Redemption According to Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah
Summary: Both Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah prophesied about the same redemption. Those of Jeremiah relate to a non-miraculous return and are probably how the returnees to Zion imagined redemption would be. Most of the prophecies of the Second Isaiah relate to super-natural happenings, none of which came about. Traditionally, they have been regarded as describing the messianic era. It is debatable, however, whether this is truly what the Second Isaiah intended.
The messianic ideal was born during the time of the prophets, and their prophecies of utopia were all directed to the situation in which the Jewish people then found themselves. The vision of the prophet Micha was linked to redemption from an Assyrian exile that he thought was imminent, while for the First Isaiah, utopia was linked to King Hezekiah’s religious reforms.
Jeremiah lived during the chaotic end of the monarchial period and this culminated as he had prophesied in the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonian Empire. Towards the end of his book, he describes a vision of a joyous redemption taking place seventy years from the time of destruction. His visions are mainly non-messianic and contain no aspects of universalism. This may well be the type of redemption the people anticipated when they returned to Zion. The Second Isaiah lived when redemption had already been announced by Cyrus, the new king of the Persian empire, and whom the Second Isaiah considered a God-appointed savior. Isaiah’s vision of redemption is universal, messianic and inspiring.
How should later generations deal with these visions, given that many of the prophets’ predictions failed to materialize?
This is the focus of this chapter.
More history about the Kingdom of Judah
As for the previous prophets, the prophecies of Jeremiah cannot be fully understood without appreciation of the history of that time, and in particular the activities of the kings of Judah towards the end of the monarchal First Temple period.
Manasseh took over the throne on the death of his father Hezekiah when he was only 12 and he reigned for the next 55 years. The story is already familiar. He reversed the religious orientation of Judah from monotheism to paganism in a throwback to his grandfather Ahaz, including in the Holy Temple. This was part and parcel of being a loyal vassal of Assyria. As the Book of Kings relates:
“And he [Manasseh] did what was evil in the eyes of God; like the abominations of the nations that God had driven out from before the children of Israel. And he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars to the Baal, and he made an asherah as Ahab the king of Israel had made, and he prostrated himself to the entire host of the heaven, and he worshipped them. And he built altars in the House of God, concerning which God had said: ‘In Jerusalem I will establish My name.’ And he built altars for the entire host of Heaven in the two courts of the House of God. And he passed his son through fire; he practiced soothsaying and divination, and he consulted necromancers and those divine by the Jidoa bone; he did much that was evil in the eyes of God to provoke [Him].” (II Kings 21:1-6].1
At this time, according to the Book of Kings, the prophets of God began prophesying the end of Judah, which is to say that a prophetic tradition was building up that the kingdom was heading towards destruction:2
“And God spoke through His servants the prophets, saying: ‘Since Manasseh has committed these abominations, he has done more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him did, and he caused Judah to sin with his idols. Therefore, said God, the God of Israel, ‘Behold I bring calamity on Jerusalem and Judea, concerning which the two ears of all those who hear will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, he wipes and turns it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of My heritage, and I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they will become plunder and prey for all their enemies” (II Kings 21:10-14).
After the death of his father, Amon became king and like his father held to a policy of cooperation with the Assyrians that included debasement of the religious rites in the Temple. He was assassinated after two years by a group of his own noblemen. They too were murdered and Amon’s 8-year old son Josiah (reigned 640-609 BCE) was installed on the throne.
Josiah was of a different mindset to his father and grandfather. Beginning in the 12th year of his reign, he began a policy of religious reform, including the purging of Jerusalem and Judah of idolatry. He may also have taken over territory in Samaria, which was then only loosely ruled by Assyria, and destroyed all vestiges of idolatry there too, while attempting to persuade Jews still remaining in the country to worship in the Temple in Jerusalem:
“And in the eight year when he became king, when he [Josiah] was still a youth, he started to seek after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he started to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asherim, the graven images and the molten images. And they demolished before him the altars of the baalim and the sun images that were above them he cut down, and the asherim, the graven images, and the molten images he smashed and crushed, and he cast them upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. And the bones of the priests he burned on their altars, and he purged Judah and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simon as far as Naphtali with their ruins of destruction around. And he demolished the altars and the asherim and the graven images he crushed into dust, and all the sun images he cut down in all the land of Israel, and he returned to Jerusalem” (II Chronicles 34: 3-7).
Six years later, in the eighteenth year of his reign, repairs were begun on the Temple and “a scroll of the Law (sefer haTorah) of God (YHVH) by the hand of Moses” was discovered.3 It was read before Josiah and he rent his clothes (II Chronicle 34:14-33 and II Kings 22:8). The prophetess Hulda was consulted and she had little to say of comfort. She prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed as the curses in the scroll indicated, although Josiah would merit not to see any of this destruction. Not discouraged, the king called all the people of Judah to the Temple for a public reading of the scroll and enacted a covenant with them to keep the commandments described in the scroll. With this, the people turned to God (II Chronicles 34:33 and II Kings 23:3).
Josiah died in battle while still young. In the 31st year of his reign, in 612 BCE, the Medes allied with the Babylonians against Assyria, and Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, fell to their combined forces. Three years later, Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, an ally of the Assyrians, marched up the coast of Israel to battle the Babylonians and prevent their hegemony. It is unclear why Josiah became involved in this struggle, but he engaged the Egyptians at Megiddo and was killed by Egyptian archers.4Pharaoh Necho, meanwhile, continued northwards to engage the Babylonians.
