, 38: Mit 23 Darstellern ist
auszukommen), but whether there are sufficient concrete indications that its maker(s) had
such a performance in mind. This is doubtful. Here one may consider the required signs of
plurimediality (M. Pfister, Das Drama (UTB, 580), Mnchen 41984, 2425). In this regard,
see also H.J.M. van der Woude, What is new in Isaiah 41:1420? On the Drama Theories of
Klaus Baltzer and Henk Leene, in: F. Postma et al. (eds), The New Things: Eschatology in Old
Testament Prophecy. Fs H. Leene (ACEBT.S, 3), Maastricht 2002, 261267.
newness in deutero-isaiah 63
coming and new (or more precisely: the semantic isotopies that are repre-
sented by these terms), besides other factors, play a crucial role in linking
these four or five units together.
With the terms and in the trial speech of 41:15, Yhwh
stresses the correlation between the calling of the generations in the past
and the stirring up of Cyrus in the present. The beginning of the oracle of
salvation in 41:813 takes up these time dimensions through the explicit
reference to Abraham. As the calling of the generations relates to the rise
of Cyrus in the present, the calling of Abraham relates to the help and
the strength that Yhwh currently promises to Jacob-Israel. The announcing
part of 41:813 emphasises that Israels opponents, despite the divine powers
they as idol makers claim to possess (cf. 41:67), are mere humans and
with all their seeming bravado will come to naught. This announcement
of annihilation, as we shall see, brings us into the political realm of what
later in the drama will be ascribed to either what will come or has come.
In the oracle of salvation in 41:1416 Yhwh turns Jacob-Israel into his
instrument to remove insurmountable barriers [ 2.2.2]. Subsequently the
proclamation of salvation in 41:1720 hints on Yhwhs miracles that will
benefit the poor and needy. These miracles will happen in a place of
drought and hardship. Thus the penetrating imagery from Deutero-Isaiahs
prologue is reflected in the sequence of 41:1416 and 1720: obstacles that
must be cleared so that Yhwhs glory can be manifested in the wilderness
(cf. 40:35). These images deal with the events that later in the drama will
be referred to as new things. The casually placed word in 41:15 then
appears to be less accidental than one might think at first glance. Isa. 41:15 is
ignored in most of the studies on the first and new things in Deutero-Isaiah.
For us new threshing sledge does not seem to be the least important marker
of a pattern. The whole cycle first-last-coming-new is run through exactly
one time in the complex 41:120. It is the first time, we must add, because in
the episodes that follow, the same pattern will be repeated constantly.
Even as the complex 41:2142:17 introduces some unexpected generic
units causing form-critical differences, in this aspect (regarding the pattern
first-last-coming-new) it runs conspicuously parallel to 41:120. A variety of
connecting word repetitions and isotopies also occur here, but once again
the mentioned dimensions of time appear to be the most crucial for the
episodes structure.
The oppositions first-last and first-coming successively determine 41:21
29. This trial speech not only reminds of 41:17, but also 41:813; especially
the term and the opposition connect the trial speech in
41:2129 with the oracle of salvation 41:813. These two units are deeply inte-
64 chapter two
grated: the trial scene in 41:2129 dramatically follows on the trial scene
in 41:17, but is also clearly offset against the intervening oracle 41:813.
In 41:2129 we see that the just announced coming to naught of Israels
opponents has virtually been accomplished. Their announced disappear-
ance here begins to be a fact. Thus the coming things receive their first
historical contours in 41:2526, and then in the ever growing threat of Cyruss
approach.
first
41:0107 41:2129
last (= now)
)
Cyrus 41:0813
coming/has come
transformation of the 41:1416 42:0104
servant Jacob-Israel 42:0509
new
wonderful path 41:1720 42:1013
through the wilderness 42:1417
94 Stern, Blind Servant, 226 even sees in 41:14 an allusion to the blindness of the
servant. But worms are not associated with blindness anywhere else in the OT.
newness in deutero-isaiah 65
a trial speech in which the correspondence between first and last has a cen-
tral position (43:813; 44:68). The sending of someone to Babylon (43:1415)
and the shaming of the idol makers (44:920) are similarly interconnected
and belong to the realm of what is called the things to come or have come
in 41:2223 and 42:9; no wonder that precisely these two units (43:1415
and 44:920) must carry literary building blocks in advance for the mag-
nificent satirical song on Babylon that will follow in Isa. 47. New things
are mentioned again in 43:1621 (the way in the wilderness), while 44:21
23 (sweeping away the offences in a performative assurance of redemption
to the servant Jacob-Israel) likewise refers to the unstoppable breakthrough
of the new.
first
43:0813 44:0608
last (= now) Babylons fall
=
coming/has come
shaming of the 43:1415
44:0922
idol makers
transformation of the 44:2123
servant Jacob-Israel
new
wonderful path 43:1621
through the wilderness
the new are framed as divine actions. They show Yhwhs ultimate intentions
with Israel, despite the physical and spiritual crisis it currently finds itself in.
In this manner it is made compositionally clear that it is precisely Yhwhs
creational goal with Israel that he will achieve through the new things.
Compared to these new things, the correspondence between first and last is
relativised to something penultimate in this episode; see the famous verse
Isa. 43:18. Certainly, tradition and experience together demonstrate that
Yhwh alone reigns over history. Their alignment forms the proof of divinity
which is restated in the parallel trial speeches in 43:813 and 44:68, and
which opens the visors to what the ongoing drama still holds in store: the
fall of Babylon and the definitive shaming of the makers of idols. However,
only the new implies Israels asserted change to praising and worshipping
Yhwh. Only therein will this people receive what even the most spectacular
proof of divinity from history cannot impress on them. Concluding promises
announce these new things in each cycle.
95 On this point, after the commentary of W.A.M. Beuken, Jesaja (POT), dl. 2A, Nijkerk
1979, Berges, Jesaja 4048, also embarks on a new direction: Mit der Erweckung der Perser als
newness in deutero-isaiah 67
first
transformation of the 48:0611 48:1619
servant Jacob-Israel
new
wonderful path 48:2022
through the wilderness
Isa. 48 lends itself more accurately to be read against the grid that has
been devised and drawn for previous episodes.96 Here it is of special inter-
est that the chapter follows the same double movement we have become
familiar with above and, in this way, draws our attention to the correspon-
dence between 48:10 (performative purification of Israel) and 48:16 (the first
speech by the servant). These decisive events in Isa. 48 allow the dramas
reader participate directly in the new.
neuer Weltmacht und der damit eingehenden Ablsung Babels vollziehen sich nicht etwa die
neuen Dinge, sondern kommen die frheren Dinge zu einem vorlufigen Abschluss (243).
96 On the parallelism between the two sections 48:111 and 1222, see also C. Franke, Isaiah
46, 47, 48: A New Literary-Critical Reading (Biblical and Judaic Studies, 3), Winona Lake 1994,
240261. According to her count (261) the two sections agree approximately in the number
of syllables (304316 resp. 304313) and stresses (117118 resp. 119122).
97 Such patterns may lead one to reflect on the notorious philological rule of Schleier-
macher which teaches einen Schriftsteller besser zu verstehen, als er sich selber verstanden
habe. For a comprehensive discussion, see H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit und Methode, Tbin-
gen 61990, 195201: the rule applies to a texts means of expression, even if one aspires to war
against it wholeheartedly with regard to the cause the text is presenting.
98 On the implication that this view of the salvation history has for the dating of Isa. 4144,
68 chapter two
The last things refer to Cyruss actions as the outcome or result of this
former redemption history. Did Yhwh not foretell about Cyrus in the past
through Israels tradition? Indeed, in as far as the creational order itself is
reflected in this historical coherence of first and last (see esp. Isa. 45:1819)
one must agree that this tradition of foretelling reaches back to the very
founding of the world (Isa. 40:21; 48:13).99 It is essential for the first things
in Deutero-Isaiah that they touch upon the primeval beginningswhile
they are also clearly made manifest in their present fulfilment. What is
coming/has come is then contained in what gradually unfolds on the worlds
stage, in the line of this fulfilling/fulfilled redemption history, before the eyes
of the dramas reader. What, then, is the new? The new in Deutero-Isaiah
can best be described as the adequate human answer to the totality of this
historical, indeed reaching back to creation proof of divinity. The central
metaphor for the new in Isa. 4048 is a wilderness that has been turned into
an oasis, to be gratefully received by the exiles as their miraculous highway
of return to Zion. Simultaneously the new is what truly begins in the figure of
Yhwhs servant, to be identified as Jacob-Israel transformed by Yhwhs word.
In this servant figure, the new is present in its anticipation.
(5) We indicated in the previous section that the cyclic movement in Isa.
4148 is carried by the linear progression of one dramatic action. In this way
the point of view from which the first things are seen always remains Cyrus,
but with the texts progression this contemporaneous viewpoint shifts as it
were along the successive stages of Cyruss advance: his stirring up in the
east (41:2) and in the north (41:25), his campaign to Babylon (43:14), the
disclosure of his name (44:28), the humiliating retreat of Bel and Nebo (46:1),
2.2.8.5. Different from Abraham and the Exodus, the journey through the desert and the
Sinai covenant are not included in DIs presentation of the first things, which in addition do
not refer to the history of David or the election of Zion either. Though certain images of the
new, such as the water from the rock in 48:21, recall the wilderness tradition.
99 The answer to the question whether DIs monotheism depends on belief in creation
(M. Albani, Der eine Gott und die himmlischen Heerscharen: Zur Begrndung des Monotheis-
mus bei Deuterojesaja im Horizont der Astralisierung des Gottesverstndnisses im Alten Orient
(ABG, 1), Leipzig 2000, 123124) or notably on historic experience (R. Albertz, Israel in Exile:
The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 440) should be
sought in these environs. Yhwhs power to create (i.e. his primordial kingship) is only provable
within history. Where such historical proof is given, the primordial order shimmers through
the recount. Thus the right of Yhwh as it is confirmed in the legal battle over Cyrus becomes
merged with the order of creation of an inhabitable earth through the concept ( see esp.
Isa. 45:19). The petition of Albani is orientated too strongly on Isa. 40:1231, which relates as
expositio (cf. Pfister, Drama, 124126) to the actual Cyrus-drama, Isa. 4148.
newness in deutero-isaiah 69
and in the finale the de facto fall of the city Babylon itself (47) as the most
spectacular result of Cyruss activities.
On this level it may be possible to indicate other subtle signs of chronolog-
ical sequencing in the text. Thus it appears that the same nations that are all
assembled for the judicial inquiry in 43:9 (and in all likelihood without inter-
ruption from 41:5!) are all set to flight in 43:14including the Chaldeans on
their proud ships. Therefore these nations are no longer able to participate
fully in the trial of 44:68 and consequently the idol makers that remain
alone on the scene must bear the brunt of the scorn: the placement of 44:9
20 after 68 appears to be dramaturgically thoroughly thought out.
So too 43:3 and 45:1314 may be compared regarding their dramatic pro-
gression.100 This comparison has led us to the proposal that the nations,
which Yhwh had first offered in exchange for Israel (43:3), are subsequently
delivered unto the returning exiles by Cyrus, because the conqueror has no
wish to lay claim to such a generous ransom (45:13). The synchronic reading
of the text evidently relies on the reader being continuously sensitive for
this type of dramatic time shifts. Needless to say, Deutero-Isaiahs drama-
tised history does not correspond with the real course of events in every
detail, as we understand them today from our modern history books.
The dramatic changes that the personage Jacob-Israel undergoes, which
constantly open the prospect on the new things in the literary structure of
Isa. 4148, appear to be arranged according to a similar relative chronol-
ogy. The made through Yhwh to serve as his new instrument Israel (41:15)
is presented as the servant that will establish justice on earth through his
teachings (42:14). Although this servant for the time being is blind and deaf
to what can be heard and seen (42:1920), he is called by Yhwh to stand wit-
ness to his own, just realised liberation (43:913) and, in the next episode,
even sees his transgressions erased through Yhwhs command (43:25; 44:22).
After differentiating between the servant Jacob-Israel and the more empiri-
cal house of Israel (cf. 46:3; 48:1), the drama presents Israels purification in
48:10, and finally places the servant in the spotlight as speaker in 48:16. His
first performance as torah-teacher is the dnouement of what was already
announced in the shrouded language of 42:14, and for which Yhwh kept his
servant ready since 42:6. In the servants inspired words, the new and hidden
things are now truly brought to light, as flowers in the desert.
100 If truth be told, during the 1970s this issue of the ransom provided me the first clue in
lysen (OBO, 24), Gttingen 1979; H.-J. Hermisson, Einheit und Komplexitt Deuterojesajas:
Probleme der Redaktionsgeschichte von Jes 4055, in: J. Vermeylen (ed.), The Book of Isa-
iah (BEThL, 81), Leuven 1989, 287312; R.G. Kratz, Kyros im Deuterojesaja-Buch: Redaktions-
geschichtliche Untersuchungen zu Entstehung und Theologie von Jes 4055 (FAT, 1), Tbin-
gen 1991; O.H. Steck, Gottesknecht und Sion: Gesammelte Aufstze zu Deuterojesaja (FAT, 4),
Tbingen 1992; J. van Oorschot, Von Babel zum Zion: Eine literarkritische und redaktions-
geschichtliche Untersuchung (BZAW, 206), Berlin 1993. For a discussion on the topic, see:
H. Leene, Auf der Suche nach einem redaktionskritischen Modell fr Jesaja 4055, ThLZ 121
(1996), 803818. Werlitz, J., Redaktion und Komposition: Zur Rckfrage hinter die Endgestalt
von Jesaja 4055 (BBB, 122), Berlin 1999 offers a comprehensive evaluation of this redaction-
critical research.
102 The redaction-critical hypothesis of Steck and Kratz is followed in broad outlines by
that Isa. 4055 came into being because a scribe or a guild of scribes con-
ceived the plan to compose such a work.
This does not mean that the text in its complexity does not display text-
genetic traces. Such traces were mainly caused when unforeseen compli-
cations in the planned drama required adjustments in what had already
been written. This explains why the younger material appears mostly fur-
ther down in the work, while additions are observable only sporadically in
the initial parts. A more or less rounded off Grundschrift or older edition
then never existed. A text that was intended for further elaboration was
developed over time.103 The most suitable comparison is not with a city that
spreads randomly, but rather with a cathedral that, even though it had risen
in phases, was clearly built according to a plan.104
This diachronic approach is well illustratable when applied to the pas-
sages on the first and last, coming and new things in Isa. 4048. The follow-
ing passages are considered part of the oldest collection or Grundschrift by
Hermisson, Kratz and van Oorschot: 41:4; 41:15; 41:2223; 43:9; 43:1819; and
46:911. What are the thoughts on the other passages?
The passage 42:89 belongs to the basic collection according to Hermis-
son,105 but Kratz counts it in his secondary Ebed-Israel-Schicht (Ebed Israel
layer); in other words to the layer in which the servant of 42:14, who was
identified previously with the Persian conqueror through 57 as Kyros-
Ergnzung (Cyrus supplement), is reinterpreted as Israel.106 Van Oorschot
reasons that the whole 42:59 belongs to a Naherwartungsschicht (layer of
imminent expectation), which announces the new before it sprouts.107 The
passage 44:68, according to van Oorschot, should also have belonged to this
secondary layer.108 Hermisson and Kratz include 44:68 in the basic collec-
tion, along with the other trial speeches. On in 45:11 the three authors
follow an amendment of MT.109
103 On the basic idea behind the structure of Isa. 4055 as a whole, 2.2.8.4.
104 With an apology for the architectonic metaphor. A longer period of time is indicated
by the fact that Isa. 5666 appears to be related closer to Isa. 4955 in its word choice and
imagery than to Isa. 4048 [ 2.3.3.3].
105 Hermisson, Einheit, 311; though see H.-J. Hermisson, Deuterojesaja und Eschatolo-
gie , in: F. Postma et al. (eds), The New Things: Eschatology in Old Testament Prophecy. Fs
H. Leene (ACEBT.S, 3), Maastricht 2002, 89105, esp. 97 n. 14.
106 Kratz, Kyros, 217 (overview).
107 Van Oorschot, Babel, 233.
108 Van Oorschot, Babel, 213215.
109 The amendment of Isa. 45:11 MT was welcomed in Leene, Universalism, 315316, but
again rejected in H. Leene, De vroegere en de nieuwe dingen bij Deuterojesaja, Amsterdam 1987,
194.
72 chapter two
(a) All three the oppositions, first-last, first-coming and first-new, are
represented in the texts usually ascribed to the basic material. A remark-
able consensus between the divergent views: how easy would it have been
to suggest the idea that this semantic variation (such as between first-last
in 41:15 and first-new in 43:1621) could be explained as a redactional lay-
ering; but wisely none of the mentioned authors find satisfactory evidence
for this.115
(b) Previously we established the links between 42:89 and 48:111 [ 2.2.6]
and there are sufficient reasons to agree with Kratz in explaining these
passages as a somewhat later phase in the text production. Without affecting
the semantic opposition itself, these passages hint at a subtle terminological
shift compared to the other discussed texts: in the expression the first things
they have come the aspect of prediction seems to overshadow the aspect
of historical event in the word seen in texts like 41:22; 43:9, 18 and
46:9. Yet in all the relevant texts, whether dated older or younger, the same
topic is addressed with first things, namely Israels history of redemption in
its foresaying capacity. Something similar applies mutatis mutandis to the
new things: they have to do with Israels internal change on all possible text
levels.
Jes 4048 nmlich kaum auf einen synchronen Nenner gebracht werden. With our discussion
in the previous section and here, we want to show that this, with a little qualifying, is certainly
possible.
newness in deutero-isaiah 73
(d) It is quite possible that a preliminary version of Isa. 4142 was reworked
and supplemented when the writing of the linear text had advanced to Isa.
48. This intervention, then, would have been necessary once this chapter
had presented the purified Israel in the figure of the torah-teacher of v. 16b.
Possibly this dramatic climax formed the very reason for writing the first
Servant Song, a text many assume was written outside the context of the
book, but in our view, relies strongly on such a dnouement within Deutero-
Isaiahs present composition.118 Whatever the case, any modifications to Isa.
116 For a synchronic Cyrus interpretation of the first Servant Song, see J.P. Walsh, The
Case for the Prosecution: Isa 41:2142:17, in: E. Follis (ed.), Directions in Biblical Hebrew Poetry
(JSOT.S, 40), Sheffield 1987, 101118, esp. 116; compare also J. Blenkinsopp, The Servant and the
Servants in Isaiah and the Formation of the Book, in: C.C. Broyles, C.A. Evans (eds), Writing
and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretative Tradition, vol. 1 (VT.S, 70/1), Leiden
1997, 155175, esp. 164; A. Labahn, Wort Gottes und Schuld Israels: Untersuchungen zu Motiven
deuteronomistischer Theologie im Deuterojesajabuch mit einem Ausblick auf das Verhltnis von
Jes 4055 zum Deuteronomismus (BZAW, 143), Stuttgart 1999, 186189.
117 This is, to mention a more recent study, for example the scope in C. Hardmeier, Ge-
schwiegen habe ich seit langem wie die Gebrende schreie ich jetzt: Zur Komposition und
Geschichtstheologie von Jes 42,1444,23, WuD 20 (1989), 155179, esp. 177. See also Albertz,
Exile, who applies 42:14 to Israel but suspects an oracle meant for Darius in 42:59. This
leads him to interpret the term in DI simply as an indication of time: the Darius ora-
cles [] are describing something totally new, just beginning in the redactors day (42:9, 10;
48:6b7a, 16a). This observation points to a time shortly after Darius usurped the throne from
the magus Gautama in September 522 (400).
118 This is the best explanation for the Leerstellen (vacancies) in Isa. 42:14; cf. H. Schwei-
42 must have been made with the utmost sensitivity for the existing tex-
ture, as one is wont to do in a work where one knows responsibility as (co-)
author.
(e) If 42:89 indeed belongs to a somewhat younger text level (which ap-
pears plausible), then the clause before they (the new things) show them-
selves should align this passage chronologically to 43:19 now it (something
new) shall show itself. The temporal indication before offers no grounds for
assigning 42:89 to a so-called Naherwartungsschicht (van Oorschot), but
renews the opportunity to appreciate to what extent such a younger sup-
plement keeps the dramatic movement of the work in mind, so to say, to
bind it together from the first draft to the last stroke of the brush. Gener-
ally it needs to be said that such diachronic observations may give us some
insight into the evolvement of Isa. 4055, but are better for not resulting in
detailed reconstructions, which are unable to transcend subjectivity.
transition between 16a and 17 is difficult to comprehend. The servants labour in vain of 49:4
is explained satisfactorily by a previous explicit reference to his torah-instruction. Termino-
logically 48:16b reminds of 42:1 through the word spirit, and of 42:19 through the word send.
119 G.I. Davies, The Destiny of the Nations in the Book of Isaiah, in: J. Vermeylen (ed.),
The Book of Isaiah (BEThL, 81), Leuven 1989, 93120 finds sufficient evidence in the shared
cultic tradition of Jerusalem for the linguistic and thematic connections between Isa. 139
and 4055. The titles for Yhwh, Holy one of Israel and King, specifically come to mind here.
On Zion-Jerusalem as connecting theme in the book, see A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, A. van der
Woude (eds), Enlarge the Site of Your Tent: The City as Unifying Theme in Isaiah (OTS, 58),
Leiden 2011.
newness in deutero-isaiah 75
120 D.R. Jones, The Traditio of the Oracles of Isaiah of Jerusalem, ZAW 67 (1955), 226246
is known as one of the first representatives of this view in modern research. See further
the literature overviews in H.G.M. Williamson, The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiahs Role
in Composition and Redaction, Oxford 1994, 113 n. 46; E. Bosshard-Nepustil, Jesaja 139 und
das Zwlfprophetenbuch in exilischer und frhnachexilischer Zeit: Redaktionsgeschichtliche
Untersuchungen zur literarischen Vernetzung der Prophetenbcher, Zrich 1995, 427 n. 1;
B.D. Sommer, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 4066, Stanford, CA 1998, 254
n. 70. Mostly, Isaiahs judgement announcements are thought of regarding the first things
(discussed in this section), but M. Buber, Der Glaube der Propheten, in: Idem, Werke, Bd.
2, Mnchen 1964, 131484, esp. 469 connects it precisely to Isaiahs salvation prophecy in
9:34, and R. Albertz, Das Deuterojesaja-Buch als Fortschreibung der Jesaja-Prophetie, in:
E. Blum et al. (eds), Die Hebrische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte. Fs R. Rendtorff,
Neukirchen-Vluyn 1990, 241256 generally to the plan of Yhwh in Isaiah. In this vein see also
C.R. Seitz, How Is the Prophet Isaiah Present in the Latter Half of the Book? The Logic of
Chapters 4066 within the Book of Isaiah, JBL 115 (1996), 219240, esp. 234: In the opening
chapters (4048) Isaiah is present through his word once spoken, which is cited along with
further testimony of old (former things) to establish Gods sovereignty and Israels election.
121 Sommer, Prophet, in summary 106. His overview in n. 95 counts 17 resp. 6 places.
122 Williamson, Book.
76 chapter two
Clements in this regard.123 In a few cases the differences between the lists
could be associated with the discussion on the direction of dependence,
but predominantly they have resulted from the limited volume of many
of the supposed allusions.124 Theme and word usage correspondences as
such do not offer sufficient grounds to speak of an allusion or echo. Willey,
unlike Williamson and Sommer, detecting no or hardly any references to Isa.
139 in Deutero-Isaiah,125 is not only due to the focus of her study falling on
chapters 4955, but is the result of employing the strict criteria that ought
to apply here. We wish to add that even a plausible allusion in Isa. 4055 to
a random passage from 139 naturally does not have to mean that the whole
message of Isaiah must resound in it.
The discussion in this section will be restricted to intertextual relations
in which a leading role appears to be reserved for (parts of) the seman-
tic domain first-last-coming-new, and/or intertextual relations that could
determine the relation between Proto- and Deutero-Isaiah as a whole. All
this seems to be promised by the relation with which we wish to com-
mencebut will the promise be fulfilled? Isa. 8:23b in the RSV reads as
follows:
In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the
land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the
sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Although Williamson is unresolved on the original meaning of this difficult
verse, he believes that in a later interpretation the words and impli-
cated periods of calamity and prosperity, and and were seen
as names for Yhwh. Deutero-Isaiah would then have deliberately invoked
terms known from Isa. 8:23b.126 How should this suggestion be assessed?
The word pair / appears 51 in the Old Testament. Its frequency
alone reduces its suitability as a link between Isaiah I and II. Admittedly
the rare occurrence of the words as divine names would increase their dis-
tinctiveness, but how is it possible to associate Isa. 8:23b with divine names
Isa. 6:910 returning in Isa. 4243, which is strongly emphasised by Clements and Williamson.
125 P.T. Willey, Remember the Former Things: The Recollection of Previous Texts in Second
Visions and the Wisdom of Sages. Fs R.N. Whybray (JSOT.S, 163), Sheffield 1993, 95108; Idem,
Book, 6777.
newness in deutero-isaiah 77
without first having read Deutero-Isaiah? There the words are mostly used
as predicative and not as subject,127 which is to say: they claim to offer new
information. From Isa. 41:4; 44:6 and 48:12, the oldest is presumably 41:4. This
means that the formula in Deutero-Isaiah developed in stages: I who am the
first and with the last I am the same (41:4) evolves into I am the first and
I am (also) the last (44:6; 48:12). These statements are surely not appeal-
ing to an already known correlation, but to what is playing out before the
eyes of the reader: the actions of Cyrus. These actions are claimed to be the
outcome of earlier predictions, or in terms of Deutero-Isaiah: the of
the orchestrated by Yhwh (cf. 41:22). The two divine predicates flow
from this line of thought. They are not the presupposition but the conclu-
sion of Yhwhs argument. Another objection against Williamsons proposal
is his application of in Isa. 8:23b to former calamity while Deutero-
Isaiah speaks about former hope by recalling the first thingsdrawing in
Israels history of salvation in its capacity to foretell. In our view, here neither
allusion, nor borrowing, nor any other influencing is detectable.128
This contrasts Isa. 37:26 where we indeed come across temporal terminol-
ogy typical of Deutero-Isaiah. A close translation, which is based on 1QIsaa
and is usually advocated by commentaries, reads as follows:
Have you not heard
that I have made it long ago,
that I have planned it in the days of old?
Now I have let it come,
that you should destroy into ruined heaps
fortified cities.
The Masoretic punctuation leads to this alternative version, in the footsteps
of the KJV (1611):
Have you not heard it long ago
that I have made it,
in the days of old, that I have planned it?
Now I have let it come,
that you should destroy into ruined heaps
fortified cities.
127 The only exception is Isa. 41:27: The first (says) to Zion: Behold, here they are, and to
Jerusalem I give a messenger of good tidings; but this verse seems to belong to a later phase
in the texts production; cf. Leene, Suche, 813814.
128 Williamsons indication of in Isa. 30:8 for this kind of language (111) rather
weakens than strengthens his suggested influence of 8:23b on DI. Both references are
omitted from Sommers list.
78 chapter two
A series of arguments may tilt the scale in favour of the alternative: (a)
the collocation of and is fairly common, that of and
appears nowhere else; (b) in the vicinity of we find that consis-
tently indicates what is being realised, and not what intends to be realised;
(c) interpreting ][ as an elliptic clause, (have you not heard it) in
the days of old, explains the conjunctive ww (absent in 1QIsaa), which the
MT places after it; (d) word usage and syntax support the Masoretic punc-
tuation on the mentioned points; (e) 3+2 is a dominant metrical theme in
the poem of 37:2229; and (f) the context appears to ask for a hint along
which way the addressed Sennacherib could have learned about Yhwhs
plan: through ancient divine combat motifs (Isa. 37:24; cf. Ps. 29:56). Have
you not heard it long ago then wants to say something like: have you forgot-
ten the old myths?
More traces of Deutero-Isaiah are detectable in the story of Hezekiah and
Sennacherib.129 In 37:26 the following Deutero-Isaianic elements are active.
The rhetorical question at the beginning, , is analogous to
][ in 40:21. Forms of the verbs , and hif. with
Yhwh as subject and feminine suffixes indicating an event, return in 46:11.
This verse also shares the root with 37:26; further see the word in
46:10 and in the comparable 45:21. The suffixes in 46:11 indicate the actions
of Cyrus, and in 37:26 that of Sennacherib. Both warlords are presented as
instruments through which Yhwh carries out long standing commitments. A
noticeable difference is that the typical Deutero-Isaian theme of foretelling,
which Yhwh has used since the primeval times to announce his intentions,
is developed weaker in 37:26 (though slightly stronger according to MT than
1QIsaa). This is the main indication of the direction of dependence: the
priority arguably lies with Deutero-Isaiah.130
Meanwhile the question remains whether Isa. 37:26 may still be called an
allusion taking note of the strict sense that, in the mind of the reader, the
activation of the source text should contribute something substantial to the
primary meaning. The fact that Isa. 37 precedes Isa. 46 in the books reading
sequence, might counter the petition for seeing such an allusion here. Apart
129 S. de Jong, Het verhaal van Hizkia en Sanherib: Een synchronische en diachronische
analyse van II Kon. 18,1319,37 (par. Jes. 3637), Amsterdam 1992, 181 mentions Isa. 37:23a-b,
24a-27, 32 as texts that are distinguished in their use of Deutero-Isaian language.
130 So too Williamson, Book, 78 considers this direction of dependence plausible, against
C.R. Seitz, The Divine Council: Temporal Transition and New Prophecy in the Book of Isaiah,
JBL 109 (1990), 229247, esp. 242243.
newness in deutero-isaiah 79
from this, these chapters do not exhibit anything that would emphasise
the contrast between Sennacherib and Cyrus. Positively their comparison
teaches that Yhwh made things happen on more than one occasion accord-
ing to his plans in the distant past. The effect is that through this echo
Cyrus loses something of the unique position Deutero-Isaiah assigns to him:
a second indication that in origin Isa. 37:26 must be secondary to Isa. 46.
Thus the verse rather implies a certain degree of relativisation of Cyrus
than it is commending a new vision on Sennacherib in the light of Deutero-
Isaiah.
Different to Isa. 8:23b, we come across a real connection with Deutero-
Isaiah in 37:26, but it does not defend the direction of dependence PI*
DI we are inquiring about in this section. As Williamsons conclusion
demonstrates, he himself sets the reference to Isaiah as servant in 44:26
and Deutero-Isaiahs apprenticeship after 8:1618 and 30:89 in 50:4 along-
side the former-latter of Isa. 8:23b as decisive evidence that Deutero-Isaiah
wanted to incorporate the work of his predecessor into his own.
If my reasoning up to this point is generally sound, then it seems to me that
we can no longer rest content with talking merely about the influence of
First Isaiah on Second. The manner in which Deutero-Isaiah makes use of
the theme of the former things, the way in which he interprets his ministry
as an opening of a book long sealed up, and the cumulative effect of minor
allusions to a body of earlier material, such as that noted at 44:26, together
demand that from the outset he deliberately included the earlier work in his
own.131
This other evidence is therefore also merited some attention. Whoever
wanted to relate Isa. 44:26 to the prophecy of Isaiah of Jerusalemthus
to the first things in the spirit of Williamson and otherswould find it
difficult to appeal to the literary device of allusion or echo:
Who carries out the word of his servant
and fulfils the prediction of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem: It shall be inhabited,
and of the towns of Judah: They shall be built
and I will raise up their ruins.
An interpretation of this verse is generally searched within the context of
Isa. 4055, which is justified by the agreements with 40:89 [, , ,
]and 42:19 [, ]. It seems to be the same servant in 44:26 who
132 Cf. P. Lugtigheid, The Notion of the City in Isaiah 44:2146:13, in: A.L.H.M. van Wierin-
gen, A. van der Woude (eds), Enlarge the Site of Your Tent: The City as Unifying Theme in
Isaiah, Leiden 2011, 121158, who associates the word of his servant in Isa. 44:26 with the
message that Jerusalem must be inhabited (136).
133 Willey, Remember, 214 also remains sceptical on this point. R. Albertz, Israel in Exile:
The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 380 in contrast
falls in with Williamson.
134 This conclusion corresponds to H.-J. Hermisson, Einheit und Komplexitt Deuteroje-
sajas: Probleme der Redaktionsgeschichte von Jes 4055, in: J. Vermeylen (ed.), The Book of
Isaiah (BEThL, 81), Leuven 1989, 287312, esp. 299. Sometimes great-Isaianic additions are
thought of, with the intention to claim in hindsight Isaiah as the author of Isa. 4055. In this
line Werlitz, J., Redaktion und Komposition: Zur Rckfrage hinter die Endgestalt von Jesaja 40
55 (BBB, 122), Berlin 1999, 326332 exposes Isa. 40:68; 48:16b; and 50:1011, as a secondary
interpretation of the third Servant Song. Here, convincing arguments are difficult to find.
newness in deutero-isaiah 81
sion, Darmstadt 2004, 112: Es ist kaum so, dass dieser Aussagezusammenhang [Frheres
Erstes/KommendesNeues] von vornherein konstruiert ist als Einbindung in ein PJ-Buch
(). Erst beim Anschluss von DJ an PJ drfte eine solche Relecture der Rede von frheren/
spteren Dingen mglich sein.
82 chapter two
Many of the objections against seeing DI following PI* also counter DI com-
ing after Jeremiah, as argued by R.G. Kratz, Der Anfang des Zweiten Jesaja in Jes
40,1f. und seine literarischen Horizonte, ZAW 105 (1993), 400419; Idem, Der Anfang
des Zweiten Jesaja in Jes 40,1f. und das Jeremiabuch, ZAW 106 (1994), 243261;
Bosshard-Nepustil, Jesaja 139, 427432; cf. K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremia-
buches: Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im
Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1996, 316. That in DI
refers to Jeremiah, is found in many; see e.g. W. Tannert, Jeremia und Deuteroje-
saja: Eine Untersuchung zur Frage ihres literarischen und theologischen Zusammen-
hanges, Leipzig 1956, 95: Das innerhalb des Frheren [in Jes. 48:111] der jeremiani-
schen Botschaft eine besondere Bedeutung zukommt, ist sehr wahrscheinlich. Es
ist zu vermuten dass Deuterojesaja direkt auf die Exilsdrohung Jeremias anspielt.
On the intertextual relations Jeremiah-DI 4.2. Jer. 5051 is a passage we will not
discuss but which often serves as candidate for the foresaying as intended by DIs
first things. It contains ca. 12 contact points with the book of Isaiah, of which the
following are sufficiently substantial to include in a discussion on the direction
of dependence: Jer. 50:2/Isa. 46:1; 48:20; Jer. 50:8/Isa. 48:20; Jer. 51:6/Isa. 48:20; Jer.
51:45/Isa. 52:11; Jer. 51:48/Isa. 44:23; 49:13. The priority of DI is defendable on all
these instances, as demonstrated e.g. by U. Cassuto, On the Formal and Stylistic
Relationship between Deutero-Isaiah and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem,
Biblical and Oriental Studies, vol. 1, Jerusalem 1973, 141177, esp. 152155. The rela-
tion between DIs word field first-last-coming-new and Jer. 50:12 [], 17 [,
]on the contrary is superficial (pace Bosshard-Nepustil, Jesaja 139, 429 n. 5).
The idea that first-new reflects on the holistic relationship between PI*
and DI-TI in a redactional sense is not so far-fetched, although even this
perspective requires nuancing. The redactional link between PI* and DI-TI
was established in various ways. Like the banks of the Seine in Paris, the
two parts of Isaiah are connected with bridges of divergent construction.
Several passages come to mind: Isa. 33 as mirror text (Beuken); Isa. 3435
and 3639 indicating a discursive and narrative connection between what
precedes and what follows in the book; the Babylonian prophecies in Isa.
1314 and 21, anticipating post-Isaian developments; and the framing of
the book through Isa. 12 and 6566. The sequenced historical trajectory
of Judahs subjection by Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, which is presented
in the order of the chapters, is another unifying factor that should not be
overlooked. Thus not one single compelling viewpoint can be indicated that
fully controls the connection between PI* and DI-TI in all its redactional
stages. As a matter of fact, judgement and salvation play a role in many of
the bridges mentioned above (see for example Isa. 34 contrasting 35, but
also 33 and 3639). Since Isa. 65 eventually applies the opposition first-new
to this very judgement-salvation scheme [ 2.3.3.3], through this connection
one may briefly toy with the idea of projecting the same opposition first-new
newness in deutero-isaiah 83
onto the whole book of Isaiah.138 But it is not likely that the end redaction
had allowed itself to be led as definitively as such a simplifying view suggests.
Globally and in certain details, particularly the framing of Isa. 112 and the
proto-apocalyptic close of the foreign-nation prophecies in Isa. 2427 point
at the ethical and temporal dualism of Isa. 6566.
One suggestion that definitely must be dismissed is that a deliberate blur-
ring of the original reference of first and new in Isa. 4055 had to open the
way to enable a redactional reinterpretation of the key texts in the frame-
work of the whole book of Isaiah. With a careful contextual interpretation,
Deutero-Isaiahs first-new texts lose their alleged vagueness in advance.
138 Cf. H. Leene, Een nieuwe hemel en een nieuwe aarde: Slotakkoord van het boek Jesaja,
P.T. Willey, Remember the Former Things: The Recollection of Previous Texts in Second Isa-
iah, Atlanta, GA 1997, 4447, 9599. She sees points of contact with (1) the Davidic psalms
72 and 89; (2) the Zion psalm 46; (3) the lamenting psalms 44, 74, 77 and 89, and (4) the
enthronement psalms 93 and 98. Concerning Ps. 96 and 98 ist die Frage der Prioritt mit
hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit zugunsten DtJess zu treffen (J. Jeremias, Das Knigtum Gottes in
den Psalmen: Israels Begegnung mit dem kanaanischen Mythos in den Jahwe-Knig-Psalmen
(FRLANT, 141), Gttingen 1987, 127). In this vein also B. Gosse, Le Psaume 98 et la rdaction
densemble du livre d Isae, BN 86 (1997), 2930. Especially in the case of Ps. 98, accord-
ing to Jeremias there can be no doubt; because the similarities are found here in typical
Deutero-Isaianic formulations ist eine grundstzlich denkbare Prioritt auf Seiten von Ps. 98
ausgeschlossen (ibid. 133). As dissenting voice Jeremias mentions H.L. Ginsberg, A Strand in
de Cord of Hebraic Hymnody, ErIs 9 (1969), 4550, esp. 4748. Ginsberg himself finds sup-
port in S. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien, Bd. 2, Kristiania 1922 and Y. Kaufmann, History of the
Religion of Israel, vol. 2, New York 1977 [Hebrew edition 1960], 99. A. Maillot, A. Lelivre, Les
Psaumes, vol. 2, Paris 1961, belong to those claiming DIs dependence on Ps. 96. Priority of the
psalms is also assumed by A.R. Johnson, The Psalms, in: H.H. Rowley (ed.), The Old Testament
and Modern Study, Oxford 21956, 162209, esp. 194; R.C. Culley, Oral Formulaic Language in
the Biblical Psalms, Toronto 1967, 108; J. Becker, Messiaserwartung im Alten Testament (SBS,
83), Stuttgart 1977, 46; F. Matheus, Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied: Die Hymnen Deuterojesajas
(SBS, 141), Stuttgart 1990, 49; Willey, Remember, 120125.
84 chapter two
Psalm 96
Isa. 42:10 1
Isa. 40:9; 41:27; 52:7 2
Isa. 42:12 3
4
5
6
Isa. 42:12 7
Isa. 42:12 8
9
Isa. 52:7; 40:20 10
Isa. 49:13; 42:10 11
Isa. 44:23; 55:12 12
13
Isa. 51:5
140 For a discussion on the methodology, see H. Leene, Psalm 98 and Deutero-Isaiah: Lin-
guistic Analogies and Literary Affinity, in: R.-F. Poswick (ed.), Actes du Quatrime Colloque
International Bible et Informatique: Matriel et Matire (Amsterdam 1994), Paris 1995, 313340.
This and the next section form a summarised reworking of H. Leene, History and Eschatol-
ogy in Deutero-Isaiah, in: J. van Ruiten, M. Vervenne (eds), Studies in the Book of Isaiah. Fs
W.A.M. Beuken (BEThL, 132), Leuven 1997, 223249. There the analogies are discussed indi-
vidually taking into consideration the occurrence of the clauses or word-(group)s in the
remainder of the OT.
newness in deutero-isaiah 85
Psalm 98
1
Isa. 42:10
Isa. 52:10
Isa. 52:10; 53:1 2
3
Isa. 45:22; 52:10
Isa. 44:23; 49:13; 52:9 4
Isa. 51:3 5
Isa. 44:23; 52:7 6
Isa. 42:10 7
Isa. 55:12; 44:23; 8
49:13
9
Isa. 51:5
(2) Along with the similarities, the differences with Deutero-Isaiah are rele-
vant to the question on dependence. Words in Ps. 98 that do not appear in
Isa. 4055 are: ( 1; the root: Isa. 51:3), ( 3), ( 5, 5), ( 6),
( 6), ( 7), ( 7, 9) and the root ( 1). The use of in 98:3 is not
Deutero-Isaianic: with Yhwh as subject occurs in Deutero-Isaiah only in
43:25, for not remembering Israels transgressions. In the context of Isa. 40
55, has a slightly reproachful sound (46:3; cf. 46:3; 48:1). As
object of Yhwhs act of salvation, the house is not mentioned but the servant
Jacob-Israel. It is evident from these details that it is a step too far to ascribe
the psalm and (parts of) Isa. 4055 to the same author.141
Ps. 96 likewise contains many words that do not occur in Isa. 4055:
( 5), ( 6), ( 6), ( 7), ( 7, 8), ( 9; cf. Ps. 29:2),
( 10.13), ( 11), ( 12), ( 13) and the root ( 3). The sayings
that appear to contradict Deutero-Isaiahs diction and/or theology are even
more striking. Deutero-Isaiah does not use for the praising of the Yhwh
(Ps. 96:2). Instead of ( Ps. 96:5) he would have said ( cf.
Isa. 42:5; 45:18), ( cf. Isa. 40:22; 42:5; 51:13) or ( cf. Isa. 48:13).
Deutero-Isaiah denies the existence of any god besides Yhwh (cf. 41:23; 44:6;
141 M. Buttenweiser, The Psalms, Chicago 1938, 317343 saw DI as the author of Ps. 93, 96,
97, 98.
86 chapter two
45:5, 14, 21) and one can thus claim that his monotheism is more developed
than in Ps. 96:45. The originality of Ps. 96:5 is questioned in 2.1.3.2; but
even without v. 5, v. 4b does not sound Deutero-Isaianic.
(3) If we were to take stock, we could say that the relation with Isa. 4055
affects particularly Ps. 98, as long as we set aside the analogies shared by the
two psalms. But the relation between Ps. 96 and Isa. 4055 is not channelled
exclusively via Ps. 98: the rejoicing of the earth and the trees crying out for
joy in Ps. 96:1112 come to mind. It is noticeable that the latter motif is found
only in Ps. 96, the psalm that contrasts Yhwh against other gods. Presumably
intentional idol polemics resound in the trees jubilations; compare the
relation between Isa. 44:1320 and 23. There are no (wooden) idols and no
trees in Ps. 98.
The most apparent similarity between Isa. 4055 and Ps. 96 is set in Isa.
40:20, cf. Ps. 96:10. The verse Yhwh is king, the world is firmly established,
it cannot be shaken looks like a citation from Ps. 93:1 and so Isa. 40:2122
possibly connects directly with that older psalm. Inversely, the word glory
in Ps. 96 reminds stronger of Ps. 29 than of Deutero-Isaiah.142
142 The relation between Isa. 4055 and Ps. 96 could rest auf gemeinsame Beziehungen
zum Festkult; thus A. Weiser, Die Psalmen (ATD, 1415), Bd. 2, Gttingen 61963, 430; see also
M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), vol. 2, New York 1968, 357.
143 So e.g. F. Delitzsch, Biblischer Kommentar ber die Psalmen, Leipzig 51894, 619: Anfang
und Schluss sind aus Ps. 96. Dazwischen ist fast alles aus Jes. II (= Isa. 4066, HL). The last
statement is an exaggeration, see above.
144 Against e.g. A.A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms (NCB), vol. 2, London 1972, 691, who
explains the term new song in Ps. 98:1 in light of the new exodus.
newness in deutero-isaiah 87
145 Ginsberg, Strand, 48 believes he has proven the influencing on DI by Ps. 98 beyond
the shadow of a doubt, which might be going too far. His argument that DIs identification of
arm, justice and salvation presupposes the psalm is not that convincing. K. Koenen, Jahwe
wird kommen, zu herrschen ber die Erde: Ps 90110 als Komposition (BBB, 101), Weinheim 1995
agrees with Jeremias view that DI must have the priority and indicates the changed tenses
of Isa. 52:10b in Ps. 98:3b (72 n. 69). But, this change in tense could have taken place in the
reverse direction ( ) and may depend on a modification of the sequence of the action
in Isa. 52, where the returnees must still depart from there (v. 11). S. Petry, Die Entgrenzung
JHWHs: Monolatrie, Bilderverbot und Monotheismus im Deuteronomium, in Deuterojesaja und
im Ezechielbuch (FAT, 27), Tbingen 2007, 113 sees Ps. 98:3b as a citation from Isa. 52:10b,
although he recognises that the proclamation Yhwh is king must be older than DI.
146 Pace Jeremias, Knigtum, 134.
147 Pace Delitzsch, Psalmen, 619.
148 There is thus no reason to modify ;see the discussion of the proposals in J. Koole,
Taking everything into account, one must conclude that the priority in
this exceptionally close relation of dependence is rather with Ps. 98 and not
Isa. 4055 norfor those wishing to hold on to itis it with the one or other
Grundschrift of this work.
(5) Concerning the direction of dependence with Ps. 96, the findings are
about the same. It is true that the relation Ps. 96 Isa. 4055 is more
complicated to substantiate than in the previous case, but the inverted
relation Isa. 4055 Ps. 96 is downright unlikely. With in Ps. 96:2 one
could briefly think: this word implies the image of the messenger of peace
in Deutero-Isaiah149 which is then reduced to everyday proclamation in the
psalm. But on closer inspection such a view is found wanting. The prophet
speaks of a messenger to Zion-Jerusalem (41:27; 52:7) and of a message
Zion-Jerusalem herself must pass on the cities of Judah (40:9).150 Ps. 96:2
gives the idea that many (cf. Ps. 68:12) must spread the message of Israels
redemption amongst the nations; exactly like an individual supplicant, who
has been redeemed by Yhwh, makes it known in a large community. In this
regard Ps. 40:10 should be drawn into the comparison and notation taken of
other similarities between Ps. 96 and Ps. 40: in 4, in 6,
in 11, in 17.
(6) To answer the dependence question, one more point of view deserves
attention alongside these detailed observations. The correspondences with
the psalms are almost all localised in a limited number of passages spread
over the corpus of Isa. 4055, and then in the so-called eschatological
hymns or in other final, climactic passages. Isa. 51:5 (cf. Ps. 96:13) forms one
exception; but the theme of Yhwh as is so prominent in the psalms (see
e.g. Ps. 75 and 82) that here Ps. 96 does not require Deutero-Isaiahs support.
Note should also be taken of the term , for which Isa. 40:23
according to many commentaries is dependent on existing hymnic utter-
149 Cf. Delitzsch, Psalmen, 614. Also Gosse, Psaume 98, 29 reckons that Ps. 96 is older
than DI.
150 For a recent discussion on whether Isa. 40:9 is followed by a gen. explicativus
or an objectivus, see H.J.M. van der Woude, Geschiedenis van de terugkeer: De rol van Jesaja
40,111 in het drama van Jesaja 4055, Maastricht 2005, 7576 (the first); R.H. Oosting, Walls
of Zion and Ruins of Jerusalem: A Corpus-Linguistic View on the Participant Zion/Jerusalem
in Isaiah 4055, Amsterdam 2011, 7476 (the second). The text productive sequence of the
texts could be: [Nah. 1:15 ] Isa. 52:7 41:27 40:9; cf. H. Leene, Auf der Suche nach
einem redaktionskritischen Modell fr Jesaja 4055, ThLZ 121 (1996), 803818, esp. 814.
newness in deutero-isaiah 89
ances on Yhwhs kingship. In all other cases it would have been necessary
for the psalmists to have had modern form-critical insights to lift such final
hymnic passages (e.g. Isa. 42:1013; 44:23 and 49:13) from their literary con-
text and ignore the rest as inspiration source. The opposite is more likely:
the makers of Isa. 4055 borrowed the hinge texts of their dramatic com-
position from an existing hymnal tradition,151 or even from these particular
songs, handed down to us in Ps. 93100.
In this way it becomes understandable how these psalms could use such
plain wording to express Yhwhs act of salvation. Deutero-Isaian images
such as the levelling of mountains, a way in the wilderness, irrigation and
abundant plant growth, are entirely missing from Ps. 98. Here the act of
salvation is formulated using general terminology of thanksgiving. If the
priority were with Isa. 4055, this would have remained unexplained.
(7) It is therefore difficult to avoid the impression that there was bias in the
lengthily held answer to the priority question. This bias, then, involved two
points, (a) the dating of Deutero-Isaiahs prophecies before the fall of Baby-
lon in 539bce, and (b) the rejection of any notion of Yhwhs enthronement
before the exile, which made Deutero-Isaiahs eschatology seem indispens-
able as a missing link in the religio-historical explanation of the two psalms.
Regarding the first point, the early dating of Deutero-Isaiahs prophecies
has lost much of its impetus due to newer redaction-critical hypotheses.
Thus, van Oorschot ascribes the hymnic passages from Isa. 4055 discussed
above mainly to redactional layers that were added around 520/521 and
500bce.152 In such a diachronic model, the psalms may look back at the
historical liberation and at the same time be older than these redactional
layers. For our part, we find it plausible that Isa. 4055 originated after
515bce even in its initial stage.153 A Deutero-Isaian basic text would not be
reconstructable if it did not include the semantic field first-last-coming-new,
151 T.N.D. Mettinger, In Search of the Hidden Structure: YHWH as King in Isaiah 4055,
in: C.C. Broyles, C.A. Evans (eds), Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an
Interpretive Tradition, vol. 1 (VT.S, 70/1), Leiden 1997, 142154, esp. 152 formulates a cautious
position: the texts involved seem to have as their minimum prerequisite that the Prophet of
Consolation drew from the same tradition as the YHWH mlak psalms.
152 J. van Oorschot, Von Babel zum Zion: Eine literarkritische und redaktionsgeschichtliche
of the Second Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, London 2005.
Her view was mentioned above 2.1.3.1 and will be discussed further in 2.2.8.5.
90 chapter two
which assuredly answers a post-exilic problem: Yhwh has proven his being
God through the convergence of first and last in Cyrus, but in order to bring
Israel to respond with acknowledgement and praise, something totally new
is required. Thus Isa. 4055 must have originated from after the establish-
ment of the second temple. The priority of Ps. 98 and 96 is at most an extra
argument supporting this view. In 2.2.8.5 we will return to this dating prob-
lem in greater detail.
That Deutero-Isaiah would be required to explain or even to justify
Yhwhs enthronement in Ps. 98 and 96, we find sharply worded in Kraus.154
However, as we have argued above [ 2.1.4], the cultic celebration of Yhwhs
kingship presumably existed in one or other form long before the exile.155
Here the missing link is not Deutero-Isaiah, but Ps. 98 represents the histor-
ical linkage between such a celebration and Deutero-Isaiahs eschatological
prophecy.
154 H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen (BKAT, 15), Bd. 2, Neukirchen-Vluyn 51978, 834835, 846847.
155 The section Petry, Entgrenzung, 112125 dedicates to this issue has the same bearing.
P.T. Willey, Remember the Former Things: The Recollection of Previous Texts in Second Isaiah,
Atlanta, GA 1997, 120125 convincingly defends the priority of Ps. 98 regarding DI, with the
added argument that Isa. 52:712 is composed with a combination of citations from Nahum,
Lamentations, the Psalter and the Pentateuch. It is not necessary, however, to agree with her
on seeing the psalm as a pre-exilic text (103).
156 The affinity involves especially the dramatic sequencing of (a) the polemics against the
gods on primordial kingship, cf. Ps. 96, and (b) Yhwhs becoming king in the present-day when
he reveals his liberating arm, cf. Ps. 98. On this sequence, see the next section.
157 In this sense also Mettinger, Hidden Structure.
newness in deutero-isaiah 91
notes: Genre and contents in these passages contribute little to our understanding of the
kingship of YHWH in Isaiah 4055 (Hidden Structure, 144). This we venture to doubt.
161 On an actantial analysis of DI, see: Van der Woude, Geschiedenis, 5057.
92 chapter two
Yhwhs coming to Zion.162 The temple has a relatively minor role in Isa. 40
55, and then in the prelude to the Cyrus oracle (44:28).163 The rebuilding of
the temple is important to Deutero-Isaiah as a sign that Cyrus praises the
name of Yhwh, but subsequently diminishes into the shadow of the city
of Jerusalem being rebuilt. This concentration on Zion is undoubtedly due
to Deutero-Isaiah wanting to present the coming of Yhwh as an answer to
Zions suffering as it was portrayed in Lamentations.164 It is thus in com-
bination with Lamentations that Ps. 93100 offers us the main reference
to understand the central action in Deutero-Isaiahs dramatic masterwork:
Yhwhs coming as king is a comfort for Zion-Jerusalem.
All this is made more remarkable because neither Ps. 93100 nor Lamen-
tations offer any solace as a frame of reference when the element that makes
Isa. 4055 a prophetic book is being dealt with: the divine word. Later in this
study we will return to Deutero-Isaiahs intertextual relations with prophetic
162 Cf. U. Berges, Zion and the Kingship of Yhwh in Isaiah 4055, in: A.L.H.M. van Wierin-
gen, A. van der Woude (eds), Enlarge the Site of Your Tent: The City as Unifying Theme in Isaiah
(OTS, 58), Leiden 2011, 95119, esp. 111: In the restoration programme of Deutero-Isaiah, the
emphasis lies not on the temple but on Zion/Jerusalem as Gods firm foundation where his
people finds refuge and security.
163 Working syntactically, Oosting, Walls, 93 advocates the translation of Isa. 44:28 as and
to say to Jerusalem, She will be rebuilt / and she will be founded as a temple, and con-
nects these lines to Jerusalem being indicated as holy city (48:2; 52:1). This proposal does
not affect our argument. The mythopoetic pattern battle-kingship-palace that Isa. 44:27
28 shares with Ps. 93 makes it unappealing to see 44:28b as an erratic addition (J. Wer-
litz, Redaktion und Komposition: Zur Rckfrage hinter die Endgestalt von Jesaja 4055 (BBB,
122), Berlin 1999, 184). So too 41:25, one who calls my name, already creates the impres-
sion of being a veiled allusion to Cyruss cultic interests in Jerusalem. Indeed the read-
ing is text-critically not completely certain, but the uncertainty may relate to
41:2527 linking Cyrus with Zion-Jerusalem for the first time. The theme of temple is pre-
sumably also in the background of 45:14. Thematically the verse reminds of the pilgrim-
age in Ps. 96. Confronted by the alternatives whether the association Cyrus temple in
Isa. 4055 should be seen as a secondary text element, or whether it rather forms the core
of DIs admiration for the Persian king, we are inclined towards the latter point of view.
According to Werlitz, Isa. 44:28, which he sees as a later addition, could be dependent on
Ezra; R.G. Kratz, Kyros im Deuterojesaja-Buch: Redaktionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu
Entstehung und Theologie von Jes 4055 (FAT, 1), Tbingen 1991, 102 has similar thoughts
on Isa. 45:13. Edelman, Second Temple, holds the opposite view, the information on Cyrus
as the founder of the second temple in Ezra 16 was derived from Isa. 44:28 and 52:11.
The current state of the debate on the Cyrus-edict (for a summary see Werlitz, Redaktion,
180184) offers little reason to seek a basic text of Isa. 45:18 originating in the 6th cen-
tury.
164 Cf. Willey, Remember. On the relation between the opening and close of Isa. 4055* and
165 This division reminds of the differentiated cosmic scenario (Ps. 93) and historical
scenario (Ps. 47, 98) in the Yhwh-Kingship psalms according to J.L. Mays, The Centre of
the Psalms, in: S.E. Balentine, J. Barton (eds), Language, Theology, and The Bible. Fs J. Barr,
Oxford 1994, 231246; but with the understanding that DI connects the first scenario with
history (Cyrus) and the second with eschatology (Servant of Yhwh). This definition of the
dichotomy Isa. 4048/4955 does not make labels such as Jacob-Israel/Zion-Jerusalem or
journey/arrival redundant, but wants to engage in its deeper meaning.
94 chapter two
166 From this point on, Servant will be written with a capital if the word implies a
distinction from the servant Jacob-Israel or the servants of Yhwh as historical entities.
167 This point is not taken into account in the statement that Yhwhs kingship in DI immer
46:57 within their context is argued in H. Leene, De vroegere en de nieuwe dingen bij Deutero-
jesaja, Amsterdam 1987, 175 et passim. See further K. Holter, Second-Isaiahs Idol-Fabrication
Passages (BET, 28), Frankfurt 1995, other authors mentioned in P. Hffken, Jesaja: Der Stand
der theologischen Diskussion, Darmstadt 2004, 102 and Berges, Jesaja 4048, 5455.
169 Cf. Mettinger, Hidden Structure, 150.
newness in deutero-isaiah 95
42:113 and 50:111). This paradoxical manner of speaking belongs to the sec-
ond and not the first presentation of Yhwhs kingship.170
One could say that Deutero-Isaiah has elaborated the integration further
than the cycle Ps. 93100, which has left the two enthronement presenta-
tions of Ps. 93 and 98 (besides the signalled mediation in Ps. 96) greatly
uncoordinated alongside each other. That is completely different from the
final disclosure of Yhwhs redemptive arm, seen in Isa. 51:952:12 as a direct
reprise of what has gone before in antiquity: Awake, awake, clothe yourself
with strength, o arm of Yhwh! Awake as in the days gone by, of the genera-
tions of old (51:9). The price Deutero-Isaiah pays for this integration is the
loss of coordination on another point, namely between the ancient tradition
as an argument in the historical proof of divinity (Isa. 4048) and the ancient
tradition as an eschatological ground of prayer (Isa. 4955). We observe that
Deutero-Isaiah connects this ancient tradition with the opposition first-new
only in the former context and not in the latter. In the latter context the
mythical traces of this tradition are outlined stronger, but at the same time
lead us further way from the political realm.
