Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.

It is a quality of God’s identity that those who wait for him in absolute dependence will not be disgraced. To know him as Lord is to now that he has both the power to be able to keep his promises and the faithfulness to want to keep them.

Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;

Israel has suffered much at teh hands of the nations, but in the end it is not the nations who hold Israels’ destiny in htier hands. It is God, and he will see to it that the mighty ones of the earth make it their business to bring the children of God home.

Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.

The point is that God’s people need never fear the power of the mighty. They, like we, are in the hand of God, and they too will serve God, either willingly or by force. For us, then, the issue is not “What about them?” but about being certain that we are indeed the people of God.

Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;

Kings and queens have bowed at the feet of the God of Zion, and have spent their wealth in his cause. From around the world Zion has found descendants from every race and people. God’s promises are trustworthy.

Then you will say in your heart,`Who has begotten these for me, Since I have lost my children and am desolate, A captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone; But these, where were they?’

This point of Zion’s incapacity is important. Zion’s heirs are not the results of Zion’s fecundity or of Zion’s worthiness. Thay are the gift of God. She did not bear them, nor did she rear them, so where did they come from? The fruitfulness and the grace of God.

“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Nevertheless, while God’s promises to Abraham and his children would be kept, and the nation would not be allowed to be wiped out, no individuals within the nation should presume on that election and believe that they could therefore sin with impunity.

In the same way, we may be certain that God will not abandon his church; he will preserve it and keep it in all events. But that is not a warrant for individual Christians to believe that they can live ungodly lives secure in their own election.

Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.

[N]othing in the realm of space and time is proof against him, for he began all things and he will end all things. Of all the gods Israel has known, this one is absolutely unique: he has no limitations. Should we not listen to him?

For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off.

…[J]udgment is never God’s intended last word. Judgment is always considered to be the means of hope, in heaven’s view. God does not want to cut off anyone. But he does ohpe to bring them to their senses as they experience some of the results that rebellion deserves.

They are created now and not from the beginning; And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say,”Of course I knew them”

.

Just as prophecy was given so as to refute the claims of idols (v. 5), so not all prophecy was given at once in order to refute the claims of human omniscience. All our attempts to be independent are frustrated by our lack of knowledge.

Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, Lest you should say,`My idol has done them, And my carved image and my molded image Have commanded them.

Gross forms of idolatry are not accidental; they are the necessary end result of the human refusal to accept a transcendent God.

Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the LORD, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness…

These introductory verses have another element: a charge. It is explicit at…the end of v. 1….that Israel’s religious profession is insincere. It is neither reliable (truth) nor correct (righteousness). It is in fact a lie.

Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the LORD, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness…

…[B]eyond that, the verb shema (“hear”) implies obeying, taking appropriate action concerning the message. Those who do not obey cannot be said to have heard in any meaningful sense. Implicit here is the central idea of the OT: the living God has spoken, revealing himself in the medium of human speech. Such an astounding fact carries with it its own imperative. If it is true that God has spoken, then he must be listened to.

How can a god that you have to carry around with you ever save you?

Isaiah expresses God’s message in stark but beautiful and often poetic language. If you’re a reader at heart and you love poetry, and — most importantly — you have a heart open to the message God had and has through the prophet Isaiah, what an exhilarating  and Spirit-infused experience reading this biblical book is! But that said, when you come to it “cold” it can be tough sledding (pardon the punning illusion). What does it all mean?  Much of the meaning of its 66 chapters seems awfully complicated, and many of the ancient references of this 5000-or-so-year-old book are likely to strike the average Bible reader as not only complicatedly remote but somewhat irrelevant to us self-regarding sophisticated human beings in the 21st century (if he or she is entirely honest). 

My own reaction was frustration when in the past I would try to read through Isaiah . I would start out fine and then get bogged down, knowing there was much I was missing and not understanding. I would usually quit before I finished the book, or I’d start skipping around to familiar or easier-to-understand passages. Short of being in a church where an insightful pastor was preaching  through the entire book (don’t I wish!) I had to do something about that.

So a few years ago I went on a quest to look for a guide to help me: a commentary or other resource whose author I could trust to interpret the book  a holistic manner which sees context, uses Scripture to interpret Scripture and sees that all of the Bible is “living and active” Word of God, and therefore never irrelevant and always speaking to those who have ears to hear (what I would call a Reformed approach to reading Scripture). What ended my search and what I decided to buy was The NIV Application Commentary on Isaiah by John N. Oswalt, published by Zondervan, as is the NIV Bible (New International Version).