Josiah’s son Jehoahaz now became king, but the Egyptians, who now controlled Judah, deposed him after his being only three months on the throne and replaced him with his half-brother Jehoiakim, who they felt would be more supportive of an Egyptian-Assyrian alliance against Babylon (II Kings 23:30-35). They also helped themselves to a heavy tribute. Neither the Book of Chronicles nor the Rabbinic literature is complementary about Jehoiakim (reigned 609-598 BCE) who is regarded as a godless tyrant.5
The story continues its complicated course that will end in two Judean exiles. In 605 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and the remainder of the Assyrian army at the Battle of Carchemish. He then marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. This was good reason for Jehoiakim to change his allegiance to the Babylonians and he remained a vassal of Babylon for three years. However, sensing weakness of the Babylonians when they failed in an invasion of Egypt, he switched sides again to the Egyptians. Nebuchadnezzar once more besieged Jerusalem to restore order and Jehoiakim died before the siege ended. Jeremiah had prophesied that Jehoiakim would “be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 22:18-19) and this is what happened.6 His son Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah), who had just been appointed king, surrendered to the Babylonians.
Jehoiachin’s surrender had saved Nebuchadnezzar the job of conquering Jerusalem and he treated the city relatively mildly. He sacked the riches of the Temple, deported Jehoiachin to Babylon as a royal guest, and in 597 BCE exiled some 10,000 of Jerusalem’s leading citizens to Babylon, leaving only the poorest of the population in Judah (2 Kings 24:12-16). Among those exiled was a young priest called Ezekiel.
That the prominent citizens of Jerusalem were exiled and not the lower classes would have important consequences for the Jewish people, since it ensured that they would remain a distinct faith-bound community in Babylon. The Jewish infrastructure they set up would also serve well the next exile when Jerusalem was destroyed 10 years later. The Jews settled near the city of Nippur, near the river Kebar, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and not far from Babylon. They were given a reasonable amount of autonomy and fared well financially. The prophet Jeremiah calls this group the “good figs,” namely a remnant of Israel that would survive the exile, while he prophesied everyone else in Jerusalem would be destroyed by “sword, famine and pestilence” (Jeremiah 24:9).
In the meantime, the Babylonians placed a puppet king, Zedekiah, an uncle of Jehoiachin, as ruler of Judah. Zedekiah (reigned 597 to 586 BCE) visited Babylon and made an oath of loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless, many of influence in his kingdom advised rebellion. Jeremiah counselled continuing subjugation to the Babylonians, whom he regarded as agents of God. This did not stop Zedekiah from breaking his oath and he rebelled against the Babylonians. Jeremiah realized that the Jewish kingdom was now doomed. The final bitter siege of Jerusalem was in 586 BCE and lasted three months. The city and the Temple were burnt to the ground and its residents killed or deported to Babylon. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, but were captured. Zedekiah’s sons were killed before his eyes and he was then blinded and imprisoned in Babylon.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem, Gedaliah was made governor of the Jews still living around Jerusalem in what was now a Babylonian province. However, he was assassinated soon after this and the Jews remaining fled the country (II Kings 25:25). This was the end of Jewish life in Judah.
Thus, there were thus three waves of Jewish exile to Babylon. The first was in 597 BCE at the time of King Jehoiachin and involved about 8,000 people. The second and largest was at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE and probably involved about 75,000 people. There may have been a third, smaller emigration after the assassination of the governor Gedaliah in about 582 BCE, although most Jews emigrated to Egypt, including the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah’s prophecies
Jeremiah was born in the village of Anatot, a village in the Judean Desert a few miles north-east of Jerusalem.8 His family were priests, although they were not active in the Temple service.
Jewish tradition holds that Jeremiah wrote the Book of Jeremiah (as well as the Book of Kings and Lamentations) assisted by his scribe and disciple Baruch ben Neriya. This book is not always in chronological order and it can be difficult sometimes to put chapters into their historical context.
In the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, in 626 BCE, when still young, Jeremiah experienced a vision from God that would determine the direction of all his future prophecies, although at the time it would have been unclear to him which nations would descend on Judea from “towards the north.” He also admits that for considerable time no one listened to him:1
“And the word of God came to me saying: ‘What do you see Jeremiah?’ And I said, ‘I see a rod of an almond tree. And God said to me: You have seen well, for I hasten My word to accomplish it. And the word of God came to me a second time, saying: What do you see? And I said: ‘I see a bubbling pot whose foam is towards the north. And God said to me: From the north the misfortune will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold I am summoning all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says God, and they will come and place each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls around and against all the cities of Judea. And I will utter My judgments against them [the inhabitants of Judea] concerning all their evil and they left Me and offered up burnt-offerings to other gods and they prostrated themselves to the work of their hands. And you shall gird our loins and arise and speak to them of that I command you; be not dismayed by them, lest I break you before them” (Jeremiah 1:11-17).9
In chapter 3, Jeremiah encourages those Jews exiled from the Northern Kingdom, or perhaps families still living in the Northern Kingdom, to repent and return to the Temple worship in Jerusalem. This may have been during Josiah’s reforms.10 He also makesthem asurprising offer regarding the Ark of the Covenant. Reuniting the tribes was a major project of Jeremiah and he will return again to this topic in his prophecies of consolation regarding redemption:
“Return, backsliding children, says God, for I possessed you, and I will take you [i.e. Jews from the Northern tribes], one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall be, when you multiply and are fruitful in the land in those days, says God, they will no longer say ’The ark of the Lord’s covenant,’ neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they mention it, nor shall they remember it, nor shall it be done anymore. At that time, they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of God,’ and all nations shall gather to it in the name of God, to Jerusalem, and they shall no longer follow the idea of their evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah will go with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the north land to the land that I caused your forefathers to inherit” (ibid 3:14-18).
Jeremiah is proposing to the Northern tribes that the Ark of the Covenant be removed from the Holy of Holies. The Ark was initially in Shilo in Samaria, but subsequently became the symbol of the glory of the house of David after being retrieved from the Philistines who had captured it. It was subsequently hidden during the reign of Manasseh (II Chronicles 35:3), but brought into the Temple during the reign of Josiah. The Talmud suggests that Josiah hid it again.11 The cherubim over the Ark can consideredto represent the throneof God, and Jeremiah is now suggesting that all of Jerusalem be thought of in this way.