Although we had other intentions with the deconstruction above than
elaborating on a diachronic analysis, it cannot conceal a critical attitude
towards persistent attempts to find the oldest layer of Isa. 4055 in histori-
cal reports from the period before the invasion of Babylon in 539 bce. On the
contrary it implies that the oldest core of the work, or basic idea, originated
in texts from the temple liturgy in Jerusalem. Herewith we return to our
previous discussion on the German redaction criticism [ 2.2.8.1]. We ask
ourselves, what hinders us from understanding Deutero-Isaiahs reference
to Cyrus and Babylon as an effort to politically apply liturgical texts from
170 This observation clashes with the redaction-critical view that the fourth Servant Song
is a secondary supplement to the book edition Isa. 4052*; for a summary see Werlitz, Redak-
tion, 282. In the exposition of 42:1013 [ 2.2.4] we indicated the paradoxical relation between
the Servants vulnerability and the imagery of Yhwh as warrior. The relation is explicated in
49:2 and 52:10/53:1. The Servant Song 52:1353:12 reminds of the Servant Song 42:14, not only
in the related opening words but also in the message of peace for Zion-Jerusalem in the pre-
ceding context (41:27; 52:7). The connection between 52:712 and 52:1353:12 is exceptionally
strong. Apart from the arm of Yhwh (52:10; 53:1) it is the paradox of seeing the salvation and
the hideousness of the Servant (52:8, 10, 14, 15; 53:2), which crafts the fourth Servant Song as
a key to DIs theology. Fear of contamination connects 52:11 to 53:4, 8 as a semantic isotopy.
While the vessels in 52:11 seem to allude to the restoration of the priestly sacrificial worship
in Jerusalem, it actually acts as a stepping stone to a song on the Servants sacrifice. The idea
that 52:710 is the provisional end of the book leans too one-sidedly on the argument per-
taining to the concluding function of DIs hymnic passages. Certain hymnic passages do not
have this function (e.g. 42:1013) or barely (e.g. 45:8).
96 chapter two
the second temple, texts as we have come across in the discussed Yhwh-
Kingship psalms in their purest form?
Certainly, the absolute dating of Isa. 4055 is a complicated affair. Still
we see sufficient grounds to suggest an alternative dating proposal, which is
offered schematically below for the readers consideration.171
(2) Historically it is more probable that Cyrus owed his biblical reputation
to hisexaggerated or realrole in the rebuilding of the temple than that
this role was derived from other benefits such as granting the exiles permis-
sion to return home. The image of Cyrus in the Old Testament presupposes the
second temple. So too then, Deutero-Isaiahs admiration for the Persian king
must be dated to at least after 515bce. Incidentally, we have spoken above
about the doubt on this precise inauguration date of the temple in connec-
tion with Ps. 98 [ 2.1.3.1].
171 On the post-exilic dating of Isa. 4055, see further: H. Leene, De vroegere en de nieuwe
dingen bij Deuterojesaja, Amsterdam 1987, 32; Idem, Suche, 818 n. 47; P.R. Davies, God of
Cyrus, God of Israel: Some Religio-Historical Reflections on Isaiah 4055, in: J. Davies et
al. (eds), Words Remembered, Texts Renewed. Fs J.F.A. Sawyer (JSOT.S, 195), Sheffield 1995,
207225; K. Baltzer, Deutero-Jesaja (KAT, 10/2), Gtersloh 1999, 57.
newness in deutero-isaiah 97
temple city.172 The strongest negative argument claims that a dating of the
Cyrus texts before 539 relies on the disputable supposition that the simul-
taneity suggested in these texts must indicate their emergence at the time
the events took place, instead of considering a dramatic presentation of these
events as a stylistic device. Nobody concludes from Shakespeares Richard III
that the author himself lived in the 15th century.173
(4) The discrepancy between the historical course and its representation
recalled in biblical texts continues to be raised as an argument support-
ing the dating of the Cyrus and Babylon texts to before 539.174 An alternative
explanation for this discrepancy could reason that a substantial time had
passed after 539 before the texts were written, enabling a deliberate con-
trast between Babylons fall and the expected elevation of Zion-Jerusalem.
Such an explanation relieves us from needing to search an answer to the
vexing question why a later, better informed redaction of Isa. 4055 did not
correct its supposed exilic heritage more radically based on the facts then
known.175 The proposed solution is simple: retrospectively in a dramatisa-
tion, Deutero-Isaiah sketched a global, but not inaccurate depiction of the
Babylonian empires fall.176
(5) At least as important for the dating of Isa. 4055 is asking oneself
whether a cohesive story on Israels origin is already assumed in it.177 Such a
the events in 539 (see also R. Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth
Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 413), and he sees signs of disappointment over Cyrus
in the redrafting of 42:67 as an original Cyrus text made to indicate the servant of the Lord
(thus following Kratz), who takes over the role of Cyrus completely from Isa. 49 onwards.
We do not understand 42:67 as an original Cyrus text [ 2.2.8.1 sub c], whereas Cyrus and
the servant in DI are anyway not comparable as rivals. The Cyrus oracle 45:18 depicts the
conqueror having the same decisive but limited significance as in the rest of the drama.
176 On the quite undramatic historical account of Babylons fall, see Albertz, Exile, 191.
177 Cf. R.G. Kratz, Der Anfang des Zweiten Jesaja in Jes 40,1f. und seine literarischen
(6) Marduk theology did not cease in 539 bce. One may assume it was
still well known in the next century under the repatriated Judeans that
grew up in Babylon. History of religions in its nature offers no support
to date (the Grundschrift of) Isa. 4055 to within a decade or a quarter
of a century.179 The influence of astral Marduk theology on Deutero-Isaiah
is undeniable, but is equally identifiable in Ps. 96, a post-exilic song that
presumably predates Isa. 4055 [ 2.2.8.3]. Several more indications support
a later time of origin than is generally accepted. Many scholars rightly have
difficulty with the prisons and dungeons as contemporanious image of the
conditions the Judean exiles experienced in Babylon (Isa. 42:22; cf. 47:6).180
This discussion on the time of origin is closely linked to that on the place of
origin.181 Texts with a clear Palestinian focalisation (to borrow a term from
narratology) occur even in the oldest parts of Deutero-Isaiahs composition.
That Abraham was beckoned from the ends of the world (Isa. 41:89) is
difficult to reconcile with a Mesopotamian point of view. So too, Israels
gathering from the four directions of wind (Isa. 43:56) is arguably focalised
from an understood Palestinian gathering point.
178 So e.g. Albertz, Exile, 246271 following Blum, Van Seters and others.
179 This is the impression created by M. Albani, Der eine Gott und die himmlischen Heer-
scharen: Zur Begrndung des Monotheismus bei Deuterojesaja im Horizont der Astralisierung
des Gottesverstndnisses im Alten Orient (ABG, 1), Leipzig 2000 in this important study on the
religio-historical placing of DI.
180 See e.g. H. Donner, Geschichte des Volkes Israel und seiner Nachbarn in Grundzgen, Bd.
of Isaiah: Exilic Judah and the Provenance of Isaiah 4055, Oslo 1997.
newness in deutero-isaiah 99
(7) There are no reasons for connecting the difference in perspective be-
tween Isa. 4048 and 4955 with a distinction in place and time of origin,
as the difference in perspective between Ps. 96 and Ps. 98 illustrates sufficiently.
Where Isa. 4955 contains younger texts than Isa. 4048 it is more a case of
the writing process progressing than the difference in place and time of the
author(s). The return of the exiles does not create a diachronic incision in
Isa. 4055, but until the epilogue notably remains a prospect, cf. 55:1213.182
There is no reason to assume that such a view would have been incongru-
ous in 5th century Judea. The canonical picture of a phased but surveyable
repatriation must have grown only gradually.
(8) Without offering extensive arguments here, we assume that Ezra 16 pro-
vides no information on the role of Cyrus in the return from Babylon and
the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem that has not been taken over from
Isa. 4055.183 The compiler of Ezra 16 is attempting to harmonise this infor-
mation with Hag.Zech. 8, the chronicle of the temple rebuilding during
the reign of Darius I.184 It is improbable that the Cyrus decree in Ezra 1:24
and its free copy in Ezra 6:25 are based on other historical sources out-
side Isa. 4055 and Ezek. 4048.185 According to Isa. 4055 Cyrus embodies
182 This is also the case with a hypothetical edition which is said to end with Isa. 52:1112. A
collective interpretation would like to see the golah returning from Babylon in the servant of
Isa. 49:17, but the text rather presents him as someone who has been calling in vain for the
return. The metaphoric connotations that the departure from Babylon has in DI come to
mind. This agrees fully with Ezras use of to indicate a religious group, separate from
the question whether they actually came from Babylon (cf. B. Schramm, The Opponents of
Third Isaiah: Reconstructing the Cultic History of the Restoration (JSOT.S, 193), Sheffield 1995,
61). We see no reason for restricting the exodus promise of Isa. 55:12 to Yhwh-followers
belonging to the nations (U. Berges, Das Buch Jesaja: Komposition und Endgestalt (HBS, 16),
Freiburg 1998, 332).
183 Following D. Edelman, The Origins of the Second Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and
of the temple. According to W.A.M. Beuken, Haggai-Sacharja 18: Studien zur berlieferungs-
geschichte der frhnachexilischen Prophetie, Assen 1967 the chronistic school is responsible
for the redaction of Haggai-Zechariah. According to G. Fischer, Jeremia: Der Stand der theolo-
gischen Diskussion, Darmstadt 2007, 141 the prophecies of Zechariah were dependent on the
book Jeremiah, which he dates to the fourth century. It is noteworthy that Haggai-Zechariah
does not seem to have any knowledge of a command by Cyrus to build the temple.
185 Edelman, Second Temple, 179180 suspects (alongside references to Isa. 44:28 and 52:11
in the edict) an allusion to Ezek. 40:57 in Ezra 6:3. The second text, like the first, must
originally have spoken over 6 and not 60 el. These are measurements for a wall and not
a building, explaining why alone height and width are mentioned. A later copyist of Ezra
6:3 missed the prophetic allusion, applied the measurements to the whole building and
100 chapter two
the Persian empire, whereby the destruction of Babylon and the conquest of
Egypt (actually accomplished by Cambyses in 525522!), as well as laying the
foundations of the temple and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, are all accredited
to him. More or less like David in the Old Testament represents the whole
dynasty of Judah, Cyrus epitomises the Persian dynasty for Deutero-Isaiah.
Not before Ezra 16 did Cyrus become historicised as an ordinary Persian
king in line with his successors, Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes.186 In Isa.
44:28 and 52:11 the vague recollection of Cyruss claim of restoring famous
Mesopotamian temples possibly plays a role; but first-hand knowledge of
the Cyrus cylinder (in which we hear Cyrus praising Bel and Nabu amongst
others!) could hardly have inspired Deutero-Isaiah to apply his Yahwistic
vision to the Persian king.187 In any event such a vision would not have
been credible to the Jewish contemporaries of Cyruss government. And is
not Deutero-Isaiahs monotheistic proof all about credibility? We cannot
exclude that the authors of Isa. 4055 lacked any detailed information on the
temples restoration, because this restoration took place before their own
lifetime. Thereby the terminus post quem for Isa. 4055 would move far into
the 5th century bce.188 This creates sufficient historical room for the relevant
temple songs and their drama-like bundling, on which Isa. 4055 apparently
continues. A plausible terminus ante quem for Isa. 4055 is Egypts successful
revolt against the Persian empire around 400 bce.
multiplied it by 10. The original reading suggests that Cyrus also envisaged the rest of the
building according to Ezekiels vision.
186 Cyrus is called king of the Persians in Dan. 10:1; cf. 6:29 [Aram.]; Ezra 1:1, 1, 2, 8; 3:7; 4:3,
5; 2 Chron. 36:22, 22, 23; Darius in Ezra 4:5, 24 [Aram.]; cf. Neh. 12:22; Artaxerxes in Ezra 4:7;
6:14 [Aram.]; 7:1. Cyrus not being called king of the Persians anywhere in DI must be because
Yhwh subjects all of humanity to him (see e.g. Isa. 43:34).
187 Pace Edelman, Second Temple, 185: DI knew the cylinder and hoped that Cyrus might
yet also apply this policy to Yehud. See also the questionable assertion of D.E. Gowan,
Theology of the Prophetic Books: The Death and Resurrection of Israel, Louisville 1998, 145 that
DIs image of Cyrus corresponds very well with Cyruss own publicity about himself.
188 Practically this amounts to the dating of Isa. 4055 by P.R. Davies, In Search of Ancient
Israel (JSOT.S, 148), Sheffield 1992 and Baltzer, Deutero-Jesaja, 5759, who indicates a Cyrus-
renaissance taking place simultaneously in Greece. Comparisons could be drawn with the
central position Cyrus takes in the Histories of Herodotus (ca. 485425/420).
189 Werlitz, Redaktion, 176, bases his arguments on the correspondence in the Cyrus expec-
tations between the Babylonian priests of Marduk and the Judean exiles, and sees the last as a
reaction on the first. Is this a convincing historical explanation? Human experience teaches
newness in deutero-isaiah 101
which Deutero-Isaiah evaluates the Persian rule, with Cyrus as its ideal
representative. As with Ps. 93100 we will have to spiral down until at
least after the establishment of the second temple for this world political
application. Doubts on the exact date of this temple establishment we take
for granted. The suggested contemporaneousness between the texts and
Cyruss advance, according to our view, cannot be more than a literary
technique in service of the dramatic design of the work.
Isa. 4055 shares its dramatic character with the psalm cycle Ps. 93100,
which is rooted in liturgical practice. This is an ambitious insight consid-
ering the undeniable differences between the two compositions. For the
moment we must break off our diachronic surveillance with this observa-
tion. The most prominent difference between Isa. 4055 and Ps. 93100 is
that the psalm cycle mainly still presents the eschaton in a tangible, physi-
cal, cultic environment [ 2.1.5]. While we could see the focus in the psalm
cycle shifting cautiously from the liturgy of feasts to the sombre life of the
righteous, for whom nonetheless light is sown (Ps. 97:11), all the empha-
sis there still lies on the exultant celebration of Yhwhs enthronement in
the temples songs of praise. The temple no longer plays this dominant role
in Deutero-Isaiah. Indeed, Deutero-Isaiahs composition is inspired litur-
gically, but it is no longer a liturgical text itself. Present time eschatology
develops in Deutero-Isaiah from a cultic experience to what is accomplished
proleptically in the life of the suffering Servant, as a prototype of the post-
exilic pious.
differently: our enemy fostering high expectations on someone, makes him suspect in our
eyesand this certainly holds true if the person in question responds to such hostile expec-
tations, as was the case with Cyrus as the conqueror of Babylon. The Cyrus-claim of Yhwh
in Isa. 4048 is not contrasted with the Cyrus-claim of Marduk. The issue in Isa. 4048 is
not whether Cyrus was perhaps given powers by another god than Yhwh, but whether other
deities had in any way accomplished a comparable feat. It is therefore doubtful that the reli-
gious political debate under Nabonidus (555539) provides a clarifying contemporaneous
background for DIs theology (pace Albani, Monotheismus, 96; Berges, Jesaja 4048, 4445).
That a degree of commonality does not necessarily imply simultaneity, is clear from the sim-
ilarities between DIs salvation oracles and New-Assyrian texts [cf. M. Weippert, Ich bin
JahweIch bin Itar von Arbela: Deuterojesaja im Lichte der neuassyrischen Prophetie, in:
B. Huwyler et al. (eds), Prophetie und Psalmen. Fs K. Seybold (AOAT, 280), Mnster 2001, 3159;
see also Albani, Monotheismus, 87 on affinities between DI and the Asarhaddon inscription].
102 chapter two
190 A. Schoors, Leschatologie dans les prophties du Deutro-Isae, Rech Bibl 8 (1967), 107
128, esp. 115. For a short summary of his vision of DIs expectation of the future, see A. Schoors,
I Am God Your Saviour: A Form-Critical Study of the Main Genres in Is. XLLV (VT.S, 24), Leiden
1973, 304305. Also in Elligers characterisation of DIs message as non-eschatological, his not
drawing a distinction between Cyrus and the new things is a main factor, e.g. in his exposi-
tion of Isa. 42:1013: Yhwh manifests himself as warrior in the victory of the Persian army
(K. Elliger, Deuterojesaja (BKAT, 11/1), Neukirchen 1978, 252). See further D. Michel, Deutero-
jesaja, in: TRE, Bd. 8, Berlin 1981, 510530.
newness in deutero-isaiah 103
Can the use of the term be restricted, as it has been advocated, by reserv-
ing eschatological for the expectation of a decisive act of God? The difficulty
is evident in Deutero-Isaiahs vision of Cyrus. The coming of Cyrus as the
outcome of the first things is decisive for the question whether Yhwh may
be called in the encounter with the gods (cf. 41:26; 43:9; 45:21), but not
for the general acceptance of this judgement. On this the new must decide.
The term decisive act, therefore, does not yield a clear dividing line
between eschatological and non-eschatological presentations.191 To sharpen
the definition we need to look elsewhere. Eschatology presumes that God
has a purpose with humanity and the world. Presentations on the decisive
act of God helping him achieve this goal are eschatological. In his well-
known article, Vriezen argues for a broad definition of Old Testament escha-
tology, in which the definitive nature of the Yhwhs expected intervention is
important. In the prophetic texts, are there any elements in which a defini-
tive, decisive expectation regarding the future of the world is expressed?192
Then again the close relation that Vriezen establishes between eschatology
and Israels election (see below) shows that the purposefulness of Yhwhs
acting is at least an as equally important perspective in his approach.
In eschatology it is not about what the future may bring, but whether
Yhwh is successful in achieving his goal. The issue is whether the immense
obstacles en route to the goal will be overcome. Eschatology is in the first
place a response to a problem, and only thereafter an elaborated presen-
tation. According to Schunck the eschaton should be seen in conjunction
with the idea, essential to faith in Yhwh, that God wants to lead his peo-
ple zu einem unverrckbar feststehenden Ziel.193 This goal is that Yhwh
will be acknowledged as the only God. Die Anerkennung Jahwes und die
Befolgung seines Willens konstituieren das Eschaton, unabhngig von
Zeitfaktoren.194 With this last thought not everyone will be happy, even
though Schunck does break an eminent point with it. Still it seems better to
insist that the term also involves concrete images, visualisations from which
categories of time are not easily abolished. The assurance that the future has
become a reality now already, is itself based on such categories, and is only
comprehendible as a paradoxical statement.
191 Similar problems to those created by the concept decisive action are instigated by
concepts like Endgltigkeit and Neubeginn, which Hermisson, Eschatologie, 8992 argues
should be also defined more accurately to be usable in a definition of eschatology.
192 Vriezen, Eschatologie, 203.
193 Schunck, Eschatologie, 467.
194 Schunck, Eschatologie, 473.
104 chapter two
195 Cf. Hermisson, Eschatologie, 104: Damit kommt die Geschichte an ihr Ziel: Ein ge-
schichtlicher Umbruch, der das Ergebnis wieder in Frage stellte, ist nicht denkbar.
196 Lindblom, Eschatologie, 42.
197 Schoors, L eschatologie, 127 (our translation).
newness in deutero-isaiah 105
ogy is defined in terms of a goal that must be achieved, a goal that Yhwh
stays committed to under all circumstances, no tensions need to be detected
between eschatology and continuity.
Particularly Vriezen indicates a good line of thought in his formulations
here. For him the core of the eschatological expectation of the Old Testa-
ment lies in the trust that God is faithful to Israel, despite the empirical. That
is why the prophets (and not Deutero-Isaiah alone) distinguish between
two Israel-types: Israel as the empirical people that perishes, and Israel as
the people of God, which exists and remains, visible only to the eye of
faith.198 Only if we bear in mind the double meaning of the name Israel can
we follow the prophets, especially Deutero-Isaiah.199 Deutero-Isaiah indeed
emphasises the election of Israel (41:89; 42:1; 43:10; 44:12; 45:4; 48:10; 49:7).
Even more notably we see the unity of salvation history and eschatology
expressed in the confession of Yhwh as creator, designer and completer of
Israel (, , ). The second dramatic episode of Deutero-Isaiahs
book (42:1844:23) is completely marked by this confession (cf. 43:1; 44:2).
This episode, which brings the contrast first-new strongest to the fore in Isa.
43:1819, simultaneously presents the unity of Yhwhs salvation plan. What
Yhwh will realise through the new, coincides with the completion of his cre-
ational purpose with Israel (cf. 43:21; 44:23). The discontinuity (first-new) is
embedded in this continuity (creation-completion). The response of Israel,
the new that sprouts, is not found straightforwardly in the extension of the
history up and until Cyrus, not in the mere extension of first and last
even after this proof of divinity the question remains whether such a faithful
response will indeed follow; but it is certainly extant in the line that Yhwh
planned for his people from the very beginning.200
In exegesis it appeared to be tempting to honour this point of view by
downplaying Deutero-Isaiahs opposition first-new. However, we have seen
that first-new unmistakably articulates a contrast. Unlike the opposition
first-last, it is not meant to indicate an analogy. This is the main reason
why the term new Exodus does not work: it suggests a typological relation
tologie, 9697. His view based on 43:1617 follows these lines: Israels history of salvation
begins with the exodus from Egypt and comes to completion in 587 (cf. G. von Rad); Israels
election in comparison begins with Abraham and as character indelebilis is permanent. In
our exposition DIs focus on Israels history of redemption in Isa. 4244 is not concentrated
as much on its terminus ad quem as on its actual confirmationnot that much on the fall of
Jerusalem than on Cyruss mission to Babylon.
106 chapter two
between the first and the new that Deutero-Isaiah reserves for the first and
the last; apart from the fact that the term new Exodus leans strongly on the
image of the desert journey painted by the Pentateuch.201 Nevertheless, even
this powerful opposition first-new is enclosed in Deutero-Isaiahs drama by
continuity; one need only analyse the structure of Isa. 42:1844:23 [ 2.2.7.2
sub 2]. The creation terminology applied to Jacob-Israel is a primary means
of expressing this continuity: created mysteriously, formed with an intention
and now brought to completion by Yhwh himself.202
201 For a highly critical approach of the concept new Exodus see also: H.M. Barstad, A Way
in the Wilderness: The Second Exodus in the Message of Second Isaiah (JSSM, 12), Manchester
1989.
202 Tradition-historically the theme of the creation of heaven and earth (cf. Isa. 40; 45) and
the theme of the creation of Israel have different origins: the latter stems from the sphere of
family religion (Albertz, Exile, 136).
203 Vriezen, Eschatologie, 217.
204 Vriezen, Eschatologie, 218.
205 Cf. K. Elliger, Der Begriff Geschichte bei Deuterojesaja, in: Idem, Kleine Schriften zum
206 In modern philosophical terms one could call DIs proof of foresaying an argument-
based opinion, to explain that the provision of evidence in a scientific sense is not involved,
but also not an assertion that lacks reasonable grounds. An opinion (I think that it is true)
differs from a value judgement (I find). That Cyrus is the God sent redeemer, is presented to
us by DI as an opinion, for which the claim of truth rests in the convergent evidence provided
by tradition and experience.
207 See the description of Rankes views on history in H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit und Me-
thode, Tbingen 61990, 207: an action is historical, wenn sie Geschichte macht, das heit,
wenn sie eine Wirkung hat, die ihr dauernde geschichtliche Bedeutung verleiht.
208 In this regard it is interesting that IsaLXX 35 has understood the blossoming desert as a
metaphor for Zion, cf. A. van der Kooij, Rejoice, o Thirsty Desert: On Zion in the Septuagint
108 chapter two
(4) Unity of time or two aeons? With the return of the exiles and the return
of the Lord to Zion, a new era dawns, says Schreiner, eine Heilszeit, die
nie mehr enden soll (Is 54,710). Das ist noch nicht der kommende, von
dieser Weltzeit getrennte Aion der Apokalyptik, aber vielleicht eine erste
Anregung zu dieser Sicht.210 In this regard the expectation of the new heaven
and the new earth in Isa. 65:17 is indicated, which will be treated in the next
section [ 2.3]. In the interim the citation warns that even here in Isa. 4055
we should look out for proto-apocalyptic signals.
In Isa. 50:9 it is said of the enemies of the Servant of the Lord: See, they
will all wear out like a garment, the moth will eat them up. In 51:18 the
prophet turns his attention to those that with the Servant pursue righteous-
ness. According to 51:8, their opponents too, the moth will eat them up like
a garment; and in 51:6 the imagery is extended to cover the whole of the cre-
ated reality: the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like
of Isaiah, in: A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, A. van der Woude (eds), Enlarge the Site of Your Tent:
The City as Unifying Theme in Isaiah (OTS, 58), Leiden 2011, 1120.
209 In a slightly different sense of the word one could call history as such, in DIs vision,
a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. It is beyond doubt that echoes
resound between 51:18 and the preceding third Servants Song. The ques-
tion has been raised whether Isa. 51:6 perhaps treats the fleeting nature of
the sublunary only in a hypothetical sense.211 It seems to us that this sponta-
neous comparison between the end of the Servants suffering and the end of
the existing world assuredly introduces a dualistic motif. A similar feature is
noticeable in the transition between Isa. 53 and 54. The many righteous that
were brought to insight by the Servant, are the many children that the once
infertile mother city will offer a shelter. His suffering and death mark the
beginning of a period of everlasting love and compassion for her, the city;
the former introducing the latter in an almost temporal sense.
The apocalyptic awareness that is formulated far more distinctly in Trito-
Isaiah starts surfacing herethe awareness that a totally new dispensation
is required, would an end come to the suppression of the righteous.
Isa. 4955 thus contains recognisable dualistic motifs. They are concen-
trated on the moment the suffering of the Servant ends and thereby the
suffering of everyone who take on his likeness in their desire for righteous-
ness. These proto-apocalyptic suggestives are however limited to Isa. 4955
and have nothing whatsoever to do with how the terms first and new are
used in Isa. 4048. In Deutero-Isaiah first and new do not refer to different
periods. Isa. 48 offers a prominent illustration. Also after the first things have
come with the fall of Babylon, history continues its course: Cyrus will pros-
per in his way (48:15). And even before the new things began being realised
in the first speech of the Servant (48:16b), they were already mysteriously
present in preceding dramatic episodes. New is not yet an apocalyptic term
in Deutero-Isaiah, only an eschatological term.
We will pay more attention to the concept apocalypticism in the dis-
cussion of Isa. 65 below. We will assert, following the same pattern as in
this section on eschatology, not to define apocalypticism principally as a
complex of images, but as the response to a question. Just as eschatology
in Deutero-Isaiah answers the question on how Yhwh will eventually be
triumphant, apocalypticism answers the question on the suffering of his
servants, that is to say: the suffering of everyone who in their faith grant
Yhwh his eventual triumph now already, in spite of all opposition. Based on
211 Cf. W.A.M. Beuken, Jesaja (POT), dl. 2B, Nijkerk 1983, 115116; Hermisson, Eschatologie,
102 on 51:6: Das ist hnlich wie in 54:10 wohl als steigernder Vergleich und hypothetisch
gemeint (selbst wenn ), aber darin klingt schon das sptere Motiv vom Untergang dieser
Welt und einem neuen Himmel und einer neuen Erde an.
110 chapter two
212 According to Hermisson, Eschatologie, 105 Isa. 51:48 and 54:1117 fall outside DIs
universalistic concept of eschatology. It is our view that DI and TI connect here more fluently
than is generally recognised. We will return to this point [ 2.3.4].
213 Cf. Preuss, Eschatologie, 13.
214 Vriezen, Eschatologie, 227.
215 Diachronically, the identification of the servant from the Servant Songs with the servant
conceive, it was difficult for the authors to set out. The most prominent devices that facilitate
the identification in Isa. 4149 are the placement of 42:19 across from the salvation oracle
to Israel 41:1416 in the dual structure of 41:142:17 [ 2.2.7.2 sub 1]; the integration of 42:14
in the judgment speech to Israel 42:1825 (cf. H. Leene, De vroegere en de nieuwe dingen bij
Deuterojesaja, Amsterdam 1987, 139141); the placement of 48:16b in the dual structure of Isa.
48 [ 2.2.7.2 sub 3]; and the forked division of 44:23b for Yhwh has redeemed Jacob and he
displays his glory in Israel into 48:20 and 49:3. It is possible that these devices, like the texts
involved, do not all come from the same phase of the texts production [ 2.2.8.1] implying
that the intended identification was keyed more than once. Even then the literary effect
seems constant throughout: the Servant from the songs is not only the ideal representative,
but is also the alter ego of the servant Jacob-Israel.
216 G. Fohrer, Die Struktur der alttestamentlichen Eschatologie, in: Preuss, Eschatologie,
147180. For a summary of his view of DIs eschatology, see: G. Fohrer, Das Buch Jesaja (ZBK),
Bd. 3, Zrich 21966, 710.
112 chapter two
Trito-Isaiah
Although this study has not planned to investigate the reception history of
the prophetic newness texts systematically, we will make an exception for
the new heaven and the new earth in Isa. 65, because a nuanced descrip-
tion of the dualistic characteristics of this eschatological presentation is only
possible in light of its literary influence, without underestimating or exag-
gerating them [ 2.3.4].
Even so the two directions from which Isa. 65 is viewedfrom the pre-
vious history and from the reception historymust lead to the strongest
stress being placed on the deep cohesion between Deutero- and Trito-
Isaiahs vision of the future. The final conclusion of the intertextual surveil-
lance in this second chapter will be that, outside the direct sphere of litur-
gical celebration (Ps. 98 etc.), presentic eschatology (Deutero-Isaiah) is not
properly conceivable without apocalyptic implications (Trito-Isaiah) in the
world of the Old Testament. Apocalypticism and presentic eschatology ap-
pear to be tightly interwoven in this crucial phase of their Old Testament
genesis. Even the mysterious language of the Servant Songs themselves in
retrospect might perhaps be seen having something to do with the subver-
sive aspects of apocalyptic discourse.
But before we commence with such considerations, we first present an
analysis of the text [ 2.3.1], the context [ 2.3.2] and the supposed literary
development [ 2.3.3.1] of Isa. 65.
220 Usually perf. qal is read instead of perf. pual, cf. the versiones antiquae; the part. qal
could also work, cf. 1QIsaa and see part. . According to D. Barthlemy, Critique textuelle
de l Ancien Testament, vol. 2, Fribourg 1986, MT was influenced by reading as referring to
proselytes. The pual of with does not appear elsewhere in the OT. Holding out the
hands (v. 2a) is used elsewhere to indicate human crying out to God. The people not calling
out the name of Yhwh (the active understanding of v. 1b) fits well into the whole context.
newness in trito-isaiah 115
sacrificing in gardens
and offering incense on bricks;
4 who sit inside graves
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat the flesh of pigs
and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
5 who say: Keep to yourself,
dont come near me, for I am too holy for you
these are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day long.
6 See, it stands written before me,
I will not keep silent221 unless I have repaid it
and I will repay it into their laps.
7 Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,
says Yhwh,
who offered incense on the mountains
and defied me on the hills
firstly I will measure their payment
into their laps.
8 Thus says Yhwh:
As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes
and they say: Dont destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,
so I will do for my servants sake
by not destroying them all.
9 And I will bring forth a seed from Jacob
and from Judah an inheritor of my mountains
and my chosen ones will inherit it
and my servants will settle there.
10 And Sharon will become a pasture for flocks
and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
for my people who approached me.
11 But as for you, who forsake Yhwh,
who forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Gad (Fortune)
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Meni (Destiny),
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you will all bend down for the slaughter,
because I called but you did not answer,
spoke but you did not hear
and you did evil before my eyes
and chose what displeases me.
223 Sometimes Isa. 65:166:4 is seen as a cohesive poem, see e.g. O.H. Steck, Studien zu
Tritojesaja (BZAW, 203), Berlin 1991, 217228. But Isa. 66:12. introduces a new theme in
relation to Isa. 65 with the building of the temple.
224 E.C. Webster, The Rhetoric of Isaiah 6365, JSOT 47 (1990), 89102, esp. 97 indicates
the play on the letters in I am holy and fire that burns. On the taboo about
touching, which plays a positive role in Ezek. 42:14; 44:19; 46:20, see L. Ruszkowski, Volk und
Gemeinde im Wandel: Eine Untersuchung zu Jesaja 5666, Gttingen 2000, 95.
118 chapter two
people had shunned Yhwh, there are nonetheless hints a future has been
reserved for Israel through Yhwhs servants or elect. It is not completely
clear whether the text envisages them as a well-defined social group. The
text could also be keen to help constitute this group of Yhwh servants.225
This part of the poem, to be sure, formally addresses the forsakers of Yhwh;
but the implied reader is naturally expected to distance himself from these
forsakers.
The servants or elect resemble the juice left over, for whom an at first
glance unsightly bunch of grapes remains valuable. As the true seed of Jacob
they will inherit Yhwhs mountains along with the neighbouring plains of
Sharon and the valley of Achor. Those who forsake Yhwh, on the contrary,
will not avoid their due punishment. At this point the poem inverts the
letters of spread to form bend down. Just as these forsakers spread
a meal before Gad, the god of fortune, they will have to bend down to be
served as sacrifice. Yhwh destining ( )them for the sword creates a second
talionic counterbalance: this judgement is a play on the name of Meni, the
god of destiny to whom they dedicated their libations. Even ancient readers
would have been shocked by the aggressiveness of these lines.
The third stanza builds the contrast up to a climax. Servants and forsak-
ers are no longer spread over the two sub-stanzas, but are set over half the
lines. The lines of the first sub-stanza (1314) place the servants in promi-
nence: See, my servants , but you ; the series ends in a tricolon. The
second sub-stanza (1516) commences with a tricolon in which the order is
reversed: And you will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse but
to his servants he will give another name.226 The text that continues sug-
gests this other name will be Amen, or at least will contain the element
amen. Elsewhere in Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah, the Servant and servants
are portrayed as those who, despite all opposition, call amen to the word
of Yhwhmaking Amen an appropriate name for them.227 The people will
bestow blessings on each other (no longer in the name of the God of Israel
but) in the name of the God of Amen, the God whose servants amen him.
225 Cf. W.A.M. Beuken, The Main Theme of Trito-Isaiah, JSOT 47 (1990), 6787, esp. 81.
226 Compare to the new name in Isa. 62:2.
227 Cf. J. Blenkinsopp, A Jewish Sect of the Persian Period, CBQ 52 (1990), 520, esp. 10
n. 21: That the name of the opponents will be used as a curse suggests that the elect will
be named after the God Amen, and that they will therefore be the Amen people, that is,
a people that says Yes to God. See also K. Koenen, Ethik und Eschatologie im Tritojesajabuch:
Eine literarkritische und redaktionsgeschichtliche Studie (WMANT, 62), Tbingen 1990, 180;
Beuken, Main Theme, 79.
newness in trito-isaiah 119
The close of the third stanza forms the conclusion to the first part of the
poem: For the first troubles are forgotten, for they are hidden from my eyes
(16). The opposition first-new establishes the main bridge to the sequel.
This follow-up lacks the dialogical nature of the preceding and alone in
the imperatives of v. 18 be glad and rejoice allows an address to shimmer
through: the nascent servant community.228 The fourth stanza starts with a
more or less concentric structure:
17 For I am about to create new heavens A
and a new earth
and the first things shall not be remembered B
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever B
in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, A
and its people as a delight.
In this sub-stanza, the beginning of v. 17, For I am about to create new
heavens, corresponds to the close of v. 18, for I am about to create Jerusalem
as a joy. The close of v. 17 and the beginning of v. 18 are linked through
the contrast between past [ ]and future [] .229 Syntactically the
conjunction in v. 18a supports the connection between the two verses.
Through the weqatal forms, v. 19 continues directly from the particip-
ial clause in v. 18; but prosodically this verse is a new start seen in the
emphasised renominalisations Jerusalem and people. This offers sufficient
grounds to mark 1920 as a next sub-stanza.230 The reason for Yhwhs per-
sonal joy over the city and his people is contained in the second line of v. 19
228 According to Steck, Tritojesaja the imperatives of 18a are an aufbauwidrige[n] Vern-
derung (218) and all 1325 is Gottesrede an die Frevler (228). In this spirit also M.A. Sweeney,
Prophetic Exegesis in Isaiah 6566, in: C.C. Broyles, C.A. Evans (eds), Writing and Reading
the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretative Tradition, vol. 1 (VT.S, 70/1), Leiden 1997, 455
474, esp. 459 maintaining 18a MT (cf. 471). The assumption that the forsakers continue to be
addressed after v. 16 seems to us to be insufficiently grounded.
229 The imperatives of 65:18a should be compared to the prohibitives of 43:18, which
caesura between 18a and 18b; so too J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, Een begin zonder einde: De door-
werking van Jesaja 65:17 in de intertestamentaire literatuur en het Nieuwe Testament, Amster-
dam 1990, 46. It is difficult to establish objective criteria to segment 1723. Our proposal
(1718 | 1920 | 2123 | 2425) is based principally on syntactic and thematic perspectives, and
on the level of the strophes is supported by the Masoretic versification. The many repetitions
then determine the concatenation of strophes and sub-stanzas, not their inner cohesion.
The suggested structure is followed by Webster, Rhetoric, 99.
120 chapter two
and in v. 20. The negative clauses at the end of the one verse and beginning of
the other create a chiastic effect. The acute contrast between a life spanning
days and a life of a hundred years tells sharply of the radical change which,
due to Yhwhs new act of creation, may be looked forward to.
The third sub-stanza (2123) ends at about the same point as the second,
in the absence of premature death. This time it involves the promise that
not others, but Yhwhs chosen and their descendants will have all the time
in the world to enjoy what they have planted and built up. The construction
of houses and the planting of vineyards form the central theme of this unit.
After the introductory v. 21, parallel patterns are displayed in vv. 22 and 23:
They will not , for The conclusion recalls the words seed and blessing
that were introduced in vv. 9 and 16: for they will be a seed blessed by Yhwh,
they and their descendants with them (23). Other words from the first part
of the poem that reoccur in this unit include my people (10, 19, 22), my
chosen ones (9, 15, 22), and eat (in v. 4 regarding the cultic meal, in vv. 13,
21, 22 as future salvation, in v. 25 for the lion that will eat straw).
There is one even stronger link between the final sub-stanza and the
first part of the poem. In all the cultic misconduct mentioned, the main
complaint was that the people made it impossible for Yhwh to approach
them. The following passages can be compared (where it is significant
that v. 12 picks up the theme of vv. 12, Yhwhs carelessly unrecognised
availability):
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you will all bend down for the slaughter,
because I called but you did not answer,
spoke but you did not listen
and you did evil before my eyes
and chose what displeases me.
24 It will be like this: before they call I will answer,
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but the serpentits food shall be dust;
they will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain, says Yhwh.
Not only have God and man exchanged roles between vv. 12 and 24 in
calling/speaking and answering/listening, an added dimension is that in this
new dispensation, the divine answering and listening will precede human
calling and speaking. This link is strengthened by the manner in which the
theme of evil or harm from v. 12 returns in v. 25 through the root . Similarly,
newness in trito-isaiah 121
the repetition of my holy mountain bridges this distance in the poem (11,
25)the term that announces the location of Jerusalem in 116 (cf. 18, 19),
as opposed to the mountains and hills on which the people defiantly offer
incense (7, cf. 9). The main lines in the structure of Isa. 65, then, may be
represented as follows:
To conclude this synchronic survey we will pay attention to three places that
have an interest for this study due to their indications of time, vv. 7b, 16b and
17.
The word does not first appear in vv. 16b and 17, as it already
occurs in v. 7b. Whether there is a connection with that verse depends on
the syntactic interpretation of v. 7b. Should be read as (1) adjective,
their former payment, that is to say the repayment for their former deeds;
or as (2) adverb, firstly I will measure their payment (where they refers to
the fathers in contrast to those addressed in v. 7a, or to both)?231 This last
231 Beuken, Jesaja, 60 along with Alexander, Daniels a.o. opt for solution 1. See also Web-
ster, Rhetoric, 98: payment for the former way. F. Delitzsch, Commentar ber das Buch Jesaia
(BC), Leipzig 41889, 617 like Ewald, Ngelsbach, Orelli, Bredenkamp, Kissane and Whybray
prefers solution 2, whereby first (cf. Jer. 16:18) apparently means that this retribution pre-
cedes the salvation of the servants in vv. 810; they thus indicates the addressees and their
fathers together. See also Koenen, Ethik, 160: zuerst das Gericht und dann das Heil; E.U. Dim,
The Eschatological Implications of Isa 65 and 66 as the Conclusion of the Book of Isaiah, Bern
2005, 77.
122 chapter two
view is the more probable. Thus taken, a connection is fixed between the
ends of stanza I (17) and III (1316), in accordance to the correspondence
we identified between the ends of stanza II (812) and IV (1725). The
periodisation that is made evident in v. 16b is then primed terminologically
in v. 7b. First there is the retribution of the rebellious (including fathers and
sons, bringing closure to a whole history of rebellion) and subsequently a
time of prosperity will dawn for the servants. This aspect is important for
the anchoring of the temporal dualism in the poem as a whole [ 2.3.3.1].
In the first troubles of v. 16b one could well contemplate the suppression
the servants experienced under the forsakers of Yhwh, but the direct context
offers little support to this interpretation. The context mentions in vv. 1315
what the forsakers may expect: hunger, thirst, shame and deathdoom that
likewise holds a tangible threat for the servants (8; cf. 1923). If these are the
troubles that will be forgotten, to such a degree that they will be removed
from Yhwhs sight, the definitive nature of this line being drawn under the
past is given extra stress.
The opposition open-hidden has a prominent role in the foregoing verses.
The rebellious people practised their deceit in secretive places (4), though
Yhwh nonetheless views these as an open insult (3); but from Yhwhs point
of view, this whole episode will soon be as concealed as a closed chapter.
Subsequently, still keeping the evaluation of the dualism in focus, one
could ask why the creation of a new heaven and a new earth is promised (17),
when at first sight it seems to implicate nothing more than the recreation of
Jerusalem and a people that orientates itself on this city (18). It is unlikely,
however, that the text lets these two creational deeds merge completely.
Yhwh creates Jerusalem as a joy, by creating above and around her a new
heaven and a new earth. In this promise there is an objective aspect, then,
alongside the subjective. Jerusalem will have all the objective reasons to be
joyous.232
It is noticeable that Isa. 65 does not speak further in worldwide terms
about the new.233 The paradisiac regions stretching out over the entire holy
mountain (25), is seen as sufficient expos to satisfy the spatial interests
of the reader. These spatial dimensions may be set in a different light only
232 B. Schramm, The Opponents of Third Isaiah: Reconstructing the Cultic History of the
Restoration (JSOT.S, 193) Sheffield 1995, 160: the two creation statements are not mutually
exclusive but rather complementary and perhaps even synonymous. They may be comple-
mentary, in our view, but not synonymous.
233 Thus correctly Van Ruiten, Begin, 60, where he remarks (in a somewhat one-sided
formulation) that in Isa. 65:1718 the interest lies not so much in a new cosmos, but much
rather in a recreated Jerusalem (our translation).
newness in trito-isaiah 123
within the broader context [ 2.3.2]. This chapter as such ensures that
new creation evokes less spatial-universal, and more temporal associations:
Yhwh will bring about change for his servants, equally radical as his original
creation of heaven and earth. But this does not mean that the new creation
in Isa. 65 is merely a poetic hyperbole indicating Jerusalems joy.
The majority of commentaries pose the question whether a new heaven
and a new earth are really expected in Isa. 65:17, a question that naturally
does not enable a good answer in this formulation. The exposition must
distinguish between the image raised by the words and the reality this
image is attempting to define. To say that the image has little more to
say than the renewal of the existing heaven and earth, would be a too
prosaic approach.234 But it is truethe suggested cosmic transformation
is not treated extensively in Isa. 65, and thus a too developed, descriptive
articulation of this new creation would quickly lead to logical tensions. And
therefore the break in the preconditions of Yhwhs servants is understood
here more metaphorically than literally, as a creational change, being as
unimaginable and at the same time as durable as the creation of heaven
and earth in the beginning.
234 It is interesting to see how LXX has softened Isa. 65:17 in this respect; cf. Van Ruiten,
Begin, 116122 [ 2.3.4]. For the Hebrew the remark by W. Gro Erneuerter oder Neuer
Bund? Wortlaut und Aussageintention in Jer 31,3134, in: F. Avemarie, H. Lichtenberger (eds),
Bund und Tora: Zur theologischen Begriffsgeschichte in alttestamentlicher, frhjdischer und
urchristlicher Tradition, Tbingen 1996, 4166, esp. 51 on the avoidance of the verb in Jer.
31:31 is relevant: Statt dessen wurde hier die nominale Ausdrucksweise gewhlt, die die neue
Gre sprachlich als eigene Entitt behandelt. Dim, Implications, 104105 on the other hand,
again speaks of a renewed instead of a new creation.
235 Cf. Steck, Tritojesaja, 217228 and 229265. But even if one decides against accepting
Stecks view that Isa. 6566 follows the foregoing prayer Schritt fr Schritt (223), he indicated
convincingly the extent of the connections between these passages. Dim, Implications, 369
sees Isa. 6566 not as an answer, but, as an explanation of why the usual and expected
124 chapter two
answer is not forthcoming. The difference between a correcting and an unexpected answer
does not seem that large. In some modern translations Isa. 63:19b64:11 is numbered as
64:112, influenced by the Vulg.; here the numbering is followed that is based on the Masoretic
versification.
236 Ruszkowski, Volk, 81 rejects Stecks view that Isa. 66 continues the response of Isa. 65
on the prayer in 6364. The parallelism between Isa. 65 and 66 emphasised by Ruszkowski
(104106) does not contradict the possibility that Isa. 65 was planned to be complemented in
this way from the outset. Complementary parallelism is a common literary phenomenon in
the book of Isaiah; see in this regard 2.2.7.2.
newness in trito-isaiah 125
ferentiated subtly between the earthly temple and Yhwhs heavenly home, a
distinction that 66:12 carries forward. There are more associations between
Isa. 66 and the prayer of Isa. 6364, seen in various themes such as the name
of Yhwh (63:12, 14, 16, 19; 64:1, 6; 66:5), enmity (63:10; 66:6, 14) and the fire of
judgement (64:1; 66:15, 15, 16, 24).
An echo is also noticeable between 64:3: Since ancient times they have
not heard, they have not given ear, an eye has not seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him, and the birth of the new
people of God in 66:8: Who has ever heard of such a thing, who has ever seen
such things? In this regard it could be asked whether the motherhood of
Zion (66:711; via 66:13 an imagery eventually depicting Gods own motherly
compassion!) should not be seen in connection to Yhwhs fatherhood. Was
it not this fatherhood that the preceding prayer appealed to so passionately
(63:16; 64:7)? In any event the theme of the nations of the world (64:1), which
Isa. 65:166:4 allowed to rest, is emphatically taken up once more in 66:12,
18, 19, 20.
What does this broad compositional embedding contribute to the mean-
ing and scope of the new creation in Isa. 65? As we inquired earlier, it is insuf-
ficient to type this new creation as a hyperbolic expression of Jerusalems
joy.237 Within this network of relations Jerusalem swells to become the cen-
tre of the world. The reverence of the nations will stream to her (66:12), and
from her Yhwhs glory will be proclaimed amongst the nations (66:19). And
not alone the earth, heaven co-determines the spatial dimensions in which
the recreated Jerusalem is placed by these chapters (63:19; 66:1). Jerusalem
is where heaven touches the earth. In Isa. 65:17 it is therefore not a case of
accidental and fleeting hyperbole, but of metaphorical language that closely
melds prayer and response. In this light the prayers cry for the rending of
heaven (63:19) seems to become a call for a genuine cosmic intervention,
which is then resolved with the announcement of a new heaven and a new
earth, never heard before.238 Be as it may, together the new heaven and the
new earth will form the immeasurable space in which everything that lives
will come to Jerusalem to bow before Yhwh (66:2223).
When we look further back in the book, it appears that chapters 6566
form the counterbalance of 5657 in the concentric structure of Trito-Isaiah
237 See e.g. Koenen, Ethik, 221: the creation of a new heaven and a new heaven in Isa. 65:17
means nothing else als da man in Jerusalem in einer besseren, aber vllig diesseitigen Welt
leben wird. P.A. Smith, Rhetoric and Redaction in Trito-Isaiah: The Structure, Growth, and
Authorship of Isaiah 5666 (VT.S, 62), Leiden 1995, 147 too talks in this vein.
238 Thus Steck, Tritojesaja, 254.
126 chapter two
built around Isa. 6062. Like the servants of Yhwh in Isa. 65 contrast the
forsakers of Yhwh, in 56:957:13 the men of stand against the sons of a
sorceress.
The term servants appears 10 in Trito-Isaiah, namely 7 in Isa. 65 and
then in 56:6; 63:17 and 66:14. Who may belong to this group of people, is told
in Isa. 5666 using various other names such as righteous (57:1; cf. 60:21)
and devout (57:1), as those who make their refuge with Yhwh (57:13), the
contrite and lowly in spirit (57:15), broken hearted (61:1), those who grieve
in Zion (61:3; cf. 57:18; 66:10), as watchmen posted on Zions walls (62:6),
and finally also as the ones who tremble for Yhwhs word (66:2, 5). This
is the group that Yhwhlike the singular Servant in Deutero-Isaiahhas
filled with his spirit and in whose mouths he has placed his words (59:21;
cf. 51:16).
Remarkably, it seems that Trito-Isaiah avoids the designation servants
of Yhwh for them, exactly in the places where the despair of these Yhwh-
loyalists remind the strongest of the suffering Servant figure from Isa. 53.
They are just called by this name servants once it is told what blessings
await themwhere their existence is viewed in the glorious future perspec-
tive that the Servant of Isa. 53 has prepared for them.
In a synchronic approach the absence of the term servants in the mid-
section of Isa. 5666 could therefore be typed as a meaningful aposiopesis,
a significant suppression that is only broken near the end.239 The closing
chapters bring the contrast between the Yhwh-loyalists and the others to
a dramatic crescendo and the presupposition is justified that an essential
connection exists between this ethical-religious dualism and the tempo-
ral dualism of first and new. Similar to the contrast servants-forsakers, the
contrast between the present and the future world was touched upon before
(see esp. 60:1920), but also regarding this second theme, it may be said that
Isa. 65 strengthens the dualism and builds it up to a climax.
The literary horizon of this eschatological perspective reaches further
back in the book. A section below will analyse the relations between Isa. 65
and Deutero-Isaiah in detail [ 2.3.3.3]. Proto-Isaiah resonates in the para-
disiacal final verse of Isa. 65 with the wolf and the lamb (cf. 11:6), and thus
it does not sound out of order to read Isa. 65:17 also in relation to represen-
tations of the passing of heaven and earth in more remote areas of the book
239 Cf. Beuken, Main Theme, 69, 76. In this regard he draws attention to the occurrence
of the terms justice and seed, which have been closely associated with the theme of the
Servant since Isa. 53.
newness in trito-isaiah 127
(Isa. 13:910, 13; 24:4, 1819; 34:24; cf. 51:6). Although such connections are
not supported by evident allusions in Isa. 65 and one is left to speculate on
the intentions of the redactors of Isaiah on this point, a reader-oriented or
canonical approach to the book will certainly be interested in them.
Observations by Liebreich on the framing function of Isa. 1 and 6566
have found wide support in Isaiah research.240 It is noteworthy that the most
striking connection with Isa. 65 is found in Isa. 11:6, resulting in both the
beginning and close of Isa. 112 emerging with possible links to the end
redaction of the whole book. The beginning of Isa. 112 then anticipates par-
ticularly the ethical-religious dualism (righteousness/apostasy); the close
anticipates mainly the temporal dualism in an image of entirely new cre-
ational conditions.241 In the so-called Isaiah Apocalypse, chapters 2427, the
ethical-religious dualism receives a strong universal accent and seems to
spread from Israel over all of humanity. The vision of the nations pilgrimage
in Isa. 2:15 is often involved in the correspondence between the beginning
and close of the book Isaiah.
240 L.J. Liebreich, The Compilation of the Book of Isaiah, JQR 46 (1955/6), 259277; 47
(1956/7), 114138; for further literature see P. Hffken, Jesaja: Der Stand der Theologischen
Diskussion, Darmstadt 2004, 51; Dim, Implications, 2223.
241 Whether Isa. 1:2 (Hear, o heavens) should be seen as a disguised reference to the books
dnouement (see e.g. Sweeney, Exegesis, 472) is doubtful on account of the frequency of
heaven-earth (20 ) in Isaiah. If followed, it would give new an extra connotation in Isa.
6566: a heaven and an earth that no longer were witnesses of Israels apostasy.
242 For the discussion on the direction of dependence between Isa. 65:25 and 11:69, see
Hffken, Diskussion, 38. The allusion to Gen. 3:14 supports Isa. 65:25 as the borrowing party.
128 chapter two
(2) Against a stratification of Isa. 65 rests the argument that this whole
chapter is aligned with the foregoing prayer. The exile has often been taken
as the prayers time of origin.244 The redactors of Trito-Isaiah would have
included an existing communal prayer into their composition. The divine
response, which offers corrections to the prayer on numerous points, would
then have been added afterwards. These presuppositions raise questions.
Usage of Isaian phrases argues against the supposition that the prayer came
into being outside the context of the book.245 Correction of the prayer by
the response could signal a difference in time of origin, but a necessary
implication it is not: perhaps one should differentiate in 63:764:11 between
Testament Period, vol. 2, London 1994, 401; Idem, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of
the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 146147: close of the exilic period.
245 Cf. Steck, Tritojesaja, 241.
newness in trito-isaiah 129
the intentions of the we-supplicant and the author who deliberately placed
these words in the supplicants mouth. Specific tensions within the prayer
itself [ 2.3.2] suggest that the prayer presumes a correctional response from
Yhwh in advance. Was there then no compositional planning involved, for
example, when the supplicant naively seems to apply the title servants in
Isa. 63:17 to the nation as a whole?
(4) All this does not affect Stecks reasonable suggestion that with Isa. 65
66 we find ourselves in an advanced stage of the redaction history of the
book Isaiah. Regarding the issue of dates we must keep account of plau-
sible periods for this redaction history. An early post-exilic dating of Isa.
65:17 to around 520bce conflicts the fact that this text is dependent on Isa.
4055 [ 2.3.3.3], of which even the oldest literary layers in our opinion can-
not be dated convincingly before the year 515 [ 2.2.8.5].248 The tensions
footsteps of Elliger he assumes the latter part of the sixth century bce for the greater share
130 chapter two
between the servants and the forsakers have often been connected to the
measures taken by Nehemiah and Ezra in the fifth century. According to a
number of scholars, Trito-Isaiahs servants of Yhwh would have belonged to
the same universalistic group that Nehemiah and Ezra excommunicated.249
This view presupposes a structural tension between legalistic-theocratic
and prophetic-visionary groups in post-exilic Judea,250 a supposition that has
been castigated from different quarters in the last decades as being far too
simplistic.251 In the rebound, the servants in Trito-Isaiah, from being Ezras
opponents, could be renamed Ezras supporters by these critics. Thus Blenk-
insopp draws attention to the expression who tremble at the word/com-
mandment of God in Isa. 66:2, 5 and Ezra 9:4; 10:3.252 In these instances the
same group of people could be implicated. If this identification is correct,
we come across the group in Ezra at a later phase of its development than
in Trito-Isaiaha phase in which these tremblers or quakers, with moral
and material support from Persia, would have regained much of their social
standing in Judean society.253 Yet there are several reasons to compare the
of Isa. 6566 (34). Smith, Rhetoric, 188 includes Isa. 65:166:17 in his TI2 layer, for which he
takes 515 as terminus ante quem. Such dates seem far too early. J. Werlitz, Redaktion und
Komposition: Zur Rckfrage hinter die Endgestalt von Jesaja 4055 (BBB, 122), Berlin 1999, 127,
offers an overview of dating propositions for the whole TI, including Volz, Westermann,
Fohrer, Vermeylen and Koenen. The earliest proposition (6th and 5th century) is found
in Koenen, Ethik. Vermeylen on average sets the date one century later. Volz probes the
Hellenistic period for Isa. 6566.
249 So a.o. Koenen, Ethik, 223 (with literature reference).
250 See esp. P.D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of
ting, Minneapolis 1995, who defends the idea that proto-apocalyptic concepts originated in
groups allied with or identical to the priests at the center of restoration society (2). Whereas
Cook has based his view on comparative studies in recent millennial groups, Schramm, Oppo-
nents questions among other things Hansons view that TIs criticism of syncretic practices
was in fact directed against the official priestly religion of the OT. In this regard see also Smith,
Rhetoric, 193.
252 Cf. J. Blenkinsopp, A Jewish Sect of the Persian Period, CBQ 52 (1990), 520. Concerning
the development of this group he sees Malachi as a link between TI and Ezra-Nehemiah. For
this chronological order TI Ezra-Nehemiah, see also Schramm, Opponents, 6162.
253 Cf. Smith, Rhetoric, 201: [] it is very uncertain whether we can draw any lines of
continuity between the group that has been tentatively identified in Isa. 5666 and Ezra 910
and these later groups [] referred to as the Hasidim. But is this not also the case for the lines
between Isa. 5666 and Ezra 910? An important consideration would be that in the framing
of the book Isaiah through Isa. 1 and 6566 [ 2.3.2] the antagonism between the forsakers
newness in trito-isaiah 131
and the servants of Yhwh is essentially projected back into the time of the prophet. The
religious conflict in which the books redactors were engaged is thus understood as the
conflict experienced by no one less than Isaiah himself. We may see this as an important
development in the groups attempted emancipation.
254 For a rationale of the last mentioned direction of dependence, see K. Baltzer, Deutero-
Jesaja (KAT, 10/2), Gtersloh 1999, 14; J.L. Koole, Isaiah III (HCOT), vol. 3: Isaiah 5666, Leuven
2001, 2425.
255 See A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, Analogies in Isaiah, vol. B: Analogies between Isaiah 5666
and Isaiah 4066, Amsterdam 1993 for the most objective presentation of the relevant mate-
rial.
256 See e.g. H.-J. Hermisson, Deuterojesaja und Eschatologie, in: F. Postma et al. (eds),
The New Things: Eschatology in Old Testament Prophecy. Fs H. Leene (ACEBT.S, 3), Maastricht
2002, 89105, esp. 105discussed 2.2.9 sub 4.
132 chapter two
only be given to the texts, but also to the underlying questions behind the
texts. In the figure of the Servant, Deutero-Isaiah answers the question how
the group pointed out by Trito-Isaiah as servants, relates to the historical
Israel.257 In this sense Deutero-Isaiah is in fact younger than Trito-Isaiah. This
is the element of truth in their relative dating such as proposed by Koole.258
The comparatively small difference in time between the formation of
Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah should also be taken carefully into account when
determining the relation between presentic and apocalyptic eschatology.
See on this 2.3.4. The argument of these sections and eventually this whole
chapter is centred on this point.
Details that play a role in research on the absolute dating of Trito-Isaiah
include: the destruction of the temple according to Isa. 64; the cultic rituals
condemned in Isa. 65 and 66; the practice of fasting according to Isa. 58
compared to Zech. 78; the trembling at Yhwhs word etc. according to
Isa. 66 and Ezra, already mentioned; the assumed allusion to members
of the house of David in Isa. 56;259 and the close connection between the
ethic-religious dualism in Isa. 6566 and the final redaction of the book
Isaiah.
