Redemption According to Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah
Summary: The prophecies of the prophets Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah were directed to their time and were not about a distant messianic future. The redemption prophesied by Jeremiah is in the main non-miraculous. Jeremiah prophesied a short exile. He represented this by the Biblical number 70. Jeremiah’s prophecy of the ingathering of the exiles of the northern tribes did not take place. The redemption prophesied by the Second Isaiah is miraculous, universal and follows the style of the First Isaiah. Contrary to the way Jewish tradition has taken them, it is suggested that the Second Isaiah’s words represent visions of hope rather than prophesies and were meant to inspire the returnees to Zion. Biblical messages of hope have provided comfort to the Jewish people and propelled human progress forward.
Introduction
The prophecies of utopia of Isaiah the son of Amoz and Micha were directed to the situation in which the Jewish people then found themselves. For the First Isaiah, they were linked to King Hezekiah’s religious reform, while for the prophet Micha it was linked to redemption from an Assyrian exile that he thought was imminent. Jeremiah lived during the chaotic end of the monarchial period, which 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 are lacking in any aspects of universalism. 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, miraculous and inspiring.
But how should the Jewish people deal with these visions, given that many of these prophecies 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 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 defilement of 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 him 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 he destroyed all vestiges of idolatry there too, while attempting to persuade the 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 battle with the Babylonians.
Josiah’s son Jehoahaz 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, whom 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 exactly what happened.6 His son Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah), who had just been appointed king, surrendered to the Babylonians.
Jehoiachin’s surrender 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. However, 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.7 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 he was still young, Jeremiah experienced a vision from God that would determine the direction of his life and his future prophecies, although at the time it would have been unclear to him which nations would descend on Judea from “towards the north:”
“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).8
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.9 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 it was 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 again during the reign of Josiah. The Talmud suggests that Josiah hid it again.10 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 encouragement as did the First Isaiah at the time of Hezekiah’s religious reforms.11
“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).12
Jeremiah also stresses the importance of adhering to the laws of the Sabbath, and in particular refraining from normal weekday business activities, although this seems to have had little effect:
“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 its punishment of 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).13
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. Of course, given the situation this made little sense. However, its purpose was to demonstrate publicly the inevitability of a future redemption. Therefore, witnesses to the sale were therefore needed and the documents from the sale needed 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 a 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:14
“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).
Earlier in his book, he describes a redemption of all the exiles which in its manifestations of the power of God will exceed the redemption from Egypt as God seeks 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 both describe foreigners wishing 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 against 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 had exiled the populations of their foes and replaced them with other people to maintain stability of the lands they conquered. It is estimated that the Assyrians may have moved as many as 4.5 million people between 745 BCE to 612 BCE.15 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 God’s agency in Cyrus’ election and the help God provided him 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). In this respect, he echoes Solomon’s prayer on his dedication of the First Temple (I Kings 8:41). The Second Isaiah, on the other hand, envisages proleytes recognizing the omnipotence of God and wishing to be part of His covenant. In this way the Temple becomes a house of prayer for all people:
“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 the justice and righteousness they practice:
“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 the Book of Jeremiah, mention is made 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 has 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 enjoyed and honored:
“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; says God” (Isaiah 65:17-21,25).
Note that now the First Isaiah’s message has come directly from God – which is not quite what he previously claimed.
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 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 predicting 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 but to the religious reforms of King Hezekiah.
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.13 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), which 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 which 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 spokesmen of 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 one would have to say that it is from this period that the notion of a messianic future arises.19 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, this 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).20
Nevertheless, there is a problem with this approach in that it raises the question why these prophets were providing messianic-type prophecies when the Jewish people were already in crisis or at a turning point in their history? 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 as to 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 in the era in which they made their prophecies. As mentioned in the last chapter, there is discussion in the Talmud as to why Hezekiah did not become the Messiah.21 In a similar vein, one could say that the Second Isaiah thought 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.22 Angel also points out that this explanation is favored by the Biblical commentator the Malbim (1809-1879) and this is why he is prepared to interpret the prophetic books in a more literal way than Jewish commentators bound to the traditional messianic approach.23
Nevertheless, this explanation is also 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.24 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, which 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 indefinitely postponed (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 that were specific in their timing and contained important messages that needed to be conveyed in this way. This explanation does, of course, remove the problem as to how we should 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 ever be filled with precious stones (ibid 54:11-12). Nor for that matter did the Second Isaiah ever admit he had direct communications from God (other than when quoting the First Isaiah). Rather, Isaiah was providing words of encouragement wrapped in beautiful but highly metaphorical packaging. Nevertheless, he was in this way making valuable points. 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 universal claims. An important 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 70.25 The number 70 has the meaning in the Torah of a God-appointed 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). How Jeremiah is using this number in this context is not entirely clear, but he may be using it to represent a finite God-directed number of years.
Another question that Jeremiah may 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 with 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.26
It is also worth considering that the prophetic books of the Bible may have been slanted somewhat towards messianic visions, in that these were the types of manuscripts that received priority in being reviewed by the Men of the Great Assembly. According to the Talmud, it was this body that made final decisions as to the canonization of the Bible.27 The Great Assembly was a group of one hundred and twenty 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.28 This would have gravitated them 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.
My conclusion of 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.29 This light is something to strive towards - an inspiration to that generation and all future generations. But not necessarily light that one can use to illuminate the way.
In the meantime, 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. 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 Israelite monarchy and during the early part of the redemption to Zion.
There is no evidence from the texts we have that the exiles returning to Zion had messianic-like expectations. Nevertheless, the obstacles that came their way, especially in such a holy venture as building the Temple, would have been very disconcerting, since they would seem to negate the idea that they were participating in a God-planned redemption. How did the people and their prophets deal with this situation? This will be one of the topics to be discussed in the next chapter.
References
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