Outwardly, the people in Judah may have returned to monotheism and Temple worship during the reforms of Josiah, but paganism and social injustice were still rife among the population. This could be why Jeremiah makes no mention of Josiah’s reforms in his prophecies or provides him with encouragement as did the First Isaiah at the time of Hezekiah’s religious reforms.12
“The word that came to Jeremiah from God saying: Stand in the gate of the house of the God and proclaim there this word and say: Hearken to the word of God, all Judah who come into these gates to prostrate yourselves before God. So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Improve your ways and your deeds, I will allow you to dwell in this place. Do not rely on false words saying: The Temple of God, the Temple of God, the Temple of God are they. For if you improve your ways and your deeds, if you perform judgment between one man and his fellowman. [If] you do not oppress a stranger, an orphan, or a widow, and if you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not follow other gods for your detriment, I will allow you to dwell in this place …. The sons are gathering wood, the fathers are kindling fire, and the women are kneading dough to make star-shaped cakes for the queen of the heaven and to pour libations to other gods, in order to provoke Me …… Therefore, so says the Lord God: behold My wrath and My fury reaches this place, upon man and upon beast, upon the trees of the field and upon the produce of the soil, and shall burn and not be quenched” (ibid 7:1-6,8,20).13
Jeremiah also stresses the importance of adhering to the laws of the Sabbath, and in particular refraining from normal weekday business activities, although this was of no avail:
“And you shall say to them: Hearken to the word of God, O kings of Judah and all of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who come into these gates. So said God: Beware for your souls and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring into the gates of Jerusalem. Neither shall you take a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor shall you perform any labor, and you shall hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your forefathers. But they did not hearken ….” (ibid 17:20-23).
Jeremiah’s prophecies of consolation
As the destruction of Jerusalem approaches ever closer, Jeremiah begins prophesying about redemption. He also prophecies that the Jewish people will return to Zion after seventy years of exile and that Babylon will receive a punishment of utter destruction:
“And all this land [Judah] now shall become waste [and] desolation, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. And it shall be at the completion of seventy years, I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation, says God, their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it for everlasting desolations” (ibid 25:11-13).14
While Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah was imprisoned by the king because of his defeatist attitude to Babylon. While still incarcerated he received a directive from God to redeem a field in his home town of Anatot. This, of course, made little sense given the situation. However, its purpose was to demonstrate publicly the inevitability of a future redemption. Therefore, there needed to be witnesses to the sale and the documents from the sale would need to be preserved:
“The word that came to Jeremiah from God in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah; that is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. The army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the prison yard that was [in] the house of the king of Judah …. And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me saying: Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you saying: Buy for yourself my field that is in Anatot, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. …. Then Hanamel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the prison yard, according to the word of God and said to me: ‘Please buy my field in Anatot, that is in the country of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and you have the right of redemption, buy it for yourself.’ And I knew that this was the word of God
So I bought the field from Hanamel … and weighed him the money, seven shekels and ten pieces of silver. And I wrote a bill of sale and signed it and took witnesses and weighed the silver on a scale .…. And I charged Baruch in their presence, saying: ‘So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these scrolls, this deed of purchase and the signed one and this open scroll and put them into an earthen vessel so that they remain many years. For so says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased again in this land’ …….. Behold I will gather them from all the lands where I have driven them with My anger and with My wrath and with great fury, and I will restore them to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. And they shall be My people and I will be their God ….. And I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land truly with all My heart and with all My soul. For so said God: As I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so will I bring upon them all the good that I speak concerning them. And the field shall be bought in this land, which you say: ‘It is desolate without man or beast; it has been given unto the hand[s] of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money and inscribe deeds and sign [them] and appoint witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah and the cities of the mountain and in the cities of the southland, for I will restore their captivity, says the Lord” (ibid 32:1-3, 8-10,13-15, 37-38, 41-44).
Jeremiah’s book also contains two chapters of consolation regarding the future redemption. They contain none of the universal utopianism seen in the prophesies of the two Isaiah’s and the significance of this redemption remains confined to the Jewish people:
“The word that came to Jeremiah from God saying: So said the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write for you the words that I have spoken to you on a scroll. For behold days are coming, says God, when I will restore the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says God, and I will restore them to the land that I gave their forefathers and they shall possess it .….. And it shall be on that day, says God of Hosts, [that] I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will break your thongs, and strangers shall no longer enslave them. And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will set up for them” (ibid 30:1-9).
Measure for measure, those who inflicted harm on the Jewish people will themselves be destroyed, Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and the relationship between God and the Jewish people will be restored:
“Therefore, all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your adversaries, yea all of them, shall go into captivity, and those who plunder you shall be plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give for prey. For I will bring healing to you and of your wounds I will heal you, says God, for they called you an outcast, that is Zion whom no one seeks out. So said God: Behold I am returning the captivity of the tents of Jacob, and his dwellings I will pity, and the city shall be built on its mound and the palace on its proper site shall be established. And thanksgiving and the voice of those making merry shall proceed from them, and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished, and I will increase them, and they shall not be few in number. And their children shall be of old, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and will visit [evil] upon all their oppressors. And their prince shall be from them, and their ruler shall emerge from their midst, and I will bring him near, and he shall approach Me, for who is it who pledged his heart to approach Me? Says God. And you shall be My people, and I will be your God ……. At that time, says God, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people” (ibid 30:16-25).
Despite their exile, God’s love for the Jewish people will not be diminished. The Northern Tribes will also participate in this future redemption:15
“From long ago, God appeared to me: With everlasting love have I loved you: Therefore have I drawn you to Me with loving kindness. Yet again will I rebuild you, then you shall be built, O virgin of Israel; yet again shall you be adorned with your drums, and you shall go out with the dances of those who make merry. Yet again shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, indeed planters shall plant [them] and redeem [them]. For there is a day, the watchers shall call on the mountains of Ephraim: Rise! Let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God …….. Behold I bring them from the north country and gather them from the uttermost ends of the earth, the blind and the lame amongst them, the women with child and she who travails with child all together; a great company shall they return there. With weeping will they come, and with supplications will I lead them, along brooks of water will I make them go, upon a straight road upon which they will not stumble, for I have become a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn” (ibid 31:2-8).