On closer inspection the majority of these details offer little succour.
The dynastic allusion through the eunuchs of Isa. 56:34 (Ruszkowski) is
speculative. It is not immediately clear what Isa. 64:10 means with the
temple destruction; a reference to a specific event from 301 bce, as we have
seen, is not obvious [ 2.3.3.1 sub 3]. Other texts in Trito-Isaiah presume a
well-functioning temple cult (56:5, 7; 60:7, 13; 62:9; 66:1, 6, 20). It is historically
the most probable that after the exile the temple was rebuilt and taken into
use in phases, and that Haggai and Zechariah have left us with a rather
stylised and ideologically tinted portrayal of these events. Criticism against
fasting practices must have become a stereotype theme in the post-exilic
homiletics and therefore is a dubious dating anchor. The absolute dating of
Zech. 78 is not less uncertain than that of Isa. 58.
The identification of the tremblers from Isa. 66:2, 5 with those in Ezra
9:4; 10:3 (Blenkinsopp, Schramm) is convincing, but does not compel us
to accept the conclusion that Trito-Isaiah reflects the actual situation of
found in Isa. 5666 (thus L. Ruszkowski, Volk und Gemeinde im Wandel: Eine Untersuchung zu
Jesaja 5666, Gttingen 2000, in conclusion 173), but as a line of questioning simultaneously
forms the background of Isa. 4055.
258 See the first footnote of this section.
259 Cf. Ruszkowski, Volk, 146151.
newness in trito-isaiah 133
the Judean devotees on the eve of Ezras feats.260 It is plausible that Ezra
was received with open arms by such marginalised in Jerusalem, but it
might well be that the designation tremblers for this group originated
from a fourth century narrator, which is credibly the situation for other
elements from the narrative of Ezra 910.261 The cultic rituals condemned in
Isa. 6566 (chthonic veneration of pigs and dogs, worship of Gad and Meni)
at first sight are the most promising dating anchors, but in comparative
religio-historical research have not yet led to any definitive conclusions.
There is a widely held intuition that the Hellenistic period cannot be too
far away, but assured it decidedly is not. In any event Isa. 6566 brings the
final redaction of the book Isaiah into view.
Whoever accepts a fifth or early fourth century dating for Isa. 6566,262
and in addition calculates the distance between them and the oldest texts
of Isa. 4055 in terms of decennia rather than centuries [ 2.3.3.3], is faced
once more with the conclusion that the conventional late-exilic or early
post-exilic dating of Deutero-Isaiah does not tally. Earlier in this chapter
it was argued that one should probably descend to after 515 bce, or more
precisely to a point in time later than Ps. 93100* as a coherent dramatic
composition from the second temple period [ 2.2.8.5] in order to situate
the so-called Prophet of the Exile. Winding back from Ezra-Nehemiah
260 Cf. Ruszkowski, Volk, 155159. The fact that Ezra 9:4 and 10:3 do not cite from Isa.
of the Hasmoneans but still prefers the Persian period, reliable historical information on Ezra
is rare in comparison to Nehemiah; see e.g. W.H. Schmidt, Einleitung in das Alte Testament,
Berlin 51995, 172. At most it can be established that, in the eyes of a later author, in Jerusalem
Ezra found support in devotees who distinguished themselves as a group from priests,
levites, and the whole nation Israel, even where the latter showed remorse. The objectifying
designation tremblers at the words of the God of Israel / at the law of our God could have
been derived from a more inclusively intended noun of address as formulated in Isa. 66:2, 5.
The reverse direction of dependence is not to be considered seriouslythe semantic relation
does not differ from that between the apostolic salutation Col. 1:2 and Brethren in Christ as
a name for a (American) church denomination. In Isa. 66:5 these tremblers are grouped
against those that hate them; in Ezra 910 the hatred seems to have dissipated but the group
still exists. A certain distance may thus be deduced between TI and this possible fourth
century view of the historical reality, as formulated in Ezra. According to J. Pakkala, Ezra the
Scribe: The Development of Ezra 710 and Nehemia 8 (BZAW, 347), Berlin 2004, 292293 Ezra
9:4; 10:3a are Gola additions from the early fourth century to the basic story over Ezra.
262 In 4.2.2 we will discuss the dating of Isa. 6566 in relation to the book of Jeremiah.
134 chapter two
through Isa. 6566, for Isa. 4055, one then once again ends up somewhere
in the second half of the fifth century.
01 I am approachable a by |
who do not ask (for me) |
ready to be found b by | a+b 55:6
who do not seek me |
I say | same sequence of
here I am | analogous clauses 58:9
here I am |
to a nation |
that does not call on my name | analogous clause 64:6
02 I hold out my hands all day long to an obstinate people |
who walk in a way a | analogous clause 48:17
that is not good |
following their own thoughts b | a+b 55:7264
[]
04 who sit inside graves |
and spend the night in secret places |
who eat the flesh of pigs | analogous clause 66:17
and broth of unclean meat is (in) their pots |
[]
06 See it stands written before me |
I will not keep silent | analogous clause 64:11
unless I have repaid |
and I will repay (it) into their laps |
[]
08 Thus says Yhwh |
As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes |
and they say |
Dont destroy it |
265 In TI elsewhere only 65:15. See also servant and choose: 41:8, 9; 43:10; 44:1, 2; 49:7.
266 Isa. 62:2 and you will be called by a new name: besides Isa. 65:17; 66:22 the only
occurrence in TI of the adjective .
267 who swear by the name of Yhwh [] not in truth . Cf. 49:7 .
136 chapter two
268 The verb is also used in relation to new things in Isa. 48:7. The theme of the
creation of heaven and earth in 42:5 introduces sayings on the first and new things in 42:9.
There appear to be no traces of allusion to these places in Isa. 65. On the theme of joy and
praise in the context of 43:1819 and 65:17, see J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, Een begin zonder einde:
De doorwerking van Jesaja 65:17 in de intertestamentaire literatuur en het Nieuwe Testament,
Amsterdam 1990, 58. From the results of his research on the unicity of 65:17 the similarity
between this verse and 43:1819 comes to the fore (8289).
269 Exceptions are Isa. 41:15 and 43:27.
newness in trito-isaiah 137
become well-defined; but not only that: this definition also brings about a
considerable change in tenor.
In Deutero-Isaiah, with Israels former history of salvation had to
be understood as it found confirmation in the fall of Babylon. Diachronic
development did not cause substantial change to this dominant meaning
of the first or former things within Isa. 4048 [ 2.2.8.1]. In Trito-Isaiah
indicates former troubles, cf. 65:16. The current calamitous situation
is thought of within the context of Isa. 65, which for the servants precedes
the new age of prosperity; see also the previously stated former ruins in 61:4.
Any connection between and the history of salvation thus disappears
from sight. Salvation history is broached in Trito-Isaiah (see e.g. 63:79),
but without the word first having a say in it. Perhaps the allusion betrays
that the author of 65:16, 17 understood his source text 43:18 differently and
there already applied the first things on Yhwhs judgement (as some modern
commentaries still do); but this then would have contradicted the original
intention of that exhortation [ 2.2.5].270 Neither can it be excluded that the
opposition in this way came to play a role in the redaction of the whole book
of Isaiah, but then just as secondary interpretation of the Deutero-Isaian
opposition first-new, namely in view of judgement and salvation [ 2.2.8.2].
This all indicates distance in time between Isa. 4048 and 65. According
to modern standards of comprehension, Isa. 43 was misunderstood by the
author of Isa. 65regardless how much he persists in associating the new
things with Yhwhs incomparable power to create.271 If one draws Isa. 4955
into the comparison alongside 4048, however, the distance DI-TI is reduced
remarkably. In these chapters the following connecting links deserve atten-
tion:
(a) The theme of call and answer, speaking and hearing connects Isa. 65 with
Isa. 50.
270 This is a comely illustration from the following observation of B.D. Sommer, A Prophet
Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 4066, Stanford, CA 1998, 29: When a later author refers
to an earlier text and changes some ideas in it, readers may debate whether the later author
means to argue against the earlier text, to rewrite it with appropriate changes, or to claim that
the earlier text really meant to say what he is saying more clearly now. Incidentally Sommer
ascribes Isa. 4066 to the same author or group of authors.
271 According to B.S. Childs, Isaiah (OTL), Louisville 2001, 447 the new things in DI in light
of TI are only an illustration, a foretaste, of Gods promise. In our view the new things in DI
and TI refer to the same new reality created by Yhwh, but with different perspectives, that is
as human response to history and as divine response to the suffering of the pious [ 2.3.4].
138 chapter two
These word pairs are not exclusively Isaian. Several places in Jeremiah also
deal with the call of God that is not answered and his speech that goes
unheard.
Jer. 7:13 And I spoke to you again and again and you did not hear
and I called you and you did not answer
Jer. 7:27 When you speak all these words to them,
they will not hear to you
and you will call to them and they will not answer you
Jer. 35:17 Because I spoke to them and they did not hear
and I called to them and they did not answer
(b) This evident connection between Isa. 50 and 66 does not alter the fact
that clear, direct echoes from the so-called Servant Songs are missing in
Trito-Isaiah. Various signals in the text of Isa. 5666 suggest a resemblance
between the servants and the Servant [ 2.3.2], but therewith still not a gen-
erative relation. It is well to realise that this generative relation is established
not by Trito-Isaiah, but by Deutero-Isaiah.274 The servants (plural) are first
introduced in Isa. 54:17, and are hence understood as the offspring of the Ser-
vant announced in 53:10also in light of the other connections between Isa.
272 See the noun and the verb . As counterparts of and in 50:2 they establish
a meaningful link between the third Servant Song and the foregoing context (cf. H. Leene, De
stem van de knecht als metafoor: Beschouwingen over de compositie van Jesaja 50, Kampen 1980,
20).
273 In 4.2.2 it will be argued that Jeremiah borrowed the expression from Isaiah.
274 The words and in TI usually indicate the seed and the descendants that are
promised to the servants, but nowhere these servants themselves as offspring of the Servant.
newness in trito-isaiah 139
Could one then argue that historically the Servant comes after the servants,
theologically speaking the servants follow him, as the seed that he will see
(53:10). The servants are the offspring of the Servant representing the servant
Jacob-Israel who is transformed by Yhwhs creational word.275
275 Also J. Blenkinsopp, The Servant and the Servants in Isaiah and the Formation of the
Book, in: C.C. Broyles, C.A. Evans (eds), Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of
an Interpretative Tradition, vol. 1 (VT.S, 70/1), Leiden 1997, 155175 uses the terms servant
and servants in Isa. 4066 to describe the shift of focus from the community as a whole
to a collectivity within it which claims, in effect, to be the nucleus of the true Israel (168).
The article emphasises the distinction between the collective servant from 4048 and
the individual servant from 4955. Partially due to Blenkinsopp reading 42:19 in light of
Cyrus (164), 4048 and 4955 become disconnected in his argument as far as their servant
interpretations are concerned. In the servant of 4955 he sees a real historical figure, albeit
unknown to us (173), whose followers, as servants, tremblers or mourners of Zion, formed
the sect in 5666 that was responsible for the redaction of the book Isaiah. In our view the
servant in Isa. 42 and 4955 displays all the traits of a fictional figure, whose primary function
is to offer a theological response to the shift of focus of which Blenkinsopp describes the
historical course magnificently. As we see it, the Servant as linkage between the historical
Israel and the Trito-Isaian pious community is not a retrospective literary modelling of the
view according to which the golah binds the pre- and post-exilic Israel together. Instead
we find in DI and TI the earliest stages of what will become a historical standard image in
Chronicles. In other words: the theological triad, servant Jacob-Israel Servant servants,
precedes the historical triad, pre-exilic Israel Babylonian golah post-exilic Israel. To call
the Servant a personification of the Babylonian golah, in our view, is reversing the issue. On
the golah see further 3.2.5.4.
140 chapter two
come across instances where the antagonists of the pious are threatened
with grievous calamity as they are in Isa. 50:11 and 65:1116.276 This, like
the previous points, shows both literary affinity and historical proximity.
We may assume that something of the gradualbut not less organised
development process of Isa. 4055 is reflected in the apparent difference
between Isa. 4048 and 4955 concerning their distance in time from Isa.
65 [ 2.2.8.1].
The points of view presented above make it feasible to reconsider the rela-
tion between Deutero-Isaiahs presentic eschatology and Trito-Isaiahs
dawning apocalyptics. We ask ourselves whether this relation is understood
correctly in current research. But before we investigate this question more
thoroughly, we will weave a short sketch of the reception history of Isa. 65:17
into the argument. Without this reception history the incorporation of the
term apocalyptics in our exposition would not be justifiable.
276 Speech to these antagonists in the 2nd person plural is found elsewhere in Isa. 1:2831.
On the relation between 50:1011 and 6566, see also Blenkinsopp, Servant, 173.
277 Van Ruiten, Begin. Apart from the influences in 1 En. 91:16; 2Pet. 3:13 and Rev. 21:15b
he discusses, other places have been identified to be reminiscent of Isa. 65:17: 1 En. 45:45;
72:1; Jub. 1:29; 2 Bar. 32:6: 4 Ezra 7:75; Apoc. Abr. 9:9; 17:14; Apoc. Elijah 5:38; 2Cor. 5:17 and Gal.
6:15. The question is whether there is genuine literary dependence in all these instances. For
a summary on this matter, see Van Ruiten, Begin, 108111.
278 Van Ruiten, Begin, 113123.
newness in trito-isaiah 141
a creational action by God. This is all the more striking because the LXX
translates the creation of Jerusalem in 18a almost verbatim:
. Apparently the LXX wishes to focus all the attention
on the creation of Jerusalem, and avoid the idea of a new cosmos replacing
the existing one. This is an exception within the whole scope of the texts
reception history, as will be shown below.279
Elements of Isa. 65:17 (a new heaven, the first things) emerge in 1 En.
91:16.280 The verse forms part of the Apocalypse of Ten Weeks and reads as
follows: the first heaven will vanish in it (that is the tenth week) and [a new]
heaven [will appear, and all the powers] of the heavens will shine and make
light for ever, [sevenfold]. This last adverb could be an allusion to Isa. 30:26:
the light of the glowing sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of
seven full days. No mention is made of a new earth in 1 En. 91, although the
judgement over the earth is dealt with in the eighth and ninth week. The
presentation of the new heaven is far more detailed here than in Isa. 65:17,
resulting in the vanishing of the first heaven being announced in as many
words (but see already Isa. 51:6 and 63:19).
Rev. 21:18 contains many allusions to texts from the Old Testament. They
include prominent resemblances with Isa. 65:1720. The phrase -
in Rev. 21:1a is a translation of from
Isa. 65:17a. The term in Isa. 65:17 finds equivalents in Rev. 21:1b as
and ( ; cf. Rev.
21:4d ). In both passages, Jerusalem is mentioned in
the direct vicinity of the opposition first-new: Isa. 65:18b and Rev. 21:2a. A
thematic similarity between them is the absence of calamity in the new Jeru-
salem.281
Nothing is said in Rev. 21 on the creation of a new heaven and a new earth,
or a new Jerusalem. The chapter in truth does not announce the emergence
of these new things, but describes them in visionary terms as a reality that
already exists. Rev. 21:4d could equally be set aside Isa.
42:9 and 48:3: The first things have come.282 In this instance Revelation
has interpreted the Deutero-Isaian expression in the spirit of Trito-Isaiah,
by not applying it to the salvation history but to former judgement.
279 For a possible de-apocalypticising reception of Isa. 65:17 within the Hebrew bible, see
283 Van Ruiten discusses several more OT allusions in his detailed analysis of Rev 21:15b
(141187).
284 Van Ruiten, Begin, 186187.
285 Van Ruiten, Begin, 187207.
newness in trito-isaiah 143
become new. The creation of new heavens and a new earth in contrast is not
spoken about in these texts, though 2Pet. 3:4 refers in passing to the creation
in the beginning. It does not seem necessary to strain the differences by
saying that the new heavens and new earth in Isa. 65:17 are nothing more
than a casual metaphor for total change,286 while this metaphorical language
is no longer comprehended properly in the citations. Apocalyptic language
can only exist in metaphors, even if the original images naturally fossilise in
it, the longer the lapse in time the deeper the stereotyping, and therewith
even more extensive the presentations.
In this regard, a certain sharpening of the periodisation is detectable in
the three places discussed compared to the source text Isa. 65:17.287 Attention
is also drawn to Rev. 21 which is the only text to adopt the close relation
between the new heaven and new earth, and a new Jerusalem. 1 En. 91 and
2 Pet. 3 do not do this.
In retrospect, it becomes clear once more how essential for Jewish and
Christian readers of Isa. 65 the relation must have been between the conflict
of faithful and wicked on the one hand, and the expectation of a new heaven
and a new earth on the other, which, with the disappearance of the wicked,
would remove this unresolved conflict once and for all from the world. This
motif plays a central role in 1 En. 91 as well as in Rev. 21 and 2 Pet. 3.
What consequences are we able to draw from all this for the apocalyptic
character of Isa. 65? Recent literature rightly distinguishes between apoca-
lypse (as literary genre), apocalyptic eschatology (as conceptual world) and
apocalypticism (as a socio-religious phenomenon, also known as millen-
nialism).288 Eschatological portrayals in Jewish and Christian apocalyptic
286 See e.g. E. Jenni, Eschatology of the OT, in: IDB, vol. 2, New York 1962, 126133, esp. 131:
The creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22) is aimed at first only at
the wonderful transformation of the present conditions at the time of salvation (cf. 65:18ff.),
not, as yet, at the cosmologically anchored apocalyptic doctrine of the destruction of the old
world and the coming of the new aeon (Enoch 91:1617; Jub. 1:29; cf. Rev. 21:1).
287 Van Ruiten, Begin, 212: In conclusion we can state that the contrast between the former
things and the new things is developed in the loci into a periodization of history that is
more precise than it is the case in Isa. 65:17 (concentration). Isa. 65:17 is about the contrast
between the former suppression and the new salvation for Zion, in the loci about the contrast
between the first, evil world and the new, righteous world (our translation).
288 On the complicated relation between these three concepts, see in particular: P.R.
Davies, The Social World of Apocalyptic Writings, in: R.E. Clements (ed.), The World of
Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, Cambridge 1989, 251
271. He emphasises the fact that eschatology forms just one segment of an extensive apoca-
lyptic conceptual world (254). For this reason we expressly limit ourselves in this section to
apocalyptic eschatology.
144 chapter two
literature since the second century bce until the second century ce include
the following elements: (a) the present time is the final time; (b) resurrec-
tion, judgement of the world, and a new aeon are at hand; (c) the closeness of
the end encourages personal conversion; (d) history consists of a succession
of brutal world empires; (e) time is arranged according to a doctrine of peri-
ods; (f) the worlds stage mirrors the action of a parallel history in heaven.289
Where an Old Testament passage carries one or more facets of this set of
ideas, (proto-) apocalyptic traces may be identified.
It is directly noticeable how many elements from the inventory are still
absent from Isa. 65.290 In light of the subsequent developments, here the
cosmic metaphor has retained some of its sketch-like and fleeting quali-
ties. Still, with its expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, the book
of Isaiah unmistakably touches on the elements listed under a-c.291 Our ini-
tial conclusion from this reception history is that apocalyptic eschatology
deals essentially with the question how the righteous and the wicked could
ever coexist peacefully. The righteous understand themselves as those who
already recognise Yhwhs kingship but for the time being must pay for it with
pain and suffering, because the majority of their fellow people, in spite of a
communal historical experience and a shared religious tradition, offer resis-
tance precisely against this decisive insight. The new dispensation, which
the righteous anticipate, should bring an end to this situation of cognitive
dissonance. In line with our previous description of eschatology as offering
an answer to the question on the eventual vindication of God, apocalyp-
tic eschatology bends this questioning to implicate the eventual vindication
of those who believe in God and are today anxiously waiting for his salva-
tion.
289 Cf. K. Koch, Einleitung, in: K. Koch, J.M. Schmidt (eds), Apokalyptik, Darmstadt 1982,
129.
290 For E.U. Dim, The Eschatological Implications of Isa 65 and 66 as the Conclusion of the
Book of Isaiah, Bern 2005, 261265 this is a reason to reject using the designation apocalyptics
or apocalyptic eschatology for Isa. 6566. Especially the fact that the announced changes are
not removed from the historical settings of this present historical world (263), seen amongst
others in the prevailing dominion of death, leads Dim to this conclusion.
291 Cf. P. Vielhauer, Apokalypsen und Verwandtes [31971], in: K. Koch, J.H. Schmidt (eds),
Apokalyptik, Darmstadt 1982, 403439, esp. 405: Dieser eschatologische Dualismus der zwei
onen ist das wesentlichste inhaltliche Merkmal der Apokalyptik []. Dieser Dualismus ist
kein absoluter, metaphysischer, sondern ein zeitlicher, und er ist dadurch von dem Dualismus
der Gnosis unterschieden. On the influence of Vielhauers characterisation, see e.g. M.C. de
Boer, Paul and Apocalyptic Eschatology, in: B.J. McGinn, J.J. Collins, S.J. Stein (eds), The
Continuum History of Apocalypticism, New York/London 2003, 166194, spec. 168 and the
literature mentioned there.
newness in trito-isaiah 145
292 In truth already in the Trito-Isaian verse Ps. 97:11: Light is sown for the righteous.
146 chapter two
the name of Hanson is associated with this point of view.293 It involves a com-
plicated issue. We believe it is clear that the forsakers of the Lord in Isa. 65
more than anything made themselves guilty of religious syncretism in the
eyes of Trito-Isaiah. That is the essence of Trito-Isaiahs reproach against
them; the accusation has nothing to do with what Hanson calls traditional
rhetoric. But an element of truth underlies Hansons view. This syncretism
apparently did not leave the priests who controlled the temple cult unaf-
fected. It counted adherents in the highest priestly circles. Therefore this
conflict over true faith in Yhwh must have become intermingled with a
conflict for control over the temple. The servants in Trito-Isaiah, through
Deutero-Isaiah, must have been connected to the former group of profes-
sional temple singers. In Trito-Isaiah they not only declare themselves to
be in solidarity with all sorts of the socially marginalised, but concerning
their own devalued role in the official liturgy, also see themselves being
marginalised. The primary conflict over syncretism must then have added
to the natural tensions between sacrificial priests and temple singers.
The implicit criticism of Isa. 65 on Gen. 1 is relevant in this regard. The
expectation of a new heaven and a new earth is certainly in tension with this
priestly creation narrative. On the other hand, it is hardly likely, contrary
to Hansons proposition, that the priests in this conflict found support from
Ezekiel. In its dismissal of syncretism the book of Ezekiel does not yield its
honour to Trito-Isaiah. Later we shall see that Deutero-Isaiah too sides with
Ezekiel on important issues [ 4.1]. Precisely this realistic social complexity,
in which the lines are fused between the battle for pure Yahwism, control
over the temple, and perhaps also the rivalry between the repatriated and
established Judeans, encourages taking Isa. 6566 seriously as a historical
source. In all, the temple is not rejected, but a vast detachment is perceptible
from temple cult as it actually appears to function. In this light we see little
difference from Ps. 51, the psalm that views the brokenness of the heart as the
true offer, but nevertheless holds on to the prospect of an ideal temple cult
in a rebuilt Zion [ 3.1.4.4]. A verbal reminder to the enthronement ritual
that was so important to Deutero-Isaiah, in Isa. 5666 is found only in Isa.
66:1: The heaven is my throne . It is in this increased remoteness from the
functioning liturgy that we see a definitive feature of Trito-Isaiahs emerging
apocalyptics.
293 P.D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish
294 Th.C. Vriezen, Prophecy and Eschatology, VT.S 1, Leiden 1953, 199229.
295 Hanson, Dawn; Idem, Alttestamentliche Apokalyptik in neuer Sicht, in: K. Koch, J.M.
Schmidt (eds), Apokalyptik, Darmstadt 1982, 440470. See also P.D. Hanson, Isaiah 4066
(Interpr.), Louisville 1995, 185193.
296 That an apocalyptic vision can lead to a sense of reality even today, is described by
Hanson in his commentary on Isa. 65: Mother Teresa maintained her ministry to the outcasts
of Calcutta not out of programs designed on the basis of human pragmatics but out of a vision
148 chapter two
of a world in which they shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity (v. 23) (Hanson,
Isaiah 4066, 246).
297 R. Albertz, A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period, vol. 2, London 1994,
442.
298 Broadly speaking one may note a degree of generalising history in the proto-apoca-
lyptic texts of the OT, in which intertextuality has replaced direct historical referencing, see
H. Leene, Isaiah 27:79 as a Bridge between Vineyard and City, in: H.J. Bosman et al. (eds),
Studies in Isaiah 2427 (OTS, 43), Leiden 2000, 199225, esp. 223225.
newness in trito-isaiah 149
3.0. Perspective
We temporarily set aside the cosmic dimensions to which the word new
has led us as we followed the route Psalms Deutero-Isaiah Trito-Isaiah,
and we will now immerse ourselves in the anthropological conceptions to
which Ezekiel and Jeremiah connect the wordconceptions that stand
at the cradle of the evidently alluring idea of the new man. A compar-
ison between these anthropological and cosmological lines will be more
meaningful once we have gained a clear picture of the relation between
Ezekiels and Jeremiahs relevant passages. If one takes into account how
many issues this relation raises in itself, it quickly becomes clear that our
third chapter forms an essential intermediate trajectory en route to the
cosmic-anthropological comparison which has been set in the programme
for chapter four.
Besides the exhortation in Ezek. 18:2132 that the addressed should ac-
quire themselves a new heart and a new spirit, Ezekiel carries the promise
in Ezek. 36:1638 that on his part Yhwh will provide a new heart and a
new spirit to those Israelites that were scattered among the nations when
he reinstates them in the land. The discussion of the exhortation [ 3.1.1]
and the promise [ 3.1.2] gives rise to a description of their connections
with a number of other passages from Ezekiel [ 3.1.3]. The central ques-
tion resounds, what significance does the promise of newness hold within
Ezekiels restitution perspective as a whole? Even though it is unfeasible
for our purposes to undertake a comprehensive discussion on the recent
redaction-critical research of this book, we will not dismiss an opportu-
nity to modestly attempt a relative dating of the texts, partly in light of
the deviating textual form represented in papyrus 967 [ 3.1.4.13]. The
diachronic question whether Ezekiels portrayal of a new heart and a new
spirit reaches back to cultic motifs, brings it into confrontation with Ps. 51
[ 3.1.4.4].
Jer. 3031 uses the term new in two instances, first in view of a new
creation [ 3.2.1] and second in view of a new covenant [ 3.2.2]. Sub-
sequent to the discussion of these passages and their positioning within
152 chapter three
1 Cf. P. Buis, Les Formulaires d Alliance, VT 16 (1966), 396411; Idem, La nouvelle Al-
liance, VT 18 (1968), 115; T.M. Raitt, A Theology of Exile: Judgment/Deliverance in Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, Philadelphia 1977. For an evaluation, see H. Leene, Ezekiel and Jeremiah: Promises
of Inner Renewal in Diachronic Perspective, in: J.C. de Moor, H.F. van Rooy (eds), Past, Present,
Future: The Deuteronomic History and the Prophets (OTS, 44), Leiden 2000, 150175, esp. 165
166.
newness in ezekiel 153
Ezekiel
0204 The proverb of the unripe fruit should not be used forthwith.
0509 Whoever walks in the statutes of Yhwh is righteous and will live.
1013 If the son of such a righteous man displays adverse behaviour, his
blood will be on his own head.
1418 His son in turn, if he walks in Yhwhs statutes, will live and his father
will die for his own transgressions.
1920 In this way the righteousness of the righteous and the wickedness of
the wicked will be their own responsibility.
The first and last segments of this part of the discourse are linked by the
refrain-like clause the person who sins will die (4, 20). The conclusion
reaches back to the proverb at the opening (2) with a summary: a son will
not share in bearing the guilt of his father and a father will not share in
bearing the guilt of his son (20). In this manner the theme of fathers and
sons, which was introduced into the discourse through the proverb, comes
to a formal closure. The same theme does not reoccur in the second part of
the chapter.
A translation of the second part, vv. 2132, is presented above. It corre-
sponds to the first part, but treats another aspect of human individualisa-
tion, the possibility of personal change. The words righteous and wicked
in v. 20 form the main bridge between the previous and this new section. It
is structured like this:
2 This section is a partial reworking of: H. Leene, Unripe fruit and dull teeth (Jer 31,29;
Ez 18,2), in: E. Talstra (ed.), Narrative and Comment. Fs W. Schneider, Amsterdam 1995, 8298.
newness in ezekiel 155
2123 The wicked man who leaves his sinful ways will live.
24 The righteous man who departs from his righteousness will die.
2528 First reaction against Israels objection: Yhwhs way is not unjust.
26 If the righteous man dies because of his diversion, it is his
own fault.
2728 If the wicked man lives, it is because of his newly
acquired insight.
2932 Second reaction against Israels objection: Israels own ways are
unjust.
3032 Call to conversion and renewal of heart and spirit.
3 Here the segmenting deviates from the majority of commentaries which place a caesura
between vv. 29 and 30. W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BKAT, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1969, 392 sees a
pause between v. 30a and b. Since those being addressed in v. 30b are not introduced through
a new vocative, a close connection with the foregoing seems more plausible.
156 chapter three
life.4 How the reader connects this new theme to the foregoing depends on
how the intentions are interpreted of those being addressed as youlet us
name them Ezekiels interlocutors. Do they mean the cited ironically,
as a critique on divine acting that seems to confirm its mere truth? Or do
they accept the life experience expressed by the proverb, and is their criti-
cism rather directed towards the fact that Yhwh does not keep to this tried
and tested rule of wisdom? The last view is defended by Schenker, against
nearly the entire exegetical tradition.5
Schenkers strongest trump is v. 19: Yet you say, Why should the son
not share in bearing the guilt of the father? Apparently the interlocutors
would have found such a collective submergence in iniquity acceptable.6
If one assumes that they would not have changed their position half way
through the discussion, then this way of thinking hides behind their appeal
to the proverb in the first partand must still be hidden behind the main
reproach of the second part, The ways of Yhwh are not just (or: unpre-
dictable, irrational). In other words: for these interlocutors it would have
been self-evident if Yhwh had not disturbed the effect of someones deeds
in his own later life and in the next generation. As the proverb says, they
find, so muss es sein.7
4 Cf. qal in 18:21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30. Hif.-forms of the verb occurred previously in
18:7, 8, 12, 17, but in a different sense; hif.-forms in 18:30, 32 continue the meaning of qal
in the second part of the chapter.
5 A. Schenker, Saure Trauben ohne stumpfe Zaehne: Bedeutung und Tragweite von Ez
18 und 33.1020 oder ein Kapitel alttestamentlicher Moraltheologie, in: P. Casetti et al. (eds),
Mlanges Dominique Barthlemy (OBO, 38), Fribourg 1981, 449470 for his views links to
F. Hitzig, Der Prophet Ezechiel (KEH, 8), Leipzig 1847 and is followed by H.F. Fuhs, Ezechiel
124 (NEB, 7), Wrzburg 1984, 9495. For an overview of the interpretations of the proverb,
see the Forschungsbericht of N. Kilpp, Eine frhe Interpretation der Katastrophe von 587,
ZAW 97 (1985), 210220, esp. 210 n. 2.
6 The idea that Ezekiel is reducing the line of thought of his adversaries ad absurdum (cf.
Kilpp, Interpretation, 212) does not give the impression of being free of prejudice concerning
their likely position.
7 Schenker, Saure Trauben, 458. K.-F. Pohlmann, Ezechielstudien: Zur Redaktions-
geschichte des Buches und zur Frage nach den ltesten Texten (BZAW, 202), Berlin 1992, 238
interprets the proverb as the Infragestellen of an Ordnungsgefge (questioning an ordered
structure). One objection against this view is that common proverbs are not meant to cast
doubts, nor in any way phrase personal and subjective points of view. Vllig aussichtslos ist
es natrlich, das Verstndnis der Sentenzen von der Subjektivitt ihrer Verfasser her angehen
zu wollen (G. von Rad, Weisheit in Israel, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1970, 4950). See also E.F. Davis,
Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of Discourse in Ezekiels Prophecy (JSOT, 78),
Sheffield 1989, 88: Proverbs are a popular, oral form of archival speech; because they articu-
late both the present consensus of the community and the wisdom of all the ancients (Sir.
39.1), it is particular difficult to refute the values they express.
newness in ezekiel 157
If we follow this view of Schenker, the citation from Ezek. 18:2 still has
a shrouded role in vv. 2132. The order that is carried in the cited proverb
appears to be precisely not the order of Yhwh. In this way Ezekiels rejection
of the proverb is able to contribute towards opening the way for the call to
convert in vv. 3032.8
In the framework of our study, the focus of attention falls especially on
the wording of Ezek. 18:31 itself. A difference in connotation between new
heart and new spirit cannot be determined from either this verse or the
direct vicinity. These anthropological terms do not create the impression
that they wish to introduce heavily loaded theological concepts. But the
context explains clearly enough where a new heart and a new spirit will lead.
They will lead to the observance of Yhwhs statutes and to accomplishing
what is lawful and right (cf. vv. 21, 27). New then indicates a complete
change from old ways of behaving, which were characterised by offences
and detestable acts. It is definitely possible for someone to turn away from
such ways as an individual, in freedom, not hampered by family relations
or a former way of life. Whoever makes a new heart and a new spirit for
himself, assuredly is not taking a small step. As if by magic he transforms
himself from being wicked to being righteous. This is the way to newness
opened in Ezek. 18 by Yhwhs irrational order.
8 This does not deny that vv. 2122 is no longer attached to the concrete formulation
and theme of the . This is insufficiently accounted for in the segmenting of R.M. Hals,
Ezekiel (FOTL, 19), Grand Rapids 1989, 118122: 1 | 24 | 529 | 3032. M. Greenberg, Ezekiel 120
(AncB, 22), Garden City, NY 1983, 333 sees the relation between vv. 2132 and the foregoing as
follows: if a person is able to free himself from his own past, he has less reason to be weighed
down with his fathers guilt. In this way the argument is made subservient to invalidating
the proverb, while in our view the proverbs invalidation rather serves the broader aim of the
argument.
158 chapter three
in order that
you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 And you will remember your evil ways
and your deeds that were not good;
and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities
and for your detestable deeds.
32 It is not for your sake that I will do this,
declares the Lord Yhwh,
let that be known to you;
be ashamed and feel humiliated about your ways, house of Israel.
33 Thus says the Lord Yhwh:
On the day that I cleanse you
from all your iniquities,
I will cause the towns to be inhabited,
and the waste places shall be built.
34 And the desolate land will be tilled
instead of lying desolate
in the sight of all who passes by.
35 And they will say,
This land that was desolate
has become like the garden of Eden;
and the waste and desolate and ruined towns
are now fortified and inhabited.
36 And the nations will know,
those that are left around you,
that I, Yhwh,
have built what was ruined and planted what was desolate;
I, Yhwh, have spoken and I will do it.
37 Thus says the Lord Yhwh:
Besides
I will grant the plea of the house of Israel and do this for them:
I will make their people as numerous as a flock.
38 Like the flock for sacrifices,
like the flock of Jerusalem on her high feast days,
so the ruined towns
will be filled with a flock of people;
and they will know that I am Yhwh.
For us to see the promise of inner change in vv. 2627 within its proper
context, we must first immerse ourselves in the structure and line of thought
of Ezek. 36:1638 as a whole.
The narrative introduction is followed in vv. 1738 by the divine word
given to the prophet. In this divine word is embedded what Ezekiel must
convey as a promise to the scattered house of Israel. The promise consists of
three messenger speeches: vv. 2232, 3336 and 3738. A command heralds
160 chapter three
the first of the three: Therefore say to the house of Israel (22a), and in
the preceding retrospection Ezekiel is reminded of the tragic background
(1721).9
16 Narrative introduction
1738 Word of Yhwh
1721 Background story (I)
22a Messenger command
22b32 1st Messenger speech (II)
3336 2nd Messenger speech announcement (III)
3738 3rd Messenger speech (IV)
How are the units I, II, III and IV interwoven thematically? The background
story (I) ends thus:
And when they went to the nations, wherever they went,
they profaned my holy name,
in that it was said of them:
These are the people of Yhwh
and they had to leave his land.
And I had pity for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned
among the nations, wherever they went. (vv. 2021)
The next text block (II), the first and most comprehensive of the three
messenger speeches, is perfectly linked to this narrative summarising the
previous history. Since the scattering of Israel has led to their God receiving
a bad name amongst the nations, Yhwh is motivated to intervene:
Therefore say to the house of Israel:
Thus says the Lord Yhwh,
It is not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am going to do this,
but for the sake of my holy name,
which you have profaned
among the nations, wherever you went.
I will uphold the holiness of my great name,
which has been profaned among the nations,
which you have profaned in the midst of them;
and the nations will know that I am Yhwh (vv. 2223)
Thereupon gathering and homecoming, cleansing and renewal are an-
nounced. What we do not hear yet is how Yhwh will thereby gain his recog-
nition (the recognition over which everything started, see vv. 2021). At most
9 This main division correlates largely with the Masoretic division in pryt setmt.
newness in ezekiel 161
the first messenger speech indicates this negatively, and then in the promise
that Israel will in future be spared reproach by the nations (v. 30). For the
rest, this segment does not go beyond Israels recognition of his own guilt
(vv. 3132).
The expression not for your sake from v. 22 thus finds an echo,10 but for
the sake of my holy name still calls for a follow-up in the divine speech. The
inclusion formed by v. 22 and v. 32 suggests a provisional finishing, but the
prospect of Yhwhs regained credibility still requires further elaboration. It
finally resounds only after the announcement is made in vv. 3334 that the
Israelite cities will be restored and agriculture will be resumed:
And they will say,
This land that was desolate
has become like the garden of Eden;
and the waste and desolate and ruined towns
are now fortified and inhabited.
And the nations will know (vv. 3536)
And the finale is not reached until the third and last messenger speech (IV),
promising Israels massive population growth, concludes concisely:
and they will know that I am Yhwh. (v. 38)
This really closes the circle of reasoning. As the citation from v. 35 (This
land that was desolate, has become like the garden of Eden) may be seen
counterbalancing the citation from v. 20 at the end of unit I (These are
the people of Yhwh and they had to leave his land.), similarly v. 38 repeats
verbatim the recognition formula of v. 23 from the beginning of unit II.
Strictly speaking, this time the grammatical subject in the formula is the
house of Israel itself (not the nations), but all the emphasis is now placed
on the festive recognition as such. From the perspective of Yhwhs motif of
taking action, vv. 3336 and 3738 are not mere appendages, as it has been
suggested,11 but they complete the course of the argument logically.
The most salient connection between vv. 1721, 2232, 3336 and 3738
indeed lies in this theme: sanctifying the name of Yhwh and his worldwide
recognition. The cohesion is reinforced by the theme of defilement and
cleansing in units I, II and III. It was this defilement that, as the actual cause
of Israels dispersion from the land, led to the desecration of Yhwhs name:
10 For the theme of the shame after undeserved redemption, see also Ezek. 16:54, 63; 20:43.
11 E.g. by Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 872873; further 3.1.4.2.
162 chapter three
Son of man,
when the people of Israel were living on their own soil,
they defiled it
by their way and their deeds;
like a womans monthly uncleanness
was their way in my sight
()
and because they had defiled it (the earth/the land)
with their idols. (vv. 1718)
This diagnosis from the first unit is answered by the following promise from
the second unit:
And I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean,
from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. (v. 25)
And the way of Israels deplorable conduct in unit I is recollected in the same
manner through the following passage from unit II:
and I will make
that you walk in my statutes (v. 27)
We thus stumble across an important clue to the place and meaning of the
new heart and new spirit in the passages reasoning. Why are these gifts so
vital? They are vital to prevent a new contamination of the soil (see also
v. 29) and thereby to guarantee Israel a permanent residence in the land.
This theme of cleansing comes to the fore once more at the beginning of
III, the unit that will end with the recognition formula as we saw:
On the day that I cleanse you
from all your iniquities (v. 33)
12 LXX has softened this bold assertion in v. 21: but I spared them ( ) for
Clause a tells about the gift of a new heart, clause b about the gift of a new
spirit. What continues may be summarised thus, clauses cd develop clause
a on the heart, while clauses ei develop what clause b says concisely on the
spirit.
With new spirit the same must be meant as with my spirit in clause e. A
third phase in the promised transformation, following the phases of cleans-
ing and inner renewal, is not implied in ei, which instead offers a more pre-
cise description of the second phase.13 The similar formulation in clauses b
and e supports this perspective. What anthropological preconceptions form
the background?
In the book of Ezekiel, the image of the stone heart recalls the hearts
hardness spoken of in Ezek. 2:4 [ ]and 3:7 []. This hardness
meant that people were not prepared to listen to Yhwh. The heart, which,
as the centre of emotion and critical insight in the Old Testament, may
encapsulate every aspect of human reality orientation,14 functions here as
the organ that one uses to listen internally. A heart of stone is a heart that is
hard of hearing. A new heart then means, to use modern terms, becoming
receptive to external information once more.15 Does this specifically involve
insight into world history?16 This would mean that one could only come
to recognise Yhwh by undergoing inner change; but in such a case, how
could it be possible that the nations did not require this inner change to
recognise Yhwh? Heart in Ezekiel therefore rather means the listeningby
Israelto Yhwhs statutes and rules [ 3.1.1], and in this book there is no
torah, revealed by the course of events as such (cf. Isa. 42:2021).
How does the verse determine the relation between heart and spirit?
These words do not have the same connotations,17 even though they are
used freely as synonymous anthropological terms since after Ezekiel. In this
book is often replaceable with ( see e.g. 11:5; 20:32). Originally, however,
was not a constituent of human beings akin to , but rather an external
force that took hold of a person, and henceforth could also control him from
within.
der beiden groen Exilspropheten (BZAW, 121), Berlin 1971, 76 n. 25: of stone = dead, of flesh =
alive.
16 See K. Koch, Die Profeten, Bd. 2: Babylonisch-persische Zeit (UTB, 281), Stuttgart 1980, 116.
17 R. Albertz, C. Westermann, Art. , in: THAT, Bd. 2, Mnchen 1976, 726753, esp. 738
739.
newness in ezekiel 165
Here the difference between the terms seems visible in the effortless
progression from a new spirit (clause b) to my spirit (clause e); a similar
mental jump from a new heart into a direct relationship with God is more
difficult to make. In Ezek. 37 the spirit that revives the dead Israel (5, 810) is
also identified as the spirit of Yhwh (14), which does not deny the conceptual
differences between the two chapters: in Ezek. 36 the spirit is not so much
the breath of life ( )than it is the driving power that directs man ethi-
cally in a particular direction. Superbly visualised we see the spirit portrayed
as movement in the vision of the mobile throne in Ezek. 1:12, 2021 and 10:17.
Similarly according to Ezek. 36 it is especially the spirit that will move one to
follow in Yhwhs ordinances (in this regard, 11:1920 is less precise). As new
heart emphasises that the addressees should become receptive and listen
again, new spirit emphasises an inner impulse to change their way of life.
It is now quite clear that this moving force in Ezek. 36 has not been
objectified to something that distinguishes itself as a gift from its benefactor,
but as my spirit should guarantee the lasting bond between Yhwh and every
member of his people. As a result of this bond the house of Israel, through
those belonging to it, will be able to follow the good way, with due national,
physical and material consequences resulting.
What remains to be inquired in the next section, is how extensive this
promise of the new heart and the new spirit correlates with the negative
depiction of Israels history up to this point, as it is portrayed in shrilling
colours elsewhere in this prophets book.
18 Terms such as restitution perspective and restitution programme are used here and
below for the sake of convenience. It reality Ezekiels salvation prophecy comprises of more
than just the restitution of an earlier state.
166 chapter three
date (100125) next appears in 40:1 with the temple vision, which transposes
the prophet with more than twelve years in time.
Ezek. 34 deals with the good shepherdship of Yhwh and his monarch.
Even more than the upcoming depictions of the future, as the first step on
the way to restoration, the image of the shepherd emphasises the gathering
of the scattered people. In this light it makes sense for Ezek. 34 to precede
3536. The future welfare of the people appears not yet to be determined
by the personal change of every Israelite, but by the appointment of my
servant David (v. 23). Ezek. 34 shares the theme of fertility with the adjoining
salvation prophecies. Thereby no famine will scourge the land and Israel will
not have to endure the scorn of the nations (v. 29).
Instead of the people, the mountains of Seir resp. of Israel are addressees
of the double prophecy 35:136:15. Fertility will make Israels mountains hab-
itable for their new inhabitants. But you, mountains of Israel, will shoot out
your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon
come home (36:8). The idea of a logistic preparation for Israels homecom-
ing determines its placement prior to 36:1638.
The keyword spirit provides the link between Ezek. 36:1638 and the
vision that follows. Israels hopeless situation is depicted in this vision as
a valley of bones.19 The exposition of the vision in 37:1114 agrees with
36:1638 on the announced sequence of events: return, gift of Yhwhs spirit,
inhabiting the land.
In Ezek. 37:1528 the prophet must perform a symbolic act that demon-
strates the future reunion between Judah and Joseph. The information pur-
ports the following sequence of events: gathering and return to the land;
union as one nation under one king; redemption from apostasy and cleans-
ing; observation of Yhwhs statutes and regulations; living in the land forever
with the sanctuary as centre. In this series, inner change is not mentioned
explicitly, but it is probably incorporated in the cleansing rite. General obe-
dience comes after Davids appointment and good example.
Ezek. 3839 foresees the attack and defeat of Gog, the chief prince of
Meshech and Tubal. This event is coordinated with the preceding salvation
prophecy in such a way that it is expected to take place after Israels home-
coming. An indication that this homecoming also encompasses the inner
renewal is evident from the retrospective final sentence Ezek. 39:29: And I
will never again hide my face from them, when I have poured out my spirit
upon the house of Israel, says the Lord Yhwh.
20 Attention to other themes brings further relations between Ezek. 36 and Ezek. 124 to
light. Thus 36:1718 and 22:116 share analogous clauses carried with the words , shed
blood, , defile, , idols and , menstruation; 36:19b is relatively close to 24:14b,
in a context that contains the opposition , defile and cleanse. Apart from 11:1421
and 20:3244, dispersed salvific words occur in 6:810; 14:11 (covenant formula!); 16:5963;
and 17:2224. In as far as inner change is spoken of in these passages, it is restricted to the
crushing of the adulterous heart by Yhwh (6:9) and being ashamed and disgusted over earlier
behaviour.
21 Cf. T. Renz, The Rhetorical Function of the Book of Ezekiel (VT.S, 76), Leiden 1999, 62.
newness in ezekiel 169
While Ezek. 11 prepares for Ezek. 3337 thematically, seen in escaping ones
fate (the death of Pelatiah, Yhwh-sets-free), landownership, inner renewal,
reunificationit also, more or less, anticipates the sequence of events that
will be developed further in the later restitution programme.
Ezek. 18:232, as we have seen [ 3.1.1], must be characterised as a warn-
ing, not as a foresaying. Against the notion that a son shares in his fathers
guilt, it is emphasised that righteousness or wickedness comes to rest only
on the individual that has aspired towards it. Every member of the people
will be judged according to his own life. Change, either for the good or for the
bad, is always an option. Ezek. 18:31 introduces the precise terms that 36:26
will pick up: Cast away from you all the offences by which you have offended
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. A difference in connota-
tion between heart and spirit is still undeterminable in the former verse.
Together heart and spirit qualify the renewal as a total change in the direc-
tion of life. Ezek. 36 links to this anthropological vision. For an impression of
what exactly should be understood under Yhwhs statutes and regulations,
in Ezek. 36 one must think back to Ezek. 18. There they were shown encom-
passing both cultic procedures and rules for social behaviour.
The books course leaves the call from Ezek. 18:31 unanswered or hardly
noticed by the inhabitants of the land Israel, amongst whom according to
21:8 (rather inconsistently) the righteous as well as the wicked will be struck
by the sword. Ezek. 18 offered one last chance, which according to chapters
2124 those in Jerusalem ignored. In Ezek. 22:612, 2331 the guidelines
mentioned in Ezek. 18 function as a catalogue of sins. For the books readers,
however, the call to conversion continues to be unchanged in force.
That the editors of the book did not see the promise of inner renewal
contradicting the encouragement to inner renewal, is evident in Ezekiels
appointment as watcher at the onset of the restitution programme. Ezek.
33:1020 actually repeats the argument of Ezek. 18 on the personal responsi-
bility and the ensuing call for conversion. As a consequence, the promise of
salvation in Ezek. 36 is also set in this key. Ezek. 36 apparently does not make
the call to turn superfluous, but insists that Yhwh will himself give what he
asks. It is impossible to receive the promise passively. As argued promise [
3.1.2] it appeals to insight, the very insight that has the heart as its seat. The
metaphor of the new heart includes the theological reflection to which the
text of Ezek. 36 itself extends an invitation. Thus the new spirit too should
not be separated from what this text desires to install as a source of inspi-
ration stimulating a change of behaviour. The invention of the number x
is explained as follows in the history of mathematics: facilitating the solu-
tion by acting as if the solution has already been achieved. The new heart
170 chapter three
and the new spirit as prophetic promises are more or less comparable with
this mathematical invention. They are the solution that has been provided
but simultaneously must still be found. In any case, the promise relies on a
receptive reading attitude, in which there is no room for either intellectual
or moral passiveness.22
The tension between Ezek. 18 and 36 that has been signalled by many is
largely dissipated when the books intention is taken into account, which
wants to bring about Israels change through both warnings and promises.
We therefore agree with the interpreters that do not have a problem with
the indicatives of Ezek. 11:19 and 36:26 alongside the imperative of Ezek.
18:31. At most a shift in the line of questioning has led here to a different
form of discourse. In opposition to the fatalism of collective guilt, Ezek.
18 suggests the possibility of personal change and renewal. The deepest
grounds for having hope are pursued in Ezek. 36, against the background
of a history of desecration: these grounds are to be found alone in Yhwh
and not in Israel. An unconditional compared to a conditional salvation
however this is not. Ezek. 36 says that it is Yhwhs gift that remorseful
Israelites may meet the absolute prerequisites to live permanently in the
land; but thereby the prerequisite remains a prerequisite. The promise does
not weaken the encouragement in the slightest, and so it is understandable,
in the composition of the book, that the introduction to the part containing
the salvation prophecy emphasises this encouragement emphatically: see
Ezek. 33:1020.
22 This deviates from the thesis of A. Mein, Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile (OTM), Oxford
2001, for a summary 262: () the new note of hope in Ezekiels prophecy is accompanied by
an equally dramatic shift from moral responsibility to moral passivity on the part of the peo-
ple, a shift that coincides with the actual social circumstances of the exiles, who have been
transported from positions of power and influence in Jerusalem to become small-time ser-
vants of Babylonian agricultural policy. Mein has correctly shown that in Ezekiels design of
the future, the political has largely made way for personal ethics, which could equally well be
a reflection of social circumstances in post-exilic Judah as in Babylonia. But since according
to Mein exactly the same social group is envisaged in Ezek. 14 and 18, it is difficult to explain
the transfer from a call for change to a promise for change through the terms responsibility
and passivity. Israels passivity is also emphasised strongly in J. Unterman, From Repen-
tance to Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 170: Ezekiel
would have followed Jeremiah in the third phase of his message, in which a passive Israel is
redeemed by YHWH. On this point one is better off following Baltzer, Ezechiel, 79: Die logisch
sich ausschlieenden, im Wortgebrauch z.T. gleichlautenden Aussagen von Ez 11 19f. 36 26f.
einerseits und Ez 18 31 f. andererseits zeugen von hartnckigen Festhalten Ezechiels am Gebot
gerade in dem Aussagenfeld, das dieses vertiefend zu entschrfen scheint. Es wre deshalb
unzulssig, von Ez 11 19 f. 36 26 f. her die Mahnung Jahwes zum Gehorsam abzuschwchen.
newness in ezekiel 171
23 Presumably the provisions on first-borns are being targeted, which could be misinter-
which Ezek. 18:132 spools, does not in essence contradict the promise of the
new heart and the new spirit as a gift of Yhwh. On the contrary, the promise
underscores the lasting validity of the encouragement. Promise and encour-
agement both emphasise personal freedomfreedom from a burdensome
past. The promise thus also correlates with the extremely critical view of
Israels history arising from Ezek. 20:144, the prophecy that along with Ezek.
36:1638 places the stress on the deepest motivation behind Yhwhs actions:
for my names sake. Moral indignity and hope for change can be traced to
one source in the book of Ezekiel, which is the divine self-respect. The same
self-respect that drives Yhwh to make an end of Israel (cf. 20:17), draws him
to gather them into a unity. The scope of this astonishing presentation of
the divine appears to be that if moral indignation and moral grievance are
probed deeply enough, one must also touch upon the only true grounds of
hope.24
24 A more general problem of the prophecies of condemnation in the OT for the modern
reader is the apparent ease with which the Assyrian and Babylonian expansionism is trans-
lated as criticism against ones own society. Though, the search for a relation between fate and
guilt is of all times. Moreover the problem of innocent suffering (as experienced by Ezekiel
himself) would not have developed as a theological theme if this relation between fate and
guilt had not bothered people.
25 The missing section commences with the words in v. 23b.
26 E.H. Kase in A.Ch. Johnson et al. (eds), The John A. Scheide Biblical Papyri: Ezekiel (PUSP,
samenhang van Ez. 3640: Theologische relevantie van het ontbreken van Ez. 36,23c38
in enkele handschriften, TTh 20 (1980), 2639; Idem, Ezekiel 3640 in the Oldest Greek
Manuscript, CBQ 43 (1981), 517533.
newness in ezekiel 173
fragments of Ezekiel from the first century bce, which were published in
1996.28 Besides the extensive omission, the deviant sequence is striking: 36:1
23b; 3839; 37. This sequence is supported by the Vetus Latina text of the
fifth century Wrzburg palimpsest.29 Since codex Wirceburgensis (W ) has
not preserved Ezek. 35:537:19, it cannot be established with absolute cer-
tainty whether the codex has omitted 36:23b-38, but the suspicion that this
is the case is well argued.
Papyrus 967 and 968 are also the only surviving bearers of the original
Greek version of the book of Daniel, which was replaced in later manuscripts
by a more accurate translation, possibly prepared by Theodotion.30 In Daniel
too, the papyrus presents a different sequence: 14; 78; 56; 912, which in
turn is supported by several Old Latin witnesses.31
Parablepsis occasioned by homoioteleuton might offer an explanation for
the omission of Ezek. 12:2628 and 33:2526 as well as a few smaller text
shortenings in papyrus 967. Various authors also found parablepsis to be a
suitable explanation for the omission of 36:23b-38.32 One objection in this
case is the relatively large body of text, approximately 15 verses according to
the MT, which is difficult to ignore; and this combined with the problem of
the divergent order. It is not likely that the difference in sequence and the
shortening or lengthening of the text developed independently.
Long before the discovery of the papyrus, it was noticed through its
vocabulary that the passage in the LXX stands out contextually. Tackeray
identified different translations for EzekLXX, (Ezek. 127), (Ezek. 2839)
and (Ezek. 4048), where and would share characteristics indicat-
ing the same translators hand. This theory was challenged, but not the
observation of the distinctive translation of EzekLXX 36:2438, associated
with the Greek of Theodotion, which Tackeray named .33 This distinctive
28 On this MasEzek (Mas 10432220), see S. Talmon, Fragments of an Ezekiel Scroll from
Latinae Fragmentae codd. rescriptus eruit edidit explicuit, Vindobonae [Vienna] 1871; cf. John-
son, Scheide Papyri, 12 n. 6; P.-M. Bogaert, Le tmoignage de la Vetus Latina dans ltude de
la tradition des Septante: zchiel et Daniel dans le Papyrus 967, Bibl 59 (1978), 384395,
esp. 387.
30 Cf. E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Minneapolis 1992, 138.
31 Bogaert, Vetus Latina.
32 See e.g. Johnson, Scheide Papyri; F.V. Filson, The Omission of Ezek. 12:2628 and 36:23b
38 in Codex 967, JBL 62 (1943), 2732, esp. 31; J. Ziegler (ed.), Ezechiel (SVTG, 16), Gttingen
1952, 10; J.W. Wevers, Ezekiel (CB), London 1969 [21971], 273.
33 H.S.J. Tackeray, Notes and Studies: The Greek Translators of Ezekiel, JTS 4 (1903),
174 chapter three
398411, esp. 399; Idem, The Septuagint and Jewish Worship: A Study in Origins (The Schweich
Lectures 1920), London 1921, 125.
34 V. Spottorno, La omisin de Ez. 36,23b38 y la transposicin de captulos en el papiro
buches in masoretischer und griechischer berlieferung, Zrich 2004, 184. S. Ohnesorge, Jahwe
gestaltet sein Volk neu: Zur Sicht der Zukunft Israels nach Ez 11,1421; 20,144; 36,1638; 37,114.15
28 (FzB, 64), Wrzburg 1991, 206 adds war circumstances to the list of plausible situations that
could have led to the switching and loss of pages.
36 It is conceivable that the text form of Ezek. 3639 represented in p967 is presumed
by Rev. 2021 and Targ. Ps.-J. Num. 11:26; cf. A.S. Crane, Israels Restauration: A Textual-
Comparative Exploration of Ezekiel 3639 (VT.S, 122), Leiden 2008, 246248. On Ezek. 36:16
23b as a lectionary pericope in a Coptic-Sahidic codex, see M.N. van der Meer, A New
Spirit in an Old Corpus? Text-Critical, Literary-Critical and Linguistic Observations regard-
ing Ezekiel 36:1638, in: F. Postma et al. (eds), The New Things: Eschatology in Old Testament
Prophecy. Fs H. Leene (ACEBT.S, 3), Maastricht 2002, 147158, esp. 148 n. 5.
37 See amongst others, Lust, Samenhang; Idem, Ezekiel 3640; Idem, The Final Text
and Textual Criticism: Ez 39,28, in: J. Lust (ed.), Ezekiel and His Book (BEThL, 74), Leuven
1986, 4854; Idem, The Spirit of the Lord, or the Wrath of the Lord? Ez 39,29, EThL 78 (2002),
148155; Idem, Major Divergences Between LXX and MT in Ezekiel, in: A. Schenker (ed.), The
Earliest Text of the Hebrew Bible: The Relationship between the Masoretic Text and the Hebrew
Base of the Septuagint Reconsidered (SCSt, 52), Atlanta 2003, 8392.
38 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen; Crane, Restauration.
newness in ezekiel 175
39 The proposal of Lust, Ezekiel 3640, 531532 to connect this realistic vision of the future
with the Pharisees has not been taken over by Crane. Later Lust himself abandoned the idea
(Textual Criticism of the Old and New Testaments: Stepbrothers? in: A. Denaux (ed.), New
Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis, Leuven 2002, 1531, esp. 30).