 The commentary is set up like this: First you’ll read the biblical text of the section of Isaiah covered in that particular commentary chapter (a great feature so that you can read Isaiah itself and the commentary from this one hefty book); then a section on “Original Meaning”; a section called “Bridging Contexts”; and a final “Contemporary Significance.” Each commentary chapter covers a specific “chunk” of Isaiah. The breaks are based on its content, not necessarily on the ends of the biblical chapters. Oswalt begins the whole effort with a lengthy and very helpful introduction which presents the historical setting of Isaiah, what was going on in Israel and Judah at the time, and in the surrounding pagan nations. He addresses Isaiah’s authorship and date.  Then he lays out what he convincingly argues are the book’s central themes: Judgment and Hope, Servanthood and Kingdom, Trust and Rebellion, Arrogance and Humiliation, The Uniqueness of Yahweh, The Nations, Righteousness. He ties those in again when he addresses “The Relevance of the Book of Isaiah Today.”  There’s also an outline of Isaiah so you can see at a glance how and when those themes are interwoven into the biblical book.

If all that sounds just as complicated as reading Isaiah on your own can be, it’s not. Not at all. Oswalt writes in an easy style. And remember: this is an application commentary: its purpose is to better help you and me understand the Bible, not just to present biblical scholarship for other scholars, and  which may or may not get read outside of academia and may or may not have relevance to Christians in general.  (Not incidentally, many, perhaps even most biblical scholars today are not Christians, and some number are actually atheists.) To put it mildly, this hardcover commentary is well worth the $20-$25 it will cost you at amazon.com. In periodic future posts I’ll speak to some of the specifics that have particularly hit me — and how utterly relevant they are to our own time.

John Oswalt makes clear his point of view in his commentary on Isaiah in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. I primarily used pages 17-34 and 44-49 to glean his thoughts on authorship, composition, and unity of the book.

The primary, driving force behind Oswalt’s argument is whether or not prophecy is a foretelling of the future, or simply speech that “calls a particular people to faith in God.” Oswalt stands solidly on the former idea, and argues that “[s]urely if there is such a deity, and if he is able to make special knowledge about himself available to his messengers, it is no great feat to make special knowledge about the future available to these messengers.”

The major point that Oswalt wants to get across is that Isaiah calls Israel to worship Yahweh because Yahweh can do something the idols cannot: correctly foretell and manipulate the future. Oswalt then boldly claims that if the prophecies were written after the fact, then the account of Yahweh intervening in history is suspect.

Oswalt also argues that “the most striking argument” for the unity of the composition as a whole is that it currently is a single piece of literature. He goes on to say that the burden of proof is on the person who wishes to disassemble the body of literature into smaller parts. He claims that if the present work was the redaction of at least 3 major works, then explaining how the current single piece of literature came together is very difficult.

Oswalt challenges the “Isaiah school” idea by arguing that, in modern scholarship, very little of the book of Isaiah is attributed to the historical Isaiah. How then, could he possibly have accrued such a following that they would continue to write in his tradition for hundreds of years?

He goes on site R. Margalioth, who argues that the first half of the book and the second half of the book share some features and terminology that is either not used or hardly used elsewhere in the Hebrew bible.

Finally, he argues that the most compelling argument is the thought structure of the book. He argues that the book is linked together with an overarching thought structure that connects it and signifies that one hand controlled the creation of this book. Basically, he argues that in 7-39, the Judeans had “encountered the truth…but they had not acted upon it in a long-term way…[t]he problem was motivation.” Then, in 40-48, he argues that the text explains the proper motivation for trusting God and acting on what was mentioned in 7-39, and that Israel must become a servant, although it could not achieve that goal on its own due to its sinful nature. 49-55 helps us out next, explaining the vision of the Messiah that Oswalt believes was first given in chs. 9 and 11. Through his servanthood, Israel may now be forgiven and the hope of chs. 54-55 may be realized. But not all is said and done; “the realities of human inability and divine ability must find a concrete meeting point,” according to Oswalt. That is the purpose of 56-66.

Oswalt makes very clear that for the purposes of his commentary, “the theological and ideological unity of the book is a primary datum. Other datum, especially those relating to date and authorship, must be considered in light of this datum.” This basically means, as far as I can tell, that he will only interpret the literary and linguistic evidence towards authorship and dating after he has already determined the unity of the book based on theological assumptions.