Also, earlier in his book, a redemption of all the exiles is described which in its manifestations of the power of God will exceed the redemption from Egypt as God fishes out the dispersed exiles:
“Therefore, behold days are coming says God, and it shall no longer be said: ‘As God lives Who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. But “As the God lives, Who brought up the children of Israel from the northland and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ And I will restore them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. Behold I will send for many fishers, says God and they will fish them, and afterwards I will send to many hunters and they will hunt them from upon every mountain and upon every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks. For My eyes ae on all their ways, they were not hidden from Me, neither was their iniquity hidden from before My eyes” (ibid 16:14-17).
In what may be a deliberate contrast to the gloom of his previous prophesies, the joy during this future redemption emanates from his words:
“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the round dance with music, and the young men and the old men together, and I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow” (ibid 31:12).
But will not this future redemption be part of an ever-recurring cycle of sin, exile and redemption? Not so, states Jeremiah, who envisages a permanent change in the relationship between God and His people. The chastisement that the Jewish people suffered will bring about an enduring return to God (ibid 31:17), and he projects us into a time when a “new covenant” will be established and every Jew will know of God:
“Behold days are coming, says God, and I will form a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, a new covenant. Not like the covenant that I formed with their forefathers on the day I took them by the hand to take them out of the land of Egypt, that they broke My covenant, although I was a Lord over them, says God. For this is the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel after those days, says God. I will place My law in their midst and I will inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be My people. And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or [shall] one [teach] his brother saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest, says God, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember. So says God, Who gives the sun to illuminate by day …….” (ibid 31:30-34).
The prophecies of the Second Isaiah
It was discussed in the previous chapter that there are likely two authors of the Book of Isaiah separated by at least 200 years. Isaiah the son of Amoz prophesized during the reigns of the four Judean kings Uziah, Jothem, Uzzia and Hezekiah between about 783 to 742 BCE, while the Second Isaiah (Deutero-Isaiah) prophesied at the beginning of the reign of the Persian king Cyrus following his defeating the Babylonians in 539 BCE. The Second Isaiah’s prophecies are found from chapter 40 of the Book of Isaiah to its end, which is chapter 66.
It is unclear why the Second Isaiah’s prophecies were attached to those of Isaiah the son of Amoz. They do have a common thread of a universalist approach to the utopian age, in that foreigners will wish to participate in the knowledge of God. It could be that the Second Isaiah was part of a school that studied the First Isaiah’s writings. At the very least, he was aware of his writings, and even includes some of the words of the earlier prophet in his own prophecies (Isaiah 65:25).
The Second Isaiah’s prophecies are often considered to be the apex of prophetic writing. His thoughts are sequential and his descriptions of utopia are inspiring. There is also an urgency in his predictions, since redemption is no longer a distant vision but at hand.
Some additional historical notes. Following the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the Assyrian empire began to weaken. In 559 BCE, Cyrus ascended to the throne of a vassal state of Media, Media then being the seat of the Persian empire. He subsequently took over Media and began empire building. He fought battles with Babylon, until that time the most powerful empire in the Near East, and in 539 BCE he captured the city of Babylon and with it its empire.
His approach to empire building was very different from that of the Assyrians and Babylonians who exiled and replaced the populations of their foes to maintain stability in the lands they conquered. By contrast, Cyrus ensured the loyalty of his subjects by religious tolerance.
During his first year on the throne, which would be 47 years after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, he gave permission for the Jews to return to Zion and rebuild their Temple, and even provided some funding for the project. The book of Ezra relates:
“And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of God from the mouth of Jeremiah, God aroused the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying: ‘So said Cyrus, the king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and he may ascend to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and let him build the House of the Lord God of Israel; He is the God Who is in Jerusalem’” (Ezra 1:1-3).
The Second Isaiah began prophesying around the time that Cyrus made his proclamation, his aim being to encourage the Babylonian Jews to move to Zion. He speaks glowingly of Cyrus as the “anointed” of God. He also recognizes the agency of God in Cyrus’ election and the help God is providing Cyrus in strengthening his empire:
“So said God to His anointed one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I held, to flatten nations before him and the loins of kings I will loosen, to open portals before him and gates shall not be closed. I will go before you, and I will straighten out crooked paths; I will break portals of copper and cut off bars of iron. And I will give you treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places in order that you know that I am God Who calls [you] by your name – the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 45:1-3).
The Second Isaiah takes it upon himself to persuade his fellow exiles that the time of redemption is at hand:
“Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, declare this, publicize it to the end of the earth; say ‘God has redeemed His servant Jacob’” (ibid 48:20).
From now on, he states, sinfulness and its punishment will no longer determine the Jewish future. The Jewish people have been forgiven. If one can say this (and the prophet does), God has chastisedthem even more than they warrant. Note especially the hyperbolic language he uses in describing the pathway of the returning exiles in what is likely his first prophecy:16
“Console, console My people,’ says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her, for she has become full [from] her host, for her iniquity has been appeased, she has taken from the hand of God double for all her sins. A voice calls, ‘In the desert, clear the way of God, straighten out in the wilderness, a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be lowered, and the crooked terrain shall be made level and the closed mountains a plain. And the glory of God shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of God spoke” (ibid 40:1-5).