176 chapter three
(a) The epexegetical relation between Ezek. 36:23b-38 and 36:811 is typ-
ical of the book Ezekiel, and resembles, to mention one example, the rela-
tionship between Ezek. 36*37 and 34. The three authors emphasise the lex-
ical and thematic reminiscences in Ezek. 36:23b-38 to the book of Jeremiah
in general and to Jer. 31 specifically, but in light of numerous other connec-
tions between the two prophetic books, it is arduous to name this a clearly
distinguishing feature.40 The least one can determine from these observa-
tions is that they do not promote the objective assessment of the hypoth-
esis on Ezek. 36:23b-38 as a secondary supplement. Formally this passage
does not distinguish itself from other Ezekiel passages. Words occurring only
once in Ezekiel are not restricted to this passage, as the feature is spread
throughout the whole book.41 Sometimes a rare construction is linked to the
subject. The clause containing in Ezek. 36:27 is grammatically
correct, but expresses a specific idea for which Hebrew offers limited other
means to verbalise, namely that God himself accomplishes what he asks of
men (cf. Isa. 26:12).42
40 Besides the covenant formula Ezek. 36:23b-38 shares hardly any analogous clauses
with Jeremiah and therefore compares rather more negatively than positively with many
other passages in Ezekiel. Further 3.2.5.3.
41 To stay with words starting with an alef: hitp. (turn around?) 21:21; ( entrance)
40:15; ( feverish) 16:30; ( ankles) 47:3; ( fast) 27:24. That no arguments can be
based on the Hebrew from Ezek. 36:23b38 for the late addition of this passage to the book,
is carefully argued by Van der Meer, New Spirit, 145158.
42 According to Van der Meer, New Spirit, 153 a construction with hif. in 36:27 would
not have been a good alternative construction in light of in 36:22, 32. On the
presumed signals for the later inclusion of 36:23b-38 in 36:23 MT, LXXA and in 37:1 LXX, see
Crane, Restauration, 223224. An oracle formula that (as in Ezek. 36:23) leads from a finite
clause to a prepositional infinite clause occurs more often in the book: 16:30; 43:19. LXX also
adds the adjective in Num. 19:18 (as in Ezek. 37:1), where confusion with animal
bones is out of question. It is therefore highly speculative to see as a signal for the
secondary link between Ezek. 37 and the preceding flock of sheep.
newness in ezekiel 177
25: 2 in MT (23), entering the covenant in G (25). So too in Jer. 30:9 and Hos.
3:5 the future leader is simply named David, without thereby insinuating anything like rein-
carnation.
47 On closer inspection the modification of the vision, according to Schwagmeier, is not
178 chapter three
For Lust and Crane the relocation of Ezek. 37 means exactly the opposite,
a symbolic interpretation. When Ezek. 37 still followed 3839, the revival of
the dry bones could have been understood realistically, but the relocation
wants to make such a realistic view impossible. This version of the texts
history raises new questions. How might the sequence of Ezek. 3839, 37 be
viewed logically, if the house of Israel has to first bury its enemies (39:12) and
thereupon rise from the grave in the flesh? And how should it be explained
in this sequence that the theme of the bones impurity, which is central to
Ezek. 39, suddenly has no significance in Ezek. 37? In other words, does the
sequence Ezek. 3839, 37 not also tend towards a symbolic, non-physical
interpretation of the resurrection vision?
According to Crane small amendments compared to the Hebrew Vorlage
of the Greek translation clearly indicate the relocation of Ezek. 37 in MT.
These amendments were meant to prepare Israel against Gog, read: against
the advancing Seleucides or Romans. In this manner EzekLXX 37:10 uses
as a translation of , which is replaced in MT by .48 Similarly
in EzekMT 37:22, 24, replaces , which LXX correctly translated with
.49 What would Israel start out against their superior enemy without a
strong army [ ]and without a strong leader [ ?]An objection against
this line of reasoning is that Gogs defeat was not at all orchestrated by
earthly powers, as every competent compiler of Ezek. 3639 would have
confessed.50 For the two modifications to the text, other explanations are
possible.51
found so much in its transposition as in its receiving a new introduction Ezek. 36B. A logical
follow-up question could be: Why not simply include a passage comparable with Ezek. 36B
between Ezek. 3839 and 37? The whole relocation of the chapter was thus unnecessary. With
such a perfect linking between Ezek. 36A and 3839 as Schwagmeier detects in p967 [see
under (c)] this sequel question resounds all the more.
48 Crane, Restauration, 100103.
49 Crane, Restauration, 119, 126.
50 Tradition-critically Ezek. 3839 should be connected with the motif of the coalition
that is rising against Zion (Ps. 2; 48; 76; Isa. 29:18; Zech. 12; 14). The incredible defeat thereby
remains the point.
51 The term in 37:22 persists as a strong argument for the originality of the title .
The union of the two kingdoms cannot be expressed better than by appointing one king over
both. The Greek translators could then easily have set Davids titles on an equal footing in
34:24; 37:22, 24, 25. On the other hand and do not exclude military connotations.
In 37:10, setting aside every contextual embedding of the chapter, there is a logical association
between spirit and power (cf. Zech. 4:6). could then have been the original reading, for
the translator to water down.
newness in ezekiel 179
(e) The fact that the ending of Ezek. 37:28 ( when my sanctuary is among
them forever) forms an excellent bridge to Ezek. 4048,57 is not a strong
indication that the two sections were initially adjoined. Such connections
between neighbouring pericopes, using an anticipating closing sentence, is
uncommon in the book of Ezekiel. The link between Ezek. 37:28 and Ezek.
40 could also have the intention of marking the Gog episode as an interlude,
roughly comparable to how the link between 24:27 and 33:21 frames the
prophecies against the nations.
54 Root in Ezek. 3339: 33:26; 36:17, 17, 18, 25, 29; 37:23; 39:24; root in Ezek. 3339:
36:25, 33; 37:23; 39:12, 14, 16. The italics indicate their collocations.
55 See the analogous clauses in 36:27 and 37:24 containing a notable inversion of
and . E.F. Davis, Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of Discourse in Ezekiels
Prophecy (JSOT, 78), Sheffield 1989, 63 offers other examples of inversion in Ezekiel (following
R. Weiss); often such a chiasm reinforces the referential, citing function of what could
otherwise be seen as a pointless repetition. Besides 11:20 / and are not used
elsewhere in Ezekiel as part of a promise. Similarly C. Levin, Die Verheiung des neuen Bundes
in ihrem theologiegeschichtlichen Zusammenhang ausgelegt (FRLANT, 137), Gttingen 1985,
214216 demonstrates that 37:2125a repeats 36:1628* in wesentlichen Zgen.
56 Compare to the following escape clause in Schwagmeiers own methodological expla-
nation: Nur wenn sich zeigen liee, da der im Sinne der Theorie als lter anzusetzende
Kontext die entsprechend als jnger eingestuften Einschbe fraglos voraussetzt, wre ein
Krzungsmodell angemessen. Unless the bar is set out of reach with fraglos, this rule applies
to the mentioned passages none withstanding.
57 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 316.
newness in ezekiel 181
that way elsewhere in EzekG.58 The replacement of such a Hebrew word with
in the premasoretic phase, however, is a far less logical explanation than
seeing as a tendentious translation for . In the context of the book
Ezekiel, it would have been difficult for my spirit to mean anything else than
my salvation bringing spirit, and this gives rise to the question what could
have led the translator to make his wilful rendering? It must have been his
wish to bring closure to the judgement section of the book.59 This tendency is
also observable in the evident omission of 39:28b MT in G (see below) and in
the conspicuous space between Ezek. 39 and 37 in papyrus 967 as a graphic
borderline between judgement and salvation.60 The translation of for
raises doubt on the presupposition that this concerns a development in
the history of the Hebrew and not the Greek text. Should the omission of
36:23b-38 MT not also be understood in this light? Did the Greek tradents
perhaps see this passage as a superfluous and premature anticipation of the
promise of salvation in Ezek. 37a salvation promise which they deemed
could not be correctly placed before the end of the Gog episode?
(g) It is evident that substantial omissions occur less readily in textual his-
tory than additions. A copyist or translator that deliberately omits some-
thing important requires a justification. Probable justifications in the case
of Ezek. 36:23b-38 could have been that the passage anticipates Ezek. 37
and repeats Ezek. 11 in its central promise. This earlier chapter has not been
preserved in papyrus 967 and W, but as long as the contrary has not been
proven it is reasonable to accept their rough correspondence in Ezek. 11 with
the current LXX.
58 Pace Lust, Final Text, 53; Idem, Spirit, 153; Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 295; Crane,
Restauration, 169200. Apart from what may follow after Ezek. 39, a reference to the wrath of
Yhwh is not expected at the end of this prophecy of salvation.
59 According to Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 294 EzekG 39:29 grasps back at 36:18 with
On our research route the deliberations above open the way for a balanced
assessment of the dating questions on the promise of renewal in Ezek. 36.
Text-critical arguments that would force us in advance to view this promise
61 In 36:18; 37:23, 25, LXXA shares the pluses of MT compared to other LXX MSS; cf. Crane,
Restauration, 202.
62 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 292.
63 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 282.
64 This is not to deny that the plus (with the Late-Hebrew verb , cf. 22:21) could
65 In this line also J. Garscha, Studien zum Ezechielbuch: Eine redaktionskritische Unter-
suchung von Ez 139 (EHS.T, 23), Bern 1974, 122 n. 349 (eine dogmatische Korrektur: Der
Ansturm der Vlker mu erst erfolgt sein, ehe die Heilszeit beginnen kann) and T. Krger,
Geschichtskonzepte im Ezechielbuch (BZAW, 180), Berlin 1989, 446.
66 We will be in a better position to formulate the most obvious explanation for the
rearrangement of EzekMT 3639 to EzekOG 3639 once we have drawn conclusions on other
relevant chronologies in this study [ 5.1 sub 9].
67 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 325 defends the unity of 36:23b38 against the
184 chapter three
For that matter redaction-critical study has long since detected the same
text-productive signals within this Masoretic plus as they occur consistently
throughout the book of Ezekiel.
Zimmerli suspected that Ezek. 36:1632 was expanded at a later point
with 3336 and 3738. He found evidence in the typical redactional open-
ing formulas in vv. 33 and 37, in the deviating language that sometimes
reminds of Jeremiah (building-planting), and in the second person address
to Israel not being maintained consequently until the end. On the other
hand, the acknowledgement by the nations in v. 36 as the completion of
the foregoing argument is difficult to oversee [ 3.1.2]. The point is that
vv. 3336, stronger than the preceding section, includes various elements
from Ezek. 36:115 in its depiction of the future, such as the theme of the
remnants of the nations and the fortification of the cities; but attention
to these details one could expect equally well from a redactor as from a
composition conscious author, who, towards the end of the passage, recon-
nects with his initial intentions regarding the greater literary framework of
the discourse. It is most unlikely that Ezek. 36:1638 was conceived with-
out any awareness for a more comprehensive restitution programme [
3.1.3].
Strictly speaking, it may well be said that Ezek. 36:3738 (Israel as flock
of people) does not flow directly from the questioning that controls the
preceding line of reasoning: the sanctification of Yhwhs name under the
nations [ 3.1.2]. But whoever was responsible for writing these verses must
have realised this digression himself, so much so that he introduces the
promised multiplication of the population with a distinct prayer of the
renewed Israel: Besides, I will grant the plea of the house of Israel and
do this for them (37).68 Another important aspect to consider here is the
intended run-up to the vision of the bones, as we have discussed in the
previous paragraph. Garscha agrees with Zimmerli on the identification of
stratification of Levin, Verheiung, 209214 (original text 36:1617a, 18a, 19a, 20ab, 22, 24
25*, 26ab28 which was reworked repeatedly) and S. Ohnesorge, Jahwe gestaltet sein Volk
neu: Zur Sicht der Zukunft Israels nach Ez 11,1421; 20,144; 36,1638; 37,114.1528 (FzB, 64),
Wrzburg 1991, 203282 (original text 36:16, 17a, 18a, 19a, 20, 21, 22, 24 plus 5 larger and 6
smaller modifications; see below).
68 Maybe the use of should be contrasted with the usage in Ezek. 20 (cf. vv. 1, 3, 3, 31,
31), on which 36:1638 is dependent [ 3.1.4.3]. So too the construction in 20:27 and
36:37 fits into this alignment. It is not necessarily a Nachtragformel (W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel
(BKAT, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1969, 872, 882) but could equally well be a means to introduce
a climax, as in 23:38.
newness in ezekiel 185
69 Garscha, Studien, 216217; see also R. Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of
the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 354, normally an advocate of the books literary
homogeneity.
70 H. Simian, Die theologische Nachgeschichte der Prophetie Ezechiels: Form- und tradi-
tionskritische Untersuchung zu Ez 6; 35; 36 (FzB, 14), Wrzburg 1974, 88103; F.-L. Hossfeld,
Untersuchungen zu Komposition und Theologie des Ezechielbuches (FzB, 20), Wrzburg 1977
[21983], 287340; Ohnesorge, Zukunft Israels, 203282.
71 Simian, Nachgeschichte, 100.
72 Simian, Nachgeschichte, 216.
73 For whom this soteriological connection becomes detached, Yhwh according to Ezekiel
is merely consumed by a narcissistic obsession with the honor of His name (K. Carley,
From Harshness to Hope: The Implications for Earth of Hierarchy in Ezekiel, in: S.L. Cook,
C.L. Patton (eds), Ezekiels Hierarchical World: Wrestling with a Tiered Reality (SBL Symposium
Series, 31), Leiden 2004, 109125, esp. 122).
186 chapter three
6 a provision of evidence (15:8; 20:44; 25:14; 34:30; 36:23; 37:14) and is followed 3 by an
infinitive sentence with ( 16:30; 18:23; 36:23). The combination of the two in 36:23 is thus
certainly unique but not ungrammatical. The formula of acknowledgement has numerous
variations and has no fixed text-grammatical function in Ezekiel.
75 Hossfeld, Untersuchungen, 293.
76 Hossfeld, Untersuchungen, 308.
newness in ezekiel 187
82 For the special connection between Yhwhs display of his own holiness before the
eyes of the nations and Israels gathering, see also 20:41; 28:25; 39:27. Recognition of Yhwh
based on Israels restoration in their own land according to 36:36 lies more on the way of the
neighbouring nations left around you.
83 Cf. Ohnesorge, Zukunft Israels, 213.
84 The plus of MT compared to LXX in v. 18ab is generally viewed by commentaries as
and Resurrection of Israel, Louisville 1998, 129: Divine freedom is a major part of what Ezekiel
needs to affirm about God, but it stands in tension with a certain vulnerability.
newness in ezekiel 189
unable to cope with the core problem of this prophecy. Regarding vv. 3336
and 3738 Ohnesorge agrees with Zimmerli.
In conclusion our observations of these redaction-critical reconstruc-
tions on Ezek. 36:1638 can be summarised as follows:
(b) There is general agreement over the fact that many of the texts from the
book of Ezekiel are the result of profound theological reflection. Such texts
may answer more than one question simultaneouslywhich is not a reason
to think of stratification. Obvious inconsistencies in the argument are not
present. Ezek. 36:1638 offers a closely related set of questions and answers.
(c) As the divine oration progresses, themes are touched upon that indeed
are less directly connected to the central issue. This could be the result of a
tendency in the compiler to complement the portrayal of the future and to
bend back the argument harmoniously to the wider context, namely Ezek.
36:115.
(d) The units 3336 and 3738 are introduced with typical connecting for-
mulations. They could indicate a redactors hand, though an original author
could have made use of the same writing technique. Such concerns are
better discussed under text productionwhere the producer is left unde-
cidedthan under redaction versus authorship.87
Ezekiel in 3.2.5.3.
87 Cf. K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Cambridge, MA
2007, 109: The traditional distinction between authors, editors and editorship is misleading
because it obfuscates the fact that authorship and editorship were aspects of the scribal
profession.
190 chapter three
In the rest of this section we will focus on the diachronic relation between
the newness passages in Ezek. 11, 18, 20 and 36. In what direction do these
passages suppose each other? To what extent for a proper understanding
does one passage rely on another and/or on the broader context of the book?
Where does the concept of the new heart and the new spirit present itself in
the oldest form still retrievable through diachronic analysis? The views on
the genesis of the book Ezekiel and on whether it could be reconstructed in
detail are far too diverse to take a widely shared position as point of depar-
ture for this study; but this is not required in a pragmatic approach like
ours.90 The hermeneutical premise of this approach is an intertextual dia-
logue: older texts pose questions or leave questions open, which are picked
(29:1721). This example clearly illustrates that it was not taken for granted to correct prom-
ises ex eventu.
90 Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen, 38 offers this spitting image of the state of research: Die
Forschungssituation zum Ezechielbuch stellt sich heute, gut zwanzig Jahre nach Erscheinen
der 2.Auflage von Zimmerlis bahnbrechendem Kommentar, komplex, weil uneinheitlich,
wie schon lange nich mehr dar. Vertretern grundstzlicher literarischer Einheitlichkeit wie
Greenberg [1983, 1997] und J. Becker [1971], ihrerseits grundverschieden, stehen redaktions-
geschichtliche Entstehungsmodelle unterschiedlicher Komplexitt gegenber, einerseits
eine tendenzorientierte, literarkritisch gemssigte Richtung, wie sie sich in den Arbeiten
von Allen [1990, 1994] und Krger [1989] findet, andererseits eine literarkritisch recht radikal
vorgehende, wie sie etwa in den Arbeiten Pohlmanns [u.a. 1992] begegnet. To this we would
add that, in the line of Krger, Albertz, Exile, 345376 also depicts a moderate (and appealing)
view of the books origin.
192 chapter three
up in younger texts. This dialogue can also take place between diachronic
layers of the same passage, though it is easier to trace between separate
passages, or between a passage and its eventual embedding in the book as a
whole.
Ezek. 18 must be the oldest of the four pericopes. It is unlikely that the
author already knew of a promise of heart and spirit, or assumed his readers
knew such a perspective as in Ezek. 11 and 36, when he wrote Ezek. 18. Inter-
nally the chapter makes a relatively homogenous impression. The address to
the golah, suggested by the embedding in the book between the data 0506
06 (cf. 8:1) and 100507 (cf. 20:1) calculated from Jehoiachins deportation, is
in tension with the content, which is geared towards inhabitants of the land
Israel (cf. 18:2, 6, 11, 15). This raises the question whether Ezek. 18 may orig-
inally have been intended for a different chronological setting: one could
well imagine this.
It would seem as if Ezek. 20 has taken over the rationale of Ezek. 18 in
the way it makes the generations of Israel individually responsible. The
discussion on the internal stratification of the chapter culminates in the
question about the relation between condemnation and the announcement
of salvation.91 The deeper their interplay within the chapter, the deeper the
correlation between the chapters origin and the composition of the book.
Different to Ezek. 18, the structure of Ezek. 20 reflects the book of Ezekiel as
a whole.
The promise of inner change in Ezek. 36 is younger than the call for
inner change in Ezek. 18. Seen from a text production angle the promise
must have been a modification to the call.92 Theologically Ezek. 36 answers
the pressing question that Ezek. 20 leaves open: How will Israel reach the
change of behaviour that appeared to be so unattainable in the past? This
complementary relation between Ezek. 20 and 36 suggests a deliberate
coordination on the level of the books redaction.93
91 See e.g. K.-F. Pohlmann, Ezechiel: Der Stand der theologischen Diskussion, Darmstadt
2008, who in discussion with F. Sedlmeier, Studien zu Komposition und Theologie von Ezechiel
20 (SBB, 21), Stuttgart 1990 and S. Ohnesorge, Jahwe gestaltet sein Volk neu: Zur Sicht der
Zukunft Israels nach Ez 11,1421; 20,144; 36,1638; 37,114.1528 (FzB, 64), Wrzburg 1991 regard-
ing Ezek. 20:131* and 3944* pleads for eine durchdachte einheitliche Textkonzeption (151).
92 That 18:31 die Verheiung in den Befehl umkehrt [C. Levin, Die Verheiung des neuen
J. Lust (ed.), Ezekiel and His Book. (BEThL, 74), Leuven 1986, 260265, esp. 262: Der Abschnitt
newness in ezekiel 193
36:16ff kann m.E. nur als bewute Fortsetzung und Weiterfhrung von Kap. 20 verstanden
werden. Besides the promise of change, Ezek. 20 is void of the restoration of the cities, and
the population growth, themes that are meant to allow 36:1638 to connect with the direct
context.
94 Pohlmann, Ezechiel, 145146.
95 Text-critically, , one, in 11:19 is preferable to , LXX , another (cf. 1Sam.
61; Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 251; cf. R. Liwak, berlieferungsgeschichtliche Probleme des Ezechiel-
buches: Eine Studie zu postezechielischen Interpretationen und Kompositionen, Bochum 1976,
110113; D. Baltzer, Literarkritische und literarhistorische Anmerkungen zur Heilsprophetie
im Ezechielbuch, in: J. Lust (ed.), Ezekiel and His Book (BEThL, 74), Leuven 1986, 166181,
esp. 169], or vv. 1920 [B. Lang, Ezechiel (EdF, 153), Darmstadt 1981, 25; cf. C. Westermann,
Prophetische Heilsworte im Alten Testament (FRLANT, 145), Gttingen 1987, 137] are often
taken as redactional additions. The latter seems the more probable proposition. Perhaps
the word in v. 21 forms the textual hinge. For Ohnesorge, Zukunft Israels, 14, vv. 1920*
194 chapter three
This all suggests that literarily speaking Ezek. 11 reaches forward and
not the reverse of Ezek. 36 prying the readers recollection. Our previous
conclusion that it is difficult to fathom Ezek. 36:23b-38 as a final footnote
to the book is thus confirmed [ 3.1.4.1]. The existence of this passage as an
integrated part of the restitution programme seems to be presumed by Ezek.
11.97
Pohlmann assumes an older form of the promise of change underlies
Ezek. 11, which was not yet addressed to the scattered Israelites in general
but to the golah. Exactly what this promise looked like in this initial address-
ing, according to him one may nur noch ahnen.98 In our view this counts
equally well for other salvation promises in Ezekiel, because not one of them
is exclusively directed to the Babylonian golah on any text level. In this light
the whole criterion of golah- or diaspora-orientation in the diachronic anal-
ysis of Ezekiels salvific words has become problematic.99 This point of view
is one of many additions to the basic text 11:14, 15ab*, 16. T. Krger, Geschichtskonzepte im
Ezechielbuch (BZAW, 180), Berlin 1989, 321 adjudicates the whole passage as redaktionelle
Kompilation; so too F. Sedlmeier, Deine Brder, deine Brder : Die Beziehung von Ez
11,1421 zur dtn-dtr Theologie, in: W. Gro (ed.), Jeremia und die deuteronomistische Bewe-
gung (BBB, 98), Weinheim 1995, 297312, esp. 297 n. 1: eine Art Florilegium from the rest of
the book.
97 Levin, Verheiung, 212 offers the dependence Jer. 32 Ezek. 11 as his only argument
for the dependence Ezek. 11 36. Besides the logical weakness (in theory Ezek. 11 may have
borrowed elements from both Jer. 32 and Ezek. 36) this argument is methodologically dubi-
ous. Where questions on a books internal and external diachrony become entangled, the
former should be treated preferentially. So too for S. Petry, Die Entgrenzung JHWHs: Monola-
trie, Bilderverbot und Monotheismus im Deuteronomium, in Deuterojesaja und im Ezechielbuch
(FAT, 27), Tbingen 2007, 257258 (Ezek. 11 36) the relationship with Jeremiah plays a role;
on this further 3.2.5.3. Ohnesorge, Zukunft Israels, 233 defends the dependence 11:1720
36:2428* with the argument that die Abfolge der Aussagen in 36:2428 strker systema-
tisiert ist als in 11:1720. However, on a text lacking homogeneity one cannot randomly argue
first for and then against relative originality.
98 Pohlmann, Ezechiel, 147 n. 142. This golah-orientated guess is criticised by R. Albertz,
Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003,
350 n. 630. In this regard see also Krger, Geschichtskonzepte, 323: In enger Anlehnung an
Ansagen und Formulierungen des von ihr verarbeiteten Materials favorisiert sie [11:1420]
in Auseinandersetzung mit Ansprchen der im Lande Verbliebenendie babylonische Gola
als Boden und Ausgangsgruppe der Neukonstituierung Israels. Besides 11:2425, in the nar-
rative ending, the promise itself does not provide a reason to see the Babylonian diaspora
especially as the core of the new Israel.
99 Differently Pohlmann, Ezechiel, in summary 95. It is theoretically conceivable that
Here we may return to where we left off in the opening paragraphs. Where
the golah- and diaspora-orientation in Ezekiel at first sight seem to be dis-
tinguishable, they respectively concern the narrative framework and the
framed prophecies. The framework situates the activities of the priest-
prophet under the exiles in Babylon. But it is precisely the detailed topo-
graphical location of these exiles that suggests the intended readers of the
book are to be sought elsewhere! Like the seven years between the start of
Ezekiels activities and the fall of Jerusalem create a theological time-frame
for announcement and fulfilment, so the precisely described location of
the Babylonian golah creates a safe vantage from which the reader, through
Ezekiel as intermediary, is able to witness the unfolding of Yhwhs condem-
nation over Jerusalem.100 Only in this role of distant observer does the golah
group represent the readership. It is plausible that the exilic location is also
reminiscent of the place where the historical Ezekiel actually lived,101 but
our interest for the moment rests with its literary function in the book. In
any case we doubt whether these topographical data justify any conclusions
being drawn on the golah having an advantaged position in Yhwhs plan of
salvation.
100 Cf. K. Schpflin, Theologie als Biographie im Ezechilbuch: Ein Beitrag zur Konzep-
tion alttestamentlicher Prophetie (FAT, 36), Tbingen 2002, 354: Aus der Position im Exil ist
Ezechielbei aller denkbaren innerlichen Verbundenheit mit Jerusalemein distanzierter
Beobachter, ganz wie die Leser, die ggf. nicht nur rumlich, sondern in jedem Falle auch
zeitlich von den im Buch historisch Bedeutsamen Ereignissen getrennt sind. Sie kennen die
historischen Ablafe, die im Hintergrund stehen, und vermgen so der kompositorischen
Strategie des Buches zu folgen. Das babylonische Exil im Ezechielbuch mag also nicht allein
eine Chiffre fr die jdische Diaspora generell sein, es ist im jedem Fall ein Ausdruck fr die
Distanz zu dem Geschehen in Jerusalem um 587/6.
101 Even though there are hardly any grounds to support the classical view that Ezekiel
himself was the author of (sections of) the book that carries his name, it is a step too far
to just see a programme in this name (so Schpflin, Biographie, 345: ein programmatischer
Personennahme). Usage of the root in the book of Ezekiel does not supply a clearer
indication for that than how the root is used in the book of Isaiah (see esp. Isa. 12:23). It
is improbable that prophetic books like this would have presumed an unspoken agreement
with the reader that these are fictional personages, as if they were modern novels. The
freedom to ascribe sayings to a person known from memory or tradition, should not be
confused with the freedom to just create such a person out of thin air. On the presumed
analogy with Malachi, see: E.F. Davis, Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of
Discourse in Ezekiels Prophecy (JSOT.S, 78), Sheffield 1989, 138.
196 chapter three
102 Also Albertz, Exile, 352 sees Palestine as the place of origin of the greater part of the
composition. As terminus ante quem, in light of Ezek. 4048, he opts for 515bce, the inaugural
year of the second temple. It remains a question (1) whether this year, calculated on the basis
of Zech. 7:17 and Ezra 6:15, is as steadfast as it is generally accepted [ 2.1.3.1; 2.2.8.5]; and
moreover (2) whether Ezekiels blueprint was set aside after Zerubbabels poor edifice was
seen: How could this be the promised temple? And how about Zerubbabels building initiative
itself? Is it in agreement with the modest role that Ezek. 46 ascribes to the monarch [?]
With this the main argument to Albertzs closing date seems to fall away. He also refers to
Zech. 3, the dirty clothes of the high priest, a vision that shares a concern with Ezek. 44 for the
purity of priesthood. But, answering the question on dependence here is complex. It could be
that Zech. 3 retrospectively summarises a process of sacral purification which in factunder
influence of Ezekielstretched out over a longer period of time. Thus, figuratively speaking,
Joshuas dirty linen has not lost its actuality in Isa. 6566 (end 5th century?). It is obvious
that the Ezekiel group could exert their influence only gradually in the post-exilic Judah. The
books impact would initially have been limited to the priestly circle (see in particular H =
Lev. 1726). Later in this study we will have an opportunity to view in that light the staged
increase in the number of citations from Ezekiel on the line DI-Jeremiah.
newness in ezekiel 197
question whether the promise of Ezek. 36 is not, rather than the outcome
of abstract anthropological and theological considerations, entrenched in a
tangible ritual, which, besides purification,103 would also have portrayed the
renewal of heart and spirit. The Sitz im Leben of Ps. 51, the classical song
of penance, has often been sought in such a ritual,104 and it is against this
background that we will finally explore the relationship between Ezek. 36
and Ps. 51.
More or less obvious linguistic analogies with clauses from Ps. 51 cannot
be found in Ezekiel. The correspondence is limited to the bare vocabulary.
The following overview shows collocations of substantial words that occur
within the same verse in both Ezekiel and the psalm. Other places in the Old
Testament where the collocation occurs are placed between brackets.
Ps. 51:4 + ) ( or .
Ezek. 36:33 On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the
towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built (Josh.
22:17; Jer. 33:8).
Ezek. 37:23 I will save them from all their apostasies (?) with which they have
sinned, and I will cleanse them (Lev. 12:8; 16:30; Num. 8:7; Jer. 33:8;
Prov. 20:9).
Ps. 51:12 + .
103 On the purification water see esp. Lev. 14:7, 52; Num. 19. In Num. 19:13, 20, is linked
plant hysop () proves the cultic setting of the psalm; cf. M.E. Tate, Psalms 51100 (WBC, 20),
Waco, TX 1990, 1112.
198 chapter three
and spirit stand relatively parallel: Ex. 28:3; 35:21; Deut. 2:30; Josh. 2:11; 5:1;
Isa. 57:15; 65:14; Ezek. 11:19; 18:31; 21:12 (in a longer series); 36:26; Ps. 34:19; 51:12,
19; 77:7; 78:8; 143:4; Prov. 15:13; 17:22; Dan. 5:20.
Other instances that formally comply with the search criteria are not inter-
esting as comparative material.105 The spirit being located in the interior
( )is a regular concept in the Old Testament and is not viable for estab-
lishing a special link between psalm and prophecy.106
The syntactic similarities between Ps. 51:12 and Ezek. 11:19; 36:26 are slight;
semantically we could conclude from the information above that the rela-
tion goes deeper.107 Words that recur are heart, spirit, interior and (re)-
new. Both and are frequently used combinations. With-
out the root one would not be specially reminded of Ezekiel in Ps. 51.
Thematically these passages display great disparity and little resemblance.
In both contexts it is suggested that a cleansing should precede inner
change: Ps. 51:9 and Ezek. 36:25 ( ;not in Ezek. 11). The two instances
similarly involve a purification of blood (Ezek. 36:18; Ps. 51:16). One differ-
ence is that cleansing and change in Ezek. 36 are separate actions,108 while
they unite as a single action in the psalm. This is expressed in the term
cf. D. Baltzer, Ezechiel und Deuterojesaja: Berhrungen in der Heilserwartung der beiden groen
Exilspropheten (BZAW, 121), Berlin 1971, 7678, though he may draw too many conclusions
from it by suggesting a connection with Ezekiels emphasis on human responsibility.
108 We postulated in 3.1.3 that inner change may also form part of purification in Ezek.
37:23.
newness in ezekiel 199
109 Pace A.A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms (NCB), vol. 2, London 1972, 402: Contrite
heart, lit. crushed heart is perhaps the opposite of stony heart (cf. Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). At
variation with the negative assessment of these comparisons we find the strong association
between Ps. 51 and TI; cf. H. Leene, Personal Penitence and the Rebuilding of Zion: The Unity
of Psalm 51, in: J. Dyk (ed.), Give Ear to My Words: Psalms and other Poetry in and around the
Hebrew Bible. Fs N.A. van Uchelen, Amsterdam 1996, 6177, esp. 7477.
110 Pace L. Neve, Realized Eschatology in Psalm 51, ExpT 80 (1968/69), 264266, esp. 265.
111 and often occur together in the OT. Someone whose heart is fixed or affirmed
is assured of the direction of his life; he knows what he wants, he has no doubt that he is
following the right way. In the parallellismus membrorum of Ps. 51:12 the attribute of heart
has apparently been transferred to spirit; and are not found elsewhere in collocation.
112 The absence of an allusion to Ps. 51 in Ezek. 36:23b-38 could at most play a role as
(Ps. 51:1214 is deutliche Anspielung auf Hes 11,19 oder 36,26) and Gunkel.
200 chapter three
collocation ( cf. broken heart) also occurs in Ezek. 6:9, but not yet
as a calibrated term for self-abasement. These superficial points of contact
with Ps. 51:1819 do not influence our overall assessment.
Conclusion: the similarities between the psalm and Ezekiel are far less
striking than is sometimes suggested and than one might have wished for
in a tradition-historical clarification of the renewal promise. The sprinkling
with pure water from Ezek. 36:25 was undoubtedly recognisable as a ritual
act to the Israelite reader, but that the renewal of heart and spirit in vv. 2627
would similarly have reminded him of the one or other well-known motif
from Jerusalems temple liturgy, is improbable in light of this intertextual
comparison.
Jeremiah
114 This section is a reworking of: H. Leene, Jeremiah 31,2326 and the Redaction of the
Door het oog van de Profeten. Fs C. van Leeuwen, Utrecht 1989, 3140. She compares inter-
pretations using 31:1522 as decisive context (Anderson, Trible) with interpretations that
emphasise the recurrence of 30:6 in 31:22 and thus elect (the basic text of) 30:531:22 as
decisive context (Holladay, Lohfink). There are many more overviews of the verses inter-
pretations, see e.g. B.A. Bozak, Life Anew: A Literary-Theological Study of Jer. 3031 (AnBib,
122), Rome 1991, 103104 (short but informative); A. Bauer, Gender in the Book of Jeremiah:
A Feminist-Literary Reading, New York 1999, 137145 (comprehensive). Some of the modern
translations think of a marriage metaphor as expression of the new relationship between
Yhwh and Israel (e.g. TOB, NBV), one of them prefers to hold onto protection, e.g. Israel
over Ephraim (E; cf. A. Schenker, Der nie aufgehobene Bund: Exegetische Beobachtungen
zu Jer 31,3134, in: E. Zenger (ed.), Der Neue Bund im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der beiden
newness in jeremiah 201
Testamente (QD 146), Freiburg 1993, 85112, esp. 105); the majority refrain from making a
choice, stress their doubt in a note or offer alternative translations [for our own intertextual
interpretation, 4.2.2].
116 Because LXX did not comprehend in 21 and some Mss renders it as , a link
develops in this version already within 31(38):2122 between Zion and the maiden Israel
(another, possibly older Greek reading is ; cf. B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom:
Essays on the Interpretation of Jeremiah 3031 (OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 25). The rendering of
22b, For the Lord creates salvation as a new planting, in which salvation people will wander,
then, could already indicate the blessed region in which farmers and shepherds will find
themselves according to 24 MT (see our exposition below). An association is also possible
between this salvific planting (, ) and Yhwhs planting in Zion according to
Isa. 60:21; 61:3 (; cf. Isa. 60:18 ). For an interpretation of Jer. 31:22 following
this line, 4.2.2. Schenker, Jer 31,3134, 9293 sees in JerLXX 38:2122 a play on the schism
of 1 Kgs 12 and applies the wandering in a new plantation to the co-inhabitation of the land
by Israelites and Judeans and their movements to and from Zion.
202 chapter three
any case this view does not convince every interpreter. Must we conclude by
saying: it is the meaning of Jer. 31:22 that it poses us a riddle?
In the current context, however, Jer. 31:2122 is explained through 31:23
26. This is not only carried in evidently connecting word repetitions be-
tween the two poems (see below), but also by a number of syntactic features
in Jer. 31:2326 itself.
The Hebrew word for earth, land, , and similarly the names of coun-
tries are feminine, but v. 23 uses a masculine suffix. Thus it
is advisable not to translate in the land of Judah and in its cities (cf. NRSV,
NIV), but in the land of Judah and in his cities; namely the land and the
cities of the man Judah, or the Judeans represented by this male personage.117
Likewise the suffix remains masculine in v. 24, .
These finesses could easily be overlooked,118 were it not for the reverse
to also occur. In this way v. 24 will dwell in her ( )reflects back to the
righteous pasture and holy mountain using a feminine suffix, even though
mountain and abode, pasture-ground are grammatically masculine
words.119 The explanation might rest in a cited blessing offered by pilgrims
to Zion, characterised here as a female personage.120
This portrait of the promised salvation then arises: The whole of Judah
(masculine) will be enclosed by Mount Zion (feminine). Beneficial to this
cause is the word : And Judah and all his cities will dwell in her together.
If in her only modifies Judah, as many exegetes claim, it remains to be
asked, is it not expected that the land of Judah would include all the Judean
cities? The promise, however, says something else: the whole of Judah is
incorporated in the holy regionthe sole mountain, the sole grazing field
of Zion as the blessed inclusio of all Judean cities together. In this manner
117 Cf. F.E. Knig, Historisch-kritisches Lehrgebude der hebrischen Sprache, Bd. 3, Hildes-
135o; cases involving are relatively seldom, cf. Knig, Lehrgebude, 249a. In Zech. 2:4
reference is made to using a feminine suffix.
119 Cf. in this text the suffix 2 pers. masc. in .
120 For the conventional grammatical explanation of such gender-shifts, see O. Glanz, Who
is speaking? Who is addressed? A critical study into the conditions of exegetical method and
its consequences for the interpretation of participant reference-shifts in the book of Jeremiah,
Amsterdam 2010, 2326. Authors who associate with Zion: A. van Selms, Jeremia (POT),
dl. 3, Nijkerk 1974, 77; J. Schreiner, Jeremia (NEB, 9), Bd. 2, Wrzburg 1984, 186; Schenker, Jer
31,3134, 103. K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches. Untersuchungen zur Redaktions-
und Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996,
178 is correct that the depiction of Zion as a woman cannot be old (contra Leene, Jeremiah
31,2326), though the relative age for the first reader naturally depends on the dating of
31:2326 itself [ 4.2.2].
newness in jeremiah 203
121 Similarly P. Volz, Der Prophet Jeremia (KAT, 10), Leipzig 21928, 282, although he applies
the suffix of syntactically to the land Judah, which actually in der Zukunft als ein grosses
Heiligtum gedacht ist; cf. F. Ntscher, Das Buch Jeremia (HSAT, 7/2), Bonn 1934, 232. Tradition-
historically the image is related to Isa. 11:9 (= 65:25); Zech. 2:8, 16; see too the land expansion
in Isa. 54:13.
122 According to Lisowsky appears 49 , amongst which many occurrences as
cities stylistically by repeating it. To modify the text on this point (W.H. Holladay, Jeremiah
(Hermeneia), vol. 2, Philadelphia 1989, 154) there is no just cause.
124 It is remarkable, but might be coincidental, that the only other occurrence of in Jer.
If the two poems really offer us a riddle (31:22) and its solution (31:2325),
then this hermeneutical connection could also help clarify v. 26. Here the
prophet presents himself as a sleeper who is granted dreams.126 Whereas the
main emphasis of the verse unquestionably rests on the relief of Jeremiahs
dream experience, an additional factor could be that a dream requires an
interpreter. We are reminded of the nightly visions of Zechariah, which
also had to be supplied with decoding interpretations.127 In this way the
relationship between 31:22 and 31:2325 as proposed above may find indirect
confirmation in this closing verse.
Tbingen 31968, 199, cf. BHS. We do not see it as the original intention of the text, but as what
an editor could have read into retrospectively.
126 Applying the verse to the awakening of Yhwh (see e.g. G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein:
Text, Komposition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26), Stuttgart 1993, 101, 124) does not lead
to a comprehensive whole.
127 M. Sister, Die Typen der prophetischen Visionen in der Bibel, MGWJ 78 (1934),
399430 distinguishes as third type Visionen in der Form eines Traumes, dessen Inhalt ein
Bild ist, das gedeutet werden muss (425). In this type he includes Am. 7:79; 8:13; Jer. 1:11
12; 1:1316; 24 and the majority of visions in Zechariah (428429). Only in Zechariah are they
pertinently visions seen in the night. For more recent literature on the dream as form of revela-
tion, see Becking, Jeremiah 3031, 72. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 217 sees other links between Jer.
3031 and Zechariah, esp. in Zech. 814, which leads him to formulate the possible direction
of dependence cautiously; differently G. Fischer, Jeremia: Der Stand der theologischen Diskus-
sion, Darmstadt 2007, 141. An evident analogy is ( pf. cons.), which appears only in Jer.
31:24; 50:39 and Zech. 14:11.
newness in jeremiah 205
27 31
28 32
29 33
34
30
128 The next paragraphs are a reworking from a section of H. Leene, Unripe fruit and
dull teeth (Jer 31,29; Ez 18,2), in: E. Talstra (ed.), Narrative and Comment. Fs W. Schneider,
Amsterdam 1995, 8298. Although there will be good reason in our subsequent expositions
[ 3.2.4 sub 5; 4.2.3] to emphasise the element obligation in the meaning of ( cf. Kutsch,
Perlitt), we retain its modern translation as covenant (Bund, alliance). The closeness of the
term and the so-called covenant formula in Jer. 11, 31 and 32 (cf. Lev. 26, Ezek. 37) is one of
the indications that in Jeremiah the word also encompasses the relationship between Yhwh
and Israel. An extensive overview of the 20th century discussion on this theme is provided by
E. Zenger, Die Bundestheologieein derzeit vernachlssigtes Thema der Bibelwissenschaft
und ein wichtiges Thema fr das Verhltnis IsraelKirche, in: E. Zenger (ed.), Der Neue Bund
im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der beiden Testamente (QD, 146), Freiburg 1993, 1349.
newness in jeremiah 207
the whole 31:2734 provides this exceptional time phrase with meaningful
significance.129
And no longer will they teach
a man his neighbour
and a man his brother
saying
Know Yhwh
but they will all know me from the smallest to the greatest of them
declares Yhwh
for I will forgive their iniquity
and not remember their sin anymore
A few aspects from this analysis may be open to discussion. Thus it was
doubted whether the two last clauses of 31:34 directly continue the fore-
going. Should they not far rather motivate 30:13 + 31:2734 as a whole?130
Syntactically and exegetically this is improbable, likewise the direct linking
of v. 34b, across two verses, with the promise of the new covenant in v. 31.131
In Jeremiah there are a further four instances where a yiqtol-clause and its
associated -clause are separated by the formula : 6:1213; 30:17; 42:11
and 50:1011. In 50:11 the -clause is concessive; elsewhere it offers a motiva-
tion to the foregoing yiqtol-clause. This is also the most probable connection
within the clausal hierarchy of 31:34 [see the scheme above].
129 Interpreters that emphasise this phasing are e.g. A. Weiser, Das Buch des Propheten
Jeremia (ATD, 2021), Gttingen 41960, 288; L. Perlitt, Bundestheologie im Alten Testament
(WMANT, 36), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1969, 180; R.P. Carroll, The Book of Jeremiah (OTL), Lon-
don 1986, 610; J. Untermann, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in Transi-
tion (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 97 (with reference to Abarbanel); Schmid, Buchgestalten,
79. is prominent because it occurs nowhere else. Some take it as an equiv-
alent to behold days are coming; others concede that this should have required in those
days. The time phrase has also been related to the days of the covenant breaking (see e.g.
W. Gro, Erneuerter oder Neuer Bund? Wortlaut und Aussageintention in Jer 31,3134, in:
F. Avemarie, H. Lichtenberger (eds), Bund und Tora: Zur theologischen Begriffsgeschichte in
alttestamentlicher, frhjdischer und urchristlicher Tradition, Tbingen 1996, 4166, esp. 57).
N. Riemersma, JHWH sluit een nieuw verbond (Jeremia 31,3134), NTT 65 (2011), 137148,
esp. 141 wants to anticipate etc., seen by him as a relative clause. As an
objection against the view we follow, he maintains that precisely that which has replaced
the proverb is invalidated in 31:3133 (our translation). This objection falls away if 31:30 and
34 are divided over two phases. Fittingly after those days answers how 31:30 and 34 are com-
patible: by spreading them out over time. First limiting the debt to personal debt, thereafter
pardoning this debt in a personal relationship with God.
130 So Schmid, Buchgestalten, 72, 79 following Lohfink.
131 Pace Gro, Bund, 50.
208 chapter three
Their iniquity and their sin, then, does not recollect the iniquity and sin
of the fathers, but the iniquity and sin of the great and small just mentioned.
Correspondingly the final -clause of Jer. 50:20 involves the forgiveness of
the remnant that survived the judgement. How can we then best interpret
the parallelism between vv. 2930 and 34? The clause in vv. 2930 with they
will no longer say is followed by an adversative -clause: no longer will
they A, but B (i.e. what has been denied by A) is now in effect. Similarly this is
the relation between they will no longer teach and the personal knowl-
edge of God in the first -clause of v. 34. A second, motivating -clause,
parallel to v. 30, is required to round off the theme of guilt. How do the
two -clauses in v. 34 relate to each other? Iniquity and sin will be erased
making it possible to know God (= have a personal relation with God). The
book of Jeremiah uses with three times for forgiveness of the sinner
(5:1, 7; 50:20) and three times for the forgiveness of the sin (31:34; 33:8; 36:3).
In 36:3 conversion is a precondition (cf. 5:1, 7). According to 31:34 and 33:8
Yhwh forgives unconditionally (or provides himself in the set condition,
through gifted obedience). The question here is not how forgiveness is pos-
sible, but where it leads. According to 33:8 forgiveness reaches deeper than
cleansing: even rebellion against Yhwh is erased thereby. Further remem-
brance of iniquity and visiting of sins in Jeremiah may be seen in 14:10.
The only Old Testament occurrences of the direct sequence , and
are found in Isa. 43:25 and Jer. 31:34 ;
there are no other noticeable analogies to these two clauses [ 4.2.1].
appears 7 in the Old Testament: Ex. 5:2; Judg. 2:10; 1 Sam. 2:12; 3:7; Jer.
31:34; Hos. 2:22; 6:3; for knowing God see Job 18:21; 1 Chron. 28:9; knowing
me (= Yhwh) Isa. 45:4, 5; Jer. 2:8; 4:22; 9:2, 5, 23; 22:16; 24:7; 31:34; Ezek. 38:16;
Ps. 87:4; knowing you (= Yhwh) Jer. 10:25; Hos. 8:2; Ps. 36:11; 79:6; knowing
him (= Yhwh) Job 24:1; Prov. 3:6; knowledge of Yhwh Isa. 11:2, 9; knowledge
of God Hos. 4:1; Prov. 2:5. Significant is the contrast between Jer. 31:3334
and 2:8: those who (professionally) handle the torah (// the priests) do not
know me.132 The new covenant means that for the torah (which according
to 7:23 places its essence in the command obey my voice and thus envis-
ages a personal relationship with Yhwh; see in 31:33 my torah) one is no
132 With C. Maier, Jeremia als Lehrer der Tora: Soziale Gebote des Deuteronomiums in Fort-
61), the question should be answered how these places handle Jer. 31 as a promise. Further
4.2.2 on the more likely dependence direction Isa. 51:7 Jer. 31:33.
210 chapter three
lead him or her to knowing God. The notion that my torah simply means
the Pentateuch as it is fixed in writing contradicts the freedom that the
very book of Jeremiah allows itself towards the letter of the Pentateuch
(7:22!). If God writes something upon my heart, it also wants to say that I
understand what has been written in its deepest sense, and am able to adapt
my thoughts and actions accordingly.136
The question that the promise of the new covenant desires to answer
above all else, is how to find a type of relationship between Yhwh and
Israel that is no longer sanctioned by a collective judgement. What is new
to the new covenant is not that it contains new commandments, nor that
these commandments are carried on the heart, finally making it possible to
have a personal relationship with God (this possibility was always there, see
Samuels coming of age), but that this personal relationship will determine
the entire structure of religious life in Israel, so that a breakdown, with such
catastrophic consequences as were experienced in 587bce, is excluded from
the future.137 What is truly new to the new covenant is its indissolubility. To
this all other characteristics (individualising, laicisation) are subject. This
is also the case with the forgiveness of sins in Jer. 31:34. The cherished
idea in Christian dogma of a non posse peccare presumably falls outside
the questioning horizon of Jeremiahs promise itself. This promise confines
itself to saying that Yhwh will no longer hold the whole of Israel accountable
for the sins of individual Israelites, but commits himself to pardon everyone,
big or small, who hopes for forgiveness. A covenant with the house of Israel
and Judah that rests in personal pardon cannot be broken collectively. Such
a promise offers the reader a practical perspective: it is anti-utopian rather
than utopian.138
OT, sometimes in relation to the Decalogue or Deuteronomy, certainly not always with a view
to the Pentateuch. In any case here it is about the commandments in their essence, the will
of God expressed in it. On in Jeremiah, 3.2.4 sub 6.
137 In light of Jer. 11:10 (the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant
I made with their fathers) it is unlikely that alone the fathers present at Sinai are implicated
with they in 31:32 (my covenant that they broke), as proposed by A. Schenker, Der nie
aufgehobene Bund: Exegetische Beobachtungen zu Jer 31,3134, in: E. Zenger (ed.), Der Neue
Bund im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der beiden Testamente (QD 146), Freiburg 1993, 85112,
esp. 109.
138 For the opposite point of view, see Carroll, Jeremiah, 612. Similarly speaking of an
innergeschichtlich nie erreichbare Flle der Gotteserkenntnis als Mitte und Ziel des aus
seinem Innersten neuen Gottesbundes (Zenger, Bundestheologie, 49) diverts too easily
from a promise that further on, and still in strong anti-dualistic terms, involves the historical
survival of Israel (31:3537). The future of a prophetic promise is the future as it has an effect
newness in jeremiah 211
on the current reader. The criticised commentaries see the promise too descriptively and too
little in its perlocutionary intention (Austin).
139 Cf. Leene, Jeremiah 31,2326, 349364; Idem, Unripe fruit, 8298. Here and in
the subsequent sections we follow JerMT 3031 compared to JerLXX 3738. Besides some
smaller differences, which we will discuss as required, a version of MT 30:1011; 30:15 and
30:22 is absent from LXX. Regarding the last two verses both addition or omission may
be argued. Jer. 30:1011 reoccurs nearly identical in 46:2728 (LXX 26:2728) and could
thus have been left out of the Greek sequence to avoid repetition. This would involve
a culturally determined correction on the reuse of filing notes by the Hebrew authors
as literary production technique. Jer. 30:1011 seems to be anchored deeply in the direct
context (cf. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 6162; B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on
the Interpretation of Jeremiah 3031 (OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 18) and moreover is functional in
the dramatic structure of Jer. 30:531:26 [ 4.2.1].
140 On the prosaic and poetic characteristics of the separate segments, see Fischer, Trost-
bchlein, 85; on the flowing transition between prose and poetry in general, see Becking,
Jeremiah 3031, 60. On the other hand, the most evident differences could be made too incon-
spicuous through a uniform presentation of the text according to the Masoretic verse format
and accentuation.
141 Fischer, Trostbchlein, 86: ein gemischter bergang.
142 According to Becking, Jeremiah 3031, 72 Jer. 31:26 corresponds like an envelope with
30:4. It is however unlikely that the prophet himself is saying 30:4. Fischer, Trostbchlein,
124 sees a correspondence between the I-clause in 31:26 and the we-clause of 30:5 and
understands both as utterances of Yhwh. Note the correspondence between 31:26 and the
postscript of the Mesopotamian Song of Erra, ca. 800 bce (cited by Van der Toorn, Scribal
Culture, 211212): In the middle of the night He (i.e., the god) revealed it to him, And exactly
as He had spoken during the morning slumber, He (the author) did not skip a single line, nor
did he add one to it. When Erra heard it, he approved.
212 chapter three
Still, 30:14 and 31:2740 on the one hand, and 30:531:26 on the other,
exhibit universal characteristics of prose and poetry: speaking-about con-
trasting speaking-to, direct statements contrasting metaphors, argumenta-
tion contrasting evocation, programme contrasting scenario. The ability of
Jer. 3031 to combine scenario and programme, as mutually supportive ways
to talk about the future, will provide us later on with a convenient point
of reference to consider the relation between the salvation prophecies of
Ezekiel, Deutero-Isaiah and Jeremiah from a hermeneutical point of view
[ 4.2.3].
With this variation in style a second structural factor comes into play. Jer.
3031 enables the readers attention to sway between the time periods, in a
manner that is unique to prophetic literature: the moment when Jeremiah
receives his dream visions; the moment when Yhwh instructs him to set
these visions down on paper; the immediacy of the narrator who is recount-
ing all this; and finally the period of the coming days, which in turn display a
remarkable phasing on their own [ 3.2.2]. This phasing enables the reader
to relate the promise to what has started alreadyor at least allows him to
ask to what extent these things might be taking place in his own lifetime.
The days that will come are indeed futurist from the prophetic perspective
of Jeremiah, but there is no need to separate them from the here and now of
the reader.143 On the other hand, the past perspective of the prophet contin-
ues to be as meaningful as the readers present. Just as a has the ability
to bridge spatial distances (29:1; 51:60), it is able to bridge time. This must be
the intention with the writing assignment in 30:2 (see also 32:14). Especially
the notion of remoteness evoked through the word remoteness from
a peaceful future beyond the catastrophemanifests for the reader the vast
difference between Jeremiahs prophecy of salvation and the peace peace
of the false prophets.144 For their untimely promise no written document was
needed.
143 The formula behold days are coming occurs 21 in the OT, of which 15 in Jer. (includ-
ing 31:38 Qere; 14 followed by declares Yhwh). The distribution over curses against Israel,
curses against another nation and blessings for Israel is resp. 3, 4 and 8. It is clear from
most of the curses that they have already been fulfilled from a readers point of view. Behold
days are coming as such is therefore not an eschatological formula, not even in the broadest
sense of the word. On this important point our interpretation counters the view, such as
that of Maier, Lehrer, 352, that the promise of Jer. 31:3134 is destined fr eine nicht nher
bestimmte, ferne Zukunft, meaning that the reader of today would still have to resort to the
written torah (= the Pentateuch).
144 Cf. H. Leene, Blowing the Same Shofar: An Intertextual Comparison of Representations
newness in jeremiah 213
30:01 Narrative A
02 Yhwhs instruction to Jeremiah to record words B
in a book
03 Motivation: because B
days to comereturn
04 Narrative A
30:0531:26 Jeremiahs booklet C
31:2730 days to comerestoration B
3134 days to comeinner change B
31:3540 Concluding oracles C?
of the Prophetic Role in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in: J.C. de Moor (ed.), The Elusive Prophet: The
Prophet as a Historical Person, Literary Character and Anonymous Artist (OTS, 45), Leiden
2001, 175198, esp. 184. This is an argument against the suggestion of Carroll, Jeremiah, 568
that precisely the writing of the book in Jer. 3031 was meant as a magical gesture. See in this
regard how terror and no peace in 30:5 alludes critically to 6:14; 8:11 [ 3.2.5.3]. H. Knobloch,
Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12), Wiesbaden 2009, 160: Im
Gegensatz zu Jer 36 wird [in Jer 30] nun explizit die Verschriftungsttigkeit allein Jeremia
angeordnet, wobei die Stellvertretung des Propheten durch die Trostrolle [] nun auch den
temporalen Aspekt umfasst.
214 chapter three
Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 10
even considers whether the of 30:2 could at any stage of the books genesis have encom-
passed the whole of Jer. 3033. In light of the new word reception formula in 32:1 this is
unlikely.
146 See also the vineyards in 31:5.
147 LXX attempts to facilitate the connection between 38:27 (= 31:27 MT) and the foregoing
148 See G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Komposition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB,
26), Stuttgart 1993, 140185. For a modest sample in this regard, see the presentation of Jer.
31:3134 towards the end of this section.
149 Words with a salvific perspective in Jeremiah include: 3:64:2; 5:1819; 12:1417; 15:1921;
16:1415; 17:2426; 22:24; 23:38; 24:47; 25:1114; 27:22; 29; 3031; 32; 33; 35:1819; 39:1518;
42:1013; 45; 4651.
216 chapter three
as consider the themes of the covenant and the torah as seen within in the
context of the whole book.
Jeremiabuch: Ein Beitrag zur Frage nach der Entstehung des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 118),
Gttingen 1978, 20, 22, 185 reads them together. K.A.D. Smelik, Het gezicht van de twee vijgen-
korven: De plaats van hoofdstuk 24 in het boek Jeremia, Kampen 1991, 18 discusses the problem
and reads with ;this is also the choice of all the modern translations taken up in
the SESB.
218 chapter three
(its) good is able to anticipate the theme of the Judeans beneficial presence
in Babylon according to Jer. 29:7. This leads us to connect for good in 5d with
I have sent.
The steps in the segmenting of Jer. 24:6 are: linking the weqatal-clauses a
and b; connecting the we--yiqtol clauses d and f with resp. c and e; and
linking cd and e-f on the grounds of their formal parallelism. It is less
evident to link the segments a-b and c-f directly with each other.
Establishing the hierarchy in Jer. 24:7 requires precision from those who
wish to determine the place of the heart in the promise. The connections
between a, b and c speak for themselves. Concerning d, e and f: here the
coupling of d and e, based on the x-yiqtol pattern of e, which otherwise
stands parallel to d, precedes the connection of f to this unit. This means that
f is neither dependent on a-c, nor on just e. The -yiqtol-clause motivates
the whole d-e: because those who were deported will return to Yhwh with
their whole heart, the relationship of solidarity formulated in d-e will arise.153
Literarily Jer. 24:7 forms a chiasm, especially through the placement of the
word at the beginning and at the end:
And I will give them a heart
to know me,
that I am Yhwh;
153 Smelik argues for a temporal view of the -clause, but converted into a translation it
(2) Jer. 29:1014. This promise forms part of Jeremiahs letter to the exiles,
which is dated between the deportation of Jehoiachin (597) and the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem (587) by the narrative, like the vision of the figs. After an
expansive introduction detailing the address, time and means of dispatch-
ment (13) follows the letters body, which reveals this structure:
154 For the series planting-building etc. see Jer. 1:10; 24:6; 31:28; 42:10; 45:4.
220 chapter three
The coordination between vv. 1014 and 1619, indicated by the innermost
bracket, is similar to the coordination between Jer. 24:57 and 810; the letter
creates this coordination through word repetitions and communal layers of
meaning. For the exiles Yhwh will fulfil his good word (10) because he has no
bad thoughts about them (11); those left behind on the contrary will turn into
vile figs, too bad to be eaten (17). The exiles Yhwh will gather from all the
nations where I have driven you (14), but those left behind will become a
reproach among all the nations where I have driven them (18).