This is not the only passage in which this type of exaggerated language is used. It is also seen in the following passage in which God promises never again to be angry with or rebuke the Jewish people. Precious stones will even be provided for their buildings:
“For this is to Me [as] the waters of Noah, as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never again pass over the earth, so I have sworn neither to be wroth with you nor to rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills totter, but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace totter,’ says God Who has compassion on you. ‘O poor tempestuous one, who has not consoled, behold I will set your stone with carbuncle, and I will lay your foundations with sapphire. And I will make your windows of jasper and your gates of carbuncle stones, and all your borders of precious stones. And all your children shall be disciples of God and your children’s peace shall increase” (ibid 54:9-13).17
Both Isaiah’s describe the universal role of the Jewish people. The First Isaiah envisages the Jewish nation as promoting the universal recognition of God via the Temple in Jerusalem (ibid 2:2,3). The Second Isaiah envisages foreigners recognizing God and wishing to be part of His Covenant, so that the Temple becomes a house of prayer for all people. In this respect, the following passage echoes Solomon’s prayer on his dedication of the First Temple (II Kings 8:41):
“And the foreigners who join with God to serve Him and to love the name of God, to be His servants, everyone who observes the Sabbath from profaning it and who holds fast to my covenant. I will bring them to My holy mount and I will cause them to rejoice in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:6-7).
The Second Isaiah also describes the Jewish people becoming a “light” to mankind because of their justice and righteousness:
“Behold My servant (i.e. the Jewish people), I will support him, My chosen one, whom My soul desires; I have placed My spirit upon him, he shall promulgate justice to the nations. He shall neither cry nor shall he raise [his voice]; and he shall not make his voice heard outside. A breaking read he shall not break; and a flickering flaxen wick he shall not quench; with truth shall he execute justice. Neither shall he waken nor shall he be broken, until he establishes justice in the land, and for his instruction, islands shall long. So said the Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and the One Who stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and what springs forth from it, Who gave a soul to the people upon it and a spirit to those who walk thereon. I am God, I called with righteousness, and I will strengthen your hand; and I formed you, and I made you for a people’s covenant, for a light to nations” (Isaiah 42:1-6).
This theme of the light of Zion’s righteousness being recognized by humanity is again repeated in a later chapter:
“For the sake of Zion, I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest until her righteousness comes out like brilliance, and her salvation burns like a torch. And nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called a new name, which the mouth of God shall pronounce. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of God and a kingly diadem in the hand of your God. No longer shall “forsaken” be said of you, and “desolate” shall no longer be said of your land, for you shall be called ‘Hefziba (My desire is in her)’ and your land Beual (consummated) for God desires you, and your land shall be consummated” (Isaiah 62:1-4).
As in Jeremiah, there is mention of the keeping of the Sabbath. In the absence of the sacrificial cult, there would have been more emphasis in Babylon on individual religious practice, and no individual practice would have been more important for maintaining Jewish identity in exile than the keeping of the Sabbath. However, it is not only the restrictions of the Sabbath that need to be adhered to, but the Sabbath itself needs to be honored and enjoyed:
“If you restrain your foot because of the Sabbath, from performing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of God honored, and you honor it by not doing your wonted ways, by not pursuing your affairs and speaking words. Then shall you delight with God, and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the land, and I will give you to eat the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of God has spoken” (Isaiah 58:13-15).18
Towards the end of the book, Isaiah speaks about the final stages of redemption when riches will be brought to the country and peace will prevail throughout the land:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of God has shone upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a gross darkness the kingdoms, and God shall shine upon you, and His glory shall appear over you. And nations shall go by your light and kings by the brilliance of your shine. Lift up your eyes all around and see, they have all gathered, they have come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be raised on [their] side. Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart startled and become enlarged, for the abundance of the west shall be turned over to you, the wealth of the nations that will come to you ….. And they shall open your gates always, day and night they shall not be closed, to bring to you the wealth of the nations and their kings in procession ….… Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither robbery nor destruction within your borders, and you shall call salvation your walls and your gates praise. You shall no longer have the sun for light by day, and for brightness, the moon shall not give you light, but God shall be to you for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory ..… And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory” (Isaiah 60:1-5,11,18-19,21).
As a follower of the First Isaiah, the Second Isaiah cannot omit his teacher’s vision of universal peace, except that now this will be a consequence of the law and knowledge of God becoming engraved on the hearts of the Jewish people. In the last but one chapter of the book he says:
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the first ones shall not be remembered, neither shall they come into mind. But rejoice and exult forever [in] what I create, for behold I create Jerusalem rejoicing and its people an exultation; and I will exult with My people, and a sound of weeping or a sound of crying shall no longer be heard therein. There shall no longer be heard from there a youth or an old man who will not fill his days, for the youth who is one hundred years shall die, and the sinner who is one hundred years old shall be cursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit … A wolf and a lamb shall graze together; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw, and a serpent - dust shall be his food; they shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount; said God” (Isaiah 65:17-21,25).
How should the prophesies of Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah be understood?
All the messianic-like prophecies made by the prophets we have discussed were related to the time in which they were prophesying - those of Micha to a redemption that he predicted would take place after the conquest and exile of Judah by the Assyrian empire, those of Jeremiah to redemption from a Babylonian exile that was immanent and that he had been prophesying about since the beginning of his prophetic career, and those of the Second Isaiah to a redemption from Babylon under the aegis of Cyrus, the new king of the Persian empire, for which he was recruiting. The messianic prophesies of the First Isaiah, on the other hand, pertained not to redemption since the Jews were not exiled but to the religious reforms of King Hezekiah. The prophecies of consolation of Jeremiah were less messianic than those of these other prophets.
Many of these prophecies were inaccurate. The prophetMicha thought the Assyrian invasion of Judah by Sennacherib would lead to the capture of Jerusalem and an Assyrian exile, as had happened to the Northern Kingdom. However, as foreseen by the First Isaiah, this did not occur. Jeremiah prophesied that the future redemption would take place in seventy years, whereas in fact it was much sooner.14 He also thought that the northern tribes would participate in redemption, which they did not, that the ingathering of the exiles would be more revelatory of God’s power than the Exodus from Egypt (Jeremiah 16:14), whereas it was much less, that Babylon would be destroyed and the Babylonians put into captivity (ibid 30:16), whereas this was not the policy of Persia, and that the redemption would be one of joy. The journey of the exiles to their new homes may well have been one of joy, but this would soon give way to the tough realities of their situation. In addition, most of the visions of the Second Isaiah describe supernatural situations, and these also did not happen.
What then should be one’s approach to these prophecies? According to the strict definition of a true prophet described in Deuteronomy, these prophets could be considered false prophets, since their prophecies did not materialize. Yet this is impossible to accept. In their time these prophets were considered as being a spokesman for God, and the First Isaiah and Jeremiah made prophecies regarding immediate political matters that were highly accurate.
For this reason, the Talmud, midrashim and most traditional Jewish commentators, such as Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Redak, consider these prophesies to be describing a future messianic age, and it is from this period, as well as from the time of the beginning of the return to Zion, that the notion of a messianic future arises.20 Moreover, since the prophecies of the First Isaiah, Second Isaiah and Micha describe an unnatural world in which there are changes in its physical nature as well as in the nature of man, the messianic era could well be a prelude to the End of Days, although Maimonides will disagree with the notion that the messianic period will be miraculous and at the End of Time and will allegorize these miraculous passages.21
Nevertheless, there is a problem with this approach in that it raises the question as to why these prophets provided messianic-type prophecies when the Jewish people were already in crisis or at a turning point for their country? This relates particularly to the prophecies of the Second Isaiah. Why is he discussing a future messianic age when his immediate concern is recruiting people for immigration? At the very least, it is an irrelevancy. At the worst, he could be implying way that the natural redemption they are planning with so much sacrifice and effort will fail and will need to be replaced by a messianic one. What type of encouragement is this to a people already hesitant about whether they should be emigrating to Judea?
This leads to a second explanation, which is that these messianic-type prophecies represent messianic potential. Everything the prophets prophesied will occur, but not necessarily at the time they were made. As mentioned in the last chapter, there is discussion in the Talmud as to why Hezekiah did not become the Messiah.20 It could also be said that the Second Isaiah anticipated that his words would be realized, but the Jewish people were not sufficiently worthy. This explanation is favored by R’ Hayyim Angel in his publications and is discussed in his book “Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi” in relation to the lack of actualization of the prophecies of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi at the beginning of the redemption from Babylon.21 Angel also points out that this explanation is favored by the Biblical commentator the Malbim (1809-1879), which is why he is prepared to interpret the prophetic books in a more literal way than Jewish commentators bound to the traditional messianic approach.22
Nevertheless, this explanation also is problematic. There is a dictum in the Talmudthat prophesies of punishment may be annulled by God if there is true repentance, but good decrees are always fulfilled.23 This is logical, since if God can annul both the positive and negative predictions of a prophet, then prophecy has no value in foretelling the future. And this is after all one of the main purposes of prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:14-15). For the same reason, it would be impossible to distinguish between a true and false prophet, since even the favorable prophecies of a true prophet can at times be annulled (ibid 18:21-22).
Moreover, if the Second Isaiah’s prophecies are to be regarded as provisional, some penetrating questions could be asked – did he not know the type of people he was talking to, and if so, why did he mislead them about their future? And if he was not aware, then what type of prophet was he anyway to give such inappropriate prophecies?
All this suggests a third explanation and the one favored by this book, which is that these utopian messages of redemption were not prophesies but visions of hope for the future specific in their timing and containing important messages that needed to be conveyed in this way. This explanation does, of course, remove the problem as to how to deal with incorrect predictions.
Consider, for example, the utopian visions of the Second Isaiah. The Babylonian Jews would have known full well the situation in Judea. They were also familiar with the prophecies of Jeremiah about a natural return. Doubtless, they had sent people to scout out the land. Homes and agricultural land had been unused for two generations and would require considerable rehabilitation. Moreover, they were living very comfortable lives in Babylon. Agriculture was different in Babylon than in Israel, in that there were dependable sources of water from rivers. Many of them were leading fulfilling and organized religious lives together with the “good figs.” It was obvious to them that Isaiah’s “Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be lowered, and the crooked terrain shall be made level and the closed mountains a plain” (Isaiah 41:4) would never happen. Nor would their buildings be filled with precious stones (ibid 54:11-12). Nor did the Second Isaiah ever admit he has direct communications from God.Isaiah was providing words of encouragement that were wrapped in beautiful but highly metaphorical packaging. Nevertheless, he was also making valuable points in this way. The return to Zion was a true redemption as foretold by the Torah and not a random vagary of history. Cyrus could be considered an agent of God (ibid 45:1), a point that will be picked up by the Book of Ezra (Ezra 1:1). The returnees would be helped by God in their efforts to establish a Jewish homeland in Zion. And finally, their Judaism had universal implications which could only be realized in Zion.
The visions of Jeremiah for the future are far less messianic than those of the Isaiah’s in being more plausible and within the normal functioning of the world, and this was probably the type of redemption the people were anticipating. Jeremiah also makes no claims of a universal aspect. A major point he does make is that this exile will be of limited duration and not at all like the Egyptian exile that lasted for hundreds of years. He also uses the Biblical number 70 to emphasize this point. We have previously discussed the significance of the numbers 7 and 8. There were, however, other numbers in the ancient world that were also considered to have meaning, including the numbers 40 and 70.24 The number 70 has the meaning in the Torah of a unity made up of differences, and it is used in this context regarding the 70 nations of the world (Deuteronomy 32:8), the 70 descendants of Jacob that went down to Egypt (Exodus 1:5), and the 70 elders appointed by Moses (Numbers 11:16).