The concentric pattern ABCBA is completed by vv. 89 (A) and
vv. 2023 (A). These passages concern salvation preachers operating among
the deportees. The judgement in v. 9, they prophesy a lie to you in my name,
which is passed on prophets, diviners and dreamers in Babylon, is directed
at the prophets Ahab and Zedekiah in v. 21. In the motivation at the close
we find the terms in my name and lie repeated once more: because they
have spoken a word in my name which is a lie (23).
The assertiveness with which Yhwh distances himself from their word
(I know and I am witness, v. 23) balances the assertiveness with which he
had underlined his own good word (I myself know the thoughts I think
about you, v. 11). It is noteworthy that the letter ignores the actual content
of the false prophecy. It seems as if the reader is expected to know Jer. 27
28, where similar misleading announcements are reported from Jerusalem:
underestimating the seriousness of the situation, unwilling to see Yhwhs
hand in the actions of Babylon, and foretelling the exiles speedy return
under Jehoiachin. To this profile, Jer. 29 has nothing more to add.
As in Jer. 24:57, it is primarily the syntax that decides about the condi-
tioned or unconditioned character of the promise in 29:1014. Interpreters
and translators weigh three possible segmentings of v. 13:
(c) A third option is to move the sp pasq forward, resulting in 13c becom-
ing the protasis of v. 14. This segmentation is followed by B/R, E, REB and
(with a strong conditional translation of 13c) NRSV:
13 a And you will seek me |
b and find [2] |
c If you will ask for me with all your heart [1] |
14 a I will let myself be found by you |
b declares Yhwh [3] |
c and I will turn your fortunes [7] |
222 chapter three
Where the shorter brackets in this scheme are thus more or less enforced
by the syntax, the longer brackets result from an exegetical balancing of
syntactic and semantic perspectives:
10 After 70 years of Babylonian rule, Yhwh will fulfil his good word.
1112 His thoughts of peace will be welcomed by the exiles by way of
prayer (cf. 29:7).
13 The exiles will seek and find him.
14 Yhwh will let himself be found and have the exiles return to
Jerusalem.
This sequence of actions differs from that in Jer. 24 and Jer. 3031, return
restoration inner change. The difference, however, can be explained to
a large extent from the specific interest of Jer. 29. This does not concern
the exiles situation after their repatriation, but the implications of their
semi-permanent residence in Babylon. Already in Babylon a call is made
to build and plant and not to become distracted from it by misleading
prophecies. In the same Babylon where they have to pray for the citys
peace, after 70 years they will pray to return home. And still, even if this
search for God according to the letter precedes the return chronologically,
one cannot claim the promise to return has, therefore, been conditioned
by it. Precisely the subtle syntactic variation from related statements in
Deuteronomy makes it clear that this future search itself has been included
in the fulfilment of the promise. Thereby the difference vis--vis Jer. 24 and
3031 has become more a question of literary shaping than of theological
controversy.155
(3) Jer. 32:3741. The story of Jeremiahs purchase of a field in ch. 32 is built
up with the following components:
0105 Introduction
0615 Purchase of the field and preservation of the contract
1625 Prayer of Jeremiah
2644 Yhwhs answer
155 One truth is that in its focus on the situation of the exiles and scattered people, Jer.
29 connects closely to Deut. 4:29; 30:2 and 1 Kgs 8:4748. Concerning the conditionality
of the promise, Jer. 29 deviates from these texts. For other accents, see e.g. K. Schmid,
Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches. Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte
von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 241.
224 chapter three
The prayer and the answer are closely related. Together they tie in with
the commission given to the prophet on the eve of Judahs political and
social collapse to do something that suggests the survival of his own fam-
ily and the future welfare of his native village Anathoth. The strength of the
narrative, which reminds of a classic drama in its theatrical unity of time,
place and action, is found in the promise of salvations deep integration in
Jeremiahs eventful biography.156 Return, change and restoration are compo-
nents of Yhwhs answer, which is structured as follows:
156 Cf. J. Applegate, Peace, peace, when there is no peace: Redactional Integration of
Prophecy of Peace into the Judgement of Jeremia, in: A.H.W. Curtis, T. Rmer (eds), The Book
of Jeremiah and its Reception (BEThL, 128), Leuven 1997, 5190, esp. 83.
newness in jeremiah 225
In unison these perspectives support a division of vv. 3941 over two parallel
segments, in which the movement progresses from fear to doing good:
39a40c and 40d41c. One could say that in each segment fear precedes
doing good as a prerequisite, even if it is Yhwh who will give the returnees
fear for him and thereby he himself will provide in the condition for his own
benefaction.
37 a Behold I will gather them
from all the countries [5] |
b where I drove them
in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation [2]
39 a and I will give them one heart and one way [5] |
b to fear me all days [2] for their own good [5]
and that of their children after them [1] |
has a less rounded structure, even as the heart of Israel in 40d corresponds
with the heart of Yhwh in 41c; to this enduring relation with Yhwh, Israels
permanent planting in the land connects itself.
It seems as if the second segment should form a climax in relation to the
first segment. Besides giving a heart to fear, Yhwh gives the returnees the
fear itself in their heart. And Yhwhs benefaction out of self-commitment in
the final instance appears to be a benefaction resulting from his joy over the
new Israel, accompanied by reflections on what his benevolence will consist
of concretely.
Our segmentation does not agree with the Masoretic versification which
is followed in the modern translations.157 At first glance these translations
attach due significance to the correspondenceincidentally in different
tensesbetween Yhwhs I will not turn away in 40b and Israels not to
turn away from me in 40e. The two negations, however, could equally be
understood as a chiastic element in the illustrated parallelism 39a40c //
40d41c: because of what they will do, I do not ; because of what they will
not do, I do The handed down versification makes it more difficult to grasp
the structure of vv. 3941 as a whole.
An agreement with Jer. 24:57 and Jer. 3031 (prose framing) is that
these promises similarly contain the elements return, restoration and inner
change. The difference lies in their sequences: in Jer. 32:3741, inner change
precedes the social restoration. Here the narrative framework of Jer. 32 must
have been decisive: if Yhwhs answer wishes to retake the theme with which
the whole story commenced, the sale of fields, then the end of vv. 3741
should contain a stepping stone to this themewhich the word plant (41c)
provides satisfactorily.158
The three passages also share the covenant formula. What stands out in
Jer. 32 is the use of terminology in the formulas extensive explanation that
reminds strongly of Deuteronomy (see esp. Deut. 5:29 Oh that they had such
a heart to fear me that it might go well [ ]with them and with their
children for ever).159 A noticeable difference from Jer. 3031 is that in Jer.
157 Though the German translations B/R, E and REB place a full stop after 40ac against
their convention; possibly it is reasoned that the fear gifted by Yhwh cannot belong here to
his eternal covenant.
158 In 3.2.5.3 we will discuss the relations with Ezekiel, which could have played an
with your children after you); as a contrast, see the citation from Deut. 29:27 (in anger and in
newness in jeremiah 227
32 covenant does not implicate Israels obligation to obey, but only Yhwhs
own commitment to do good. Further on in this section this diverse usage
of the concept covenant in Jeremiah will be discussed.
As far as structure is concerned, Jer. 32:3741 is the furthest from 29:1014.
The covenant formula with its notion of attained destination apparently is
less well suited to that Babylonian interim residence. On the other hand,
32:3738 reminds strongly of 29:14dh and I will gather you from all the
nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares Yhwh, and I
will have you return to the place from which I have deported you. Along with
Jer. 23:3 these are the only instances in the Old Testament where gathering,
driving and having return appear in collocation.
(4) Unconditional return. Certainly, the three discussed passages are not the
only examples in the book of Jeremiah that exhibit an underlying discussion
on the conditionality of salvation, as for instance can be seen in a compar-
ison between the following places dealing with the return or conversion to
Yhwh:
03:22
04:01
15:19
31:18
wrath and in great indignation) in Jer. 32:37 (cf. 21:5). What is striking in this Deuteronomic
context is that the covenant formula in Jer. 32:38 (type C) reminds of Ezekiel and not
Deuteronomy [ 3.2.5.3].
228 chapter three
15:19 Wenn du umkehrst, lasse ich dich umkehren, dann darfst du wieder vor mir
stehen. (E)
Wenn du umkehrst, will ich dich umkehren lassen, da du vor mir stehst
(REB)
If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me (NRSV)
If you repent, I will restore you | that you may serve me; (NIV)
Si tu reviens, je te ramnerai et tu te tiendras ton poste devant moi; (NBS)
Si tu reviens, moi te faisant revenir, tu te tiendras devant moi. (TOB)
31:18 Fhr mich zurck, umkehren will ich; denn du bist der Herr, mein Gott.
(E)
La mich umkehren, da ich umkehre, denn du, HERR, bist mein Gott.
(REB)
Bring me back, let me come back, for you are the Lord my God. (NRSV)
Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God. (NIV)
ramne-moi, et je reviendrai, car tu es le Seigneur (YHWH), mon Dieu.
(NBS)
fais-moi revenir, que je puisse revenir, car toi, Seigneur, tu es mon Dieu.
(TOB)
The problem is that sometimes indicates a change for the better as
behaviour (a), and sometimes a change for the better as fate or gift (b). In
addition, on one occasion a may serve as condition for b, and on another
occasion as the effect of b. The first is probably the intention of 15:19 (if a, then
b; differently TOB), the second the intention of 31:18 (if b, then a; differently
NRSV). In the second verbal clause of 4:1 [] , some see a continuation
of the protasis (REB, NRSV, NBS, NIV, TOB), in contrast others take it as a first
apodosis (E). A comparison with 15:19 and 31:18 encourages accepting a
similar protasis-apodosis construction in 4:1a, resulting in an interpretation
that activates the two meanings of return (if a, then b). Thus the view we
reach is not far from the E: If you will return, Israel , you may return to
me (= I will take you under my care again, cf. 15:19).160 The verse concludes
the second part of the books prologue (3:14:2), which encircles the concept
return from beginning to end.161 One may rightly claim that 4:1 and 15:19
emphasise the conditionality of the salvation, but it is incorrect to say that
31:18 sets unconditionality as its diametrical contrast. As a prayer 31:18b itself
is a turn towards Yhwh, and thereby transcends the dilemma; and within the
(JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 34: In other words, if the people repent, God will take them back.
161 Jer. 3:14:2 counts 11 occurrences of the verb , 5 of the noun and 2 of the
adjective . The noun and adjective indicate the peoples turning away from Yhwh, the
verb always carries the turning towards him (with as exception the first occurrence, in 3:1).
newness in jeremiah 229
context of Jer. 3031, this prayer forms part of a promise. In this manner Jer.
31:18 illustrates, like no other proof text in the book, that the promise does
not revoke the call to conversion, but may encompass the answer to this call
in its phrasing.162
162 Cf. Unterman, Repentance, 52: There is no way to determine with any degree of cer-
tainty whether Israels contrition precedes Gods mercies or not. One senses that, although
redemption is conditional upon Israels repentance, YHWHs mercies are the more signifi-
cant factor. Here Unterman is avoiding the impression he gives elsewhere, i.e. that the call
to convert in Jeremiah is eventually cancelled by the promise of salvation. In our view, this is
not the case.
163 Calamity and salvation according to Jer. 32 can only be considered together from the
perspective of Yhwhs wonderful dealing. Return as a precondition would make the relation
between judgement and promise comprehensible, while precisely this comprehensibility is
emphatically denied in Jer. 32.
230 chapter three
164 15 in the book; to introduce disaster befalling Israel 3, salvation for Israel 8, disaster
32:40; 34:13.
167 The closest sequence of clauses is offered by 11:10: the house of Israel and the house of
to lead them out of the land of Egypt | analogous clause 7:22; 11:4; 32:21;
34:13169
my covenant that they broke | 11:10 etc.170
though I was master over them | analogous clause 3:14
declares Yhwh |
33 But this is the covenant |
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days171 |
declares Yhwh | 11:10 etc.
I will put my law within them172 |
and I will write it on their heart |
and I will be their God | an. cl. 7:23; 11:4; (13:11;) 24:7; 30:22;
and they shall be my people | 31:1; 32:38 [in same seq. 7:23; 31:1]
34 And no longer will they teach | an. cl. 3:16 etc.173
a man his neighbour |
and a man his brother | an. cl. 23:35; cf. 34:17174
saying |
Know Yhwh175 |
for they shall all know me a from the smallest to the greatest of them b |
declares Yhwh | a 9:5, 23; 22:16; 24:7; cf. 2:8; b 6:13;
cf. 16:6176
for I will forgive their iniquity | 33:8; 36:3177
and not remember their sin anymore | cf. 14:10
169 Generally there is an association with the day on which it took place, the same day
on which Israel (as a manner of speaking) received the commandments (7:22; 11:4; 34:13);
forefathers are mentioned in the direct contexts (the same places).
170 Clauses with and occur 5 in Jer.: 11:10; 14:21; 31:32; 33:20, 22.
171 After those days further not in Jer., nor elsewhere in the OT.
172 My law 6 in Jer.: 6:19; 9:12; 16:11; 26:4; 31:33; 44:10; in the interior 8 with pronominal
coming days in the same or preceding clausea combination unique to the OT. The general
pattern + yiqtol + occurs 19 in Jer., including 31:34, 34, 40.
174 Elsewhere in the OT only Isa. 19:2.
175 imp. 7 in Jer., but here alone with Yhwh/God as object. For / see
also 1 Sam. 2:12; 3:7; Hos. 2:22; 6:3; 1 Chron. 28:9 (imp.!); with negation Ex. 5:2; Judg. 2:10. The
most tangible illustration of small and great in the promise of Jer. 31:34 is found in the story
of the young Samuel.
176 See also the collocation of and in 5:4, 5.
177 + followed by the person: 5:1, 7; 50:20.
232 chapter three
178 For in a thematically related context, see Jer. 3:14. Here too the contrast
with Jer. 3031. Lev. 26:45 has the expression , covenant with the ancestors,
but there are no grounds substantiating that either Jer. 11:10 or 31:31 are alluding to it. For
the connections between Jer. 11 and 31 see also T. Rmer, Les anciens pres (Jr 11,10) et la
nouvelle alliance (Jr 31,31), BN 59 (1991), 2327; C. Maier, Jeremia als Lehrer der Tora: Soziale
Gebote des Deuteronomiums in Fortschreibungen des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 196), Gttingen
2002, 193197. H. Knobloch, Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12),
Wiesbaden 2009, 294 sees the system of headings in Jer. 7:1; 11:1; 18:1 and 30:1 as proof of the
topical cohesion between the units they introduce.
180 G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Komposition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26),
Stuttgart 1993, 155157 experiments with what may be called the question-answer model to
describe the embedding of Jer. 3031 in the book as a whole. The model appears to be the
most applicable to the relation between Jer. 11 and 31:3134. Without chapter 31, chapter 11
would not have been able to stand in the book in this way: a prophet risks his life calling
the disaster that will befall Jerusalem a penalty for breaching the first covenant. Here the
answer is equally geared towards the question as the question is to the answer. Accepting
this calamitous past is essential to escape from it through a new covenantbut the reverse
is also valid: that precisely the promise makes this uncomfortable view on the past bearable.
newness in jeremiah 233
judgement, through the new covenant, one may safely leave behind forever,
in a sphere of forgiveness and personal interaction with God.
(6) Law. The word occurs 11 times in the book of Jeremiah.181 It is usually
related to Yhwh through either a genitive or a suffix, with Jer. 18:18 as the
most prominent exception.182 In a synchronic reading a primary task is to
associate Jer. 8:8; 26:4 and 31:33 as torah-statements in a meaningful mutual
relationship. With this understanding, the promise of the inner law is at
stake.
Jer. 26:45 If you will not listen to me, to walk in my torah which I
have set before you (in writing), to listen to the words of my servants the
prophets are important lines in the books progression. They introduce
the sanction that appears to be coupled to Yhwhs commandments on
the day of Jerusalems fall. This is the sanction that the promise of Jer.
31:3234 wants to overcome. Just as Jer. 26:4 is best understood in light
of Jer. 31:33, so Jer. 8:8 is best understood in light of Jer. 26:4. The torah
becomes the product of a lying pen once it is isolated from the interpretation
expressed by the prophetic word (cf. 8:9). Apart from this prophetic word,
as Jeremiah would formulate it in the temple discourse of Jer. 26, on its
own the torah remains a deceptive source of misplaced security. The words
of the prophet therefore form an essential reinforcement of the torah, but
towards the reader it always means a reinforcement benefitting the promise.
Therefore with Jer. 31:33 intends more than just Deuteronomy or the
Pentateuch;183 it must implicate the torah in its ideal form, the torah as
perfect expression of Yhwhs will. The book of Jeremiah encourages the
pursuit of this expression by persisting in reading the torah in light of the
prophets and vice versa. This will be shown to be an important eye-opener
in our concluding intertextual considerations [ 4.2.3].
Thus accepting the promise of the new covenant equally involves accep-
tance of the prophets message of coming disaster. In this it becomes dif-
ficult to assert that this promise makes Jeremiahs role as torah-teacher
181 This and the next paragraphs are a reflection on Maier, Lehrer.
182 This exception is an additional argument to see Jer. 18:18 as a citation from Ez. 7:26,
cf. H. Leene, Blowing the Same Shofar: An Intertextual Comparison of Representations of
the Prophetic Role in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in: J.C. de Moor (ed.), The Elusive Prophet: The
Prophet as a Historical Person, Literary Character and Anonymous Artist (OTS, 45), Leiden
2001, 175198, esp. 194.
183 Maier, Lehrer shows how the interpretation of the law in Jeremiahs prose-discourses
are essentially summaries of social rules from Deuteronomy, with personal touches like the
Sabbath commandment in Jer. 17 as Summe und Zentrum der Tora (224).
234 chapter three
With this survey over the restitution programmes of Jer. 24, 29 and 32, fol-
lowed by paragraphs detailing the return to Yhwh as promise and command
in Jer. 3, 4 and 15, conveying the new covenant as answer to Jer. 11 and illumi-
nating the torah in relation to Yhwhs word spoken by the prophet, Jer. 3031
has received ample relief within the book of Jeremiah as a whole and we are
now in a position to pay attention to a few diachronic points of view. How
did these texts of Jeremiah relate to each other in time?
184 Pace Maier, Lehrer, 372: Mit Jer 31:3134 scheint die Rolle des Toralehrers [= Jeremia]
obsolet zu werden.
185 For our own variant of the theory [developed in discussion with S. Bhmer, Heimkehr
und neuer Bund: Studien zu Jeremia 3031 (GTA, 5), Gttingen 1976; N. Lohfink, Der junge
Jeremia als Propagandist und Prophet: Zum Grundstock von Jer 3031, in: P.-M. Bogaert (ed.),
Le Livre de Jrmie (BEThL, 54), Leuven 1981, 351368; Idem, Die Gotteswortverschachtelung
in Jer 3031, in: L. Ruppert et al. (eds), Knder des Wortes: Beitrge zur Theologie der Propheten.
Fs J. Schreiner, Wrzburg 1982, 105119; U. Schrter, Jeremias Botschaft fr das Nordreich, zu
N. Lohfinks berlegungen zum Grundbestand von Jeremia XXXXXXI, VT 35 (1985), 312329;
newness in jeremiah 235
The question posed by the compilers of Jer. 3031 presumably was not:
how do we find a suitable context for our handed-down salvific texts, which
are traceable to the historical Jeremiah or are ascribed to him; but far
rather: in light of our well-known prophecies of salvation (Ezekiel, Isaiah,
the Twelve), how do we find an authoritative prophetic vision that will sup-
port the restitution programme of the book of Jeremiah the most effectively?
If this was the question underlying the texts genesis, then the redaction-
critical point of departure, reasoning that the composition 30:531:26 must
be older than its prosaic framing, becomes obsolete. The context and the
contextualised then developed reciprocally. The dream vision in Jer. 30:5
31:26 was then compiled in this form with such an application in mind.186
Another basic insight concerns the relations between Jer. 30:531:26 and
the small units that form its building blocks. It is concluded correctly from
the numerous borrowings in these blocks that they are not oral proclama-
tion units. The units were written to serve as parts of a composition. The fact
that the one unit is orientated especially on the narrative of the patriarchs,
and the other on Amos or Hosea and so forth, indicates a process of text
production in which the phase of writing the separate units and the phase
of their being arranged can be differentiated. The scribal procedure behind
the dream vision may best be compared with the making of a modern text
using filing notes. A procedure like that explains how some units, mostly
with small contextual modifications, could have been inserted in more than
one location in the book of Jeremiah. Which brings us back neatly to the
question on the purpose of the composition 30:531:26 as a whole. Assum-
ing that the units were intended for a written composition from the outset,
what was the purpose of this composition? Certainly not to be circulated
and meaning of literary borrowing in Jeremiah. The thesis with which this study will end
is: citations in the book of Jeremiah do not serve as legitimations of an original Jeremian
tradition with the help of canonical literature, but they serve to legitimate the diverse
components of this literature (Pentateuch, the Twelve, Ezekiel, Isaiah) in relation to each
other, on the playing ground of the book of Jeremiah.
236 chapter three
187 This view was formulated sharply by R.P. Carroll, The Book of Jeremiah (OTL), London
1986, 569: Jer. 3031 must essentially be ascribed to the anonymous circles during and after
the exile which cherished expectations of restoration.
188 K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches. Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und
Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, for
a conclusion 185187. The series agrees partially with that of Bhmer, Heimkehr (taken over
by Odashima, Heilsworte): 30:1215, 2324; 31:26, 1517, 1820; Lohfink, Propagandist, Idem,
Gotteswortverschachtelung: 30:57, 1215, 1821a; (31:1?) 31:26, 1517, 1820, 2122; Schrter,
Botschaft: the same series minus 30:1821a; Leene, Jeremiah 31,2326, Idem, Promises:
30:57, 1215, 1821a, 2324; 31:26, 1517, 1820, 2122.
189 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 135; this reacting against the objection that Jacob hardly takes
that a highway marked with sign posts like that of 31:21 ( )would have
been devised for domestic migration.190 Texts from Am. 5 and Hos. 11 from
which this layer particularly in 31:45 and 1820 has borrowed, deal equally
with deportation. And interestingly, Schmid himself indicates a possible link
between 31:15 and 40:1: Ramah as the collection point for the deportation to
Babylon.191
In the formal structure of the reconstructed layer, according to Schmid, a
rigid parallelism between 30:57, 1217, 1821; 31:45 and 31:15, 1617, 1820,
2122 would have been sought.192 But it is difficult to grasp how a single word
such as have compassion ( )could draw dissimilar poems like 30:1821
and 31:1820 into balance, or how the relations between 30:57 and 1217
are mirrored in the relations between 31:15 and 1617; not even taking the
paradox into consideration that the whole reconstruction would have been
superfluous if later editors had not ignored or overlooked its balanced result.
Therefore, the layer in its content and form cannot be detached from its
surroundings clearly enough to be truly credible as a basic composition.
So too the assumed relation between beginning and end of the composi-
tion raises doubts. The reappearance of the word 30:6 in 31:22 is certainly
worth noting and in combination with \even unique in the Old Tes-
tament. Still, it cannot be recognised as a compositional framing as long as
we do not know what 31:22 should mean in this regard. The mere inversion
of roles between men and women would form an anticlimax rather than
a revelatory statement after the weighty theological announcement, Yhwh
has created something new on earth.193
A second diachronic layer is identified by Schmid in the units 30:89, 10
11; 31:6, 79, 1014, 16b, 3537. The main characteristic is the layers strong
orientation on Isa. 4055, particularly through the units 30:1011; 31:79, 10
14, 3537. Our next chapter will trace these intertextual relations in greater
190 One could draw a contrast between the one main road carrying the returnees and the
many ways of the unfaithful from Jer. 3:2; but still even then the image is at odds with an
inland migration.
191 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 132. According to Schmid this oldest layer belongs to a form
of the book that also includes Jer. * 223 and * 4651 (overview 434). In the present text Jer.
4651 knows of exiles from Egypt (46:19), Moab (48:7, 11) and Ammon (49:3), apart from calls
to flee from Babylon addressed to Judean deportees (50:8; 51:6, 45). One needs to think away
all these elements to make the absence of the theme exile in Jer. *3031 attractive within the
book outline suggested by Schmid.
192 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 150.
193 For this interpretation, see e.g. W.H. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), vol. 2, Philadel-
194 Herewith we maintain our previous text-genetic observation that these units cannot
have existed independently of those in layer I, but were composed to provide this older
material with a connecting and interpreting frame (Leene, Promises, 164); but now we
consider more pertinently the possibility that no other phases are involved than we find in
the making of any complex text.
195 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 177.
196 See the overview of shared terms in Leene, Jeremiah 31,2326, 359.
197 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 178.
198 Cf. B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of Jeremiah 3031
newness in jeremiah 239
(OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 225; though it remains a reality that the verb , turn away (Jer.
31:22; Cant. 5:6; cf. Cant. 7:2) suggests an erotic register.
199 The imagery of the dream (31:26) implies a recognition that the sequence of the units
does not respect normal narrative rationality. According to the activation-synthesis theory
of Hobson and McCarley (cf. J.A. Hobson, The Dreaming Brain, New York 1988) during the
so-called REM sleep, recognised by Rapid Eye Movement, sections of the brain are activated
that are usually only active during the state of being awake when external visual impressions
are received. This leads to a chaotic stream of (especially visual) experiences from which the
rational brain attempts to form a cohesive story. A dream is thus an attempt to synthesise
unstructured brain activity. In this way the theory explains the most noticeable character-
istics of dreams, including the morphing of one person into another and the muddling of
different spaces and places. Jer. 30:431:26 refers to this dream experience as a literary means
to combine images from contrasting sources and natures into a single dramatic composi-
tion. One more aspect of dream imagery concerns text and interpretation. Hermes, whose
name is preserved in the word hermeneutic, is known as the god of dreams. Does 31:26 only
type the hermeneutical relation between 31:2122 and 2325 (Leene, Jeremiah 31,2326, 355)
or also between the whole of 30:431:26 and its prosaic context?
200 This interpretation implies that 31:23 is not about The love of God for his people in
the past (Becking, Jeremiah 3031, 130), but deals with his affections for those who have just
escaped the calamity of 30:524.
201 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 181185.
240 chapter three
forms the background to the time of distress (30:7), which Schmid sees as a
core element of his layer I.202 As far as we are concerned, with his diachronic
dissection of 31:26 Schmid has illustrated precisely the interwoveness of
this unit with the whole compositionthe retrospective and forward look-
ing function in its overarching drama. Conversely, though not dependent on
it text-genetically (cf. 23:1920), one could say that 30:2324 forms an indis-
pensable cornerstone of the present literary context.
Preliminary conclusion: certainly an intriguing literary history, but with-
out fixed intermediate stations; no editions intended for changing histor-
ical circumstances; no clear indications for large distances in the time of
text production. The framing cannot be without the midsection, so too vice
versa: the midsection cannot be without the framing. It is exactly in this
remarkable combination of two types of sayings on the future (midsection:
restitution scenario, framing: restitution programme) that deliberate inten-
tion, it could not have been else, was in play. Fundamental discussions in
Jeremiahs Booklet of Comfort are not to be found between diachronic layers of
diverse theological scopes, but between this booklet and various other parts of
the Old Testament.203
202 Schmid, Buchgestalten (overview 434435) dates the oldest layer of Jer. 3031 in the
late-exilic era, the youngest at the end of the fourth centurya trajectory of two centuries.
203 For scepticism on the diachronic layering of Jer. 3031 see researchers such as Carroll,
Jeremiah; B.A. Bozak, Life Anew: A Literary-Theological Study of Jer. 3031 (AnBib, 122), Rome
1991; J.W. Mazurel, De vraag naar de verloren broeder: Terugkeer en herstel in de boeken
Jeremia en Ezechil, Amsterdam 1992; Fischer, Trostbchlein; and Becking, Jeremiah 3031.
A distinction still needs to be drawn between the layering as such and the (im)possibility
to reconstruct and anchor it historically with precision. In addition, inquiries like that of
Schmid, Buchgestalten provide details on various relations within the book which would have
been overseen quite easily in an exclusively synchronic approach.
newness in jeremiah 241
(1) More and more the plausible view of Hyatt and Thiel on the genesis of
Jer. 24 is being followed today. They see the chapter as a homogeneous text
that does not conceal an older stratum.204 Linguistic peculiarities, on which
literary-critical differentiation had been based, all remain within the range
of normal clausal and text-syntactical possibilities. At the same time, Jer. 24
is a prime example of a writing technique in which the learned scribes of
Jeremiah excelled: the compilation of a story from a wide array of elements
picked up from the existing written tradition.
Thus the storys frame stems from the book of Amos. The beginning takes
its inspiration from Am. 7:1, 4, 7; 8:1: This is what the Lord Yhwh has showed
me, and behold . The question what do you see, Jeremiah (cf. Jer. 1:11, 13)
recalls the same question in Am. 7:8; 8:2. We may speak of a bold allusion
where the story clearly involves itself in the dialogue on the topic from the
cited text. This is what happens in Jer. 24 regarding the fourth vision of Amos,
where he is shown a basket of ripe fruit: The end (, cf. , ripe fruit) has
come to my people Israel (Am. 8:2; see also the word in 8:3!). Jer. 24
answers that the end has indeed dawned, even if for just a portion of the
people. This gives rise to the splitting of yet another citation from Amos: I
will set my eye upon them for evil and not for good (Am. 9:4; cf. Jer. 24:6).
The wording from Am. 9:15 (And I will plant them and they will never
again be uprooted from their soil) is divided in the same manner between
two contrasting perspectives on the future in Jer. 24:6, 10.205
The elaboration of the vision of the two baskets boils down to a drama-
tised dialogue between the books of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel. As we have
said, the dependence of Jer. 24 in relation to Ezek. 11 and 33 will be discussed
204 J.P. Hyatt, The Deuteronomic Edition of Jeremiah, in: L.G. Redrue, B.W. Kovacs (eds),
A Prophet to the Nations, Winona Lake 1984 (first published in 1951), 247267, esp. 258;
W. Thiel, Die deuteronomistische Redaktion von Jeremia 125 (WMANT, 41), Neukirchen 1973,
253261; differently e.g. E.W. Nicholson, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Ch. 125 (CNEB),
Cambridge 1973, 205; R.E. Clements, Jeremiah (Intp), Atlanta 1988, 146; N. Kilpp, Niederreien
und aufbauen: Das Verhltnis von Heilsverheiung und Unheilsverkndigung bei Jeremia und
im Jeremiabuch (BThS, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1990, 2131.
205 On these relations with Amos, see esp. W. Beyerlin, Reflexe der Amosvisionen im Jere-
(2) How does Jer. 29 link into this concept? Jer. 29 raises the suspects of
a more complicated genetic history. Here, the most prominent dilemmas
seen in recent research are the following: (a) Does the current text go back
to a basis story, and if so, what was its scope? Would it contain alone
the poetic portion of Jeremiahs letter and its introduction (vv. * 17), or
would the reaction of Shemaiah (vv. *2432) also belong to it?207 (b) How
homogeneous is the (deuteronomistic) layer of additions to this presumed
basis story and in what phases did this layer originate?208 Especially Jer.
29:1014, so it is usually thought, stands in tension with vv. 17. The original
letter would not yet have taken the return from Babylon into account,
which is announced by Yhwh in vv. 1014. Similarly the false prophets are
considered a secondary addition to the letter.
206 See further on this the issue of the golah-orientated redaction in 3.2.5.4.
207 The last is the view of C. Rietzschel, Das Problem der Urrolle: Ein Beitrag zur Redaktions-
geschichte des Jeremiabuches, Gtersloh 1966, 117118; G. Wanke, Untersuchungen zur soge-
nannten Baruchschrift (BZAW, 122), Berlin 1971, 5859 (more or less); W. Thiel, Die deuterono-
mistische Redaktion von Jeremia 2645 (WMANT, 52), Neukirchen 1981, 1113; Kilpp, Nieder-
reien, 4367. The first is thought by E.W. Nicholson, Preaching to the Exiles: A Study of the
Prose Tradition in the Book of Jeremiah, Oxford 1970, 98100.
208 T. Seidl, Texte und Einheiten in Jeremia 2729: Literaturwissenschaftliche Studie (ATS, 5),
Bd. 1, St. Ottilien 1977 (for a summary 141142) thinks on the origin of Jer. 29 not in terms of
a basis text and redactional addition(s), but as the compilation of six independent units, of
which vv. * 17 must be the oldest.
newness in jeremiah 243
209 Thus Jer. 29:28 , it will be a long time, as Shemaiahs summary of Jeremiahs
letter, also implies the return. Considering the play of the name Shemaiah the Nehelamite on
the motivation do not listen [ ]to your dreams you cause to be dreamed [( ]8), the
mirror narrative in 2431 already presumes a more extensive version of Jeremiahs letter than
47. While the prophets Ahab and Zedekiah are preoccupied with women (23), the dreamer
Shemaiah will have no man in the future Israel (32). But between the lines, the poetic core
of the letter already seems to be anticipating a future judgement over Babylon. With seaking
peace and intercessory prayer the OT always thinks of avoiding or postponing a threatening
disaster. The golah enjoying an unlimited residence in Babylon thus presumably falls outside
Jeremiahs field of vision.
244 chapter three
The increasing complexity seen in the reading order of the two composi-
tions creates the impression that Jer. 24 was mainly the giving and Jer. 29
mainly the receiving text. However, Jer. 24:57 silently assumes the accep-
tance of fate for which Jer. 29 still needs to call the golah, and perhaps
the expression sending for good was placed with a sequel about Babylons
welfare in mind; but this does not take away from the dominant direction
of dependence Jer. 24 Jer. 29. For example, the theme of the deceptive
prophecy, which encloses the view on salvation and doom like a passe-
partout (vv. 89 and 2023), is still lacking from Jer. 24.211
From the above considerations it follows that it is improbable that the
harmonisations in Jer. 29 on Jer. 2728 and these on Jer. 24 stem from
completely different phases of development. For this the themes residence
in Babylon, false prophecy, promise of return and evil for those staying
behind are too strongly interwoven with each other. Better than describing
the genesis of Jer. 29 in terms of a clearly phased redactional history, it makes
210 The omission of 29:1619 in LXX could have been caused by the deviant sequence in
JerLXX, in which Jer. 29 different to Jer. 24 belongs to the salvation part of the book (K. Schmid,
Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches. Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte
von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 242). A strong argu-
ment in favour of 1619 as a premasoretic addition remains its text-grammatical rounding
off (cf. H.-J. Stipp, Probleme des redaktionsgeschichtlichen Modells der Entstehung des Jere-
miabuches, in: W. Gro (ed.), Jeremia und die deuteronomistische Bewegung (BBB, 98), Wein-
heim 1995, 225262, esp. 246).
211 In 3.2.4 we concluded that there are no essential differences between 24:57 and
29:1014 on the point of the unconditionality of the promise; this against Schmid, Buchgestal-
ten, 240241 who views 29:1014 as the older text due to its associations with Deut. 30:110.
It is clear that Jer. 29 constantly keeps the question on conditionality in the background in
its dialogue with Deut., but it is also clear that the answer subtly turns out as in Jer. 24: it is
Yhwh himself who will orchestrate the search for him and his finding.
newness in jeremiah 245
212 The story of Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Jer. 29:2432 in its current form does not build
solely on Jer. 2728 but also assumes Jer. 29:123, see above.
213 See esp. the yoke in 30:8 (cf. 28:117); the fierce anger in 30:24 (cf. 25:3738) and the
tungen zu Jer 31,3134, in: E. Zenger (ed.), Der Neue Bund im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der
beiden Testamente (QD 146), Freiburg 1993, 85112, esp. 87 that 31:3134, apart from the so-
called covenant formula, keine einzige spezifische deuteronomische oder deuteronomisti-
sche Formulierung aufweist.
216 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 70 seems to hold the opinion that 24:7, with its combination of
heart and divine knowledge, is dependent on 31:3334. But the combination is too natural
to draw this conclusion, e.g. considering DI. See also the general connotations of heart
as an anthropological concept: Zu den geistigen Funktionen des lb gehrt zunchst die
Erkenntnis (F. Stolz, Art. , in: THAT, Bd. 1, Mnchen 1971, 861867, esp. 862).
246 chapter three
(3) In Jer. 32 the relation to the other passages that we have treated is the
most complicated. Diachronic theories on this chapter usually isolate a
core story 615 around the sign-act: Jeremiah drawing up a contract of pur-
chase in prison. This core story would have been expanded in one or more
stages with a short introduction and a long retrospective reflection, con-
sisting of a prayer by the prophet and the answer by Yhwh. The fact that
the unique location of the purchase (in prison, in a besieged Jerusalem)
only acquires significance due to the so-called expansions deserves partic-
ular attention. Place and time of action have no clear function in the core
story as such. Thus there is no simple procedure to help disentangle story
and application.217 In this case once again, we feel sceptical about literary-
critical attempts to recover an authentic reportage of what took place in
the year 587bce.218 On the other hand, the shift in the interpretation of
the sign-act between vv. 15 and 44, for example, shows an unquestionable
literary development. Whether this development started with a real his-
torical recollection, and whether it stretched out across the years, decades,
or generationswho knows? However: is an elongated literary growth not
intrinsically unattractive? Fortunately such questions do not take away from
what counts as one of the most beautiful and meaningful stories in the
book.219
We will concentrate on Jer. 32:3641 as a component of Yhwhs answer
to Jeremiahs prayer. Sometimes this passage is seen as an expansion on the
expansion.220 Certain literary critical interventions are then required in the
217 See e.g. Thiel, Jeremia 2645; indicating as core story vv. 2, 615: C. Hardmeier, Probleme
der Textsyntax, der Redeeinbettung und der Abschnittgliederung in Jer 32 mit ihren kom-
positionsgeschichtlichen Konsequenzen, in: H. Irsigler (ed.), Syntax und Text: Beitrge zur
22. Internationalen kumenischen Hebrisch-Dozenten-Konferenz 1993 in Bamberg (ATS, 40),
St. Ottilien 1993, 4979; Idem, Jeremia 32,213* als Erffnung der Erzhlung von der Gefan-
genschaft und Befreiung Jeremias in Jer 34,7; 37,340,6*, in: W. Gro (ed.), Jeremia und die
deuteronomistische Bewegung (BBB, 98), Weinheim 1995, 187214, esp. 199; for more elabo-
rate diachronic segmentations: Schmid, Buchgestalten, 9599.
218 See e.g. in Kilpp, Niederreien, 75.
219 In the core story, the purchase contract, the witnesses and the seal underline the
trustworthiness and durability of the promise. According to the closing divine statement, the
purchase contract and the witnesses themselves will form part of the fulfilment. It seems as if
it had to wait for this later editor to notice the significance of the detained Jeremiahs freedom
of movement: a reference to free trade in the future. Less convincing is the historicising
explanation of Schmid, Buchgestalten, 96, 99 n. 224 (referring to Wanke), who sees 32:15 as a
revision of the original promise, which would only have implicated restitution to the original
owners. Here the text does not appear to be the guideline, but the burning desire to trace an
as old as possible stratum in it.
220 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 100.
newness in jeremiah 247
221 Within Ezekiel, it could be argued that 11:19 anticipates the reunion between Judah
and Joseph in Ezek. 37, with which Jer. 32, amongst others, shares the concept everlasting
covenant; cf. Ezek. 37:26 and Jer. 32:40.
222 Against C. Levin, Die Verheiung des neuen Bundes in ihrem theologiegeschichtlichen
to be the focus of benefaction: As I have brought all this great evil to this people, so I will bring
upon them all the good that I now promise them. Exactly the use here of the terms good and
evil (see also 32:23, 30, 32, 3941) that differs markedly from the perspectives for good and
for evil in Jer. 24 and 29, suggests a hint of criticism on those earlier passages. One could
describe the difference between Jer. 24 and 32 as follows: Jer. 24 sees the disaster befalling
Jerusalem from an outsiders point of view borrowed from Ezek. 11, while Jer. 32 chooses the
view point of an eyewitness experiencing the disaster from within. This enables the reader
to notice the greatest paradox of Jer. 24 in retrospect: the prophet finds himself in the wrong
group!
248 chapter three
on the same issue. (c) Such internal differences within Jeremiah are only
comprehensible if a large distance in time is assumed between the texts
and the events they narrate, and they are inextricably linked to the scribal
discussion on the externalcontinuous discussion between the Jeremian
scribes about the intent and authority of the written tradition, here thinking
specifically of Ezekiel, in light of Deuteronomy.225
From this line of thought it flows that it may be better to date Jer. 32:3641
after rather than before Jer. 2429. How should Jer. 31:3134 be dated in
relation to such a sequence? The current reading order of Jer. 3031 and
3233A is not without sense. Jer. 33A is complementary to Jer. 32, which
indeed promises the future purchase of houses, fields and vineyards, but
as a story confines itself to a single fieldsparing the houses for Jer. 33A.
A global shift between Jer. 3031 and 3233A moves the central focus from
return to social restoration. Additionally this reading sequence makes it
possible to understand the exposition on the duplicated purchase contract
in 32:11 as a reflection on the booklet of 30:2. As a posthumously published
dream vision this booklet could leave room for the question whether it truly
contains Jeremiahs own words. Not until the sign-act of Jer. 32 presented in
the presence of witnesses is the prophecy of salvation anchored firmly in the
life of the prophet.
This does not necessarily mean that Jer. 3031 and 3233 were set on
paper in the same sequence as this flowing reading order may suggest.
According to Schmid, Jer. 32:3741 must be older than 30:13; 31:2734.226
225 Compare the following comments of G. Fischer, Jeremia: Der Stand der theologischen
Diskussion, Darmstadt 2007, 107 on the study of H.-J. Stipp, Jeremia im Parteienstreit: Studien
zur Textentwicklung von Jer 26, 3643 und 45 als Beitrag zur Geschichte Jeremias, seines Buches
und judischer Parteien im 6. Jahrhundert (BBB, 82), Frankfurt a.M. 1992 about the struggle
between the parties: Sicherlich sind in Jer unterschiedliche Standpunkte vertreten, und
STIPP geht ihnen aufmerksam nach. Fraglich ist jedoch, ob dafr mehrere Gruppen bzw.
Autoren anzunehmen sind, und wer auf welche Weise die kontrastierenden Standpunkte
dann dennoch in einem Buch zusammengefhrt hat. For us this distinction between views
of groups and views of authors carries much weight. The first represent interests, the second
theological solutions. Such views of authors always carry a sense of learnedness and even
when dealing with serious subjects have an element of creative play. They are thereby
easier to blend in a book. It is not asked of the reader to choose party, but to think along
with the written tradition. Thus, besides the difference between Stipp, Parteienstreit, who
proposes party conflicts from Jeremiahs own time, and e.g. H. Knobloch, Die nachexilische
Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12), Wiesbaden 2009, who thinks of conflicts from
a much later period, the nature of the dispute is crucial for the interpretation.
226 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 80; overview 110; cf. G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Kompo-
sition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26), Stuttgart 1993, 184.
newness in jeremiah 249
He bases this assertion mainly on the concept new covenant (31:31) being
a more recent development than the concept eternal covenant (32:40).
Considering the broad distribution of the latter concept (16 in the Old
Testament, in Jeremiah further in 50:5), this is a reasonable hypothe-
sis.227
As counter argument one could point out that theological concepts do
not always arrange themselves on a singular development trajectory. The
fact remains that the action sphere of the concept covenant is smaller in Jer.
32, in the sense that at this stage it includes alone the future of hope and
not yet the disastrous past. By contrasting the terms new covenant and
covenant with the fathers, Jer. 31 is the first to succeed in subsuming the
total existence of Israel, past and future, under the single concept covenant.
This indeed seems to be a big step forwards theologically speaking. Jer. 3031
also contains the highest concentration of connections with other passages
from the book of Jeremiah. Moreover Jer. 3031 misses the anecdotal charac-
ter of Jer. 24, 29 and 32. Here there is no placement in the prophets biography
that could distract from the literary placement in the book. This powerful
intertwining with the book as a whole, along with the even greater com-
plexity and the advanced synthesis of the salvation history under the single
concept covenant, could be seen as a plausible indication of a somewhat
later emergence.
(4) The diachronic relationship between Jer. 3031 and 3:14:2 is the next
interesting issue. Previously we dealt with their mutual relations when
discussing the concept return. There are various indications that 3:14:2 has
been based on (a certain form of) 3031* and not the other way around. Jer.
31:18 is presumably a direct citation from Lam. 5:21. In turn, Jer. 31:18 now
appears to have been the source of inspiration for Jer. 3:22 (see especially
the clause , for you are Yhwh our God). An instance of
dependence in the direct vicinity is found between 31:15 and 3:21 (
, a voice is heard on the barren heights). In other words: Jer. 3
has combined lines from Jer. 31 that have little bearing on each other in the
latter settingnormally a reliable pointer at the direction of borrowing.228
227 For Schmid, Buchgestalten, 8283 it is important that Ezek. 11:19 appears to know Jer.
32:39 (so Levin), but not yet 31:3134. In our overall view of the direction of dependence [
3.2.5.3] this argument falls by the wayside.
228 Other analogies on Jer. 3031 in Jer. 3 concern the prose framework: 3:14 cf. 31:32; 3:16
cf. 31:29.
250 chapter three
229 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 289: Nicht durch die Einsicht in die Bosheit menschlichen
Denkens und Tuns eines besseren belehrt, hat eine Neubearbeitung im Jeremiabuch die
Bedingung der Umkehr aus Jer 3 fallen gelassen und das Heil, in gewissem Sinne resignativ,
allein auf Jhwhs neuerlicher Zuwendung zu seinem Volk gegrndet sein lassen, sondern
umgekehrt ist aufgrund beobachtbarer Heilsverzgerung nach neuen Grnden fr diese
gesucht worden. For such a resigned view one could e.g. cite J. Unterman, From Repentance
to Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 116: Jeremiahs
prophecies failed to arouse the people to return to YHWH of their own free will. Finally,
Jeremiah became convinced that Israel was not capable of repentanceleading to the
difference between Jer. 3 on the one hand, and Jer. 31:2737; 32:3644 on the other. An
essentially conditional view of the relation between repentance and deliverance in Jer. 3 is
nuanced with terms such as interaction and interdependence by B. Scheuer, B., The Return
to YHWH: The Tension between Deliverance and Repentance in Isaiah 4055 (BZAW, 377), Berlin
2008, 107112.
230 See Hos. 14:2 alongside Hos. 14:5 . Further the reworking of
Ezek. 23 in Jer. 3:613 and the allusion to Ezek. 11:18 in Jer. 4:2.
231 The suggestion that 3:15 and 3:1920 would wish to bring to an end the usage of the
man-woman metaphor for the relationship Yhwh-Israel in favour of the father-son metaphor
(Schmid, Buchgestalten, 282) and thus would contradict 31:34 and perhaps also 31:22, is
too venturesome. See e.g. R. Abma, Bonds of Love: Methodic Studies of Prophetic Texts with
Marriage Imagery (Isaiah 50:13 and 54:110, Hosea 13, Jeremiah 23) (SSN, 40), Assen 1999,
231 on Jer. 3:19: The image is that of a mother proudly seated amidst her children. Therewith
a father-son metaphor would no longer be present in that verse.
newness in jeremiah 251
(5) Jer. 11 and 31 are so closely interrelated that they are mostly placed
in the same diachronic layer.232 One important inquiry is how this layer
relates time-wise to the layer of the world judgement. According to Schmid
the universalised depiction of the judgement in Jer. 125, 4651 requires
an answer to the question wie denn dieses knftige Heil, das Jeremia
ja nach Jer 3033 verkndet hat, zum Weltgericht in Beziehung zu setzen
sei.233 Schmids apparent supposition here is that the promise of the new
covenant already existed before the conception of a worldwide judgement
emerged in Jeremiah. Here against we propose that the judgement over
Zion, the judgement over individual nations, and the judgement over the
world in Jeremiah were not spread over an extended time trajectory in
their genesis, but together form the coherent background of the promise.
Thus it seems forced to let a cornerstone of Jeremiahs dream vision like Jer.
30:2324 (Yhwhs sweeping storm over the )text-genetically follow the
formulation of Jer. 31:3134 [ 3.2.5.1]. Here, major exegetical decisions are
to be made. For the extent of the promise within the canonical final text it
might not have an impact anymore, but for the intricacies of the dialogue
Jeremiah draws us into herethe new covenant as the only way out from a
traumatically experienced realityit does indeed.
For the torah-texts discussed above we see no significant differences in
their time of origin that could still be made plausible or would be essential
for their meaning.234 Generally speaking the trajectory on the books origin
232 See e.g. Schmid, Buchgestalten, 295300. He also includes Jer. 7 in this stratum, in which
Jer. 7 and 11 close 46 and 810 as collections of indictments and judgements respectively.
C. Maier, Jeremia als Lehrer der Tora: Soziale Gebote des Deuteronomiums in Fortschreibungen
des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 196), Gttingen 2002, 193197 (summary 362) ascribes the (most)
connections between Jer. 11 and 31 to a redactional revision of Jer. 11. It remains doubtful,
however, whether the concept of the sanctioned, disregarded covenant and the concept of
the new covenant are anyhow diachronically distinguishable in Jeremiah. In light of the
relations between Jer. 3031 and the book of Isaiah [detailed in 4.2], it is remarkable that
Jer. 11:15 (belonging to the oldest layer of the chapter according to Maier) already shows a
Isaian connection [cf. U. Wendel, Jesaja und Jeremia: Worte, Motive und Einsichten Jesajas in
der Verkndigung Jeremias (BThSt, 25), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, 215].
233 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 309.
234 According to Maier, Lehrer, 354 (summary) Jer. 26:4 is an exilic text, 2:8 a late-exilic, 8:8
a post-exilic, and 18:18 like 31:33 a late post-exilic text. Alone in 31:33 does she consider the
identification of torah with the Pentateuch, because its parts were only assembled during
the course of the Persian period (351). We see no book-internal arguments to link 31:33
to the Pentateuch. K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible,
Cambridge, MA 2007, 222225 in turn defends the classic position of Marti and Duhm that
the early oracle Jer. 8:89 unmasks the Deuteronomy scroll found during Josiahs reign as
pious fraud. But is it historically plausible that the authority of the written torah was already
252 chapter three
being discussed before it had been firmly established? The adjacent passage 8:1012 and the
related passage 18:18 both cite from the book of Ezekiel and thus suggest a much later date of
origin.
235 On the relation between Jeremiah as a historical figure and a fictional personage, see
e.g. S. Herrmann, Jeremia: der Prophet und das Buch (EdF, 271), Darmstadt 1990, 137; Fischer,
Diskussion, 115130. The position of R.P. Carroll, The Book of Jeremiah (OTL), London 1986 on
this point is often called over-critical, but finds more support than refutation in the scribal
texts of Jeremiah we have investigated (so too Knobloch, Prophetentheorie concerning Jer. 26
and 36). According to Maier, Lehrer, 47 particularly Jer. 3744 provides einen historisch plau-
siblen Einblick in die politischen Wirren whrend und kurz nach der Belagerung Jerusalems
durch die Neubabylonier. Something that sounds historically plausible, however, need not be
a factual account. Thus the verbatim citations from the Joseph novella in the story of Jeremiah
in the pit (Jer. 38:6, 13; cf. Gen. 37:24, 28) confirm the impression of fictiveness. The histori-
cal importance of Jeremiah continues to be that his biography allows later readers to truly
experience the historical fall of Jerusalem ca. 600 bce from inside.
236 Embedding of the sequence of origin defended in this section (Jer. 24 29 32
11 + 3031 34) within a redactional-critical theory on the whole book of Jeremiah falls
outside the constraints of this study. We rest with the recognition that such theories have
led to completely different arrangements, thus e.g. in R. Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History
and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 321: Jer. 34; 11 (JerD1) 29*
(JerD2) 3031*; 32 (JerD3) 24 (late Dtr addition).
newness in jeremiah 253
237 For this point of view, see the comprehensive studies of J.W. Miller, Das Verhltnis
Jeremias und Hesekiels sprachlich und theologisch untersucht: mit besonderer Bercksichti-
gung der Prosareden Jeremias, Assen 1955 and esp. D. Vieweger, Die literarische Beziehungen
zwischen den Bchern Jeremia und Ezechiel (BEAT, 26), Frankfurt a.M. 1993 (history of research
415). The influence of Jeremiah on Ezekiels redemption passages is defended by Unterman,
Repentance, 167170.
238 Cf. Fischer, Diskussion, 143.
239 For a previous attempt, here supplemented and revised on many points, see H. Leene,
Ezekiel and Jeremiah: Promises of Inner Renewal in Diachronic Perspective, in: J.C. de Moor,
H.F. van Rooy (eds), Past, Present, Future: The Deuteronomic History and the Prophets (OTS,
44), Leiden 2000, 150175.
240 In addition, see the word in Jer. 3:8, 10 and Ezek. 23:4, 18. ][her sister occurs
elsewhere only in Gen. 30:1, referring to Rachels sister Leah, and in Judg. 15:2, referring to the
younger sister of Samsons wife; disregarding the expression ][one to another
in Ex. 26:3, 3, 5, 6, 17; Lev. 18:18; Ezek. 1:9, 23; 3:13. with suff. sing. fem., your sister,
occurs in Ezek. 16:45, 46, 46, 48, 49, 51 (Q dual), 52, 52, 56; 23:3133 (in many of these cases
254 chapter three
of words, and I saw that , identical in both versions, occurs nowhere else.241
The two pericopes present these analogies in the same order and in close
proximity to each other. Besides the multiple use of to indicate sexual
relationships outside of marriage (Jer. 3:6, 8; Ezek. 23:3, 3, 5, 19, 30, 43; see
also the derivatives in Jer. 3:9 and Ezek. 23:7, 8, 8, 11, 11, 14, 1719, 27, 29, 29, 35,
43), we see in Jer. 3:11 as in Ezek. 16:5152 the notable occurrence of + ,
to confine ourselves to similarities on word and clause level.
To establish the direction of dependence we need to pay attention to the
difference in tenor between the two versions and the degree to which they
succeed in embedding the analogies in light of this difference. Each ver-
sion commences with an allegorical history of Israel. The historical account
in Ezek. 23 makes up the Scheltwort, that is, in form-critical terms, the
accusing part of the oracle of judgement. The judgement itself, the Droh-
wort, is directed at the younger sister: Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the
Lord Yhwh: I will rouse against you your lovers to whom you have got an
aversion, and I will bring them against you from every side (Ezek. 23:22);
et cetera, announcing the humiliating downfall of Jerusalem. In Jer. 3:613
the historical account develops completely differently, and introduces a call
to conversion addressed to the elder sister. Go, says God to the prophet,
proclaim these words toward the north: return, Meshubah Israel, declares
Yhwh, I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful, declares Yhwh, I will
not be angry forever (Jer. 3:12). Thereby the two arguments, even with their
common imagery, are at odds with each other. Ezek. 23: the younger sister
deserves humiliation, because she behaved comparatively worse. Jer. 3: the
elder sister deserves a new beginning, because comparatively she behaved
less badly.
The foundations for this surprising twist in the Jeremian version are laid
in the choice of words of the preceding sentences.242 The allegory in Ezekiel
BHS proposes the dual); dual with suff. sing. fem., your two sisters, occurs in Ezek.
16:55, 61. By the way, the uniqueness of an analogy should be treated with caution as an
argument in favour of literary dependence, see A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, Analogies in Isaiah,
vol. A, Amsterdam 1993, 177178.
241 In lengthened form, is found in Judg. 12:3. In contrast see the frequent occur-
rence of have you seen: 1 Kgs 20:13 (God speaking to Ahab); 21:29 (to Elijah); Jer. 3:6;
Ezek. 8:12, 15, 17; 47:6. Some LXX-manuscripts and the Syriaca read in Jer. 3:8 and she saw,
which is followed by RSV, NEB and Carroll, Jeremiah, 144. MT however gives the lectio dif-
ficilior and is difficult to explain as a secondary adaptation to Ezek. 23:13. On the complex
construction of Jer. 3:8, see further below.
242 This conflicts the division of Jer. 3:613 into two original units 611 and 1213 (Carroll,
Jeremiah, 144148); 611 is not an independent piece, but in its essence connected to the
newness in jeremiah 255
depicts the adultery of the two sisters without restraint. The drawn out
images contribute towards the extensive length of Ezek. 23. In contrast Jer.
3 deals with the adultery short and to the point.243 In this version Yhwh
appears to be less concerned about the sisters infidelity than about the
absence of repentance over these misdemeanours. Here we are confronted
with a remarkable friction, which asks for clarification. The opening words
of Jeremiahs oracle claim that it was received in the days of king Josiah; Ezek.
23 is dated on the eve of Jerusalems downfall, which would become a reality
in the next chapter of the book. But while Jer. 3 is placed far before Ezek. 23
in this biblical chronology, it takes the readers to a later stage on the road of
salvation: from contrition to conversion.
This is a first indication on the direction of dependence Ezekiel Jere-
miah. How much easier is it not to picture an oracle of doom transforming
into a call to repent than the other way around. But now seen in this light,
secondly, there are details on clause level that indeed confirm the priority
of Ezekiels version.
Let us concentrate on the clause and Bagodah her sister, Judah, saw.
What exactly did the younger sister see? According to Ezek. 23 she saw her
elder sister being murdered by her former lovers, in other words: Jerusalem
saw the historical end of Samaria as a political power. This is a logical
step in the narratives development. But in Jer. 3 the elder sister is not
killed; nor can she be, because she is needed at the end to hear the call to
repent. And therefore Bagodah must see something completely different.
She sees Yhwh waiting in vain for Meshubahs conversion. Disregarding the
vagueness of this imagethe inevitable conclusion seems to be that the
version of Ezekiel rather than the version of Jeremiah has preserved this
clause in its more original setting.
It is evidently a similar situation with the embedding of the unique word
string and I (Yhwh) saw that . Here too, the cohesion in Ezekiel leaves an
impression of clarity. In Jeremiah the construction is so complicated that the
dependence Ezekiel Jeremiah offers a welcome explanation on its origin.
verses that follow. So too the demarcation of 610 as a separate parable, with as directive
that sister Judah is not to follow the negative example set by sister Israel (Abma, Bonds of
Love, 250), is dubious. Meshubahs justification in v. 11 is based on the fact that Bagodah has
already followed her example, and outdone her.
243 The verb and its derivatives for desire, lust, lewdness, are used frequently in
Ezekiel, but are absent from Jer. 3:613. ( except in Ezek. 16:37 em.) occurs 6 in Ezek.
23 (5, 7, 9, 12, 16, 20); the noun occurs in Ezek. 23:11; in Jer. 4:30 and Ezek. 33:31, 32.