An underlying question that Jeremiah may well be attempting to answer is how can the people be assured that this second redemption will not be one more redemption within a cyclical pattern of exiles and the inevitability of further exiles? This may be why Jeremiah introduces the notion of a ‘new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:30-33). By this, he certainly does not mean an abrogation of the old covenant and replacement by a new one as the Christian tradition understands this. More acceptable explanations from a Jewish perspective include a new and permanent increase in Jewish commitment or a Covenant that will never again be broken. Since Israel will never again break the Covenant, God will no more think of retracting His blessings for Israel than the sun will cease to illuminate the day.25
It is also very possible that the prophetic books may have been slanted somewhat towards messianic visions, in that these were the types of manuscripts that received priority in being canonized by the Men of the Great Assembly. This was the body according to the Talmud that made the final decisions as to the canonization of the Bible.26 The Great Assembly was a group of 120 of the most influential religious leaders of the time who met towards the end of the Babylonian exile and beginning of the Second Temple period. They were an extremely influential committee and many of their decisions, such as their formulizing of prayer, would strongly influence the direction of Judaism. This group had before them many candidate manuscripts. A determining factor in their decision with respect to the prophets was their consideration that a particular book had enduring value.27 This would have gravitated them more towards messianic visions, particularly as their current redemption was decidedly non-messianic. Less consideration may have been given sometimes to the track record of these prophets for accurate predictions, the clarity of their prophecies, and the extent to which their prophesies were listened to and accepted at the time they were made. The prophecies of Jeremiah and First Isaiah would have been well known in Babylon and it was a foregone conclusion that they would be canonized. However, we cannot be certain how widely disseminated were the ideas of the Second Isaiah at the time he spoke them, in that there is no indication from the text that he had a leadership role. The prophet Amos is another example of a prophet who may have had more impact after his manuscript was canonized than before. Amos wrote down his prophecies when he returned home to Tekoa in Judah after being sent packing from the Northern Kingdom for upsetting the people with his prophecies of destruction and exile.
This section does question the nature of the messianic concept. R’ Jonathan Sacks also considers the visions of the prophets as being like the light at the end of a tunnel.28 This light is something to strive towards - an inspiration to that generation and all future generations. But not necessarily light that one uses to illuminate the way.
On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the prophecies of the Isaiah’s and Jeremiah and the messianic idea have been of great consolation and hope to the Jewish people during their thousands of years of exile.
It was the Bible that brought the idea of hope into the world as a concept for society. Man in the ancient world thought cyclically as per the phases of nature. What had been in the past will be so in the future. It was the Torah that introduced the notion that history is not circular but linear. God controls history and via redemption moves Jewish history forward towards freedom and the creation of a society based on justice and righteousness. Because if the future is more than a replay of the past, there is reason to create something better than existed in the past. This is the basis of Jewish hope, and through knowledge of the Bible it became the model that propelled progress forward for the rest of humanity. With their visions of the future, the prophets of Israel built on this idea during the period of the monarchy and during the early part of the redemption to Zion.
There is no evidence from our texts that the exiles who returned to Zion had messianic-like expectations. Nevertheless, that obstacles were thrown in their way, even in a holy venture such as building the Temple, would have been terribly disconcerting since it would seem to negate the idea that they were participating in a God-planned redemption.
This is one of the topics that will be discussed in the next chapter.
References
1. According to II Chronicles 33:12-13, Manasseh repent at the end of his life when he was brought before the king of Assyria for suspected treason. Mitigating factors for his paganism are discussed in Mishna Sanhedrin 10:2 and TB Sanhedrin 102b. His kingdom was prosperous and experienced peace during his entire 55-year reign which may have been due in no small measure to his positive relationship with the Assyrian empire.
2. According to the midrash Seder Olam, these prophets were Nahum and Habakkuk.
3. It is unclear from the text what book exactly was discovered in the Temple precincts. It may have been the book of Deuteronomy or even the entire Torah. The Radak conjectures that the Torah was forgotten during Manasseh’s reign.
4. This engagement is described in more detail in II Chronicles 35:20-24. Pharaoh Necho tells Josiah in the name of God to stop opposing him. Lamentations Rabba 1:18 suggests that what he said “from the mouth of God” were Jeremiah’s words. One might surmise from this that Jeremiah from this would not have approved of Josiah getting involved in a great power struggle between Egypt and Babylon.
5. II Chronicles 36:8 and TB Sanhedrin 103b.
6. According to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar killed Jehoiakim, and his body was disposed of as Jeremiah had prophesied. (Antiquities of the Jews, book X, chapter 6, part 3).
7. Anatot was in the location of the present-day Arab village of Anata, close to the Ein Prat Nature Reserve.
8. The significance of the bubbling pot is clear. The significance of the almond tree is that just as it blossoms before all other trees, so God will hasten to perform his word (Rashi). The Radak notes that an almond is called shaked in Hebrew because of its quick ripening period.
9. In Prophesying Reunification in Jeremiah. The Fate of a Prophet by Binyamin Lau. Maggid Books, p17, Jerusalem 2013, Lau recognizes that chapters in this book are not always chronologically arranged and suggests that this chapter took place during Josiah’s reforms, and was directed at Jews still remaining in the Northern Kingdom. Against this suggestion is that Jeremiah calls their territory “the north” (Jeremiah 3:12) rather than Samaria and the Galilee. Also, the part of the sentence “and they will come together from the north land to the land that I caused your forefathers to inherit” (Ibid 3:18) suggests that these Jews were living further north than the Land of Israel. Rashi, based on TB Megilla 14b, suggests that he went to the location of most of the Ten Tribes (outside of Israel).
10. TB Yoma 52b.
11. There is a Rabbinic tradition that the people did not change their ways much, although Josiah was not aware of this. Hence, the Talmud says: “Josiah, however, did not know that his generation found but little favor [in the eyes of God]” (TB Taanit 22b). See also Lamentations Rabba 1:18 – “Josiah did not know that his entire generation worshipped idols ….. [Josiah] would send two wise men to purge their homes from idols. They would enter, but find nothing. As they left [the scoffers] would have them close the door, so that, on the inside, the idols would be reattached.”