256 chapter three
Ezekiel 23
13 And I saw |
that she [Oholibah] defiled herself |
they both took the same way |
Jeremiah 3
8 And I saw |
that because of all this |
namely that Meshubah Israel had committed adultery |
I had sent her away |
and had given her letter of divorce to her |
enjoy priority over the explicitly reproachful names of Meshubah and Bogedah we set aside,
so too the question whether Ezek. 23 in turn has been based on mythological motifs. On the
latter see W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BKAT, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1969, 538539. A. Fitzgerald,
The Mythological Background for the Presentation of Jerusalem as a Queen and False
Worship as Adultery in the OT, CBQ 34 (1972), 403416; Idem, BTWLT and BT as Titles for
Capital Cities, CBQ 37 (1975), 167183 suggests that texts portraying Yhwh as the husband of
a city (Jerusalem or Samaria) represent the more original form of wedding imagery, while
the presentation of the people of Israel as Yhwhs spouse should be considered a secondary
development. According to D.E. Gowan, Theology of the Prophetic Books: The Death and
Resurrection of Israel, Louisville 1998, 44, Hos. 2:4 concerns Yhwhs betrothal to the land of
Canaan. For a discussion on this matter, see Abma, Bonds of Love, 2025.
247 See e.g. B.J. Oosterhoff, Jeremia (COT), dl. 1, Kampen 1990, 142 on Jer. 3:613 (our
translation): Later Ezekiel embroiders further on this image (Ezek. 16:46ff.; 23:1ff.). Miller,
Verhltnis, 91: Die Tatsache, dass Hes. 23:1ff. sehr lange und ausgesponnen im Vergleich mit
Jer. 3:611 erscheint, zeigt schon auf das Original [= Jer.] hin. Vieweger, Beziehungen, 26: Der
traditionsgeschichtliche Weg der Rede von der Ehe Jahwes mit seinem Volk fhrt () im
Alten Testament vom Propheten Hosea ber Jer 3,613 zu Ez 23,127+. According to Duhm
and Skinner (cited by Unterman, Repentance, 25), Jer. 3:613 has been influenced precisely
by Ezek. 16 and 23. Carroll, Jeremiah, 145 identifies Ezek. 16 as the source.
248 Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 539.
258 chapter three
politics. The lovers in Jeremiah are foreign gods (3:13) and then, as it is often
asserted, gods of Canaanite origin. In Ezekiel the lovers evolved into political
and military powers: Egyptians, Assyrians and Chaldeans. Their gods are
mentioned just once in Ezek. 23:127, and even this could be a secondary
addition (in v. 7).249
This is a line of reasoning in which the conclusion seems to be pre-
sumed. Thus, for example, worshipping of wood and stone (cf. Jer. 3:9) in
the Deuteronomistic literature is not an exclusive indication of the Canaan-
ite cult.250 In the context of Jer. 3:613, Egypt and Assyria are also named as
questionable associates (2:18, 36). The real point is, that the implicit read-
ers of Jer. 3 are not political leaders but ordinary Israelites concerned with
their personal religious responsibility: not the leaders but they must turn
away from the foreign gods and hear the voice of Yhwh. The conclusion that
international politics is not an issue yet in Jer. 3 has no foundations. Rather,
international politics is old news, no longer an actuality as it may still have
been to Ezek. 23.251
This comparison between Ezek. 23 and Jer. 3 confirms the perception that
has risen from other intertextual comparisons between the two books, and
which we will elaborate more thoroughly regarding the promise of renewal
later on in this section. In advance it should be pointed out that the Jeremian
text we have just discussed is not based on the knowledge of an isolated
passage from Ezekiel, but on familiarity with such a passage within the
context of the book of Ezekiel, disregarding the books exact format. This
is not only illustratable in just Jer. 3:613, which borrowed from Ezek. 16
as well as Ezek. 23, but likewise in the surrounding compositions Jer. 24A
and 4B6. The shepherds after my own heart in Jer. 3:15 presume Ezek.
34.252 The wording of Jer. 4:30, in which Jerusalem is depicted as a woman
who is being intimidated by her former lovers, raises the suspicion anew
249 Cf. Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 544: the addition distorts the political-military imagery.
250 See Deut. 4:28; 28:36, 64; 29:16; furthermore 2 Kgs 19:18 = Isa. 37:19; Ezek. 20:32.
251 It is interesting to see how the political-military dimension falls into the background
in the presumed Fortschreibungen of Ezek. 23:127. Assyrians, Chaldeans and Egyptians are
no longer specified, but instead the nations (30, cf. 40) and their idols are mentioned (30,
cf. 37, 39, 49). Also within Ezekiel itself, the fading away of the political-military dimension
in favour of the cultic thus appears to be a later development.
252 Thematically and through the verbs , shepherd, , have insight, , become
many, and , bear fruit, Jer. 3:1418 is connected to Jer. 23:18, a passage that is dependent
on Ezek. 34 according to recent research; cf. R. Kuyvenhoven, Jeremiah 23:18: Shepherds in
Diachronic Perspective, in: A.A. den Hollander et al. (eds), Paratext and Metatext as Channels
of Jewish and Christian Traditions, Leiden 2003, 136.
newness in jeremiah 259
that Ezek. 16 and 23 witnessed its birth.253 The expression they say peace
peace, and there is no peace in Jer. 6:14 has been borrowed from Ezek. 13.254
The pericope about the prophet as watchman, Jer. 6:1621, presumes Ezek.
33:19.255 A passage which, just like Jer. 3:11 and 4:30, assumes knowledge
of Ezek. 16, is Jer. 23:1314; here the prophets from Jerusalem, and certainly
not in their favour, are compared with those from Samaria.256 The complete
pericope on the prophets, Jer. 23:932, moreover is dependent on Ezek.
13.257 It is improbable that these spread-out texts from Ezekiel could have
exerted their influence (other than in the closed circle of a scribal school)
before they were included in a cohesive book and thus had established their
authority.258 This would lead us to the last quarter of the sixth century as
the earliest possible terminus post quem for the Jeremiah texts borrowed
from Ezekiel. Deliberations below will let us move this time limit down even
further.
253 Besides the corresponding imagery of a woman intimidated by her former lovers, the
of the Prophetic Role in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in: J.C. de Moor (ed.), The Elusive Prophet:
The Prophet as a Historical Person, Literary Character and Anonymous Artist (OTS, 45), Leiden
2001, 175198, esp. 177187.
255 Cf. Leene, Blowing, 187192.
256 This is the only place in Jeremiah where the names of Samaria and Jerusalem appear in
collocation, and where Sodom (Ezek. 16!) and Gomorrah are mentioned. Jer. 23:14 is related
to 3:10 through the collocation of and .
257 Cf. Leene, Blowing, 177187.
258 For a possible influence of Ezek. 3839 on Jer. 46, further 5.1 sub 9.
259 Along with R. Rendtorff, The Covenant Formula: An Exegetical and Theological Investiga-
tion, Edinburgh 1998 one could distinguish in the covenant formulas between type A, I will be
God for you, type B, you will be a people for me, and type C combining A and B, with several
260 chapter three
the Israel-clause. The rule for such binary formulations states that a pronoun
always occurs in the second leg and never in the first. Both Ezekiel and
Jeremiah use or in the Yhwh-clause. It seems that is preferred in
covenant formulae in which Yhwh addresses Israel. Similarly when the other
clauses with and are included in the comparison (both 9
in the Old Testament), the first never, and the second always is addressed
with a you, Jer. 24:7 being the only exception! Thus not Ezek. 36:28 with
its is linguistically deviant (as it is repeatedly claimed in arguments
insisting on the verses derivative nature), but Jer. 24:7. The highlighted
feature falls in line with a more general tendency in how and are
used. Of all the 1st pers. sing. pronouns in the Old Testament, 29 % have the
longer form. For 1st pers. sing. pronouns followed directly by a verb, noun or
preposition with 2nd pers. suffix, this ratio goes up to 52 %.
In the question on the direction of borrowing, particular attention is
placed on the relationship between Jer. 24 and Ezek. 11. The cited analogies
are imbedded in structural similarities between these passages as a whole.
Two groups are contrasted, those remaining behind in Judah and those who
had to leave the land and now find themselves in the land of the Chaldeans
(Jeremiah) or in the countries to which they were scattered (Ezekiel). Both
texts envisage a promising future for the displaced group, but do not esteem
it morally and religiously higher. On the contrary, the promise of another
heart or a changed heart, which is directed at this displaced group, would
then have been unnecessary.
The period in which it is told that Jeremiah and Ezekiel received their
identical prophecies lies between the first and the second deportation.
variants. Rendtorff counts 9, 8 and 18 places in the OT resp. for A, B and C. Of the 18 places that
have the binary formula, the majority are in Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jer. 7:23; 11:4; 24:7; 30:22;
31:1, 33; 32:38; Ezek. 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 37:23, 27. These are characterised by the pattern weqatal-
clause we-pronoun yiqtol-clause, which elsewhere only occurs in the covenant formulas of
Lev. 26:12 and Zech. 8:8 (together 14 ; more freely 2 Sam. 7:24), thus offering another indica-
tion of the close affinity between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Rendtorff states (contra W. Thiel, Die
deuteronomistische Redaktion von Jeremia 125 (WMANT, 41), Neukirchen 1973, 256) that the
binary formula in Jer. 24:7 cannot be called a D-element, because the formula in Deuteron-
omy and the Dtr literature is not characterised by this pattern (33 n. 63). This would make it
possible to see Ezekiel as the primary source for the covenant formula in Jeremiah. Ezekiel
uses it solely in the promise of salvation, but because the judicial speeches in Jer. 7 and 11
presuppose Jer. 31 [ 3.2.5.2 sub 5], in their formulation Jer. 7:23 and 11:4 could also be indi-
rectly dependent on Ezekiel. Jer. 13:11 with its formula B, on the other hand, is an allusion to
Deut. 26:19. For a detailed discussion of Ezekiels usage of the covenant formula, see S. Petry,
Die Entgrenzung JHWHs: Monolatrie, Bilderverbot und Monotheismus im Deuteronomium, in
Deuterojesaja und im Ezechielbuch (FAT, 27), Tbingen 2007, 242272.
newness in jeremiah 261
Content, formulation, addressing and placement of the promise, are thus all
included in the same intertextual correspondence. Here, certainly literary
borrowing must have taken placebut in which direction?
The difference must decide on this. The difference is that only Ezekiel
hints at a historical cause. The remnants no longer see room for those that
were forced to depart: to us this land is given for a possession (Ezek. 11:15).
Concrete claims of landownership are audible in the background of Ezek.
11.260 Jer. 24 is void of such references. The theological reflection in Jeremiah
seems to have dissociated itself from any actual conflict of interests; one
no longer feels the heat of looming legal debates, as in Ezekiel. There-
fore Ezekiel literarily influencing Jeremiah is the most probable option,
based even on this single casus.261 Herewith the advance taken during our
diachronic analysis of Jer. 24 has been replenished [ 3.2.5.2 sub 1]. The bor-
rowing from Ezek. 11 fits completely in the scribal procedure in which the
author of Jer. 24, as pointed out above, also incorporated texts from Amos
and Deuteronomy. Ezekiels most important contribution to this intertex-
tual conversation now turns out to be the gift of the heart. Yhwh promises
that this gift will be received after the return to the land.262
260 See also Ezek. 33:2329. K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches. Untersuchungen
zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72),
Neukirchen 1996, 264 provides the similarities in word usage with Jer. 24:810.
261 Jer. 32 does refer to property rights, but then again not to contrasting groups of people:
another indication that the two themes are unrelated in Jeremiah. This perspective on the
direction of dependence (Ezek. 11 Jer. 24) counters the point of view expressed eloquently
by C. Levin, Die Verheiung des neuen Bundes in ihrem theologiegeschichtlichen Zusammen-
hang ausgelegt (FRLANT, 137), Gttingen 1985, 209: Ezek. 11:1421* ist das Tor, durch welches
die Bundesverheiung aus der jeremianischen Eingang in die ezechielische Tradition gefun-
den hat; see also Miller, Verhltnis, 9697 (voicing some doubts) and Vieweger, Beziehungen,
9498.
262 Deuteronomy mentions a changing of the heart, but preceding the return and not as
a gift (Deut. 4:29; 30:2; cf. 1 Kgs 8:4748). Deut. 30:6 moreover promises a circumcision of
the heart by Yhwh after the return, but in a formulation not reminiscent of Ezekiel. Some
translate Jer. 24:7a ( cf. 9:23) as if it were an Ezekielian recognition formula,
neglecting the direct object in the main clause: see E, NRSV, NBS, WV, NBV. Comparisons
with Jer. 2:8; 9:5, 23; 22:16; 31:34 make it clear that Yhwh is the object of knowledge in 24:7a.
The additional object clause (pace J. Unterman, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiahs
Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 79: causal clause) is probably traceable
to Ezekiels influence. Jeremiah reads only in 9:23 and 24:7 compared to the 70
instances in Ezekiel; Jer. 16:21 and 28:9 also remind of Ezekiels recognition formula. With
the unique construction in 24:7a, Jeremiah seals, as it were, DIs association of the themes
acknowledgement and inner change, which are still disconnected in Ezekiel [ 4.1]. Using
R.L. Kohn, A New Heart and a New Soul: Ezekiel, the Exile and the Torah (JSOT.S, 358), Sheffield
262 chapter three
Jer. 29:14
. On this occasion no specific
borrowing will be discussed, but a stereotypical formulation in Ezekiel and
Jeremiah that has been studied by Lust will receive attention.263 In this
formula Ezekiel prefers to speak about a homecoming and not a return of
Israel, according to Lust because this prophet does not base himself on a
successful Landnahme in the past.264 Practically all the texts in Ezekiel in
which Yhwh announces Israels home bringing from the scattering, comply
with the following scheme:
a1) I will gather you/them from the peoples
a2) I will assemble you/them from the countries where you/they have been
scattered
b) I will bring you/them into
Ezek. 11:17 has just one variant in b: I will give you the soil of Israel, a mod-
ification of the theme on landownership in the context. Ezek. 20:3435 has
bring out in a1, gather in a2; prepositional adjuncts follow the established
pattern, while the relative clause in a2 has been developed. The same tri-
partite scheme is discernible in 20:41. Ezek. 28:25 joins a1 and a2 to form one
sentence with a relative clause, and to accommodate the change divides ele-
ment b into two. The same counts for Ezek. 29:1314, with the provision that
the binary element b has been given a special form here, which sometimes
also occurs in Jeremiah: And I will turn the fortunes of Egypt [
/ ] and will have them return to . Ezek. 36:24 has take from the
nations in a1, gather from all the countries in a2; in this instance the rela-
tive clause has become redundant after the account of Israels scattering in
v. 19. Equally the promise of revival in Ezek. 37:12 carries the triad a1-a2-b, even
though the a-clauses refer to the graves. Ezek. 37:21 has take in a1, gather
in a2, and bring in b, where the relative clause is subordinated to a1 and not
to a2, and the prepositional adjuncts deviate slightly. Ezek. 39:27 reads have
return from [ pil.!] in element a1; position b here is occupied by I will
show myself holy , cf. 20:41; 28:25. On the sequence of the prepositional
adjuncts it is noticeable that they persistently let from the peoples/nations
precede from the countries.
2002, 93 one may establish that the relation between Ezekiel and Deuteronomy concerning
the heart as a place of human moral response is more a matter of theme than formulation.
263 J. Lust, Gathering and Return in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in: P.-M. Bogaert (ed.), Le Livre
The book of Ezekiel therefore indeed has a fixed pattern here, with ex-
plainable variants. Lusts approach deviates from that of Hossfeld, who lets
the formula in Ezekiel refer to a new Exodus. This is only possible if Ezek.
20:3435 (cf. 20:41; 34:13) is taken as a prototype for the other occurrences:
11:17; 28:25; 29:13; 36:24; 37:12; 37:21; 39:27.265 With bring out-gather-bring into,
however, Ezek. 20:3435 offers a contextually determined variant to the
more general a1-a2-b pattern. In support, Lusts observation holds true that
the most constant element in the formulation is the verb , which falls
back on the imagery of scattering and certainly not the exodus tradition.
We therefore see no reason in Ezek. 36:24, for example, to speak of a new
Exodus.
What now about the corresponding promises in Jeremiah? There the
variations all at once appear far greater. The only real constant element
is, I will have you/them return to ; with Ezekiels scepticism towards
bringing back, the book of Jeremiah is not troubled. Because another action
of Yhwh usually precedes him having them returned, one may consider an
a-b scheme.
a)
b) I will have you/them etc. return to
Nowhere, however, is the first element divided into parallel members a1 and
a2. Sometimes such an element deals with Yhwhs changed attitude, as in Jer.
12:15 I will have compassion on them (cf. 42:12) and 24:6 I will set my eye
upon them for (their) good. In Jer. 30:3 element a (or if one wishes, b1, cf.
Ezek. 29:14) is formed by the clause I will turn their fortunes.
There are just three instances where the form and content of the a-clause
reminds more strongly of Ezekiel: Jer. 23:3 I will gather the remnant of my
flock out of all the lands where I have driven them; 29:14 I will gather you
from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you [cited
in Hebrew above] and 32:37 behold, I am going to gather them from all
the countries where I have driven them etc. So too the a-clause in Jer. 16:15
(= 23:8) may contain a variation: who brought up the children of Israel
from the land of the north and from all the countries where I have driven
them; within the framework of the Exodus comparison, the conventional
verb gather has been replaced here by bring up.266 However it is notably
265 F.-L. Hossfeld, Untersuchungen zu Komposition und Theologie des Ezechielbuches (FzB,
the relative clause in these four examples and the repeated prepositional
adjunct in Jer. 29:14 (from all the nations and from all the places; cf. 16:15
from the land of the North and from all the countries ) that positively
remind us of element a in Ezekiels formulation.
Searching for an explanation for these traces of a pattern in Jeremiah, the
only feasible option is that Jeremiah was influenced by Ezekiel on this point
as well. The diachronic hypothesis then looks like this: the Jeremiah tradi-
tion became familiar with the theme of return (Jer. 28) and the concrete
promise of a return from Babylon (Jer. 12:15; cf. 42:1012 etc.; from the land of
the enemy Jer. 31:1517) from other sources than Ezekiel. But this promise
was developed in certain instances with the help of Ezekiels promise of
gathering.267 Dependence in the opposite direction (Jeremiah Ezekiel)
appears difficult to defend. For example, Jeremiah does not have a formu-
lation I will gather and I will have return, from which Ezekiels formulation
could have been derived easily by substituting have return with bring into.
The book of Jeremiah makes a far too varied impression to justify claims
it is responsible for the emergence of the stereotypical pattern in Ezekiel.
Matters must be the other way around: the book of Jeremiah lacks a fixed
formula, but underwent some influence from the fixed formulation found
in Ezekiel.268
This stance is shared by several scholars regarding the four texts cited
above. These texts, then, are mostly ascribed to a distinct, diaspora orien-
tated editorial redaction that the book of Jeremiah received in the course
of its genesis.269 In 3.2.5.4 we will return to the issue of the golah- and
diaspora-orientations. In any case we are already in a position to determine
that Jer. 23:3 and 8 are integral to a chapter that as a whole clearly depends on
Ezekiel, namely Ezek. 34.270 Its being borrowed from Ezekiel should not serve
267 Furthermore gather in Jeremiah occurs in the poetic passages in Jer. 3031 that are
associated with DI but display few formal affinities with the promise in Ezekiel.
268 The expression / qal/hif has no effect on the outlined picture. The core
meaning appears to be the restoration of a former state of things (J.F.A. Sawyer, Art. , in:
THAT, Bd. 2, Mnchen 1976, 884891, esp. 887). It is then not surprising that Ezekiel uses this
expression alone before the for him rare ( Ezek. 29:14; cf. 39:25). There is no reason to
assume literary influence by the Jeremiah tradition, in which the expression is common.
269 C.R. Seitz, Theology in Conflict: Reactions to the Exile in the Book of Jeremiah (BZAW, 176),
Berlin 1989, 295: The final form of the Book of Jeremiah reflects significant redactional inter-
vention carried out under the influence of Ezekiel traditions; N. Mendecki, Ezechielische
Redaktion des Buches Jeremia? BZ 35 (1991), 242247, esp. 247; Schmid, Buchgestalten, 254:
Jeremiah fell in the hands of people in Babylon who wanted to edit the book in the spirit of
Ezekiel in favour of the golah.
270 Cf. Kuyvenhoven, Jeremiah 23:18, 136.
newness in jeremiah 265
271 Leene, Blowing, 177187; see also G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Komposition und
Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26), Stuttgart 1993, 213. See for further collocations of and
Deut. 2:2526; Jer. 33:9; Ps. 35:2736:2; Job 15:21; 21:9; 25:2. For without see
Isa. 48:22; 57:21; Jer. 12:12; Zech. 8:10; Ps. 38:4; 2 Chron. 15:5. Particularly the analogy with texts
from Isa. 4066 is relatively weak (pace U. Cassuto, On the Formal and Stylistic Relationship
between Deutero-Isaiah and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem, Biblical and Oriental
Studies, vol. 1, Jerusalem 1973, 141177, esp. 149).
272 Fischer, Trostbchlein, 212214.
273 See e.g. Jer. 30:17 , cf. Ezek. 34:6 ; Ps. 142:5 . The
dependence on Ezekiel is uncertain despite the words and in Jer. 30:17 and Ezek. 34:4.
274 We note further that the covenant formula in Jer. 30:22 (different to 31:1 but just like 11:4)
is perfectly identical to that in Ezek. 36:28. This is a new argument in favour of the theory that
the covenant formula caught a lift with the promise of salvation, and from there spread out
through the book of Jeremiah. On the literary correlation between the two covenants in Jer.
11 and 3031, 3.2.4 sub 5.
266 chapter three
a certain affinity with Ezek. 34:12 is also visible in Jer. 31:10 through shepherd
and gather, to draw solid conclusions this analogy once more is too weak.
More generally one could maintain, however, that a synthetic saying like he
who scattered Israel will gather it does not precede the thought world of
Ezekiel comfortably. The author of Ezek. 36 could have saved himself the
trouble of much theological reasoning [ 3.1.2], if such a straightforward
promise had already been available to him.
275 For an elaboration of these arguments, see H. Leene, Unripe fruit and dull teeth (Jer
31,29; Ez 18,2), in: E. Talstra (ed.), Narrative and Comment. Fs W. Schneider, Amsterdam 1995,
8298.
276 J.W. Miller, Das Verhltnis Jeremias und Hesekiels sprachlich und theologisch untersucht:
mit besonderer Bercksichtigung der Prosareden Jeremias, Assen 1955, 99100 sees an indi-
cation in Ezekiels greater detailing that Jeremiah went before; the possibility of summaries
in Jeremiah (cf. 3:613) is not considered. D. Vieweger, Die literarische Beziehungen zwischen
den Bchern Jeremia und Ezechiel (BEAT, 26), Frankfurt a.M. 1993, 77 mentions eine tradi-
tionsgeschichtliche Abhngigkeit der beiden Abschnitte. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 214 eventu-
ally grants Ezekiel priority regarding the proverb, even though he remains generally uncer-
tain about the direction of dependence between Ezekiel and Jeremiahs Booklet of Comfort
(different G. Fischer, Jeremia: Der Stand der theologischen Diskussion, Darmstadt 2007). R.L.
Schultz, The Search for Quotation: Verbal Parallels in the Prophets (JSOT.S, 180), Sheffield 1999,
224 in turn names Jer. 31:29 and Ezek. 18:2 examples of parallels that display close corre-
spondence which () are not quotations but are rather formulaic, idiomatic or proverbial
in origin. P. Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen zu Textgeschichte und Entstehung des Ezechiel-
buches in masoretischer und griechischer berlieferung, Zrich 2004, 321 sees Ezek. 18:2 as the
Spendertext. B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of Jeremiah
3031 (OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 239241 narrows down the dependence problem (the chicken
and the egg) to the question whether 31:2930 could have been inserted later into the present
context. We hold that the text could equally be a citation from Ezekiel, being well integrated
in what Becking considers as the 8th sub-canto of the Booklet of Comfort (31:2730).
newness in jeremiah 267
torical connotations are absent from Ezek. 18. (c) The difference between
and is in line with this: Ezekiel speaks of (random) fathers and
their sons, Jeremiah of the fathers and the sons as representing two periods
of Israels history. The most obvious explanation is that a proverb borrowed
from Ezek. 18:2 has been tailored to the context of Jer. 31:29. (d) This is further
supported by the for Jeremiah unfamiliar, but for Ezekiel typical manner in
which Jer. 31:30 speaks about death, as well as by the merging of image and
reality in the verse.277 (e) Jeremiah announces that in the future the proverb
will no longer be used, Ezekiel prohibits its being used today. This is an addi-
tional argument in support of the indicated direction of dependence. The
tenor of the predictions in Ezekiel and Jeremiah remains that promises are
derived from commandments and not vice versa. Whatever Yhwh demands,
he will gift to Israel.278
In their succession Jer. 31:2730 and 3134 portray two phases of a future
progression of events [ 3.2.2]. First Yhwh will relieve the house of Israel and
the house of Judah from the burdens of the past, thereupon he will write the
law on the hearts of everyone and no longer remember personal transgres-
sions. This sequence agrees with the sequence of Ezek. 18:220 and 2132
[ 3.1.1], on the understanding that Ezekiels exhortation to inner renewal
(Ezek. 18:31), like the proverb ban, has again been converted into a promise
in Jeremiah. The author of Jeremiah did not borrow just the rejection of
the proverb from Ezek. 18, but permitted himself to be influenced by the
whole course of the chapters argument: from collective pardon to personal
change. Here we have certainly come across scribal skills of the highest
quality.279
277 The most analogous clause to 31:30 is 2 Kgs 14:6 . The parallel verse,
2Chron. 25:4 keeps more closely to the rule these clauses refer to, Deut.
24:16 . The expressions and [ ]both occur in Ezekiel, resp.
3:18, 19; 18:17, 18; 33:8, 9 and 3:20; 18:24, but in light of the uneven distribution, in Jer. 31:30
could well be an adaptation of the citation from Kings to Ezekiel. In any case, Jer. 31:2930
illustrates the scribal procedure beautifully, where widely spread canonical texts are drawn
together.
278 How the rejection of the proverb relates to personal identification with the history
of ones own people, through evocative imagery of e.g. Jacob, Rachel and Ephraim in the
preceding dream vision, is an interesting issue. But the same question may be posed when
comparing Ezek. 18 to Ezek. 16 and 23. A possible answer could be that one might recognise
ones own portrait in ones national past without having to be party to its guilt. Personal
engagement is essential to all forms of history writing.
279 Vieweger, Beziehungen, 112 (summarising scheme) believes that Ezek. 18 is dependent
on Jer. 18:710 besides 31:29. However, the points of contact with this passage are not concrete
enough to warrant such a conclusion. So too for Unterman, Repentance, 168 the relation
268 chapter three
between Ezek. 18 and Jer. 31 is not limited to the proverb, even though he differs 180 on the
direction of dependence: Ezekiel 18 is not only influenced by Jer. 31.2930, but also by Jer.
31.3233, as witnessed by Ezek. 18.31.
280 Alone in Deut. 21:8 is there another clause containing the verb and , without
thematic relations with the cited texts. Schmid, Buchgestalten, 79 considers translating Jer.
31:33a along the lines of (our version): I gave my law (once) in their midst and (now) I
shall write it in their heart (see also H. Tita, Ich hatte meine Tora in ihre Mitte gegeben:
Das Gewicht einer nicht bercksichtigte Perfektform in Jer. xxxi 33, VT 52 (2002), 551556),
but (besides objections raised by Schmid self) this is conflicted by a comparison with the
corresponding promises in Ezek. 11 and 36.
281 The arguments are conveniently summarised e.g. by Schwagmeier, Untersuchungen,
318.
282 qal with Yhwh as subject is only used in Ezekiel to indicate the pulling down of
283 Question marks may also be placed behind the Jeremian character of certain other
Jeremiah, attention is further drawn to the fact that the forgiveness of sins in Jer. 31:34 and
the cleansing in Ezek. 36:25 agree in their relationship to inner change. On the combination
of cleansing and forgiveness, see Jer. 33:8.
285 Not metaphorical: Deut. 28:7, 25; 1 Kgs 18:6, 6.
270 chapter three
future acts of grace to which Yhwh has committed himself, without implying
a former covenant as point of reference. Just as the everlasting covenant
in Jer. 32 seems to precede the new covenant within the book genesis of
Jeremiah [ 3.2.5.2], this sequential order stays undiminished in force when
we expand our line of question to the occurrences in Ezekiel.286 Not until Jer.
50:5 is Israels obedience included more or less in the concept everlasting
covenant.
In all, 32:3741 is best understood as a kind of midrash on Ezekiel and
Deuteronomy, as suggested above [ 3.2.4; 3.2.5.2]. Complicated hypotheses
in which Jer. 32 first influenced Ezek. 11, thereupon Ezek. 11 in turn Jer.
24,287 are not convincing. The one heart in Ezek. 11 has no need for Jer. 32
as an explanation [ 3.1.3], and Jer. 32 is easier to understand as a later
development compared to Jer. 24 than the reverse. On the chronological
order between Ezekiel and the basic story of Jer. 32 there is actually very
little to say, even though the question remains intriguing whether Ezek. 13:9
may be assumed tacitly by this remarkable story: the right of a true prophet
to landownership in Israel.288
286 Due to the absence of analogous clauses, Ezek. 16:5963 cannot be alluding to Jer.
31:3134, but in any case this would go against the most likely direction of dependence; pace
Schmid, Buchgestalten, 84. H.-W. Jngling, Eid und Bund in Ez 1617, in: E. Zenger (ed.),
Der Neue Bund im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der beiden Testamente (QD, 146), Freiburg 1993,
113148, esp. 138148 defends convincingly against Levin and Renaud that Ezek. 16 deviates
in its covenantal theology from Jer. 31: Ezek. 16:5963 spricht nicht von einem neuen Bund
(148).
287 See e.g. Schmid, Buchgestalten, 8283.
288 According to Levin, Verheiung, 206 Ezek. 11:15 is only understandable
against the background of Jer. 32:78 (other occurrences of are Lev. 25:2452 and Ruth
4:67). W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BKAT, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1969, 248 as explanation cites
Horst: der Kreis derer, von denen man zur Sippenhilfe, zumal bei den Rechtsinstitut des
Loskaufes, aufgerufen werden konnte. The focus then falls on those who should have asserted
the rights of Ezekiel and his fellow exiles, but are now keen to take possession of the derelict
land themselves. Jer. 32 is not required as an explanation; stronger, the theme of property
release falls less out of the blue in Ezek. 11 than in Jer. 32.
newness in jeremiah 271
Greek papyrus 967 does not represent a text form of Ezekiel that is older than
the Masoretic text form. This opened the way for an unbiased inquiry on the
book-genetic relation between Ezek. 11, 18 and 36, leading to the following
scheme as the most probable order: 18 36 11. A comparable scheme
for the book of Jeremiah (admittedly: with more speculation) turned out
as follows: 24 32 3031 3. What deductions could be drawn from
these two schemes? Even on their own they are difficult to reconcile with
Levins proposal of seeing Jer. 24/Ezek. 11 as the literary hatchway from
Jeremiah to Ezekiel. Jer. 24 would then have to stand at the end and Ezek.
11 at the beginning of book internal developmentsthe schemes point
out the contrary. As a more important objection we regard the harvest
of this intertextual section: it is difficult to speak of a singular mediation
point between the two books considering the many points of contact we
established.
Of these contact points, those between Ezek. 23 and Jer. 3 stood the fur-
thest from our subject, newness, but they suitably lent themselves as a
methodological test case, in which they allowed us to reason out a direc-
tion of dependence orientated on the analogous clauses via their contextual
embedding. We further applied this approach as far as possible to the points
of contact in Jer. 24, 29, 3031 and 32, consistently reaching the same results:
the book of Jeremiah borrowed from the book of Ezekiel. In this regard it
made no difference whether a text usually ascribed to one of the younger or
one of the older layers in the book of Jeremiah was on the table; see resp.
Jer. 3:613 and 30:57. Likewise on the giving end of the relationship persis-
tently a whole book appears to be entailedat least not loose passages from
Ezekiel which the authors of Jeremiah accidentally hit upon. Even if our
analysis in this section touched on a small portion of all the available com-
parative material, the conclusion that the book of Ezekiel served as a model
for the book of Jeremiah no longer appears so speculative anymore: two
prophetic books covering approximately the same time of action, in which
the place of action shifts from Babylon to Jerusalem. The perspective from
outside on the great disaster makes room in Jeremiah for a perspective from
within, and time is needed to effect a turn like this. Nothing takes longer
than looking at a catastrophe directly in the eye.289 On the chronological
289 Pace H.-J. Stipp, Jeremia im Parteienstreit: Studien zur Textentwicklung von Jer 26, 36
43 und 45 als Beitrag zur Geschichte Jeremias, seines Buches und judischer Parteien im 6.
Jahrhundert (BBB, 82), Frankfurt a.M. 1992, 294: Anscheinend hat die besonders schreckliche
272 chapter three
order of the two books, Levin noted concisely: Jeremiah fifth century, Ezekiel
fourth century; but in the meantime Fischer has reversed this chronological
rule of thumb, which made it seem much closer to the truth.
How does Jeremiah involve himself in the dialogue on the new heart and
the new spirit seen in Ezekiel? He agrees wholeheartedly with the promise of
inner change as a gift of God. As in Ezekiel, here in Jeremiah there is no real
tension between change as gift and change as command (Ezek. 18; Jer. 3; see
esp. Jer. 31:18). Jeremiah certainly corrects Ezekiels presentation of a radical
replacement of the heart, probably as a concession to the book of Deuteron-
omy, which had already given the change of heart its central place in biblical
anthropology, be it still as a mere exhortation to love God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.290 Some researchers have
seen Ezekiels idea of substitution as a later harshening, but the direction of
dependence defended above makes it impossible for us to share this view.
As a consequence of Jeremiahs concession to Deuteronomy, the adjective
new is dropped before heart in the promise of change in Jer. 24 and 32,
and becomes available in Jer. 31 to emphasise a totally different opposition:
the promised covenant compared to Yhwhs covenant with the fathers. We
use the negative formulationbecomes availabledeliberately, because
the concept new in could only have received its positive con-
notation after interacting with Deutero-Isaiah. The next chapter will return
to this crucial Deutero-Isaianic contribution to the theology of Jer. 3031
[ 4.2.3].
What Jeremiah also does leave out from the promise of change is the con-
cept spirit. It is therefore not without reason that there is spoken of an anti-
schwrmerische reaction by the book of Jeremiah on the book of Ezekiel.291
Only on a few occasions in Jeremiah is related to anthropology (10:14 =
51:17; 51:1, 11), but without any reminder of the prominent anthropological
Ausmalung der Katastrophe erst nach lngerem Anlauf in sptexilischer Zeit ihren Hhe-
punkt erreichtthus dating it a considerable time after the relatively sober first-hand
accounts by the authors of Jer. 26, 3643 and 45. Precisely the sobriety of these reports, how-
ever, might indicate greater historical distance.
290 On the links between commandment, heart and obedience in Jeremiah as in line with
Deuteronomy, see C. Maier, Jeremia als Lehrer der Tora: Soziale Gebote des Deuteronomiums
in Fortschreibungen des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 196), Gttingen 2002, 346.
291 Cf. Schmid, Buchgestalten, 8284. Note the difference from G. von Rad, Theologie des
Alten Testaments, Bd. 2, Mnchen 1960 (91987), 227: Mit alledem spricht Jeremia auf seine
Weise von einer zuknftigen Ausgieung des gttlichen Geistes, denn er meint nichts ande-
res als ein pneumatisches Wissen und Befolgen des Gotteswillens. Miller, Verhltnis, 182 n. 1
surmises that the appeal to the spirit by false prophets underlies Jeremiahs avoidance of the
term.
newness in jeremiah 273
will be made after those days (Jer. 31:33), which is to say: only after Israel
had been sown and taken root in the land once more (Jer. 31:2730). The
new covenant no longer serves Israels reconciliation with the land; instead
it serves Israels very survival as a people, set in a world filled with calamity
and judgement.
(1) In the book of Ezekiel no promises are reserved exclusively for the exiles
in Babylon. Indeed the narration places the prophet in Babylon, similarly
292 The noun is used 20 , the noun 8 in the OT for the deportation or deportees
of 597. For the deportation or deportees of 587, is not used at all, alone in Jer. 40:1.
Descendants of both groups would be implied in the of Ezra-Nehemiah. The verb II,
take into exile, is used for both deportations.
293 See esp. K.-F. Pohlmann, Studien zum Jeremiabuch: Ein Beitrag zur Frage nach der
Entstehung des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 118), Gttingen 1978, who ascribes Jer. 21:110, Jer.
24 and the revision of Jer. 3744 to this redaction. For a summary of Pohlmanns view on
the golah-orientated redaction of Ezekiel, see Idem, Ezechiel: Der Stand der theologischen
Diskussion, Darmstadt 2008, 95. Likewise the conflict that C.R. Seitz, Theology in Conflict:
Reactions to the Exile in the Book of Jeremiah (BZAW, 176), Berlin 1989 indicates, would become
apparent in the changes brought about by an exilic, or Golah-redaction (5), namely in Jer.
2145, but also elsewhere in the book, which according to him were influenced by Ezekiel
and directed against the personal views of the historical Jeremiah.
newness in jeremiah 275
the dialogue partners who accompany him, but in Ezekiels promise of salva-
tion these dialogue partners are unremittingly addressed as representatives
of all those scattered [ 3.1.4.3].294
(2) It seems there is a special promise in Jer. 24:57 intended for the golah.
The relation between Jer. 24 and Ezek. 11 is so strong that literary depen-
dence must be surmised [ 3.2.5.3]. Everything indicates the priority of Ezek.
11. The direction of dependence between these passages is one suggestion
that the golah-promise must be younger than the promise made to dislo-
cated Judeans in general. The probable literary development could then be
understood as follows: the particular application of the diaspora-promise
on the Babylonian golah within the framework of the Ezekiel narrative (see
Ezek. 811) led naturally to a more explicit golah-promise in the book of
Jeremiah, which embroidered further on this special narrative of Ezekiel.295
The diaspora-promise came first, the golah-promise followed diligently.
294 The distinction golah/diaspora is far less essential for Ezekiel than the distinction
between the Zadokite priests (the prophet was one) and the people that strayed, including
the other Levites, see Ezek. 44:431. There is even a certain tension between the idea of Israels
total impurity (36:25; see also 22:26) and the exclusive position claimed for the Zadokites as
a divine reward for their former loyalty (44:15). Of a so-called lineage-control [F. Fechter,
Priesthood in Exile according to the Book of Ezekiel, in: S.L. Cook, C.L. Patton (eds), Ezekiels
Hierarchical World: Wrestling with a Tiered Reality (SBL Symposium Series, 31), Leiden 2004,
2741, esp. 39] concerning the golah in Ezekiel there is no evidence at all.
295 In light of Ezek. 811 as a whole it is not difficult to see Jeremiahs letter correspondence
in Jer. 29 as the modern response to Ezekiels telekinetic bridging of the distance Babylon-
Jerusalem. On this point the antischwrmerische trait of the book of Jeremiah could have
played a role [ 3.2.5.3].
296 So too Schmid, Buchgestalten, 265 reasons that the dependence Deut. 30 Jer. 24
implies that the golah-orientation (Jer. 24) assumes a diaspora perspective (Deut. 30:3), even
if this does not mean according to him that the golah-promise is prinzipiell jnger than
the diaspora-promise. Several objections may be raised, however, against the progression
diaspora-perspective golah-redaction diaspora-correction, which Schmid sketches in the
line of Pohlmann; see below.
276 chapter three
(4) It is improbable that the diaspora-promise was derived from the judge-
ment of scattering passed on the evil figs in Jer. 24:9 and 29:18.297 There this
judgement is not so much the scattering, as it details the woes that will over-
come the scattered where ever they find themselves. Genetically these texts
appear to presume the diaspora-promise, suggesting a reading like this: I
will not gather them from all the places where I have scattered/driven them,
but make them a horror there etc. This agrees with the abovementioned
reference to Deut. 2830 in Jer. 24, particularly Deut. 30:13. Jeremiah and
Ezekiel have the word string / // / in 13 places:
Jer. 8:3; 16:15; 23:3, 8; 24:9; 29:14, 18; 30:11; 32:37; 40:12; 43:5; 46:28; Ezek. 34:12;
without in 6 places: Ezek. 4:13; 11:17; 20:34, 41; 28:25; 29:13. Besides Ezek.
4:13; Jer. 8:3; 24:9 and 29:18, they always concern the promise of gathering,
which thereby proves to be the primary context of the stereotyped indi-
cation of place. Further occurrences appear only in Deut. 30:1, 3 (promise)
and Dan. 9:7 (prayer). Even though the collection-promise as such naturally
requires as background a foregoing condition of being scattered (Deut. 4:27;
28:64), we maintain that Jer. 24:9 and 29:18 cannot be directly linked to a
condition like that, but at most through the promise of gathering as inter-
mediate step.298
(6) Attention is now drawn to the gist of the golah-promise itself. Against
whom is the golah-group positioned in the vision of Jer. 24? Who form the
contrast? Not the Judeans who were transported away into exile earlier or
later, but only the group under Zedekiah, who headed for disaster with their
eyes openincluding those who would end up fleeing to Egypt and whose
historical fate is described in Jer. 4144. In Jer. 24:810 they serve as an exam-
ple for everyone who against all odds persist in resisting the idea of a divine
judgement over Jerusalem. For people that have such an attitude to life,
according to the book of Jeremiah there is no future. A future is reserved for
only those who subject themselves to Yhwhs plans, throughout the terror of
judgement. Thereby the two groups in Jer. 24 as well as in Jer. 29 characterise
ideal-typical groups. Ideal type is a term derived from sociology used to indi-
cate a non-empirical model of sociological or historical phenomena, but in a
broader sense may also be used for schematisations in a historical narrative,
meant to give readers the choice between action alternatives. Such schema-
tisations assume a large distance in time between these readers and what is
being told.299 Jeremiah does not require the appropriate genealogical papers
from him or her (could my own forebears possibly be members of the 597
deportation?), but rather a choice for a proper religious attitude set against
the shadow of such a devastating past.300
(7) Only on an initial glance and with a wrong approach, would a tension
therefore exist between the promise of salvation to the whole house of Israel
and Judea in Jer. 3033 and its being reserved for a historical elite in Jer.
24 and 29. This tension dissolves for those who realise that Jer. 24 does not
promote one league of the post-exilic community at the cost of another, but
299 The problematic of Thiels exilic dating of Jer. 24 is exposed, for example, in this
consideration: Ihre Hoffnung setzt D auf die babylonische Golah. Hier knnte die Deutung
des Exils als einer Luterung und Bewhrung im Hintergrund stehen, doch lsst der Text
dies nicht deutlich erkennen (W. Thiel, Die deuteronomistische Redaktion von Jeremia 125
(WMANT, 41), Neukirchen 1973, 261). More emphatically, the text contradicts it outright. The
text does not base hope on exilic purification, but on an inner renewal that Yhwh will offer
as a gift after the returnthat the golah are implicated in the scheme as the recipients
of this gift, historically speaking must be called a vaticinium ex eventu. A post-exilic, or
even late post-exilic dating of Jer. 24 has already been opted by B. Duhm, Das Buch Jeremia
(KHC, 11), Tbingen 1901; H.G. May, Towards an Objective Approach to the Book of Jeremiah:
The Biographer, JBL 61 (1942), 139155; cf. Pohlmann, Jeremiabuch, 2930, 190; R. Albertz,
Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003,
321. The fact that the sharp contrast between the dual future in Jer. 24 is anchored in the
whole composition of Jer. 2124 [see also J. Applegate, Peace, peace, when there is no
peace: Redactional Integration of Prophecy of Peace into the Judgement of Jeremia, in:
A.H.W. Curtis, T. Rmer (eds), The Book of Jeremiah and its Reception (BEThL, 128), Leuven
1997, 5190, esp. 66], indicates the advanced stage of reflection in the chapter. Deut. 30, one
of the most important literary sources of Jer. 2124, is usually included in the youngest edition
of Deuteronomy.
300 Of a written proof of lineage as found in Ezra 2:62; Neh. 7:64 there is no question here. It
must be added that the genealogical lists in Ezra-Nehemiah appear to be partially artificial.
Thus they could include descendants of those deported by the Assyrians, and Judeans that
joined the galt shortly after its return (Albertz, Exile, 106, 127). The genealogy indeed serves
the group identity, but in no way is it intended as a means to exclude.
278 chapter three
(8) Besides in Jer. 24 and 29, the exiles in Babylon are referred to in Jer. 5051.
Here they are encouraged, if the plan of Yhwh would have developed thus
far, to flee from Babylon on time. This is one of the many indications that
Jeremiahs prophecy on Babylon must be dependent on Deutero-Isaiah.301
Here we need to anticipate what will be substantiated in the next chapter
[ 4.2.2]. Further influence from Deutero-Isaiah on Jeremiah is presumed
where Nebuchadnezzar takes on some traits of Cyrus. As we have argued
above, the reputation of Cyrus under the Jews could only have risen to
Deutero-Isaian heights during the century following 515. For a depiction of
Nebuchadnezzar that in turn appears to be partly based on the portrayal of
Cyrus, one would have to advance still further in time.302 This could advocate
the stronger profiling of the golah in Jer. 24 and 29 in relation to Ezekiel being
equally inspired by Deutero-Isaian texts and depictions.303
301 So too U. Cassuto, On the Formal and Stylistic Relationship between Deutero-Isaiah
and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem, Biblical and Oriental Studies, vol. 1, Jerusalem
1973, 141177, esp. 152155 deems Jer. 5051 dependent on Isa. 4066, following Budde and
against Cassutos own view on Jer. 10 and 3031.
302 The most striking analogy in this regard is that between Isa. 45:12 and Jer. 27:5 (cf.
B.D. Sommer, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 4066, Stanford, CA 1998, 60). See
( elsewhere not in the OT) resp. followed by and , with in the
continuation. Concerning the direction of dependence: it is not plausible that the surprising
inclusion of Cyrus in the order of creation [ 2.2.7.2 sub 4] was preceded by that of Nebuchad-
nezzar. The fact that according to Jer. 27:11 Nebuchadnezzar looks just like Cyrus by exercising
Persian politics and acting as an agent of Yhwhs plan (it is the same case for the Assyrian
king in Isa. 37:26 [ 2.2.8.2]), is a clear indication of the large distance in time between the
narrative and the narrated.
303 J. Unterman, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in Transition (JSOT.S,
54), Sheffield 1987, 86 and Sommer, Prophet, 5051 speak of influence from Jer. 29:1014
on Isa. 55:69, noting allusion in the second passage to the first; according to S. Bhmer,
Heimkehr und neuer Bund: Studien zu Jeremia 3031 (GTA, 5), Gttingen 1976, 34 the direction
of influence is the exact opposite. There is thematic agreement, supported by a few words:
for Gods thoughts (2 in both places), for the salvation of the return, and
nif. for God allowing himself to be found by those who seek him [ ]and call him
[]. For a convincing argument on the direction of influence this is too weak. On the
possible connections between Jer. 29:5, 28 and Isa. 65:21 (cf. Cassuto, Relationship, 160 n. 66;
Sommer, Prophet, 42), 4.2.2. In any case it is most likely that the depiction of the empty
land, according to Pohlmann a characteristic of the golah-redaction in Jeremiah, is promoted
strongly by DIs metaphor of Zion as a mother bereft of her children.
newness in jeremiah 279
304 In Ezra those who tremble at the words of God [ 2.3.3.2] dissociate themselves
from the golah because of their faithlessness (Ezra 9:4; cf. 10:6). Also where the golah
are mentioned as a population group in post-exilic Judea, according to Ezra they do not
automatically become identified with the true Israel.
305 It is noteworthy that similarly in DI the call to depart from Babylon (Isa. 48:20) is not just
expanded to the diaspora and/or the peoples (cf. U. Berges, Das Buch Jesaja: Komposition und
Endgestalt (HBS, 16), Freiburg 1998, 332), but is also foregone by a worldwide call: I say to the
North: Give, and to the South: Do not keep back (43:6). Thus there are no instances in any of
the prophets where a golah-promise is not embedded in a promise with a far broader address.
306 The Chronistic portrayal of the Babylonian golah as the historical link between pre- and
post-exilic Israel (cf. Albertz, Exile, 14) appears to be an even later development in the line of
Ezekiel Deutero-Isaiah Jeremiah Ezra-Nehemiah.
chapter four
For practical reasons our first intertextual comparison in this chapter will
commence with texts from Isa. 4055 that remind of Ezekiel. We hardly
find Ezekielisms in Deutero-Isaiah that are based on a linguistic analogy
between clauses, which would make up the most solid argument for liter-
ary dependence. In the isolated cases, all the signals point at the priority of
Ezekiel. We will first provide an overview of the cases and will then focus
more pertinently on the analogies which could involve readers in a theolog-
ical dialogue between Deutero-Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Isa. 40:5 And all flesh will see together that ; cf. Ezek. 21:4; Isa. 49:26
And all flesh will know that I, Yhwh ; cf. Ezek. 21:10. The string \
[ ][ ] does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament, which
in total counts 91 instances of a form of followed by [ ][ ]:
10 in Ex.; 1 in Deut.; 2 in 1Kgs; 3 in DI; 1 in TI; 2 in Jer.; 71 in Ezek.; and 1 in
Joel. Form-critically they represent the so-called acknowledgment formula,
which knows several more free forms [ 3.1.2]; see for example Isa. 41:20: so
that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that
the hand of Yhwh has made this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
See below.
Isa. 42:25 So he poured upon him the wrath of his anger. The combina-
tion of + and/or also occurs in Jer. 6:11; 10:25; Ezek. 7:8; 9:8; 14:19;
16:38; 20:8, 13, 21, 3334; 22:22; 30:15; 36:18; Zeph. 3:8; Ps. 69:25; 79:6; Lam. 2:4;
4:11. The subject of the clause remains Yhwh, who may pour or has poured
his anger. See below.
Isa. 43:28 Therefore I profaned the officials of the sanctuary. In combi-
nation with the noun the verb is found in the following places: Ex.
31:14; Lev. 19:8; 20:3; 21:6; 22:2, 15, 32; Num. 18:32; Ezek. 20:39; 22:8, 26; 36:20,
21, 22, 23; 39:7; Am. 2:7; Zeph. 3:4; Mal. 2:11. Only in Isa. 43:28 is Yhwh himself
the subject of the profanation, a perspective searched in vain in Ezekiel.
Isa. 47:3 Your nakedness will be exposed, yes, your disgrace will be seen.
The verbs and occur regularly with as object, thus for example
in 21 places in Lev. 18 and 20; in Ezek. 16:3637 and 23:10, 18, 29 these
terms are used to describe immoral behaviour and the resulting humiliating
punishment, in Isa. 47:3 just the humiliation.1
1 As in Isa. 47:3, in Ezek. 25:14, 17 there is also mention of Yhwhs wrath; cf. Jer. 46:10; 50:15;
Isa. 48:4 Because I knew that you are stubborn and your forehead
bronze. For the stubbornness see Ezek. 2:4 [ ;]3:7 [, ;]for the
hard forehead Ezek. 3:7. Without containing analogous clauses, these verses
show affinity in presentation, supported by one or two common words.
Isa. 48:9 for my names sake, cf. Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44. occurs in
2 Kgs 19:34; 20:6; Isa. 37:35; 43:25; 48:11; always relates to the name of
Yhwh and occurs in 1Kgs 8:41; Isa. 48:9; 66:5; Jer 14:7, 21; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44;
Ps. 23:3; 25:11; 31:4; 79:9; 106:8; 109:21; 143:11; 2Chron. 6:32. Ezekiel is thought
of in Isa. 48:11 especially because of the direct combination of with the
verbs , make, realise, and , profane. We will also return to this.2
Where the similarities between Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah are easily
explained as the result of direct influencing, the probable priority lies with
Ezekiel. Thus the points of contact with Ezekiel in Isa. 42:1825 and 48:111
belong to the same, clearly distinguishable production phase of Isa. 4055
[ 2.2.8.1]. Nothing more than isolated words, word combinations or fixed
formulas is usually implied. Of a literary allusion in the one work to the other
can hardly be spoken. Rather stereotypical language, jargon used in circles
in which the book of Ezekiel originated or found attentive readers, comes to
mind.
Some points of contact invite a comparison of Ezekiel and Deutero-
Isaiahs broader mindset; and on this level, now, the impression is strength-
ened that Ezekiel must have been the donor and that Deutero-Isaiah rep-
resents a more advanced stage of theological reflection. Two points in par-
ticular draw attention, (a) the place of the prediction proof in Ezekiel and
Deutero-Isaiah and (b) their emphasis on Yhwhs name as the only basis for
the promise of cleansing and change. We will pay attention to these points
in good order.
(a) If there were indeed a meaningful analogy between Isa. 42:25 and Ezek.
22:22, one would have to conclude that Ezekiel takes the recognition of Gods
2 On these Ezekielisms see further: H.-J. Hermisson, Einheit und Komplexitt Deutero-
jesajas: Probleme der Redaktionsgeschichte von Jes 4055, in: J. Vermeylen (ed.), The Book of
Isaiah (BEThl, 81), Leuven 1989, 287312, esp. 296299. A few more possible points of contact,
mentioned there, are based on not more than single words. U. Cassuto, On the Formal and
Stylistic Relationship between Deutero-Isaiah and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem,
Biblical and Oriental Studies, vol. 1, Jerusalem 1973, 141177, esp. 167 concludes: the style and
form of the prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah are not at all dependent on Ezekiel, or only to a very
small extent. Of the four direct points of contact he identifies in Isa. 4055, we have already
cited three (40:5; 48:11; 49:26). The fourth is based on the supposed priority of 52:10 (cf. Ezek.
5:8 etc.) over Ps. 98:2 (166 n. 94), which we have countered above [ 2.2.8.3].
284 chapter four
acting less seriously than Deutero-Isaiah. Ezek. 22:22 and you will know, that
I Yhwh have poured my wrath upon you; Isa. 42:25 he poured upon them the
wrath of his anger but they did not take it at heart. Let us try to understand
this striking difference with the help of Zimmerlis exposition on Yhwhs
Wahrheitserweis in the two prophets.
Zimmerli indicates that Ezekiels characteristic Erweiswort also occurs
in Deutero-Isaiah. As examples he mentions Isa. 49:2223, 2426; 45:17
and 41:1720. Similar to how proof is provided in Ezekiel these passages
conclude with a recognition formula (see the summary above). The most
prominent equivalent of this formula in Deutero-Isaiah, according to Zim-
merli, is found in the Gerichtsreden of Yhwh directed at the nations and
their gods. From a form-critical point of view this equivalence is the clear-
est in Isa. 41:2129.3 We agree with this observation and wish to add that
the tight bond between recognition formula and trial speech is also iden-
tifiable composition-critically: Isa. 41:1720 and 2129 are linked through
the keywords [ ]and in v. 20 and vv. 22, 23, 26.4 In any event,
Yhwhs announcement in Ezekiel, I have spoken and will do it (Ezek. 17:24;
22:14; 24:14; 36:36; cf. 37:14), receives a specifically concrete focus in Deutero-
Isaiahs trial speech, and this in the argument that the triumph of Cyrus was
the outcome of earlier predictions. For both Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah this
observation is valid: Wort Jahwes ist, was vom nachfolgenden geschicht-
lichen Geschehnis eingelst wird und so vor aller Augen seinen Wirklich-
keits- und Geschehnisgehalt erweist.5
Zimmerli does not discuss the question of dependence explicitly and
points out that Deutero-Isaiah was similarly influenced by the language of
the Psalms and by hymnic calls to the nations to recognise Yhwh. We saw
earlier that Deutero-Isaiahs proof of divinity is embedded in a frame of refer-
ence borrowed from the Yhwh-Kingship psalms [ 2.2.8.4]. Only against this
background does it become comprehensible why Deutero-Isaiah involves
the creational order in his argumentation from history, as seen in Isa. 45:18
19; cf. 40:2124.6 In the book of Ezekiel, the theme of creation plays no role.
3 W. Zimmerli, Der Wahrheitserweis Jahwes nach der Botschaft der beiden Exilspro-
pheten, in: E. Wrthwein, O. Kaiser (eds), Tradition und Situation: Studien zur alttestament-
lichen Prophetie. Fs A. Weiser, Gttingen 1963, 133151.
4 Cf. H. Leene, De vroegere en de nieuwe dingen bij Deuterojesaja, Amsterdam 1987, 85, 229.
5 Zimmerli, Wahrheitserweis, 140.
6 Zimmerli, Wahrheitserweis, 149 sees this differently: Im Beweisverfahren gegen die
Gtter wird nirgends unverhllt auf die Schpfung zurckgewiesen. Here it is not taken
sufficiently into account that, according to DI, Yhwh must prove in history that he is the
creator.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 285
7 On the connection between inner change and acknowledging God, see also the relevant
them as his people. With this negative perspective on the past, a prospect
on cleansing and change, despite everything, is correlated in both passages.
Yhwh acting for his names sake is then the common theological helpline.
According to Ezekiel the change will consist in the gift of a new heart and
a new spirit to every Israelite. In Deutero-Isaiah the change is visualised
dramatically in the Servant of the Lord, who, guided by Gods spirit, speaks
for the first time in Isa. 48:16.8
One difference is seen in the fact that for Deutero-Isaiah, the negative
past extends up and till the political end of the exilic period, and in Isa. 48
also includes Israels lukewarm response to Babylons downfall. Another tan-
gible difference is, while inner change and the recognition of Yhwh are still
independent themes in Ezekiel, in Deutero-Isaiah they merge to become inter-
locked. Without inner change genuine recognition of Yhwh is not possible.
The Servant, as the other Israel, leads the readers of Deutero-Isaiahs drama
in showing this recognition.
All this brings us to the conclusion that, even in the absence of watertight
evidence, it is most probable that literary and theological influence from the
book of Ezekiel, or from its readers, was exercised on the circle in which
Isa. 4055 originated. This influence concerns a most crucial element in
Deutero-Isaiahs drama, an element that we have not yet been able to fully
place in the line of the Yhwh-Kingship psalms [ 2.2.8.34]: the element
of Israels inner change. The special way in which this theme has been
revised in Deutero-Isaiah reflects, in respect of Ezekiel, an undeniably later
historical point of view.9
groen Exilspropheten (BZAW, 121), Berlin 1971, 7399 is correct when he notes that the term
new functions completely differently in Ez. and DI. This should not draw the attention away
from the structural similarities in the two promises of change. The similarities in the other
themes described by Baltzer, such as exodus, Jerusalem and the temple, the return of Yhwh,
the Davidic-messianic expectation and the peaceful time of salvation, are so general that it
is not easy to determine the direction of their possible influence.
9 Inner change in DI has also been reflected on more deeply in this respect: the changed
person suffers under a yet unchanged environment. In TI, large tensions become visible
between the circle of priests in which the book Ezekiel was written and the milieu of temple
singers suspected of being behind the book of Isaiah. Compare e.g. Isa. 56:18 and Ezek. 44:9
on the admittance of foreigners to the sanctuary.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 287
10 Cf. Cassuto, Relationship, 149152; W. Tannert, Jeremia und Deuterojesaja: Eine Unter-
suchung zur Frage ihres literarischen und theologischen Zusammenhanges, Leipzig 1956; G.
Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Komposition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26), Stuttgart
1993, 209212; P.T. Willey, Remember the Former Things: The Recollection of Previous Texts in
Second Isaiah, Atlanta, GA 1997; B.D. Sommer, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah
4066, Stanford, CA 1998, 3272.
11 References to frequent formulas such as thus says Yhwh and declares Yhwh are
Jeremiah 30
01 The word |
that came to Jeremiah from Yhwh |
saying |
02 Thus says Yhwh the God of Israel |
Write for you all the words |
that I have spoken to you |
in a book |
03 For behold days are coming | an. cl. Isa. 39:613
declares Yhwh |
when I will turn the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah |
says Yhwh |
and I will have them return to the land |
that I gave to their fathers |
and they will possess it |
04 And these are the words |
that Yhwh spoke concerning Israel and Judah |
05 Thus says Yhwh |
We have heard a cry of panic |
terror and no peace | Isa. 48:22; 57:2114
06 Ask now |
and see |
whether a man gives birth |
Why then do I see every hero |
his hands on his hips like a woman giving birth |
and are all faces changed |
turned into paleness?15 |
07 For that day is great |
there is none like it |
it is a time a of distress b for Jacob |
yet he will be saved c from it | Isa. 33:216
observations, variant readings of the Greek translation have been indicated in the notes. On
the difference between JerMT 3031 and JerLXX 3738, 3.2.3, n. 139.
13 Apart from 15 in Jeremiah: 1 Sam. 2:31; 2 Kgs 20:17 = Isa. 39:6; Am. 4:2; 8:11; 9:13.
14 Cassuto, Relationship, 149 mentions this agreement, but of a substantial analogy as
phrase; a + b + c Judg. 10:14; Neh. 9:27; cf. Isa. 33:2 and Ps. 37:39. K. Schmid, Buchgestalten
des Jeremiabuches: Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033
im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 119 finds the relation with Isa. 33:2
important; according to Fischer, Trostbchlein, 188 eine engere Berhrung with that place
cannot be determined.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 289
17 a + b Lev. 26:13; Jer. 28:2, 4, 11; Ezek. 34:27; b + c 11 in OT. Literally ( ull
mal awwrek) occurs elsewhere in Gen. 27:40 and Isa. 10:27, which also commences with
and it will happen on that day. The borrowing from it according to Fischer, Trostbchlein,
188 would explain the 2nd pers. in Jer. 30:8. The alternation between direct speech and
indirected speech (B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of
Jeremiah 3031 (OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 149150) in 30:89 offers no contextual solution in itself
for the antecedent of his yoke.
18 The same sequence of analogous clauses with and . Further occurrences are
Deut. 1:21; Josh. 8:1; 10:25 (plur.); Ezek. 2:6 and 5 in Chron.
19 Virtually identical constructions with an infinitive clause in Jer. 1:8, 19; 15:20; 42:11. On
the sequence fear not, for I am with you, see Gen. 26:24; Jer. 1:8; 42:11; Isa. 41:10; 43:5.
20 Willey, Remember, 274 notes that followed by ( Jer. 10:24: )only occurs
21 a + e Mic. 1:9; c + d Am. 6:6; b + c + d + e Nah. 3:19; d+e Deut. 29:21. That terms from the
domain illness and injury (see also 30:15) have a widespread occurrence in the OT, is nor-
mal and on its own does not prove literary relations (pace U. Wendel, Jesaja und Jeremia:
Worte, Motive und Einsichten Jesajas in der Verkndigung Jeremias (BThSt, 25), Neukirchen-
Vluyn 1995, 214). This is different for the analogy with Nah. 3:19. The phrase is better
suited in Nahum, from which Jeremiah thus possibly borrowed here and in 15:18; cf. Fischer,
Trostbchlein, 190, 216.
22 See the previous note.
23 Cassuto, Relationship, 150 sees a relation between LXX and Isa.
49:26.
24 Occurrences Deut. 28:41; Isa. 46:2; 4 in Jer.; 3 in Ez.; Am. 9:4; Nah. 3:10; Lam. 1:18.
25 2 Kgs 21:14 also contains a collocation of the roots and /.
26 These are the analogous clauses with naming Zion-Jerusalem; noted by Cassuto,
analogies to the whole clause, see Ezek. 34:6; Ps. 142:5. The words and earlier in this
verse could reflect Ezek. 34:4.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 291
28 a + b + c Num. 24:5; a + b Mal. 2:12. These agreements become insignificant when com-
pared to the shared words between Jer. 10:20 and Isa. 54:12, notably tent, cord,
tent-curtain, stretch out and son, childan exceptionally dense shared collo-
cation for the OT.
29 The relation with Isa. 55:11 signalled by Cassuto, Relationship, 150 depends on little
Jeremiah 31
Compare Deutero-Isaiah for
the entire 30:524 31:126 as diptych
01 At that time |
declares Yhwh |
I will be a God to all the families of Israel |
and they will be a people to me |
02 Thus says Yhwh |
The people who survived the sword found grace in the desert |
going |
to give rest to it (to the sword?)30 |
Israel |
03 Yhwh appeared to me from afar |
I have loved you with an everlasting love |
therefore I have drawn you in loving-kindness |
04 Again I will build you |
and you shall be built |
maiden Israel |
again you will adorn yourself with tambourines |
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers |
05 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria |
the planters will plant |
and enjoy the fruit |
06 For there will be a day |
when watchmen will call on the mountain of Ephraim |
Arise |
and let us go up to Zion | analogous clause Isa. 2:331
to Yhwh our God |
Compare Deutero-Isaiah for
the genre of 31:79
the sequence of 30:1011 31:79: promised and realised salvation
07 For thus says Yhwh |
Cry out a with joy for Jacob | a+b Isa. 12:6; 24:14; 54:132
and shout b for the chief c of the nations d |
30 So too in Jer. 47:6 and 50:3435 sword and the verb rest appear in close vicinity;
to David. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 195: Jer. 31:7 bernimmt und bertrgt die Wendung auf
Jakob/Israel. This would place the verse in line with Isa. 55:5. It has been suggested to read
instead of , as in Isa. 42:11; cf. BHS txt cr. app. The history of the text does
not support the proposal.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 293
make hear |
praise | same seq. of an. clauses
and say | Isa. 48:2033
Yhwh has saved his people34 |
the remnant of Israel |
08 I am about to bring them from the north country |
and I will gather them from the remotest parts of the earth |
among them the blind and the lame | Isa. 35:5635
women with child and in travail together |
a great company will return here |
09 With weeping they will come |
and with supplications I will lead them back |
I will make them walk by brooks of water | Isa. 48:21; 49:10, 11; etc.36
in a straight way |
in which they will not stumble |
for I am a father to Israel |
and Ephraim |
he is my first-born |
Compare Deutero-Isaiah for
the generic traits of 31:1014
the sequence 30:1011 31:1014
10 Hear a the word of Yhwh |
nations | a+c+d Isa. 49:137
and proclaim b in the coastlands c afar off d | b+c Isa. 42:12
and say |
He who scattered Israel will gather e him |
and will keep him |
as a shepherd f does his flock g | an. cl. Isa. 40:1138
33 Apart from the analogous string make hear and say in Isa. 48:20, see also Jer. 4:5; Am.
3:9.
34 The translation of this clause is based on LXX and Targ.; see below in this section.
35 For this collocation see further Lev. 21:18; Deut. 15:21; 2Sam 5:6, 8, 8; Mal. 1:8; Job 29:15.
Sommer, Prophet, 162 sees a relation between the whole of Jer. 31:79 and Isa. 35:49, but there
is no support for this other than a few isolated words such as , , , and . For
a comparison between Jer. 31:79 and Isa. 35:310, see also J. Unterman, From Repentance to
Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 44: at least fifteen
similar usages of language, and in near identical order.
36 These echoes are mainly thematic, because as expressions, brooks of water reminds
of Deut. 8:7; 10:7; and straight way of Proverbs among others. For water along the way of the
return, see also Isa. 35:68; 43:1920.
37 In addition, the imperative creates a syntactic analogy with Isa. 49:1. This verse features
prominently in the discussion on the relation between Jer. 1:5 and DI, see e.g. Tannert, Jeremia,
89 [ 4.2.2].
38 This is a combination of syntactic and lexical agreements, resulting in analogous
294 chapter four
11 For Yhwh a has ransomed b Jacob c | an. cl. Isa. 44:23; 48:20
and redeemed d him from e the hand | a+c+d Isa. 44:23; 48:20
of him who is stronger f than g he | b+d Isa. 35:9, 10;
12 And they will come a | an. cl. Isa. 35:10; 51:11
and cry out b on the height of Zion c | a+b+c Isa. 35:10; 51:1139
and they will flow d to the goodness of Yhwh | c+d cf. Isa. 2:240
for wheat and for wine and for oil and for sheep and cattle |
and their soul will be like a saturated garden | an. cl. Isa. 58:11
and they will languish no more |
13 Then will the maiden rejoice in the dance |
young men and old men together |
and I will turn their mourning into gladness |
and I will comfort them |
and make them rejoice for their sorrow | Isa. 35:10; 51:11, 1241
14 And I will saturate a the soul b of the priests with fatness c |
and my people will be satisfied d with my goodness e |
declares Yhwh | b+c+d+e Isa. 55:242
Compare Deutero-Isaiah for
the connection 31:1014/1517
15 Thus says Yhwh |
Hear |
on the Height43 lamentation is heard |
bitter weeping |
Rachel weeping for her sons |
refusing |
to be comforted for her sons |
because they are no more |
16 Thus says Yhwh |
Refrain your voice from weeping |
and your eyes from tears |
clauses. See further Ezek. 34:12 (e + f + g); Nah. 3:18 (e+f) and Mic. 2:12 (e+g). The relation
with Ezekiel has been discussed in 3.2.5.3.
39 On in 31:12 as a preparation for in 31:15: 4.2.2. For , see also
Ps. 126:6.
40 Cf. Mic. 4:1. See above Jer. 31:6 for another link with that passage. For some is
derived from a verb that means shine (cf. Aquila ), which occurs further in
Isa. 60:5 and Ps. 34:6; cf. HALAT s.v. II. In these places however this shining is associated
with seeing, a notion that is missing in Jer. 31:12; the preposition indicates that I flow
was rather intended. For another application of the same metaphor, see Isa. 66:12.
41 See the note on and they will come in 31:12. Incidentally, these reminiscences are
(a + b + c).
43 On this translation: 4.2.2.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 295
44 On this lexical link with Isaiah (interesting due to the relation Rachel-Zion) there
is difference of opinion. U. Cassuto, On the Formal and Stylistic Relationship between
Deutero-Isaiah and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem, Biblical and Oriental Studies,
vol. 1, Jerusalem 1973, 141177, esp. 151; S. Paul, Literary and Ideological Echoes of Jeremiah in
Deutero-Isaiah, in: P. Peli (ed.), Proceedings of the Fifth World Congress of Jewish Studies (1969),
vol. 1, Jerusalem 1971, 102120, esp. 105; C. Mielgo, Jr 3031: Contactos literarios, EstAg 18 (1982),
175210, esp. 205 and Sommer, Prophet, 68, 239 find it important. N. Kilpp, Niederreien und
aufbauen: Das Verhltnis von Heilsverheiung und Unheilsverkndigung bei Jeremia und im
Jeremiabuch (BThS, 13), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1990, 149; W.H. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia),
vol. 2, Philadelphia 1989, 188 and Schmid, Buchgestalten, 130131 see nothing in it, or are
doubtful. The real analogies are not found in Isaiah but in Eccl. 4:9 and 2Chron. 15:7. They
offer little support to Pauls proposed translation in Jer. 31:16: a reward for compensating you
(cf. Ezek. 29:1920). A further question is whether the focus in Isa. 40:10 and 62:11 falls on the
compensation that Yhwh deserves or grants. Based on the suffix the former is often assumed.
In ancient Jewish exegesis and under a number of newer exegetes, Isa. 40:10 is related to the
reward that Yhwh grants, the reward and recompense to the cities of Judah (JPS); so too
J.L. Koole, Isaiah III (HCOT), vol. 1: Isaiah 4048, Kampen 1997, 76. In 62:11 the line indeed
appears to have been understood in this sense.
45 Isa. 45:16 offers the clearest parallel in . Jer. 6:15 has before both verbs,
which occur 16 together in the OT, and thus as a fixed pair do not draw the attention to any
particular passage. One such instance is Isa. 54:4, to which the next note refers.
46 The expression reminds of Isa. 54:4 , see also the
word in Isa. 54:6 (cf. Tannert, Jeremia, 43; Willey, Remember, 245); however compare
Ps. 25:7 , possibly an established idiom.
296 chapter four
47 Besides the collocation of the three underlined words (Isa. 63:15 ) , see
the father-son imagery in the context (signalled by Paul, Echoes, 118). For + see
further Isa. 16:11; Jer. 4:19; Song 5:4. The striking agreement with Hos. 11:89 (signalled by
Schmid, Buchgestalten, 12, 129, 139), besides the name Ephraim, is only thematic.
48 On the collocation see further 1 Sam. 6:12; Isa. 59:78; Joel 2:78; Prov. 16:17. The places
Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 62:10 deal with the road of the return from exile and in their portrayals are thus
related to Jer. 31:21. See also Isa. 35:8 . The association with DIs eschatologische
Wunderstrasse is strengthened when one keeps to the K ( hlakt) in Jer. 31:21 and
applies this form to Yhwh (cf. Becking, Jeremiah 3031, 220). It may still be asked, however,
why waymarks and guideposts are necessary if it would be Yhwh himself that is returning
with Rachels children.
49 does not occur elsewhere in Jeremiah. One could speak of more or less analogous
occurs elsewhere only in Isa. 49:20. For the negative variant, see Jer. 3:16; 23:7; 31:29. The
phrase occurs elsewhere in Jer. 23:38; cf. 13:12; 14:17. The OT does not know
this word as a direct object of say elsewhere; more frequent is speak according to this word.
51 The third reference for is Zech. 8:3. Mountain(s) of (my, your, his) holiness
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 297
24 And Judah and all his cities will dwell in her together |
the farmers and those |
who move about with the flocks |
25 For I will satisfy the weary soul |
and every languishing soul I will replenish |
26 Thereupon I awoke | Isa. 29:852
and looked |
and my sleep had been pleasant to me |
27 Behold days are coming | see on 30:3
declares Yhwh |
when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah
with the seed of humans and the seed of animals |
28 And it will be |
just as I have watched over them |
to uproot |
and to tear down |
and to overthrow |
and to destroy |
and to bring evil |
so I will watch over them | Isa. 52:141553
to build |
and to plant |
declares Yhwh |
29 In those days they will no longer say |
the fathers have eaten unripe fruit |
and the teeth of the children become dull |
30 But for his own iniquity a man will die |
everyone |
who eats unripe fruit |
his teeth become dull |
31 Behold days are coming | see on 30:3
declares Yhwh |
when I will make with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah a new covenant54 |
occurs 21 in the OT, of which Cassuto, Relationship, 151 links the 5 occurrences in Isa. 5666
with Jer. 31:23.
52 G. Fischer, Das Trostbchlein: Text, Komposition und Theologie von Jer 3031 (SBB, 26),
Stuttgart 1993, 201 considers an inversion of Isa. 29:8 based on the collocation of awake, soul
and weary.
53 This highly frequent construction just as so (ca. 61) is used in Isa. 52:1415; Jer.
DI but as a matter of fact does not comply with the criteria of this overview, i.e. the term
. According to Isa. 42:6 Yhwhs Servant is appointed to be ( see also 49:8) and
298 chapter four
in Isa. 42:9 (cf. 10) are mentioned [ 2.2.3]. The covenant embodied by the Servant
appears to have a distant echo in Isa. 59:21. Many commentaries on Isa. 42:6 and 49:8 indeed
associate the expression covenant for the people with Jer. 31:3134. In this association the
priority of Jeremiah is usually taken for granted. Thus Koole, Isaiah III, vol. 1, 231 concludes
his expansive exposition of the history of interpretation as follows: [In Is. 49:8] mankind
is invited to and incorporated in the people of the new covenant, Jer. 31:31ff., through the
work and the person of the Servant. Analogous clauses would have been required to make
such a relation of dependence (in either direction) plausible. Moreover, a direct connection
of new and covenant implies the idea of a break in the covenant [ 4.2.3], which plays no
role whatsoever in DI. See also A. Labahn, Wort Gottes und Schuld Israels: Untersuchungen
zu Motiven deuteronomistischer Theologie im Deuterojesajabuch mit einem Ausblick auf das
Verhltnis von Jes 4055 zum Deuteronomismus (BZAW, 143), Stuttgart 1999, 184: Es ist []
nicht anzunehmen, da in Jes 49:8 berhaupt ein Einflu der dtr Bundesvorstellung vorliegt,
da [] die sprachlichen und theologischen Indizien nicht ausreichend sind. Presumably
was not an established theological term to DI, but a neologism that had to express
concisely in what sense Servant and people were identical: through him Yhwh meets his
commitment to Israel. The Servant is Israel because Yhwh fulfils for the people what he fulfils
for the Servant.
55 As in the 5 instances in Ex. and the 4 instances in Deut., the exodus from Egypt in Jer.
while noting the occurrence of the words and in 31:36 from the same verse. However
compare to Gen. 17:10: This is my covenant that . The OT counts 12 analogous clauses
with . The agreement between Jer. 31:3336 and Isa. 59:21 is too slight to draw
conclusions on influencing.
57 The relation with Isa. 51:7 is evident for Cassuto, Relationship, 151 and
W. Tannert, Jeremia und Deuterojesaja: Eine Untersuchung zur Frage ihres literarischen und
theologischen Zusammenhanges, Leipzig 1956, 44; cf. Sommer, Prophet, Ch. 2 n. 91. However
see also Ps. 37:31 ; Ps. 40:9 ; Prov. 3:3; 7:3 (on parental laws
and torah) . We may presume that the conception of the law in the heart is
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 299
already presupposed in the depiction of Yhwh writing it there himself. Differently K. Schmid,
Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches: Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte
von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 8384; H. Knobloch, Die
nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12), Wiesbaden 2009, 158.
58 Tannert, Jeremia, 44 and Sommer, Prophet, 47 suggest there is a link between Jer. 31:34
and Isa. 54:13 , but the analogy is too weak (see also Isa.
50:4) to make borrowing plausible at this point.
59 See also Ps. 25:7. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 203, 259 (like Cassuto, Relationship, 151; Tan-
nert, Jeremia, 44) attaches significance to the agreement with Isa. 43:25, even if the sentence
is constructed slightly differently: . Remembering [ ]is found 5 in the
OT.
60 Jer. 31:35 will be discussed in 4.2.2.
61 JerLXX 38:36 (= JerMT 30:35) has and therefore probably reads
45:25; Jer. 31:37 and Ps. 22:24. In Jer. 31:37 the expression reminds especially of 2Kgs 17:20 (cf.
Fischer, Trostbchlein, 204).
300 chapter four
Many of the points of contact on clausal level that have been marked above
contribute towards similarities on the level of textual macrostructure, as
shown in the subheadings of the translation. Which overarching agreements
are involved?
Jer. 30:1011 (= 46:2728) is included in the (priestly) salvation oracles
along with Isa. 41:813, 1416; 43:14, 58; 44:15; 54:46.67 Where precisely
the characteristics of the genre end and the individual traits of a literary unit
commence has been discussed extensively within the research on Deutero-
Isaiah. Form criticism is therefore not a proper way to avoid the question
following it (cf. Fischer, Trostbchlein, 209). On the other hand, there is a degree of self-
evidence in the idea that something shall or will not happen to those things consecrated
to God, see e.g. also Ex. 12:16; Lev. 27:33.
67 Cf. C. Westermann, Sprache und Struktur der Prophetie Deuterojesajas, in: Idem,
Gesammelte Studien (TB, 24), Mnchen 1964, 92170, esp. 117120; cf. Idem, Prophetische
Heilsworte im Alten Testament (FRLANT, 145), Gttingen 1987, 107; A. Schoors, I Am God Your
Saviour: A Form-Critical Study of the Main Genres in Is. XLLV (VT.S, 24), Leiden 1973, 3840.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 301
on literary dependence in Jer. 30:1011 [ 4.2.2]. This is equally valid for the
generic patterns still to be treated below.
Some New-Assyrian prophecies for Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (sev-
enth century bce) and other Assyrian, Aramaic and Ugaritic texts contain
the formula fear not (Akk. la tapallah, Ug. al.tln) followed by commit-
ments of assistance, support and protection.68 However, there is far stronger
communality between Jer. 30:1011 and the salvation oracles of Deutero-
Isaiah than between these biblical texts and their Assyrian, Aramaic and
Ugaritic counterparts. Thus the Old Testament oracles do not share just the
Gattung, but also their being addressed to my servant Jacob/Israel. The
words and expressions in Jer. 30:1011 that are un-deutero-isaianic do not
hinder this striking agreement. It is obvious that literarily related texts also
contain differences, seen for example in our earlier comparison between Isa.
4055 and the Yhwh-Kingship psalms [ 2.2.8.3]. Since text A differs from
text B to the exact same measure as text B differs from text A, the difference
as such does not yet indicate the direction of influence.
Jer. 31:79 is related generically to Isa. 48:2021 and other eschatological
hymns from Isa. 4055.69 In this regard the MT reading of Jer. 31:7 forms a
special point of attention. Against the majority of interpreters, who based
on LXX and Targ. make of v. 7b a perfect clause Yhwh has saved his peo-
ple, Odashima defends the Masoretic text: Save, Yhwh, your people.70 In this
way he ignores the fact that as a genre the call to praise requires a motivation
in the perfect, whereas the closer context (31:2, 11) equally uses the perfect to
express Israels liberation. The unit becomes a futuristic announcement of
salvation only from v. 8. Whichever way, the lexical and text grammatical
resemblance to Isa. 48:2021 is undeniable. In Jer. 31:1014 too, the intro-
ductory wording shows agreements with Deutero-Isaiahs hymns, see in
particular Isa. 42:12. The sequel, if we set aside the perfectic motivation in
68 Cf. R. Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL,
3), Atlanta 2003, 170171; B. Becking, Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of
Jeremiah 3031 (OTS, 51), Leiden 2004, 155. For the association of these Assyrian texts and DI,
see M. Weippert, Ich bin JahweIch bin Itar von Arbela: Deuterojesaja im Lichte der
neuassyrischen Prophetie, in: B. Huwyler et al. (eds), Prophetie und Psalmen. Fs K. Seybold
(AOAT, 280), Mnster 2001, 3159.
69 Westermann, Sprache, 157163; he later abandoned the generic identification escha-
tological songs of praise, cf. Idem, Sprache und Struktur der Prophetie Deuterojesajas (CTM,
11), Stuttgart 1981, 7. F. Matheus, Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied: Die Hymnen Deuterojesajas
(SBS, 141), Stuttgart 1990, 53 disputes that DIs hymns belong to a special Gattung.
70 T. Odashima, Heilsworte im Jeremiabuch: Untersuchungen zu ihrer vordeuteronomis-
B. Duhm, Das Buch Jeremia (KHC, 11), Tbingen 1901, 237, itself implies a comparison with
DI. The rendering Trostbchlein is ascribed to P. Volz, Der Prophet Jeremia (KAT, 10), Leipzig
21928, 287.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 303
separate units, esp. 30:1011; 30:1617; 31:79 and 31:1014. Secondly paral-
lelism is in evidence where units follow each other up. A dramatic move-
ment over two rounds is the result for both compositions.73 As the first round
of the small composition, Jer. 30:524 revolves around the promise of sal-
vation despite Jacobs despair (30:57) and Zions sin (30:1215); not until
the second round do return and change dominate the stage. While the first
round results in Yhwhs judgement over the wicked, the second ends with
Zions territorial expansion as refreshing and replenishing salvation. We
recall that as the first round of the large composition, Isa. 4048 culminates
in Babylons downfall, where the intriguing question was who would be able
to escape from it in time. Here the nations of the world are not implied as
much as the wicked in the circles of the readers themselves (cf. Isa. 48:22).
This theme is reflected in the conclusion of the small composition, Jer. 30:5
24. In the same way, Isa. 4955 and Jer. 31:126 become counterparts, now
not because of the calamity but due to the salvation with which they close.
In Isa. 54 the matriarchal city is invited to enlarge her tent for the countless
inhabitants, in Isa. 55 the reader is invited to find nourishment and quench
his thirst on this prospect, and in Jer. 31:2326 these themes unite to form a
single dream vision. Hereby, in the structure of Jeremiahs Booklet of Com-
fort, vague outlines are still visible of the pattern shaming-liberating, which
we could trace back to the drama of the fourth book of Psalms in our analysis
of Deutero-Isaiah [ 2.2.8.4].
73 Schmid, Buchgestalten, 155 too sees Jer. 30:531:26, in a certain phase of its redactional
R.P. Carroll, The Book of Jeremiah (OTL), London 1986, 569; N. Mendecki, Czy Jr 31,7
9 jest pokrewny oredziu Deuteroizajasza? [Has Jer. 31:79 points of contact with the
message of Deutero-Isaiah?] Collectanea Theologica 56 (1986), 4453; Idem, Stammt
Jer 31,1014 aus der Schule Deuterojesajas? in: K.-D. Schunck, M. Augustin (eds),
Goldene pfel in silbernen Schalen, Frankfurt 1992, 5767; Westermann, Heilsworte,
107109; Fischer, Trostbchlein, 211; K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches:
Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext
des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996; Albertz, Exile, 317. C. There is liter-
ary dependence, in which Jer. 3031 or a layer in it has priority and influenced DI.
Thus Volz, Jeremia, 280, 302 (DI hat mit Lust darin gelesen und manches Wort
und manche Gedanken daraus geschpft); Tannert, Jeremia; Paul, Echoes, 102
120; U. Cassuto, On the Formal and Stylistic Relationship between Deutero-Isaiah
and Other Biblical Writers (191113), in: Idem, Biblical and Oriental Studies, vol. 1,
Jerusalem 1973, 141177, esp. 149152; A. van Selms, Jeremia (POT), dl. 3, Nijkerk 1974,
65, 72, 82; G. Fohrer, Der Israel-Prophet in Jeremia 3031, in: A. Caquot, M.I. Delcor
(eds), Mlanges bibliques et orientaux. Fs H. Cazelles (AOAT, 212), Neukirchen-Vluyn
1981, 135148, esp. 136; J. Unterman, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiahs
Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 171175; cf. B. Becking, I Will
Break his Yoke from off your Neck: Remarks on Jeremia xxx 411, OTS 25 (1989), 63
76, esp. 71; Willey, Remember; Sommer, Prophet, 3272. D. W.H. Holladay, Jeremiah
(Hermeneia), vol. 2, Philadelphia 1989, holds a remarkable position between B and
C. Thus he sees pertinently in 30:1011; 31:79a; and 31:1014 strong agreements with
DI and TI. The poems 30:1011 and 31:79a, made by Jeremiah between the summers
of 588 and 587, have influenced DI; in turn DI influenced 31:1014, that most prob-
ably stems from the 5th century. The tight, two-way relation between 31:79 and
31:1014 is in conflict with such a solution. E. There are no reasons why literary
dependence should be contemplated, making use of the same genres and the cor-
responding situations offer sufficient explanations for the points of contact. Thus
W. Rudolph, Jeremia (HAT, 1/12), Tbingen 31968, 191, 196; B.N. Wambacq, Jeremias
/ Klaagliederen / Baruch / Brief van Jeremias (BOT), Roermond 1957, 201, 208209;
A. Weiser, Das Buch des Propheten Jeremia (ATD, 2021), Gttingen 51966, 270, 278
n. 1, 5.
Some of the points of contact inventoried in the previous section do not
rise above linguistic agreements. In this category we include: Jer. 30:3; 31:27,
31, 38/Isa. 39:6; Jer. 30:5/Isa. 48:22; 57:21; Jer. 30:12, 15/Isa. 17:11; 30:26; Jer.
30:16/Isa. 46:2; Jer. 30:18/Isa. 54:2; Jer. 31:8/Isa. 35:56; Jer. 31:23/Isa. 27:13; Jer.
31:23/Isa. 49:20; Jer. 31:2526/Isa. 29:8; Jer. 31:28/Isa. 52:1415; Jer. 31:3637/Isa.
45:25; Jer. 31:40/Isa. 23:18. They lack the ability to establish independent
references between the two literary works. A second category is formed by
points of contact that, despite their containing this referential potential
for contemporaries, have too little volume to clearly indicate this or that
direction of borrowing by themselves. In this respect they disadvantage
the historian compared to the books first readers. If we did not know
whether Stravinsky cited Schubert or the other way around, the significance
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 305
of the citation would have eluded us.74 This section is particularly interested
in a third category: points of contact that have sufficient volume to enable
a scholarly discussion on the direction of dependence. In this category we
include (in the order of the discussion below): Jer. 31:35/Isa. 51:15 (cf. 60:19);
Jer. 31:12/Isa. 58:11; Jer. 30:1011/Isa. 41:813; 43:18; 44:15; Jer. 31:79/Isa.
48:2021; Jer. 31:1014/Isa. 48:2049:1; and Jer. 31:22/Isa. 43:19; 48:7; 65:17. Of
the estimated 145 points of contact between Isaiah and Jeremiah outside of
Jer. 3031 that comply with minimal linguistic criteria, no more than 30 are
restorable in this third category. To a large extent these will have to be out of
the equation, even though we will not hesitate to draw such a more remote
point of contact in the discussion if need be.
Jer. 31:35 ; cf. Isa. 51:15
. This series of identical
clauses belongs to the longest, most substantial overlapping between the
two prophetic books.75 The third person in cannot be a
decisive factor concerning the priority: it involves a fixed liturgical formula,
and compares for example with the hymnic I-speech of Yhwh in Isa. 44:26:
who carries out the word of his servant and fulfils the prediction of his
messengers.76 The three clauses sit comfortably in Isa. 51:916, which shares
the terms , , and with Job 26:1213. There are also related texts
within the book of Jeremiah (see 5:22; 6:23), but the chaos battle mythology
there appears to have moved to the background compared to Deutero-Isaiah
and Job. The sea no longer needs to be contested, but abides within the
eternal laws. Jer. 31:36 includes the calming of the sea under ,
these fixed orders. Thus Isa. 51:15 is the most likely candidate as source
text of the allusion.77 Suppressing the chaos myth and rejecting Trito-Isaiahs
further within Jer. 3031 Yhwh their God in the I-discourse of 30:9. Cf. O. Glanz, Who is
Speaking? Who is Addressed? A Critical Study into the Conditions of Exegetical Method and
its Consequences for the Interpretation of Participant Reference-Shifts in the Book of Jeremiah,
Amsterdam 2010, 151: it is a normal phenomenon and part of Hebrew pragmatics that an
attributive clause dissociates from the previous 1P participant which it describes.
77 Pace U. Cassuto, Relationship, 151; Unterman, Repentance, 93; Sommer, Prophet, 323;
Schmid, Buchgestalten, 174 n. 592; Willey, Remember, 138 n. 25, 276. Even if one were to con-
template gemeinsame Abhngigkeit von geformter hymnischer Tradition (Tannert, Jeremia,
19; similarly Fischer, Trostbchlein, 203 considers this option as an alternative for Isa. 51 Jer.
31), the embedding of this tradition in Isa. 51 remains the most authentic. Schreiner, Jeremia,
189 and H. Knobloch, Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12), Wies-
baden 2009, 207 share this view.
306 chapter four
78 Compare Jer. 31:35a to Isa. 60:19, which is based on the same string fol-
lowed by , but is corrected by Jeremiahs different perspective on the future: The sun will
no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you; but Yhwh will
be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory. On such traces directed against TI,
also in Jer. 33:1426, see Schmid, Buchgestalten, 60 (referring to Steck). Unterman, Repen-
tance, 103106 has reason to see Gen. 13:16 as the source of the pattern followed by
in Jer. 31:36; 33:2526 (cf. 33:22), where the existence of Israel is compared to the exis-
tence of natural phenomena (103). His conclusion is however less convincing that Isa. 40:15,
25; 51:6, 8; 54:10 and 66:22 must be dated later than these Jeremian texts, because the relation
between Israel and God is presented by Jeremiah as more stable than the existence of nature.
This conclusion does not take the essential correlation between temporal and ethical dual-
ism in DI and TI into account [ 2.3.4], nor the possibility that the book of Jeremiah wants
to oppose precisely such an ethical division in Israel.
79 Fischer, Trostbchlein, 211 also agrees that the image in Isaiah is besser im Kontext
80 That serves no contextual function in Jer. 30:10 is seen by Albertz, Exile, 172 as a
(from life). Equally comparable is Ps. 52:7. For the significance of these analogies between
Jeremiah and the Servant (from the perspective of DI), see Tannert, Jeremia, 96104, who
like Cassuto considers influencing from Jeremiah and is followed in this by Willey and Som-
mer. See also E. Bosshard-Nepustil, Jesaja 139 und das Zwlfprophetenbuch in exilischer
und frhnachexilischer Zeit: Redaktionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur literarischen Ver-
netzung der Prophetenbcher, Zrich 1995, 428, who argues that one can hardly deny the
relation between the Servant Songs and Jeremiahs calling and confessions den Charakter
einer literarischen Abhngigkeit sicherlich auf seiten von IIJes. In the by us assumed reversed
order of origin, something remarkable happens to Jeremiah: here participation in the suffer-
ing of the righteous develops into compassion for a historical figure. A similar development
is traceable in the addition of historicising headings above psalms of lamentation.
308 chapter four
Jeremiah, fear not for I am with you, would fit very well as a reminder of
Deutero-Isaiahs oracle of salvation.
Jer. 31:7 ; cf. Isa. 48:20
. Jer. 31:8
; see for in a comparative setting: Isa. 35:5 (alongside e.g.
;)42:16; a thematic link is discernible with Isa. 40:11. Jer. 31:9
; cf. Isa. 48:21
; 49:10, 11 ; mention of
water along the road of return is also found in Isa. 35:68; 43:1920. The
strongest argument for the secondary nature of Jer. 31:79 is seen in the
fusion of eschatological hymn and proclamation of salvation, which are
still distinguishable as separate genres in Deutero-Isaiah.
A similar admixture of genres is arguably located in Jer. 31:1014 in rela-
tion to Isa. 48:2049:1 and other passages in the book of Isaiah. One detail
that has diachronic implications is the analogy between 31:12
and Isa. 35:10 = 51:11 . The relation between these clauses
is confirmed by the sequence of , , , [], and in the
context.82 The unique for the Old Testament is best explained as a
preparation for in 31:15.83 Due to the absence of an article in , the
Masoretes read on the height, similar to LXX S and A .84 Although
modern Bible translations in German, English, French, Dutch, Norwegian,
Danish and Greek are unanimous in opting for the place name Ramah,85
some interpreters still prefer the Masoretic view.86 Perhaps differentiation
should be drawn for the Hebrew between the original meaning in Ramah
and a redactional harmonisation between 31:12 and 15 , under-
stood as on the Height, by the scribe who afterwards linked the two poems
together. Was the intention of this harmonisation to displace the wailing
Rachel from Ramah to Jerusalem (a distance of a few kilometres) to let her
Jeremiah 3031, 195 the Greek in JerLXX 38:15 must refer to heaven: Rachels lamenting
does not go unnoticed by God. The feminine form however is not used as a reference to
heaven; both cultic heights (in LXX) and heaven (in Heb. 1:3) are indicated as . The
more conventional word for height = heaven in the NT is .
85 Cf. SESB.
86 Cf. Holladay, Jeremiah, 153, 187; B.A. Bozak, Life Anew: A Literary-Theological Study of Jer.
3031 (AnBib, 122), Rome 1991, 94; J.W. Mazurel, De vraag naar de verloren broeder: Terugkeer
en herstel in de boeken Jeremia en Ezechil, Amsterdam 1992, 7173. Compare also Jer. 3:21.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 309
take over the role of mother Zion from Isa. 49 on the same location?87 In any
case the longer version with in this way reveals the borrowing party in
the connection Jer. 31:12/Isa. 35:10 = 51:11.
Earlier in this study we paused at Jer. 31:22 to consider the content of the
riddle: lady Zion will enfold the population of Judah in a blessed embrace
[ 3.2.1]. It might well be an interpretation that Jer. 31:2325 applied retro-
spectively to the riddle (thus a similar rlecture as has just been suggested
for Jer. 31:15: Ramah or Height) but it could also explicate a meaning already
enclosed in the words of Jer. 31:2122 themselves [ 3.2.5.1]. Here we will pay
attention to the intertextual relations of the striking creation statement that
introduces the riddle.
Jer. 31:22 ; cf. Isa. 43:19 ; occurrences
of in Deutero-Isaiah are Isa. 42:9 and 48:6; in Isa. 48:6, 7 as subject of
nif.;88 Isa. 65:17 does not use independently, but similarly alongside
. This verb occurs 48 times in the Old Testament, with the earth as object
in Gen. 1:1; Isa. 45:18; 65:17 (new earth) or as subject of the nif. in Gen. 2:4. Of
the 6 times that the -clause has a locational phrase, on 4 occasions it
concerns the earth: Ex. 34:10 [ ;] Deut. 4:32 [;]
Isa. 45:12 [ ]and Jer. 31:22 []. The verb does not occur elsewhere
in Jeremiah. The words and recall strong associations with
in Gen. 1:27. In this way they furnish something new in Jer. 31:22 with
the meaning: something that equals the marvel of Gen. 1 in wonderfulness.
Compared to Deutero-Isaiah, Jer. 31:22 sides with Trito-Isaiah by clearly
measuring the new that Yhwh creates against Gen 1. In Jer. 31, however, this
creation does not bring about a new earth, but something new on earth. Both
Isa. 65 and Jer. 31 assume Gen. 1but in what manner do they presume each
87 The point of contact Jer. 2:32/Isa. 49:15 is decisive for the question whether the authors
of Jeremiah knew Isa. 49. Nowhere else is the object of forget (102) a utensil and rarely
is it concrete (Deut. 24:19). Compared to Isa. 49:15 the question posed by Jer. 2:32 makes
an artificial impression, in which it is important to note that the only other collocation of
jewellery, to girdle and bride is found in Isa. 49:18. A strong objection against
the direction of borrowing Jer. 2 Isa. 49 (defended amongst others by Willey, Remember,
197200) is the accusation that Isa. 49:15 as an allusion to Jer. 2:32 would conceal (namely
by reminding Zion that she had previously forgotten her jewel Yhwh). This is inconsistent
with the scope of Isa. 49:1450:3 which does not accuse Zion herself but only her children of
infidelity.
88 Jer. 33:3 is included as one of the points of contact between Isa. 48:6 and the book of
Jeremiah. This concerns resp. unsearchable things you did not know and hidden things you
did not know as object of divine announcement. In a part of the text tradition (cf. Targ.) Jer.
33:3 is aligned even closer to Isa. 48:6. Text-genetically Jer. 33:3 seems to be a levelling of the
announcement of the new things in Isa. 48:6 [ 2.2.6].
310 chapter four
other? Anti-dualistic overtones are audible when we set Jer. 31 alongside Isa.
65, and we suspect that Jer. 31 indeed relies on the consonance. The broader
context has a pronounced anti-dualistic tenor in Jer. 31:36: if these fixed
orders (of heaven and earth) were to depart At the same time Jer. 31:2125
like Isa. 65 establishes an essential link between Yhwhs new creation and
Jerusalems holy mountain. The author of Jer. 31 thus fully honours Isa. 65,
but perhaps wishes to determine a subtle midcourse between a new wonder
of creation and that what he must have seen as a dualistic misconception.
It appears to us that the conclusion of Jeremiahs dream vision was not
inspired only by Isa. 54 [ 4.2.1], but also by Isa. 65.89
An answer to the question whether Jeremiah was indeed acquainted
with Isa. 65:17, requires an overview of the other points of contact between
this book and Isa. 6566: Jer. 3:16/Isa. 65:17; Jer. 4:13/Isa. 66:15; Jer. 6:7/Isa. 65:3;
Jer. 7:13, 27; 35:17/Isa. 50:2, 4; 65:12; 66:4; Jer. 16:18/Isa. 65:7; Jer. 25:3133/Isa.
66:16; Jer. 29:5, 28/Isa. 65:21; Jer. 32:18/Isa. 65:6; Jer. 46:9/Isa. 66:19.90 The points
of contact that have been italicised in this summary offer sufficient material
for a meaningful discussion on the direction of borrowing. Confirming the
borrowing Isa. 66 Jer. 4 we find the classical theophany in which Yhwh
himself appears as the chariot rider.91 Against this background, Jer. 4 appears
to be a development in the direction of demythologising: the heavenly char-
iots become earthly chariots from the North. Jer. 4:13 retains Yhwh as first
subject and answers with a citation from Isa. 66 on the relation between
the northern invaders and divine judgement; see also the root in Isa.
66:16 and Jer. 4:12.92 The difference in order between speaking-hearing and
89 According to Schmid, Buchgestalten, 80 something new in the land in Jer. 31:22 should
contrast something new underway, that is, the new exodus according to DI; but for this
opposition we find no intertextual clue. For a possible allusion of JerLXX 38(= 31):22 to TI,
3.2.1.
90 For a more expansive selection, see Cassuto, Relationship, 143160. E.U. Dim, The
Eschatological Implications of Isa 65 and 66 as the Conclusion of the Book of Isaiah, Bern 2005,
107 sees in Isa. 65:19 a deliberate contradiction with Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10. The analogy is far
too weak to support such a conclusion.
91 Cf. W.B. Barrick, H. Ringgren, Art. , in: TWAT, Bd. 7, Stuttgart 1993, 508515, esp. 511
512; see also the comprehensive documentation in W.A.M. Beuken, Jesaja (POT), dl. 3B,
Nijkerk 1989, 128129 on Isa. 66:15. R. Liwak, Der Prophet und die Geschichte: Eine literar-
historische Untersuchung zum Jeremiabuch (BWANT, 121), Stuttgart 1987, 234 does not say
anything on the direction of dependence, but acknowledges the vague terminology of the
theophany in Jer. 4:13 compared to Isa. 66:15.
92 It is important that in Jer. 4:2326 the Rckfall zum Chaos als Umkehr des Schp-
fungswirkens JHWHs (Knobloch, Prophetentheorie, 289) does not go that far that it neces-
sitates the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. Even here Jeremiah keeps a distance
from the dualism of TI.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 311
We realise the far reaching consequences of our hypothesis. According to C. Maier, Jeremia
als Lehrer der Tora: Soziale Gebote des Deuteronomiums in Fortschreibungen des Jeremiabuches
(FRLANT, 196), Gttingen 2002, 8990 the temple speech Jer. 7:115 indeed contains no
Jeremian Grundschicht, but 7:13 (different to the late post-exilic, absent from the LXX,
verses 7:27 and 35:17) belongs to the oldest exilic layer of the speech. If our theory is correct
it would have to be at least a century younger.
94 Cassuto, Relationship, 160 n. 66. Further references to the building of houses and the
planting of vineyards are found in Ezek. 28:26; Zeph. 1:13. Besides Jer. 29 the planting of a
garden [ ]is found elsewhere only in Gen. 2:8. Usually a garden is made [ ]and a vineyard
planted []. For thematically related word usage, see also Am. 9:14; Eccl. 2:4.
95 Moreover, the idea of Jer. 30:531:26 as a type of preliminary study for DI is difficult
to accommodate with our earlier findings concerning the origin of Isa. 4055 as political
application of cultishly inspired dramaturgy [ 2.2.8.4].
312 chapter four
(b) If we grant ourselves the freedom to be led by this univocal result, there
are at once several more texts in Jer. 3031 that could be considered as
possible allusions to or echoes of the book of Isaiah. The following come to
mind: Jer. 30:7/Isa. 33:2(?); Jer. 30:8/Isa. 10:27(?); Jer. 30:16/Isa. 17:14; 42:22, 24;
Jer. 30:17/Isa. 60:14; 62:4, 12; Jer. 30:19/Isa. 51:3(?); Jer. 31:6/Isa. 2:3; Jer. 31:9/Isa.
49:1011; Jer. 31:10/Isa. 40:11; Jer. 31:1112/Isa. 35:910; 51:11; Jer. 31:12/Isa. 2:2(?);
Jer. 31:13/Isa. 35:10; 51:1112; Jer. 31:14/Isa. 55:2(?); Jer. 31:16/Isa. 40:10; 62:11(?);
Jer. 31:19/Isa. 54:4, 6(?); Jer. 31:20/Isa. 63:15; Jer. 31:21/Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 62:10;
Jer. 31:32/Isa. 42:6(?); Jer. 31:33/Isa. 51:7;96 Jer. 31:34/Isa. 43:25;97 Jer. 31:37/Isa.
40:12, 21. For details see the notes on the working translation above in
4.2.1.
(c) The citations do not stem alone from Isa. 4055 but also from other parts
of Isaiah, and certainly from Isa. 5666. This indicates that the authors of
Jer. 3031 did not dispose of Isa. 4055 as an independent work, but as a
prominent part of a more comprehensive prophetic book scroll.98
96 Although A. Labahn, Wort Gottes und Schuld Israels: Untersuchungen zu Motiven deute-
ronomistischer Theologie im Deuterojesajabuch mit einem Ausblick auf das Verhltnis von Jes
4055 zum Deuteronomismus (BZAW, 143), Stuttgart 1999, 119120 starts out with the order
Jer. 31:33 Isa. 51:7, according to her there cannot be spoken of direct dependence. Weil das
Motiv aus Jer. 31:33 bruchstckhaft (isoliert von der Bundestheologie) in Jes 51:7a Verwen-
dung gefunden hat, legt sich die Vermutung nahe, da das Motivgut aus Jer. 31:33 sich spter
verselbstndigt hat und dann in Jes 51:7 rezipiert wurde. In our proposition Isa. 51:7 rather
links to the torah-piety of Ps. 37:31; 40:9 and in turn Jer. 31:33 could be dependent on Isa. 51:7.
The antagonistic address people in whose heart my law is, is then understood in hindsight
as an inclusive promise for the whole people of Israel.
97 For the allusion of Jer. 31:34 to Isa. 43:25 it is also relevant that Jer. 11:10 is
a possible echo from Isa. 43:27 ( nowhere else in the OT), while it is difficult to
explain the denial of the laws on sacrifice in Jer. 7:22 without the authority of Isa. 43:23. The
cited texts are all in close proximity to the well-known announcement of the new things
in Isa. 43:19; cf. Schmid, Buchgestalten, 296 n. 465. So too the offering terminology in Jer.
17:26 could have been influenced by Isa. 43:23, resp. Jer. 6:20 by Isa. 43:24. Jer. 7:21 add your
burnt offerings to your sacrifices could be dependent on the thematically related analogous
clause in Isa. 29:1; cf. U. Wendel, Jesaja und Jeremia: Worte, Motive und Einsichten Jesajas in der
Verkndigung Jeremias (BThSt, 25), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, 186191.
98 Our impression is that Jeremiah displays far more points of contact with Isa. 4066
than with Isa. 139, where an exception must perhaps be made for Isa. 1 (cf. Wendel, Jesaja,
256). Based on the fact that Isa. 1 and 6566 are represented relatively strongly in the book
of Jeremiah, it may be argued that the Jeremiah-authors were acquainted with the book of
Isaiah as a whole.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 313
(e) The Isaian citations are certainly not restricted to a singular diachronic
layer in Jer. 3031. In other words: as a result of their distribution, no theory
on layering these chapters [ 3.2.5.1] is supportable. The fact that certain
parts of Jer. 30:431:26 display exceptional Deutero-Isaian traits, which have
an effect on the dramatic structure of the whole poetic composition, says
nothing of their time of origin in relation to other parts, or in relation to the
prose framing, Jer. 30:13 and 31:2740. At most it tells something about the
difference between casual allusion and deliberate literary imitation, in this
case the imitation of Isa. 4055 as a schoolbook example of dramatic salvific
prophecy.
99 Cf. O. Loretz, Ugarit und die Bibel: Kanaanische Gtter und Religion im Alten Testament,
Darmstadt 1990, 54: Die biblischen Schreiber und Gelehrten arbeiteten schroff mit Zitaten.
Aus diesen ersehen wir, da ihnen ein reiches Repertoire an Texten zur Verfgung stand,
das fr uns verloren sein drfte. Es ist uns deshalb kaum mehr mglich, den Umfang der
Intertextualitt, der Anspielungen usw. in den biblischen Schriften noch voll zu erfassen.
314 chapter four
100 Cf. H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit und Methode, Tbingen 61990, 114.
101 Cf. K. Schmid, Buchgestalten des Jeremiabuches: Untersuchungen zur Redaktions- und
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 315
Rezeptionsgeschichte von Jer 3033 im Kontext des Buches (WMANT, 72), Neukirchen 1996, 80.
We must admit that in previous publications we ourselves were swayed by this diachronic
approach [ 3.2.5.1].
102 See already in JerLXX 38:31 , they do not stay in my
covenant.
103 Regarding this point on breaking the covenant, see the discussion between Zenger and
others on the one hand, and Gro on the other, in which Gro correctly emphasises that the
break according to Jer. 11:10 (differently to e.g. Lev. 26) emphatically means the annulment of
the covenant that Yhwh had originally closed with Israel (cf. W. Gro, Erneuerter oder Neuer
Bund? Wortlaut und Aussageintention in Jer 31,3134, in: F. Avemarie, H. Lichtenberger (eds),
Bund und Tora: Zur theologischen Begriffsgeschichte in alttestamentlicher, frhjdischer und
urchristlicher Tradition, Tbingen 1996, 4166, esp. 5356).
316 chapter four
104 This also applies if Deut. 30:110 would have been influenced by Jeremiah, as insisted
tungen zu Jer 31,3134, in: E. Zenger (ed.), Der Neue Bund im Alten: Zur Bundestheologie der
beiden Testamente (QD, 146), Freiburg 1993, 85112, esp. 112 tends in this direction: Der neue
Bund ist der alte, aber der gegen den Bruch gefeite Bund. We prefer to endorse his note on Jer.
31:22 (LXX 38:22): So ist auch die neue Bundesschlieung ein schpferisches Werk JHWHs
(96).
106 R. Rendtorff, The Covenant Formula: An Exegetical and Theological Investigation,
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 317
Edinburgh 1998, 72. Such conclusions are part of the negative effects of the otherwise use-
ful canonical approach advocated by Rendtorff. On the reception of Ex. 3234 in Jer. 26
and 38, see H. Knobloch, Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches (BZAR, 12),
Wiesbaden 2009, 152227. If Ex. 3234 indeed delivers the Grundgrammatik of Jeremiahs
prophecy of doom (where one may differ on the details with Knobloch), it is all the less likely
that Jeremiahs prophecy of salvation in Jer. 31 would come down to being merely a repetition
of Ex. 3234.
107 C. Dohmen, Der Sinaibund als Neuer Bund nach Ex 1934, in: Zenger, Neue Bund, 5189.
108 This meaning of is visible in Deut. 11:10; 32:31; 2 Kgs 3:2; 14:3; 17:2; Jer. 10:16; 51:19.
318 chapter four
embodied in stories or in laws, on its own does not lead to the anticipated
change.
Thus we establish a peculiar discrepancy between the tendency in twenti-
eth century exegesis to curtail the word new in Jer. 31:31 as much as possible,
and these astounding authors of Jeremiah, who must have painstakingly
tested the outer-regions of their theological flexibility to dare find a way how
to integrate even Deutero-Isaiahs perspective of the future as their greatest
challenge.109 To a degree it has the feeling as if an acrobat is performing a
daredevil feat and the spectators say that actually there is nothing clever in
it.
What was the source of this tendency? There were interpreters that rel-
ativised the newness of the new covenant based on historical-critical argu-
ments, as we have seen. If the new covenant is not itself considered as a
deuteronomic or deuteronomistic concept, then it is taken as a natural con-
tinuation on this line of thought. There were also interpreters for whom an
actual and respectable theological motif played a role: the dialogue between
Judaism and Christianity that would not be well served with the idea of
two distinct covenants, or with a too strongly emphasised distance between
an old and a new version of the one covenant of Yhwh. And thus it had
to be made clear that the Sinai covenant itself was already a sort of new
covenant, to which Jeremiahs promise had little to add. However, this posi-
tion is exegetically unsustainable. It is also theologically dubious. If Chris-
tian readers would only realise that Jer. 3031 declares not them but the
house of Israel and the house of Judah as people of the new covenant; thus
meaning that people of the old covenant can no longer be, ever since the
book of Jeremiah.
Without Deutero-Isaiahs as background, the promise of the
in Jeremiah holds something incomprehensiblea promise with the
shocking sound of a contradictio in terminis. At the same time the authors of
Jer. 31 indicate the limitations of the prophetic tradition they hereby engage
and attempt to integrate. In the book of Isaiah there is a threat that the new
109 The Deutero- and Trito-Isaian opposition first-new possibly reverberates in a few other
places in Jeremiah. Thus attention has been drawn to the verbal agreement between Jer. 3:16
it (the ark of the covenant) shall not come to mind nor will it be remembered, and Isa. 65:17
the first things shall not be remembered nor will they come to mind. Reverse dependence
is suspected here by J. Unterman, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiahs Thought in
Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, 172, as with B.D. Sommer, A Prophet Reads Scripture:
Allusion in Isaiah 4066, Stanford, CA 1998, 319 regarding Jer. 16:14 (= 23:7) and Isa. 43:18: the
exodus from Egypt as outdated grounds of salvation. In our view, in all these cases Isaiah
could have been the source of inspiration.
new at the crossroads of two prophetic traditions 319
could become buried in group thought. Yhwh himself, or so Isa. 6566 could
be taken as suggesting, is made a party in a torah dispute.110 When someone
has completed reading Isaiah and opens the book of Jeremiah, he will be
amazed at the far more inclusivist tone of the message of salvation. Under
the new, Jeremiah understands something that, as a gift of God, is within
reach of every Israelite, large or small (Jer. 31:34). How would it have been
possible for later readers to combine Isaiah and Ezekiels theology of hope
had the mediating book of Jeremiah remained unwritten?111
In hindsight it was not an unlucky shot to close this study at Jeremiah. What
purpose, speaking hermeneutically, do the countless citations serve in this
prophetic book? Generally citations serve as legitimatisation. An author
uses the citations power of expression to gain an entrance in the readership
for his or her own message. But what is there to legitimise in this case? Even
where the historicity of Jeremiah as person is maintained formally in recent
research, often little remains of his original message in exegetical practice.
So what was there to legitimise? A call to repent behind the teaching of
the law? A tiding of doom behind the call to repent? An elusive historical
minimum?
The findings of this study send us in another direction. The citations in
the book of Jeremiah are not intended to legitimate the historical prophet.
Nor do they serve as a legitimatisation of a group of tradents that stood up
for the unique message of their admired teacher. The many citations rather
serve to have the Pentateuch and the Prophetsto have Moses, Ezekiel and
Isaiah legitimate themselves in front of each other, via the columns of the
present prophetic book scroll. Hinsichtlich der Autoritt beider Gren,
Tora und Prophetie, ist [in Jeremia] also eine Verflechtung und wechselsei-
tige Autorisierung festzustellen.112 Without holding her responsible for our
own intertextual elaboration, we are grateful to Christl Maier for this illumi-
nating insight.
bungen des Jeremiabuches (FRLANT, 196), Gttingen 2002, 365. Here the following obser-
vation of K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Cambridge,
MA 2007, 141 applies: By writing a work that integrated documents with different ideas and
perspectives, the scribes were creating a national written heritage that transcended earlier
divisions.
320 chapter four
of the reader, but to allow torah (the Pentateuch) and prophecy (Ezekiel and
Isaiah, and similarly some of the Twelve) to justify themselves in relation
to each other within the literary framework of Jeremiahs biography. Every
text holds an answer to a question. Every text holds an answer to a question
posed by another text [ 1.2]. The book of Jeremiah answers questions that
torah and prophecy exchange. With this approach the focal point of the book
does not rest in the disputes between groups that might be hidden beneath
here or there, but in the dialogue on faith that it initiates.
Could the identified citations from Ezekiel and Isaiah not rather have
been intended to neutralise these other prophets, indeed to drive them as
challengers of the tradents own protagonist from the canonical stage? This
is more or less Knoblochs description of how Jeremiah relates to Moses, as
based on citations from the Pentateuch in Jer. 26 and 36. Should we perhaps
regard Jeremiah not just as bessere[n] Ersatz fr Mose,114 but additionally as
a better Ezekiel and a better Isaiah (or even: a better Servant of the Lord)?
Why is neither Isaiah nor Ezekiel mentioned by name anywhere in the book
of Jeremiah?115 Have we not, in other words, regarded the intertextual dia-
logue as being too friendly? Texts also have the ability to foil each other, for
certain. Still, even a critical dialogue remains a dialogue. Eventually a bold
and creative interaction with the written tradition will serve to strengthen
its authority. The new covenant as the mutual authorisation of Deuteronomy
and Deutero-Isaiah, in short summarises the conclusion of this chapter.
On the original relation between DI and the dtn/dtr tradition, see A. Labahn,
Wort Gottes und Schuld Israels: Untersuchungen zu Motiven deuteronomistischer
Theologie im Deuterojesajabuch mit einem Ausblick auf das Verhltnis von Jes 4055
zum Deuteronomismus (BZAW, 143), Stuttgart 1999. She sees a few traces of dtr
language and theology in the younger layers of Isa. 4055, but according to her in
the basic text there is keine Gemeinsamkeit mit der dtn/dtr Theologie festzustellen
(260). This leads her to ask warum die Deuteronomisten ihre literarische Ttigkeit
nicht auf die berlieferungen Dtjes ausgedehnt haben, wie sie entsprechend mit
dem jeremianischen oder ezechielischen Traditionsgut umgegangen sind (279).
We would have formulated this question differently. The dtn/dtr influence on
DI would rather be stronger than weaker in comparison to that on Ezekiel. This is
certainly the case when one refrains from restoring DI to a Grundschrift with a
limited scope [ 2.2.8.1]. Thus for example the theme of conditionality of salvation
second Moses becomes relativised by Ezekiels mosaic role as initiator of post-exilic sacrificial
worship according to Ez. 43:1827.
115 The question posed in the introductory chapter on borrowing as plagiarism comes to
mind [ 1.2]. As contrast see the name and epithet of Micah in Jer. 26:18.