12. Although placed early in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 7, Benjamin Lau suggests that this prophecy was made later during the time of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah’s Prophecies of Doom, Jeremiah. The Fate of a Prophet, p89). Most other commentators do not even attempt to date it.
13. See also Jeremiah 29:10 and Daniel 9:2. Counting from the destruction of Jerusalem to the decree of Cyrus, the period of the Babylonian exile was 48 years. From the time of the first Babylonian exile, it was 58 years. One way of making it accord more with seventy years is to count from the time that Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne in 605 BCE, which is 66years, although this could be considered a stretch. Babylon was not destroyed by the Persians, although it was conquered and did lose its empire.
14. The topic is not discussed by the Second Isaiah, but Jeremiah assumes that the northern tribes will participate in the redemption. This did not happen. There is an opinion in the Talmud that they were still identifiable in Talmudic times, and there are also midrashic sources and apocryphal statements to this effect. For example, in the Yalqut Shemoni, Psalm 779 and Yalqut Shimoni, Song of Songs 905. The latter says: “The exiles of Judah and Benjamin will visit [the Ten Tribes] in order to bring them, so that they will be privileged with the days of the Messiah and life in World to Come.” Josephus believed that there were many survivors of the Ten Tribes beyond the Euphrates (Josephus Ant 11:33). Nevertheless, there is adissenting opinion of R’ Akiva who assumes that by his time they had completely assimilated. In Mishna Sanhedrin 10:3 he says: “The Ten Tribes shall not return again, for it is written “And he cast them into another land like this day” (Deut 29:28). Like as this day goes and returns not, so do they go and return not. So R’ Akiba. But R’ Eliezer says: Like as the day grows dark and then grows light, so also after darkness is fallen upon the Ten Tribes shall light hereafter shine upon them.” TheVilna Gaon believed that finding the Ten Tribes would herald the onset of messianic times and he encouraged efforts to find them. These were unsuccessful.
15. Accepting that there are two Isaiah’s, this passage would be the first part of the first prophecy of the Second Isaiah. There are different explanations for the meaning of the words “for she has taken from the hand of God double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). One explanation is that Israel did indeed receive double what any other nation received (Ibn Ezra). Other explanations are that she received for her own sins and for adhering to the sins of the forefathers (Kimchi), or that she received two exiles, the Babylonian and Edom exiles (Redak). Many commentators accept Rashi’s interpretation for “clearing the way of God” (ibid 40:3). Namely, clear the way of Jerusalem for her exiles to return to her midst. Another explanation - clear the way from before the people of the Lord (Jonathan).
16. Isaiah describes a number of precious stones. Not only will Jerusalem be paved with precious stones, but ordinary stones within the cities will be precocious stones. Another explanation – God will lavish such wealth upon Israel that they will be able to use their gems for building stones instead of regular building stones.
17. The halachic implications of the Sabbath being a delight and being honored are explained by Maimonides in his Mishna Torah, Sefer Zemanim, Hilchot Shabbat chapter 30.
18. The following statement is found in TB Berochos 34:b, “All the goodness that the prophets predicted refers to the Messianic period, but concerning olam-haba [the World to Come], [the prophet] Yeshayahu said: “No eye besides Yours has seen [the rewards of olam ha-ba] [the World to Come]”.
19. Maimonides will write: “Do not presume that in the messianic age the nature of the world will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather the world will continue according to its pattern. Though Isaiah [11.6] states: ‘And a wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat,’ these words are a metaphor and a parable. … Similarly, other Messianic prophecies of this nature are metaphors. In the messianic era everyone will realize which matters were implied by these metaphors and which allusions they contained.” Maimonides, Mishna Torah, The Laws of Kings and their Wars 12:1.
20. TB Sanhedrin 94a. This topic is discussed in greater detail in the previous chapter.
21. Prophecy as Potential” in Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi: Prophecy in an Age of Uncertainty, page xviii, Maggid Books, 2016. See also Tosafot to TB Yevamot 50a and TB Berakhot 4a.
22. For more details on the approach of the Malbim, see his commentary to Haggai 1:1.
23. See TB Shabbat 55a - “For R’ Acha the son of R’ Chanina said: A good decree never issued from the mouth of the Holy One, and then He retracted it for bad except in this matter [for failing to rebuke].”
24. Genesis 50:3 shows that the number 40 was known in the non-Jewish world. Other examples in the Bible are Genesis 7:17, Deut 8:2 and Deut 9:9.
25. Another suggestion that maintains the non-Messianic nature of Jeremiah’s visions is that the new covenant constituted the loss of the people’s desire for idolatry. This is discussed in the following Talmudic passage: “The verse states: And they cried out in a great voice to the Lord (YHVH) their God” (Nehemiah 9:4). What did they say [to God]? Rav said, and some say [it was] R’ Yochanan [who said] They cried out to God concerning the Evil Inclination for idolatry]. Woe! Woe! [It is] this [inclination] which destroyed the First Temple and burned the Sanctuary and killed all the righteous ones [who perished as a result of that destruction] and exiled the Jews from their land, and it still dances among us. Did you give it to us [for any reason] at all other than [for us [to receive a reward for [overcoming] it? We do not want it [this Evil Inclination towards idolatry] nor do we want the reward for [overcoming] it! A note fell down from them from heaven on which was written ‘Truth.”TB Yoma 69b. This rather allegorical Talmudic piece implies that the people’s desire for idolatry did not disappear until they returned to Zion. However, it seems more likely that their repentance and distaste for idolatry had already occurred in Babylon. This is why Jeremiah calls them “good figs.” This change of heart would hardly have created utopia, but it did create a more steadfast relationship between the people and God and the people.
26. TB Baba Batra 15a.
27. TB Megilla 14a.
28. Time as a Narrative of Hope” in Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s Haggadah: Hebrew and English Text with New Essays and Commentary by Jonathan Sacks, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, New York, 2010.
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