322 chapter four
is anchored far deeper in DIs drama than Labahn allows room for. The theological
differences between Ezekiel, DI and Deuteronomy are presumably linked with
the difference between the backgrounds of the respective scribal groups: priests,
temple singers and (perhaps) aristocratic circles from which the civil servants
were recruited. Between these groups there certainly always would have been an
exchange of ideas, but the need for an in-depth theological accord only became
urgent once their writings became publicwhere public says as much as: an
individual knows a text (by heart) and knows that others know the same text (cf.
N. Lohfink, Gab es eine deuteronomistische Bewegung? in: W. Gro (ed.), Jeremia
und die deuteronomistische Bewegung (BBB, 98), Weinheim 1995, 313382, esp. 346).
The book of Jeremiah tries to satisfy this urgent need for an accord. Especially the
integration of cultic-mythically inspired expectations in a more programmatically
structured vision of society could count as the books central task.
Thus we would not only have formulated the above question differently, but
also find that this study brings us to a different answer. According to Labahn the
deuteronomists withheld themselves from thoroughly revising the book of Isaiah
due to a total lack in affinity. We believe they certainly attempted precisely this, in
a sense, namely through the book of Jeremiah, which (at least for the greater part
of its genesis) could fall back on Deuteronomy as well as Ezekiel and Isaiah.
chapter five
5.1. Chronology
It was not only because they share the word new [ ]that this study
has brought together passages from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the book
of Psalms, but also because it is suspected that they have a deeper bond.
This suspicion permeates the history of interpretation. Their relations may
be described in various ways: they treat the same topic, they expose a
comparative perspective on the future, they are reacting against the same
tradition orthe most tangible agreementthe one passage refers to the
other using the same vocabulary and formulations. They turn up in the
range of each others intertextuality. Whether and to what extent this applies
to the passages brought together has been the key question of our study.
A derived question has inquired on the order in which the texts proba-
bly came into being. There is a view of intertextuality that disregards the
historical dimension. Perhaps it suffices with literature where no problems
are caused by the datingan Old Testament scholar cannot permit such
a view. In Old Testament research, the concept intertextuality is of little
value unless it incorporates the question whether one text truly presupposes
another and builds on it. Therefore, we provide an overview of a few conclu-
sions on the chronology at the start of our final chapter.
(1) For the most psalms, a distinction must be drawn between the time of
origin and the time of inclusion in the (sub-)collection. This also holds true
for the liturgical song Ps. 98. The distinction appears not to be relevant for
Ps. 96, a song that, different to Ps. 98, must have been especially composed
for the cycle Ps. 93100. Within this cycle Ps. 96 seeks a compromise between
two views of Yhwhs kingship. This kingship reaches back to the beginning
of the world (Ps. 93), even though it only now stands on the point of being
manifested worldwide (Ps. 98). In this light, against the order of the fourth
book of Psalms, as a compromise text Ps. 96 seems to be younger than
Ps. 98. As terminus post quem for the origin of Ps. 98, along with many,
we opt for the consecration of the second temple in Jerusalem. Here we
have the most certain historical anchor in the study, even if its biblical
324 chapter five
(2) For the origin of Isa. 4055 we have argued for a project model over
against the growth model that underlies the redaction-critical theories of
German scholars. That is to say, the unmistakable signs of text genetics in
these chapters do not support an externally determined enlargement of a
Grundschrift to form perpetually new editions. Models in which the texts
layering would reflect the historical fate of the so-called Deutero-Isaian
group on a one-to-one base are hardly convincing. At most the ongoing
scribal process, consistently retaining the works dramatic design, may have
caused redactional adaptations of what had already been written. Such
adaptations however did not lead to substantial changes in the meaning
of the terms first and new. The sense in which Deutero-Isaiah uses these
terms forms the strongest argument that Isa. 4055 did not arise as a sequel
to Isa. 139 or parts thereof, and equally not as a sequel to the book of
Jeremiah, as some scholars assume. Isa. 4055 is younger than Ps. 98 and
presumably also younger than Ps. 96 and the composition Ps. 93100*, in
which these songs are embedded as pivotal texts. This insight led us to
dating Isa. 4055 fairly far from the abovementioned 515 bce. The Persian
king Cyrus earned his reputation in Judah through the second temple, the
establishment of which was attributed to his initiative in so many words.
His significance for the return of the exiles and the fall of Babylon is inferred
from this cultic role: I [Yhwh] stirred up from the north, and he came, from
the rising of the sun who will call on my name (Isa. 41:25). The origin of Isa.
4055 assumedly does not rest in historical recollections that stretch back to
the eve of 539bce, the year in which the priests of Marduk welcomed Cyrus
into Babylon. The exilic or early post-exilic dating of Deutero-Isaiah appears
to be based on an unstable precept.1 Isa. 4055 is not redactional rush work
that was cobbled together midst practical fretting during a repatriation. Far
rather, this work is a carefully planned dramatisation that reflects on the
1 Cyrus half-hearted interest in a remote province (R. Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History
and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (SBL, 3), Atlanta 2003, 124) is all that remains of this
fundament, even in the most optimistic historical reconstruction.
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 325
end of the exile, using a cultic pattern of shaming and liberating, which
similarly underlies the composition Ps. 93100, and which must have its
origin and development in the direct environs of the new temple. Both
historical affirmation and the opposition experienced by exiles after their
return to Judah are dramatically processed in Isa. 4055. Essentially Isa.
4055 is an answer to a post-exilic problematic. A trajectory for this dramas
origin in the course of the fifth century may be determined from this line of
thought. The terminus ante quem is the origin of Isa. 5666, which in turn is
bounded in time by the relatively younger texts in Ezra-Nehemiah.
(3) Those that tremble at the word of Yhwh and according to Isa. 66:5 are
threatened by their brothers, appear to have become an influential group
within the Judean community in the days of Ezra. This picture becomes
complicated by the fact that the Ezra narrative could be offering us an
idealised recollection from the fourth century, while, on the other hand, one
should understand the end redaction of the book of Isaiah as an indication
of the successful emancipation of an apparently marginalised group of
Judeans. Isaiah may thus present the social position of these quakers less
favourably than what they have become due to this book, Ezra-Nehemiah
in contrast too favourably. All in all these details are best assimilated in
a trajectory placing the origin of Isa. 5666 in the fifth century. That this
trajectory would then run partially concurrently with the trajectory on the
origin of Isa. 4055, we do not see as an objection. This research brought us
to draw these two compositions far closer to each other than is customary.
The distance between Isa. 4048 and 5666 (amongst others visible in
the varied usage of the opposition first-new) is greater than the distance
between Isa. 4955 and 5666. An important chronological insight in this
regard is that the figure of the Servant of the Lord in Isa. 4055 as literary
prototype of the post-exilic pious, presumes the existence of the servants of
the Lord from Isa. 5666 as historical entity.
(4) The absence of Ezek. 36:23b-38 from the Greek papyrus 967 does not
seem a convincing argument in support of the statement that the Hebrew
text of this chapter had been supplemented with the promise of a new heart
and a new spirit at a very late stage, and that influence from Jeremiahs
promise of a new covenant on this supplement would thus be obvious. Our
inquiry on the relation between Ezek. 11, 18 and 36 shows that the promise of
change in Ezek. 36 is prepared by the call make yourselves a new heart and a
new spirit in Ezek. 18:31, and that Ezek. 11 as literary anticipation of Ezek. 36,
text-genetically must have been borrowed from that chapter (thus: Ezek. 18
326 chapter five
Ezek. 36 Ezek. 11). A dating of the whole book should, on the one hand,
keep account with first experiences of repatriating Jews that show through
(see especially the discussions on property in Ezek. 11 and 33), and on the
other hand with a restitution programme that so emphatically prioritises
inner change as desideratum that social reconstruction still appears to lie
on the far horizon. All that we were able to add to this rough historical
positioning is a relative dating of Ezekiel prior to Deutero-Isaiah and in
particular: prior to Jeremiah (see below).
(5) This study defends the point of view that there are two things in Jer.
3031 that should not be confused: on the one side the complex communica-
tional structure and on the other side the redaction history. The midsection
starting with, These are the words that Yhwh spoke concerning Israel and
Judah (Jer. 30:4), and ending with, Thereupon I awoke and looked and my
sleep had been pleasant to me (Jer. 31:26), may be distinguished from the
surrounding passages as a separate literary domain; but this does not neces-
sarily imply that these surrounding passages must have come into being at
a much later date. If someone wishes to explain the booklet mentioned in
Jer. 30:2 to modern readers, he might best use a comparison with a letter
in a historical novel. Such a letter does not bring us closer to what actu-
ally took place than the story in which it lies embeddedeven though the
constituent elements and structural model that were used to compose the
embedded letter remain an interesting text-genetic question. It may also be
asked whether a division of tasks could have taken place in the making of
Jeremiahs story-with-letter, like what happened in the studio of Rembrandt.
Using Jer. 3031 as an orientating point of departure for the rest of the book
of Jeremiah, we went in search of the closest restitution programmes. These
appeared to be in Jer. 24, 29 and 32. A diachronic comparison showed that
Jer. 3031 is presumably younger than these chapters, being less integrated
with the prophets biography, but incorporated far deeper literarily in the
current book of Jeremiah as a whole.
(8) Far more detailed research will be required into the relation between the
books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. This study concentrated principally on Jer.
3031 seen from this viewpoint, although here and there other texts from
Jeremiah were drawn into the discussion. The conclusion is that Jer. 3031
presumes Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah. This makes it more than probable that
Jer. 3031 did not originate earlier than in the fourth century bce. Hereby the
following overall picture on the chronology of the key passages in this study
is formed, which only leaves the sequence between the Yhwh-Kingship
psalms and Ezekiel somewhere in the middle:2 Ps. 98 Ps. 96 (Ezek. 36
Ezek. 11 ) Isa. 4055 Isa. 65 Jer. 24 Jer. 3031.
2 See in this regard the correct summary of D. Baltzer, Ezechiel und Deuterojesaja: Berh-
rungen in der Heilserwartung der beiden groen Exilspropheten (BZAW, 121), Berlin 1971, 180:
Die bei Ezechiel nur verbal stilisierte Knigsprdikation Jahwes [Ezek. 20:33] will seinen
Herrschafts- und Machtsanspruch ber Israel anzeigen. Die Knigsprdikationen Jahwes bei
Deuterojesaja zielen demgegenber mehr auf Jahwes Herrschaftsanspruch ber Babels Gt-
ter. Albertz, Exile, 367 sees Ezek. 20:33 as a reaction to DI, but this is unlikely because of
the variation in the royal predication and because the deuteronomistic imagery of the strong
hand and the stretched out arm in that verse does not refer to DI.
3 Cf. A.S. Crane, Israels Restauration: A Textual-Comparative Exploration of Ezekiel 3639
(VT.S, 122), Leiden 2008, 257: Finally, it is difficult to establish a reason why the text would
have been changed from the received chapter order, and its inserted pericope, to that found
in G967.
328 chapter five
mary of these differences in the next section. The new covenant in Jeremiah
without reserve signifies the end of Yhwhs judgement over Israel. In this
light some must have found the invasion of Gog (Ezek. 3839) as follow-up
to Israels inner renewal (Ezek. 36) and spiritual resurrection (Ezek. 37) an
unfathomable prospect. This could explain the reasoning behind the order
of chapters preserved by papyrus 967. Whether this order originated in the
Hebrew or first in the Old Greek text traditionsit is then in any way sec-
ondary. It indeed had to do with shifting eschatological theologies,4 but
then with a shift away from a more original theological design represented
by EzekMT. Here Gogs invasion was meant as test on Israels renewal, a test
that in light of Jeremiahs promise could no longer be grasped by everyone,
indeed offending to such an extent that a rigorous intervention in Ezekiels
text was deemed essential by some. The change to the order in the Old Greek
translation in this light is more or less comparable to the transposition of
the foe from the north from Ezek. 3839 to Jer. 46.5 Is it not reasonable
that the Jeremiah-authors wished to transfer a mythological enemy that
had its origin in Ezekiels prospect of hope over to the judgement part of
their book? Other allusions to Ezekiel in Jer. 46 come to mind [ 3.2.5.3].
Behind Jer. 46 and papyrus 967, then, comparative motives lie concealed.
The resurrection (physical or moral?) was not the real theological obstacle
for the tradents of Ezek. 3639, but the unorthodox order of salvation and
damnation in Ezekiels view on the future. Jeremiah did not influence EzekMT
(here the direction of dependence is the precise opposite!), but through his
restitution programme Jeremiah may have influenced EzekOG.
A few more general remarks need to be made at the end of these diachronic
observations. The relative dates above were not set as presuppositions,
but are conclusions from the intertextual inquiry. This study reconstructed
intertextual dialogues based on a chronological order (who poses the ques-
tion and who provides the answer?) that had to be determined from the
course of the dialogues themselves. It was not our intention to reject prevail-
ing insights, even if some results may be quite surprising. It was even less in
the objective to design the profile of a complete history of prophetic litera-
ture. Seventeenth century cartographers withstood the temptation to colour
in unknown territories and thereby give their fantasies free rein. Often they
sufficed with a single coastline or the course of a single river, because alone
these were substantiated by eyewitness reports. The rest laid blank, terra
incognita, in order not to throw dust in the eyes of the sailors using their
maps. Something similar has been the guiding light in this study. Diachronic
conclusions were consistently easier to draw on the relation between books,
than between hypothetical layers of a specific book. Thus it was hardly
possible to differentiate between layers based on their positive or negative
dependence on an external source. This observation is of importance, par-
ticularly for the much discussed redaction history of Jer. 3031. Finally one
more aspect needs to be addressed to set in perspective our diachronic view
of intertextuality. Modern man places historical texts in a historical frame
and along that way becomes engaged in their chronologically arranged con-
versation. At the same time one should realise that texts with different dates
of birth live on together and, like siblings from a family, begin asking each
other questions back and forth, the younger children to the older, but equally
the reverse.6
6 The application of such a perspective however should not go so far that we come
to see the interpretation of the canonical end text as the actual exegetical assignment
(as e.g. R. Rendtorff, The Covenant Formula: An Exegetical and Theological Investigation,
Edinburgh 1998, 8). The hypothetical nature of our historical reconstructions does not offer
it a valid argument. The point is that these reconstructions (as conscientious possible,
as modest necessary) also belong to our continuous dialogue with the texts and form an
unrelinquishable aspect thereof. The canonical end text has its own historical horizon, which
equally depends on hypothetical reconstruction.
330 chapter five
When Ps. 93100 is not read as a loose collection of cultic texts but as
a cohesive poetic work (freely translated: as a cantata), a single dramatic
action portrayed in it may be discovered, culminating in the theophany of
Ps. 97. The invocation of Ps. 94, Rise up, o Judge of the world, looks forward
to this culmination point; the Holy, holy, holy of Ps. 99 looks back on it.
Yhwhs glorious arrival, which Ps. 97 describes accompanied with thunder
and lightning, motivates the new song on Yhwhs established kingship in
96:13 and 98:9 as a fait accompli (for he has come). Thus Ps. 96 and 98 flank
the central event like the side panels of a triptych. Within this triptych the
dramatic course lets the shaming of the idolaters (Ps. 96 and 97A) precede
the liberation of Yhwhs faithful subjects (Ps. 97B and 98). Shaming and
liberation are presented here as the successive effects of Yhwhs coming as
king and judge. In hindsight Ps. 93100 would appear to be an eye-opener
for the hidden structure of Isa. 4055, not only in its dramatic movement as
such, but also due to this remarkable spreading of shaming and liberation
over two dramatic episodes.
Different to the psalm cycle, Deutero-Isaiah presents the new things as
a developed concept. There are three factors that seem to be important for
its definition and implementation. Firstly, the semantic relations within the
domain first-last-coming-new, which we have analysed in the exegesis of a
number of passages. Secondly in the dramatic movement in the sequence of
the poems in Isa. 4048, where the point from which the past and the future
are viewed progresses over the time of reading. Thirdly, a compositional
pattern that constantly repeats itself, in which a poem that balances first
and last is followed by a poem on coming and/or a poem on the new. It
seems as if these three factors (word semantics, dramatics, cyclic pattern)
wish to impress on the reader with combined forces what is meant with the
new and especially: what not.
The semantic relations were schematised as follows:
first last
first [incl. last] coming
first [incl. coming] new
While these lines from Isa. 43:1621 make a call to not remember the first
things, the same first things had proven their current actuality in what went
before [ 2.2.5]. This observation appeared to be crucial for the interpreta-
tion of the whole drama of Isa. 4055. Where Deutero-Isaiah opposes the
first and the new, the first always includes the last (that is: the present out-
come and confirmation of the first). Do not commemorate the defeat of the
332 chapter five
Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds, even if that very history is repeating itself
today in the fate of Chaldean boat refugees. The new that is beginning to
sprout in Isa. 43:19, however, will be from a completely different order. The
new is the wondrous way which is going to lead Israel to its destination:
praising Yhwh.
That the first has come, according to Isa. 48:111 wants to say that Yhwh
has paid off the promise of all Israels salvation history with the downfall
of Babylon [ 2.2.6]. This convergence of tradition and experience does
not yield anything more in itself than the unmasking of Israel as a born
idolater, if we may believe this chapter. The new that Yhwh creates, however,
is Israels purification. This purification is accomplished dramatically in
Yhwhs performative statement in Isa. 48:10: See, I smelt you, but not for
silver, I hereby choose you, in the furnace of affliction. The thus changed
Israel then appears to have been taken up in the servant of Yhwh, just as he
breaks the silence of Isa. 42:14 for the very first time in Isa. 48:16b. To allow
oneself to be persuaded by the word of this servant, according to Isa. 48 is
the same as a spiritual return to Zion. Whoever departs along this way of
faithful obedience from Babylon will suffer no thirst in the wilderness.
The relation between Isa. 4148 and 4954 is not so much thematic as it
is a matter of dramatic progression [ 2.2.7.1]. The decisive link is found in
the action sequence that spans both parts of Deutero-Isaiahs work. Simi-
larly over shorter distances the dramatic chronology seems to be the most
prominent factor coordinating the literary units. Another important factor
in the first part of the composition is the recurring pattern first-last-coming-
new [ 2.2.7.2].
This pattern is more or less clearer in the following cycles: 41:120; 41:21
42:17; 43:821; 44:623; 48:111; 48:1222. In this way, what is understood
in Isa. 4048 under first, last, coming and new, finds an expression in the
arrangement of the poems. The first stands for Israels salvation history
(Abraham, exodus from Egypt) in its predicting power. The last refers to the
actions of Cyrus as the outcome of this salvation history. In the final analy-
sis, this correspondence of first and last reflects the order of creation, as Isa.
40 and 45 indicate in all clarity. Yhwh proves in history that he alone is the
creator. Through Cyrus it may be determined that Yhwh did not create the
earth a chaos (45:18). What is coming/has come is the gradual unfolding of
these world events, ending in the fall of Babylon as the shaming of every-
one that place their trust in idols. The new cannot be confused with all this.
The new distinguishes itself from the outcome of the first as the adequate
human answer to this entire historical proof of divinity, an answer eventu-
ally provided by God himself. The wilderness recreated as an oasis, which
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 333
is accepted in praise as the way of return from Babylon, serves as the cen-
tral metaphor for the new things in Deutero-Isaiah. The new is a compelling
invitation to the hearer and reader to allow himself to be taken along with
this movement in the first place. At the same time it is the adequate answer
that begins with the figure of Yhwhs servant, who is the Israel transformed
by Yhwhs performative word and brought to speech in the here and now of
this dramatic text.
How might Isa. 4055 be understood intertextually as reacting to ques-
tions posed by Ps. 93100? According to Ps. 93100 two aspects of Yhwhs
kingship should be differentiated: it grasps back to the primal beginning but
remains incognito until salvation triumphs forever. The first question that
Isa. 4055 addresses is in which sphere of experience this divine kingship
of old proves itself: in the world history that culminates with Cyrus. Accord-
ing to Deutero-Isaiah, Israels tradition of Abraham and the Exodus may be
understood as a striking typological prediction of what has happened on a
world scale in Cyrus; and this correspondence of tradition and experience in
turn confirms the basic order of the world. In such manner it proves Yhwh
right and unmasks all the other gods as pitiful handiwork, indeed as car-
icatures of creation itself. Showing the creation order in history and idol
polemics are the two sides of the same coin. Still, Yhwh will achieve his
eventual enthronement as king only in his personal return to Zion, which
should coincide with the faithful homecoming of all Zions children. Yhwhs
kingship is incomplete without human recognition and it is this recognition,
expressed in Ps. 93100 as the new song, that is now developed dramatically
by Deutero-Isaiah to form the new thing that Yhwh himself creates. This
new is seen paradoxically in the unmoved trust of the righteous Servant:
to whom has the arm of Yhwh been revealed? He grew up before him like
a root out of dry ground (Isa. 53:12).
Isa. 4055 thus involves itself in the dialogue on Yhwhs kingship by
applying the liturgical, mythically inspired theology of the fourth book of
Psalms as concretely as possible, on the one hand to the political reality of
the Persian Empire (cf. Ps. 96), and on the other, to the challenged faith of
the post-exilic devout, who see Yhwhs saving arm revealed in the Servant
(cf. Ps. 98). It is difficult material for modern readers, because the idea of a
cosmic order has practically disappeared from the cultural baggage of the
majority of us. On the other hand Deutero-Isaiah is once more recognisable
in its emphasis on personal human engagement, in which such a cosmic
order needs to resound to be credible.
How does Isa. 65 link to this line of thought? The opposition first-new
has unquestionably received another meaning here than in Isa. 4048. An
334 chapter five
devotion that reminds far more of Trito-Isaiah than Ezekiel. The fact that
the promise of renewal in Ezek. 36 rises from a relatively uncomplicated eth-
ical exhortation earlier in the book and a crystal clear theological argument
in the chapter itself, makes any additional explanation of its literary source
seem redundant. With this conclusion we have set the book of Ezekiel to the
side, to pick it up once more in later intertextual comparisons.
Ezekiels older contemporary under the prophets was Jeremiah, accord-
ing to the same biblical tradition that allotted the activities of one to Baby-
lon and the other to Jerusalem. The adjective new appears in Jeremiahs
promise of salvation in two pericopes. But while this seems minimal, they
involved us in the intertextual dialogue on the new as future perspective
to such an extent that of all the pericopes analysed in this study, these two
appear to have captured the most attention. New occurs as a substantive
in Yhwh has created something new on earth (Jer. 31:22), and a little later
as an attributive in the unique and challenging term new covenant (Jer.
31:31). Here we already note the crucial difference between these two texts
regarding their position in the communicational structure of Jer. 3031. After
surveying Jer. 31:2126 and 31:2734 as their primary literary horizon, the
scope broadened in steps, first within the book of Jeremiah but eventually
far beyond its borders.
Jer. 31:2122 and 2326 relate more or less as text and interpretation [
3.2.1]. Through their gender, the pronominal suffixes in vv. 2326 suggest this
presentation of the promised salvation: once all of Judah (masculine) will
be embraced by Mount Zion (feminine). With the word combination in the
land of Judah and his cities, vv. 2326 links with return to these your cities
and Yhwh has created something new in the land in vv. 2122. If one were to
vocalise a woman surrounds a man in Hebrew as a cursed surrounds a man,
this reading would serve as an additional stepping stone to Yhwh bless you,
Righteous Pasture . But even without this possible association between
curse and blessing, vv. 2326 solves the riddle of v. 22b. The woman that
surrounds the man is Zion, who will cherish the entire Judean population in
her sacred territorial embrace. Just like Zechariah after his nocturnal vision,
according to v. 26 Jeremiah awakes refreshed, now that the secret of the new
creation has been revealed to him in such clarity.
The structural parallelism between Jer. 31:2730 and 3134 carries a con-
tinuous action [ 3.2.2]. The continuation implies a phasing of the future
salvation for Israel and Judea according to the promise. The phase of social
restoration, in which the proverb of the dull teeth will be made obsolete
and the present generation will no longer be held accountable for the trans-
gressions of the forebears, is followed by a phase in which forgiveness may
338 chapter five
Thought in Transition (JSOT.S, 54), Sheffield 1987, summarised on 176179, tend towards a
view of Jeremiah and Ezekiels prophecy of salvation in which divine and human activities
are balanced as concurrent units. We have resisted such a perspective on various occasions in
this study. Even so-called unconditional prophecy of salvation is meant to remove the feeling
of being paralysed and encourage human activity.
340 chapter five
precondition for the next step. Most prominently inner change is relieved
of its conditional function where it is set as the very last action in the
programme (cf. Jer. 24:57; cp. 3031).
The promised change itself is described in Jeremiahs restitution pro-
grammes as a knowing heart (Jer. 24), as one asking after Yhwh with heart
and soul (Jer. 29), as torah written on the heart (Jer. 3031), or as fear in the
heart gifted by Yhwh himself (Jer. 32). Apart from the letter to the exiles we
come across the covenantal formula in the direct vicinity of the promise
of change: they will be my people and I will be their God (or the other
way round). The term covenant (24 in Jeremiah) resounds exclusively in
the programmes of Jer. 3031 and 32, and then with a different meaning. I
will make with them an everlasting covenant in Jer. 32:40 points alone at
the benefits Yhwh commits himself to in favour of Israel. Unlike the new
covenant, the everlasting covenant does not include Israels obligations
and the contrast with the past plays no role in it.
Jer. 3031 is thus on its own in speaking of a new covenant, regardless
how much it reminds of Jer. 24, 29 and 32 on various points through its prose
frame. The content of the new covenant is determined predominantly by
the coordination of Jer. 31 on the words of doom in Jer. 11. The other pro-
grammes that we analysed are void of these large scale anchors in the book.
The words of calamity in Jer. 11 describe the disaster that befell Jerusalem
as a collective sanction for breaking the covenant that Yhwh closed with
Israels fathers. The new covenant no longer knows such a sanction. The
link between inner change and possessing the land receives less attention
in Jeremiah than in Ezekiel, as the alternative order of the relevant restitu-
tion programmes in Jeremiah reveals. The question that Jer. 3031 eventually
answers is how a future could be possible for Israel and Judea without the
persistent threat of this collective doom hanging over their existence (even
supposing that the native soil was prepared to carry them if need be). In
this light it comes to mind that the disaster that overcame Jerusalem in
the book of Jeremiah has become a premonition of the world judgement,
retaining its potential peril for constantly new readers. It is not for noth-
ing that the world judgementwithin the scenario of Jer. 3031forms
the actual point of departure of Jeremiahs dream vision (cf. 30:57). At
this point Jer. 3031 perhaps demonstrates the most tangible connection
between the restitution programme and the restitution scenario it wishes
to apply. Could it not be exactly this terrible nightmare of the great dooms-
day that the reader may thankfully set aside forever due to Yhwhs new
covenant?
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 341
8 On the relation between Jer. 29 and the book of Ezekiel it could be said in more general
terms that such an explicit conversion of Babylon to a place of waiting (D.E. Gowan, Theology
of the Prophetic Books: The Death and Resurrection of Israel, Louisville 1998, 116) can only really
be understood as a later theological development.
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 343
as an adjective with heart and spirit, is thus released for another, theolog-
ically far more fundamental opposition (see below).
(b) The word spirit has disappeared from the promise in Jeremiah. This
follows the anti-schwrmerisch tendency of this prophetic book, which
should be understood as a reaction against the habit of post-exilic Judean
groups to elevate themselves against others based on their unique spiritual
gift. The absence of the word spirit from Jeremiahs description of the new
covenant must be aligned with its egalitarian character. The new covenant
does not acknowledge gradations of piety within future Israel.
(c) Unlike in Ezekiel, inner change in Jer. 31 does not necessarily precede
social change, but follows it as the great climax of the promise of salvation.
Thereby it no longer serves specially the reconciliation with the land, but
as the core of the new covenant stands as guarantor for the very survival
of Israel as a people, midst a world full of catastrophe and divine judge-
ment.
9 We leave the Pentateuch traditions outside the equation for the moment.
346 chapter five
the prophetic word (Ezekiel). And thus it is the proven strength of this word
that exposes mans self-made gods as a deadly tiring burden (see especially
Isa. 46). Similarly on the deepest ground of new hope, Deutero-Isaiah and
Ezekiel find something of a theological agreement: Alone for his names sake
is Yhwh going to change both Israel and the world.
In our comparison between Jer. 3031 and the book of Isaiah we distin-
guished between points of contact (in clauses as well as generic and com-
positional), borrowings (not every point of contact has to be a borrowing),
and the dialogue in which the borrowing text involves the reader through
its allusions. The premonition that this studys most important hermeneu-
tic decisions would be covered here, brought us to making this scrupulous
distinction between the methodological steps in the final segment of our
research.
Points of contact with Jer. 3031 occur throughout Isaiah, though they are
most frequent in Isa. 4055 [ 4.2.1]. Jeremiahs Trostbchlein reminds of
Deutero-Isaiahs Trostbuch in more than one way. Under Trostbchlein we
now take the liberty to understand what Jeremiah himself according to Jer.
30:2 had to record from God in a : 30:531:26. This colourful pamphlet
agrees with the great Trostbuch in the form and phrasing of certain poems
(especially 30:1011; 30:1617; 31:79; 31:1014), but there is more to this.
Sometimes there are striking parallelisms in the sequencing of the poems.
The texts that follow the promised return in Jer. 31:1014 and Isa. 49:813 are
cited here as illustration:
Thus says Yhwh:
Hear, on the Height lamentation is heard,
bitter weeping:
RACHEL, weeping for her sons,
refusing to be comforted
for her sons, because they are no more (Jer. 31:1517)
and whales in clouds as they drift by,10 but in this case there is certainly more
to it.
Not every point of contact is a borrowing, and not every borrowing has
sufficient volume to help identify the direction of borrowing. We found
sufficient volume in the following analogous clauses or analogous clause
combinations [ 4.2.2]: Jer. 31:35 Thus says Yhwh, who () calms the sea
even though its waves roar, Yhwh Almighty is his name, cf. Isa. 51:15 And
I am Yhwh your God, who calms the sea even though its waves roar, Yhwh
Almighty is his name; Jer. 31:12 and their soul will be like a saturated garden,
cf. Isa. 58:11 your soul (), and you will be like a saturated garden; Jer. 30:10
And you, fear not, my servant Jacob, (), cf. Isa. 41:8, 10 And you, Israel
my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen (), fear not, 43:1 Jacob () Israel,
fear not, 44:1, 2 Jacob my servant and Israel (), fear not, my servant Jacob
and Jeshurun; Jer. 30:10 () from afar and your seed from the land of their
captivity, cf. Isa. 43:5, 6 your seed () from afar; Jer. 30:11 For I am with you
() to save you, cf. Isa. 43:3, 5 your saviour (); fear not, for I am with you.
Jer. 31:7 Cry out with joy for Jacob (), make hear, praise and say: Yhwh has
saved his people, cf. Isa. 48:20 Declare with a cry of joy, make hear this (),
say: Yhwh has redeemed his servant Jacob; Jer. 31:8 among them the blind
and the lame, cf. Isa. 35:5, 6 the blind () the lame; Jer. 31:9 I will make them
walk by brooks of water in a straight way, in which they will not stumble, cf.
Isa. 48:21 they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts, he made
water flow for them from the rock, 49:10, 11 by springs of water he will guide
them; I will turn all my mountains into a road; Jer. 31:12 And they will come
and cry out on the height of Zion, cf. Isa. 35:10; 51:11 and they will come to
Zion with joyous cries. Borrowing seems plausible in all these cases and we
found factual arguments to name not Jeremiah but Isaiah as the source text.
Once in a while there was just cause to implicate other Jeremian passages
in this diachronic inquiry. It thus appeared that the points of contact Jer.
1:5/Isa. 49:1 and Jer. 11:19/Isa. 53:78 provide new indications supporting
the priority of Deutero-Isaiah. They create the impression that Jeremiah
did not influence the portraiture of the suffering Servant of the Lord, but
that the suffering Servant influenced the portraiture of Jeremiah. In this
light the promise of salvation to Jeremiah in Jer. 1:8, 19 and 15:20 with its
reduced performativity may have derived from Deutero-Isaiahs promise
of salvation, and thus these texts do not need to assume an independent
Jeremian tradition behind the oracle of salvation Jer. 30:1011 = 46:2728.
What the comparison between Jer. 30:531:26 and Isaiah showed further,
concerns the intertextual position of Jer. 31:22 For Yhwh has created some-
thing new on earth . The verse reminds of Isa. 43:19 (strongest analogy),
48:67 and 65:17 through the terms create/make and new. In the remain-
der of Jer. 31:22 this new is described as follows: a woman surrounds a
man. In these words we find an association with the creation of man as
male and female in Gen 1:27. The designation something new is thereby
furnished with the connotation: something that equals the wonder of Gen.
1 in wonderfulness. Just as in Isa. 65 the new is compared here to the first cre-
ation. In this study we asked ourselves how Jer. 31:22 would have sounded to
someone that had previously taken heed of Isa. 65. The similarity lies in the
theme of the new creation as correction to Gen. 1, and also in the fact that
this new creation is applied to Zion in both prophetic passages: for I am
about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight (Isa. 65:18).
As we explained earlier, within its own literary context Jer. 31:22 like Isa. 65
seems to point at the salvation with which Zions holy mountain protects its
inhabitants [ 3.2.1].
A creation text such as Jer. 31:22 that has inspired so many creative exeget-
ical solutions, may guard its deepest secret even against these speculations.
Still, it is fascinating how texts sound different when they are read in a dif-
ferent orderin this case Jer. 31 not before but after Isa. 65. Using the points
of contact Jer. 4:13/Isa. 66:15 (Yhwh as chariot rider), Jer. 7:13, 27; 35:17/Isa.
50:2, 4; 65:12; 66:4 (speaking-hearing, calling-answering); and Jer. 29:5, 28/Isa.
65:21 (the planting of gardens or vineyards) we have considered the likeli-
hood that the scribes of Jeremiah indeed could have read Isa. 6566. Once
Isa. 65 echoes in Jer. 31 the result involuntarily releases anti-apocalyptic over-
tones. Not a new heaven and a new earth, but something new on earth is the
wonder that Yhwh will create according to Jeremiahs Booklet of Comfort.
How, with all this, does Jer. 3031 involve itself in the discussion on
Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah as promise texts? How does it engage with ques-
tions on the new, critical questions that the book of Isaiah might raise in
the mind of an attentive reader? A summary is provided of the section con-
cerned [ 4.2.3], also in light of other conclusions drawn in this final chapter:
(a) Formally Jer. 3031 answers the question how one might apply a dramatic
text like that of Deutero-Isaiah in social practice. The development of Ps. 98
as liturgical song via the reading dramas Ps. 93100 and Isa. 4055 to Jer.
30:531:26 as dramatic dream vision has been described using imagery from
drama theory as the gradual disappearance of the fourth wall. The drama
in which one participates, changes step by step into a vision that needs to
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 349
(d) In this way the scribes of Jer. 3031, seen in retrospect, had truly accepted
the challenge to connect the two lines in the prophetic expectation where
the word new plays such a crucial role. This connection implicated, among
other things, that early-apocalyptic elements from the book of Isaiah were
visibly supressed. In the interpretation of Isa. 65 we observed the close rela-
tion between temporal dualism in the expectation for the future and ethical
antagonism in the view on society. As its mirror image, a similar close rela-
tion may be presumed in Jer. 3031 between the anti-apocalyptic tendency
of 31:22, 36 and the anti-schwrmerisch tendency of 31:3134. The promise
of Jeremiah draws no further distinctions within the houses of Israel and
Judah, but addresses everyone personally. Besides its indissolubility, the new
covenant exhibits inclusivity as an inherent feature. Large or smallYhwh
350 chapter five
will write his torah in their heart. Just like Jer. 3031 joins various texts, it also
wishes (citing Georg Fischer) to unite people. And for this purpose it truly
does not refer to a far off, unreachable utopian future. Are the coming days
of Jeremiah not to begin with the lifetime of the current reader?
5.3. Eschatology
414416.
12 One illustration is found in the term pre-eschatological, which is employed by Th.C.
Vriezen, Prophecy and Eschatology, VT.S 1, Leiden 1953, 199229, esp. 225 to express the
national hope that would be audible in JE as source of the Pentateuch.
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 351
sees the central idea in the coming of Yhwh. According to D.E. Gowan, Eschatology in the Old
Testament, Edinburgh 1987, 519 Zion-Jerusalem stands at the centre of OT eschatology.
15 However see Isa. 65:17 and Jer. 31:22!
352 chapter five
To the idea from the psalm cycle of eschatology as an answer, the idea
of eschatology as completion thus links itselfbut the second not at a
loss of the first, which becomes evident when one zooms in closer on the
relation between eschatology and history. The new in Isa. 4048 itself does
not restore under what is usually called history; however Yhwh uses it to
provide the adequate human answer to what he has just proven through
world history. In this way the new things remain deeply related to historical
events and appear to have a historical decor as backdrop.
Deutero-Isaiah has a few dualistic motifs in Isa. 4955, but these are not
yet linked with the opposition first-new. This connection must wait for Isa.
65. The emphasis in Deutero-Isaiah is placed fully on the fact that the new
is realised now. That we accepted the terms actualising and presentic to
describe Deutero-Isaiahs eschatology, was influenced by this eschatology
definitively presenting the future promised by Yhwh in the Servant of the
Lord. One could say that according to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh has achieved
his eschatological goal in principle through the faithful trust of this Servant
as the embodiment of another Israel. This invalidates the dilemma between
conditional and unconditional salvation. The appointment of the Servant
as covenant and light (Isa. 42:6; 49:8) strengthens rather than weakens the
appeal this drama of salvation makes on the reader. Listening to the voice of
the Servant becomes decisive in the question on who personally has part of
the new future and who does not (Isa. 50:10).
Isa. 4055 shares its dramatic character with the psalm cycle Ps. 93100,
which is ultimately rooted in the liturgical experience itself. The main differ-
ence is that the psalm cycle still proposes the eschaton as cultically present.
While we see the emphasis in some of these songs already shifting from
liturgy to the dark life of the righteous, for whom nonetheless light is sown
(Ps. 97:11), all the attention in the psalm cycle still fell on the exuberant
celebration of Yhwhs enthronement in the second temples song of praise.
Only a minor role is left for this temple in Deutero-Isaiah, as the building
project of Cyrus. Indeed Deutero-Isaiahs dramatic composition is liturgi-
cally inspired, but a true liturgical text it is certainly no more. Presentic
eschatology has dissociated itself from the temple and is linked instead to
the life of the suffering Servant as prototype of the post-exilic pious.
To what extent are we dealing with an apocalyptic presentation in Isa.
65, and to what extent would this imply a break from the forgoing prophetic
eschatology? It is too simplistic to use the distinctions between metaphoric
and literal to demark Isa. 65:17 from its influence on Jewish and early
Christian apocalyptic texts [ 2.3.4]. At most these later influences indi-
cate a sharpening of the dualistic periodisation, seen for example in their
354 chapter five
bigger talk on the passing of the present heaven and earth. There against
we also find a common continuation from source text to its influencing:
the direct linkage between expecting a new heaven and a new earth and
the coexistence of the faithful and the apostates in the current world. Is it
not the case that these apostates hinder the dawn of Gods light and sal-
vation? Whoever sees the essence of apocalyptic thinking in the temporal
dualism as an answer to the coexistential problem, cannot but title the
presentation of Isa. 65 apocalyptic. Meanwhile, on this point there is no
religio-historical gap between Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah. Presentic eschatol-
ogy without a perspective on the future is a modern theological invention.
Deutero-Isaiahs presentic eschatology displays unmistakable traces of tem-
poral dualism, and conversely Trito-Isaiahs apocalypticism assumes that in
their faithful trust, the servants of the Lord actually represent the eschaton
now already. The most significant shift in this respect has taken place earlier,
that is, between the psalm cycle and Deutero-Isaiah: from an eschatology
that becomes actualised in the cultic celebration to an eschatology that is
actualised in the embattled life of the faithful. Apparently this last form of
eschatology cannot be maintained in the world of the Old Testament with-
out obtaining dualistic traces.
In theological thinking on the future we thus see a gradual development
that runs from the Yhwh-Kingship psalms via Deutero-Isaiah to Trito-Isaiah.
This development must have something to do with the decreasing involve-
ment of certain poets and singers in the temple liturgywith an increased
physical and mental distance, which according to the book of Isaiah, even
resulted in excommunication (Isa. 66:5). We could not fully explore this
socio-historical background in the context of this study.16 As it is, where the
embattled life of the faithful becomes a central issue in thinking about the
future, eschatology apparently develops into apocalypticism.
To the influences that later Jewish and Christian apocalypse have re-
worked, we may also include the book of Ezekiel. However, while under-
standing the presentation of the two aeons as the most characteristic apoc-
alyptic trait, it is difficult to call Ezekiels vision of the future apocalyptic.
The situation might have been different if we were obliged to view the Greek
papyrus 967 as a witness of the more original text form, as some insist. The
promise of salvation of Ezek. 36 is largely absent from the papyrus, and the
16 One aspect of this socio-historical background must have been the rivalry between
scribes and priests in the period of the second temple (K. van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and
the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Cambridge, MA 2007, 107).
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 355
order of Ezek. 37 and 3839 is inverted. In this arrangement the time of sal-
vation first begins after the Gog episode, which would thereby acquire the
character of an apocalyptic day of reckoning. However, in this study we were
able to substantiate the opposite view using a whole series of arguments [
3.1.4.1]: not papyrus 967 but the Masora preserved the older text form. In this
Ezek. 3839 is definitely not a final act, but merely a world-immanent test on
the sum of the foregoing promise of permanent restoration. The Gog episode
allows influence from the Zion tradition to simmer through and in this way
participates in the matrix mythliturgyhistoryfuture expectation, which
we treated above, but it remains especially Israels dream of the unlived life:
How different could the national history have been, had our people behaved
properly in the past like people of God.
We next found that there is nothing to find in Ezekiels promise of sal-
vation of what characterises its cultic-dramatic styling in Deutero-Isaiah
[ 3.1.4.3]. The distinction in terminology between restitution scenario and
restitution programme was employed to voice this difference concretely.
However, Ezekiels restitution programme should not be confused with an
objectifying prediction of Israels future history. The enduring consonance
of Ezek. 18 and 36 makes it clear that prophecy promising inner change, still
remains an encouragement. Exhortation and promise, promise and exhor-
tation flow smoothly into each other in Ezekielmore or less like one says
alternatingly in an educational role, something should and will succeed.17
It is noticeable how sporadic terms like eschatology and eschatologic are
encountered in exegetical literature on Ezek. 36, certainly in comparison to
that on the texts of the Psalms and Isaiah. The purposefulness of Yhwhs acts
finds expression in Ezekiels words of evidence and formula of recognition
(so that they/you will know that I am Yhwh), but we have seen that the
argument of Ezek. 36 links recognition and renewal at most in an indirect
way, differently from Deutero-Isaiah. Thus also from this angle we find no
reason to label the promise of a new heart and a new spirit in Ezekiel with
the term eschatological.18
descriptive meaning. A still relevant correction to this remains Austins differentiation be-
tween language utterances as locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Prophet-
ic promises like these of Ezekiel should also be judged on their intended perlocutionary
effect: change they wish to effect in the reader (cf. J. Lyons, Semantics, Cambridge 1977, 731).
18 The fact that the recognition formula in Ezekiel is not only connected with Yhwhs
future acts but also with what he has done and is doing, shows that the purpose of recog-
nition, to use a spatial image, stands at right angles to history rather than being its contin-
uation. In the line of Ps. 2; 48; 76; Isa. 29:18; cf. Zech. 12; 14, we see Ezek. 3839 as a futurised
356 chapter five
Not until Jer. 3031 is this promise of Ezekiel fused with the eschatology of
Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah, and then in the concept new covenant. Striking
in this daring intertextual undertaking, however, is the de-apocalypticising
tendency. A new heaven and a new earth are no longer mentioned in Jer.
31:3537, like at the end of the book of Isaiah, but the existing ordinances of
creation are declared by God to be permanent guarantees for the continued
existence of Israel. According to Jer. 31:22 Yhwh will not create a new earth,
but something new on earth: an embracement of all Judeas inhabitants
by Zions holy mountain. The same anti-apocalyptic motive could be at
play in this enigmatic verse, as we have argued. The book of Jeremiah
thus illustrates that a non-dualistic reading of Isaiahs expectation on the
future also belongs to the historical possibilities. Presumably there is a close
connection between this down-to-earth mode of reading and the inclusivity
that characterises the new covenant according to Jer. 31:3134 more than
anything else. Just like with the blessed mother city that will create room
for every farmer and shepherd, it will be for the new covenant. The book of
Jeremiah seems hesitant to resign itself to a separation between the faithful
and the apostates in Israel, and therefore it need not resign itself to a dividing
line between the present and the coming age.19
Thus older and younger texts continue asking each other questions back
and forth. It is interesting to see how the reception history of Jeremiah,
which had to remain outside our discussion, in turn integrated the new
covenant in an apocalyptic scheme. The concept new covenant thereby
received a polemical spire in the New Testament which is altogether lacking
in Jer. 31. This led to the new covenant marking a partition between believ-
ers, even in the naming of the Scriptures themselves, which in our view is
difficult to reconcile with the inclusive tenor of Jer. 31:3134. If the literary-
historical order between the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah indeed accords
cultic experience. Indeed here too that what the psalms spoke of in the present tense has now
been projected into the future, according to D.E. Gowan, Theology of the Prophetic Books: The
Death and Resurrection of Israel, Louisville 1998, 56 one of the earliest stages in the devel-
opment of Old Testament eschatology. However even in this approach it is clear that inner
renewal (Ezek. 36) and eschatology (Ezek. 3839) are two separate things in Ezekiel. It hardly
seems a clarification to call every divine promise, every promise of restoration, every promise
of change eschatological.
19 On the relation between the piety of Jeremiahs confessions (Jer. 11:1812:6; 15:1020;
17:1418; 18:1823; 20:718) and that of the early apocalyptic texts in Isaiah, see K.-F. Pohlmann,
Die Ferne GottesStudien zum Jeremiabuch: Beitrge zu den Konfessionen im Jeremiabuch
und ein Versuch zur Frage nach den Anfngen der Jeremiatradition (BZAW, 179), Berlin 1989,
105106. The distance to TIs dualism, however, is all the more notable in light of this relation.
the new as scenario and programme: conclusion 357
with this studys findings, this would imply a critical question being posed
to Christian theology.
For a discussion on eschatology as either extrapolation or anticipation,
the future as futurum or adventus [ 1.1], the most obvious leads are found
in the drama of Deutero-Isaiah. It is certainly possible to draw lines from the
past to the present and to infer justified expectations from them regarding
the progression of history as futurum. Cyrus will prosper in his way. The
world keeps turning and history continues. It is difficult to base a theology
on the prophetic texts we have discussed in which history and historical
tradition close the door and no longer have a perspective on the future
to offer. However this is not the intention of the promise of the new. The
new things are founded in God alone andparadoxically enoughin what
people yet know partially of him, his true Name, his still not completely
revealed Kingship. This seems to us to be the unanimous adventic scope of
the diverse newness promises that this study has analysed. At the same time
this does not make them promises in the long term, but promises that yearn
to bring about change in the current reader who accepts them.
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Mein, A., Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile (OTM), Oxford 2001
selected bibliography 367
Schoors, A., I Am God Your Saviour: A Form-Critical Study of the Main Genres in Is.
XLLV (VT.S, 24), Leiden 1973
, Leschatologie dans les prophties du Deutro-Isae, Rech Bibl 8 (1967),
107128
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Schramm, B., The Opponents of Third Isaiah: Reconstructing the Cultic History of the
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Schreiner, J., Eschatologie im Alten Testament, in: M. Schmaus et al. (eds), Hand-
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, Jeremia (NEB, 9), Bd. 2, Wrzburg 1984
Schrter, U., Jeremias Botschaft fr das Nordreich, zu N. Lohfinks berlegungen
zum Grundbestand von Jeremia XXXXXXI, VT 35 (1985), 312329
Schultz, R.L, The Search for Quotation: Verbal Parallels in the Prophets (JSOT.S, 180),
Sheffield 1999
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Schwagmeier, P., Untersuchungen zu Textgeschichte und Entstehung des Ezechiel-
buches in masoretischer und griechischer berlieferung, Zrich 2004
Schweizer, H., Prdikationen und Leerstellen im I. Gottesknechtslied (Jes 42:14),
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Sedlmeier, F., Deine Brder, deine Brder : Die Beziehung von Ez 11,1421 zur
dtn-dtr Theologie, in: W. Gro (ed.), Jeremia und die deuteronomistische Bewe-
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, Studien zu Komposition und Theologie von Ezechiel 20 (SBB, 21), Stuttgart 1990
Seidl, T., Texte und Einheiten in Jeremia 2729: Literaturwissenschaftliche Studie (ATS,
5), Bd. 1, St. Ottilien 1977
Seitz, C.R., How Is the Prophet Isaiah Present in the Latter Half of the Book? The
Logic of Chapters 4066 within the Book of Isaiah, JBL 115 (1996), 219240
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Berlin 1989
Sekine, S., Die Tritojesajanische Sammlung ( Jes 5666) redaktionsgeschichtlich unter-
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Selms, A. van, Jeremia (POT), dl. 3, Nijkerk 1974
Simian, H., Die theologische Nachgeschichte der Prophetie Ezechiels: Form- und tra-
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Sister, M., Die Typen der prophetischen Visionen in der Bibel, MGWJ 78 (1934),
399430
Smelik, K.A.D., Het gezicht van de twee vijgenkorven: De plaats van hoofdstuk 24 in het
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Smith, P.A., Rhetoric and Redaction in Trito-Isaiah: The Structure, Growth, and Au-
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370 selected bibliography
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of Deutero-Isaiahs Use of Prophetic Tradition, in: R.F. Melugin, M.A. Sweeney
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, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 4066, Stanford, CA 1998
Spieckermann, H., Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (FRLANT, 148), Gt-
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Spottorno, V., La omisin de Ez. 36,23b38y la transposicin de captulos en el
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INDEX OF AUTHORS
Franke, C., 45, 67 Knobloch, H., 213, 232, 248, 252, 299, 305,
Fuhs, H.F., 156 310311, 317, 320321
Koch, K., 24, 45, 144, 164
Gadamer, H.-G., 7, 67, 107, 314 Koenen, K., 15, 22, 2426, 28, 87, 118, 121, 125,
Garscha, J., 183185 128, 130
Gerstenberger, E.S., 197 Kohn, R.L., 261, 276
Ginsberg, H.L., 15, 30, 83, 87 Knig, F.E., 202
Glanz, O., 202, 305 Kooij, A. van der, 107
Gosse, B., 83, 88 Koole, J.L., 87, 131132, 295, 298299
Goulder, M.D., 24 Kratz, R.G., 1, 7073, 82, 92, 97
Gowan, D.E., 100, 188, 257, 342, 351, 356 Kraus, H.J., 14, 30, 90
Greenberg, M., 157, 191 Kreuzer, S., 32
Gro, W., 123, 207, 209, 315 Krger, T., 183, 191, 194
Gunkel, H., 30, 33, 83, 199 Kutsch, E., 206, 315
Kuyvenhoven, R., 258, 264
Habets, G., 102
Hals, R.M., 157 Laato, A., 60
Hanson, P.D., 113, 130, 146148 Labahn, A., 73, 298, 312, 321322
Hardmeier, C., 45, 73, 246 Lang, B., 193
Hermisson, H.-J., 45, 7072, 80, 102105, Leene, H., 1, 13, 33, 4547, 56, 62, 6971, 77,
109110, 131, 283 83, 84, 88, 94, 96, 111, 138, 148, 152, 154,
Herrmann, S., 252 199200, 202, 206, 211212, 233, 235236,
Hitzig, F., 156, 303 238239, 253, 259, 265266, 284
Hobson, J.A., 239 Lelivre, A., 83
Hffken, P., 81, 94, 102, 127 Levin, C., 180, 184, 187, 192194, 199, 247, 249,
Holladay, W.H., 200, 203, 237, 295, 304, 308 261, 270272
Holter, K., 94 Liebreich, L.J., 127
Hossfeld, F.-L., 15, 24, 3133, 91, 185187, 263 Lindblom, J., 102, 104, 106
Howard, D.M., 17, 21, 2426, 30 Lipiski, E., 40
Huizinga, J., 43 Lisowsky, G., 203
Hyatt, J.P., 241, 303 Liwak, R., 193, 310
Lohfink, N., 200, 207, 234, 236, 322
Irsigler, H., 31 Longman, T., 13
Irwin, W.A., 127 Loretz, O., 30, 32, 3738, 313
Lugtigheid, P., 80
Janowski, B., 34, 36, 41 Lust, J., 172, 174175, 177180, 262263, 342
Jenner, K.D., 61 Lyons, J., 355
Jenni, E., 143, 351
Jeremias, J., 17, 23, 30, 3436, 41, 83, 87 Maier, C., 208, 212, 232234, 251252, 272, 311,
Johnson, A.C., 172173 319
Johnson, A.R., 83 Maillot, A., 83
Jones, D.R., 75 Marti, K., 251
Jong, S. de, 78 Matheus, F., 83, 301
Jngling, H.-W., 270 May, H.G., 277
Mays, J.L., 93
Kase, E.H., 172 Mazurel, J.W., 240, 308
Kaufmann, Y., 83 McCarley, R.W., 239
Kiesow, K., 70 Meer, M.N. van der, 174, 176, 269
Kilpp, N., 156, 241242, 246, 295 Mein, A., 170
Kissane, E.J., 17, 121 Mendecki, N., 264, 304
Kittel, R., 14 Mettinger, T.N.D., 32, 8991, 94
Klopfenstein, M.A., 41 Michel, D., 34, 35, 102
index of authors 375
Mielgo, C., 295, 303 Ruiten, J.T.A.G.M. van, 119, 122123, 136,
Millard, M., 24 140143
Miller, J.W., 253, 257, 261, 266, 272 Ruszkowski, L., 117, 124, 132133
Moor, J.C. de, 37
Movers, F.K., 303 Sawyer, J.F.A., 264
Mowinckel, S., 13, 19, 28, 4041, 43, 44, 83, Schenker, A., 156, 157, 200202, 210, 245, 316
351 Schmid, K., 82, 202, 207, 214, 218, 223,
Mller, H.P., 102, 112113 236240, 244246, 248, 250252,
261, 264, 268, 270, 272, 275276, 288,
Ngelsbach, C.F., 121 295, 296, 299, 303306, 312, 314, 316,
Neve, L., 199 341
Nicholson, E.W., 241242 Schmidt, H., 15
Nierlinck, F., 350 Schmidt, W.H., 133
North, C.R., 45 Schneider, W., 34
Ntscher, F., 203 Schoors, A., 45, 102, 104, 300
Schpflin, K., 195
Odashima, T., 235236, 301 Schramm, B., 99, 122, 129130, 132
Oesterly, W.O.E., 19 Schreiner, J., 102, 108, 202, 303305
Ohnesorge, S., 174, 184185, 187189, 192194 Schrter, U., 234, 236
Oorschot, J. van, 7072, 74, 89 Schultz, R.L., 266
Oosterhoff, B.J., 257 Schunck, K.-D., 102103
Oosting, R.H., 88, 92, 97 Schwagmeier, P., 174183, 191, 266, 268
Orelli, C., 121 Schweizer, H., 73
Otto, E., 36, 41 Sedlmeier, F., 192, 194
Sehmsdorf, E., 128
Pakkala, J., 133 Seidl, T., 242
Paton-Williams, D., 60 Seitz, C.R., 75, 78, 81, 264, 274
Paul, S., 295296, 304 Sekine, S., 128
Perlitt, L., 206207 Selms, A. van, 202, 304
Petersen, C., 14, 30, 37 Shakespeare, W., 97, 347
Petry, S., 3536, 87, 90, 94, 194, 260 Simian, H., 185187
Pfister, M., 62, 68 Sister, M., 204
Ploeg, J.P.M. van der, 15 Smelik, K.A.D., 217218
Pohlmann, K.-F., 156, 179, 191194, 217, Smith, P.A., 125, 128, 130
274275, 277278, 356 Sommer, B.D., 7577, 81, 137, 278, 287, 290,
Preuss, H.D., 110 293, 295, 298299, 304305, 307, 318
Prinsloo, W.S., 34 Spieckermann, H., 16, 29, 31, 34, 36, 38,
4142
Rad, G. von, 14, 45, 105, 156 Spottorno, V., 174
Raitt, T.M., 152 Steck, O.H., 70, 117, 119, 123125, 128129, 306
Ranke, E., 107 Stern, P.D., 61, 64
Ranke, L., 173 Stipp, H.-J., 244, 248, 271
Renaud, B., 270 Stolz, F., 30, 164, 245
Rendtorff, R., 81, 192, 259260, 316317, 329, Sweeney, M.A., 119, 127
351
Renz, T., 168 Tackeray, H.S.J., 173
Ridderbos, J., 14 Talmon, S., 173
Riemersma, N., 207 Talstra, E., 36
Rietzschel, C., 242 Tannert, W., 82, 287, 293, 295, 298299,
Ringgren, H., 310 304305, 307
Rmer, T., 232 Tate, M.E., 14, 17, 20, 24, 31, 197
Rudolph, W., 203, 209, 221, 304 Thiel, W., 241242, 246, 260, 277
376 index of authors
Waldow, H.E. von, 45 Zenger, E., 15, 2425, 27, 3033, 91, 206, 210,
Walsh, J.P., 73 315
Wambacq, B.N., 304 Ziegler, J., 173
Wanke, G., 242, 246 Zimmerli, W., 45, 155, 161, 164, 184, 189, 191,
Webster, E.C., 117, 119, 121, 128 193, 257258, 270, 284285, 328
INDEX OF BIBLICAL TEXTS
Exodus Judges
15 32, 42 6:22 247
15:1416 42 8:23 94
15:18 34, 38
1934 316 1 Samuel
34 317, 320 3:7 209
8:7 94
Leviticus 10:9 193
14:7 197
14:52 197 2 Samuel
1726 196 15:10 34
18:28 162 22:44 292
25:2452 270
26 317 1 Kings
26:45 20, 232 8:4748 223, 261
14:6 267
Numbers
16:30 296 2 Kings
19:13 197 9:13 20, 35
19:18 176 11:12 87
19:20 197
Isaiah
Deuteronomy 139 7483, 324
4:27 276 112 83, 127
4:29 221, 223, 261 12 82
4:40 226 1 127, 312
5:25 226 1:2 127
12:9 29 1:2831 140
12:29 226 2:15 127
18 320 2:2 294
24:16 267 2:3 292
24:19 309 2:4 17
28:64 267 6 35
29:27 226 6:910 76
378 index of biblical texts
Ezra Revelation
16 2829, 92, 99 14:3 40
1:24 99 15:4 40
2:62 277 19:11 40
6:25 99 2021 174
6:3 99 21:18 141142