I hope that this has accurately and honestly portrayed the position of Dr. John Oswalt. If anyone feels that I did not do a good job, please let me know and correct me in the comments! If you agree with this view, let me know why! If you disagree with this view, let me know why! Let us start a conversation, let us be civil, let us be respectful, and let us learn! Next I will attempt to approach Isaiah through the eyes of Brevard Childs, but I hope that before I do that, you will all weigh in on this point of view! What do you think?

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’ Is 58:3

Idols are those that we build ourselves to help ourselves. Pagan gods were like this. If you were in need, you would go to the relevant god, present your offering and sacrifice, and petition him/her for what you want. If the god was pleased with what you had brought, he may grant your request.

The followers of the one God in the Old Testament were criticised by the prophet Isaiah for exactly that. They weren’t praying to idols in this instance, but they were praying to God as if he were an idol. They would fast and sacrifice and try to demonstrate how good they were so as to get God’s attention and manipulate him into doing what they wanted. Then they would grumble – “Why have we fasted, and you have not seen it?”

This is works based religion and it is not in keeping with the God of the Bible. It is still around today. God is not interested in us grasping for things – more power, status, recognition or anything else. He is a God of grace who gives unconditionally, and loves unconditionally (regardless of what we may have done), and wants everyone to live with the confidence and self-worth that comes from acceptance from Him – as that is the deepest and most important. God is interested in blessing us and this blessing comes when we acknowledge that everything we depend on comes from Him.

I wonder how many today attempt to use God or manipulate him to get what they want? Or when something God wrong have a sense of injustice – ‘God, didn’t you see all the things I did for you?’ ‘God, I’ve been a good person and now you do this?’. When we understand what God wants of us we are so much more fulfilled than if we try to manipulate him.

John Oswalt in his commentary on Isaiah:

Only when we surrender our manipulative self-interest… [can we] receive for free the blessing that God is longing to give his creatures.

        B     56:9-59:15a Ethical righteousness

                C     59:15b-21 Divine Warrior

                        D     60-62 Eschatological Hope

                C’    63:1-6 Divine Warrior

        B’    63:7-66:17 Ethical righteousness

A’    66:18-24 Foreign worshipers

John Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66, NICOT, p465

First, Christianity Today did an interview with Dr. Gary Anderson about his new book Sin: A History.  This book considers the various biblical metaphors for sin and how these were received in both Jewish and early Christian traditions.

Second, RBL published a summary of John Oswalt’s book The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? .  The reviewer doesn’t really weigh in on the book, thus it wasn’t really a review per se, but does seem to summarize Oswalt’s approach pretty thoroughly.

Well, those were some things I noticed.  This post is neither a recommendation nor a critique of either, just a chance to point our Reformed Readers toward more reading!

__________
Andrew

My review of The Bible among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), by John Oswalt, has been published in Review of Biblical Literature.

The following is an excerpt from the review:

Evangelicals affirm that the Bible is a unique book because it is the result of divine
revelation and not merely the work of human authors. However, the discovery of several religious writings from other ancient Near Eastern cultures has led many biblical scholars to deny the claim that the Bible is the result of divine revelation. The issue Oswalt addresses in his book is whether the Bible is a unique revelation from God or just another literary product among the religious literature of the ancient Near East.

Oswalt believes that the way Israel conceived and thought about its God and the way other cultures in the ancient Near East thought about their gods was so different that scholarly views that Israel adapted their religious ideas from the religions of their neighbors could not explain this difference. Was Israelite religion another religion comparable to other religions in the West Semitic world, or was the religion of the Bible unique because God revealed himself in the historical events narrated in the Bible?

Many people today do not accept the idea that the Bible, although written by human beings, is the product of divine revelation.

I believe that Oswalt is right on his assessment of the Bible. Modesty apart, I believe that you should read my review because what Oswalt writes is what evangelicals need to read.

To read the review, visit the Review of Biblical Literature website by clicking here.

You can buy the book at Amazon.com.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Bible, Myth, John Oswalt

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This flows from the preceding verse. That is, “no one considers” because the Lord has blinded them into their follies. Again, it should be obvious, the absurdity of idolatry, and the prophet criticizes them subtly as he emphasizes the fact that they do not notice that their gods were first used for a fire, burned to ashes in minutes. It was used by them, for them: for fire, baking, roasting. Half of it, anyway. But the other half (and here comes the insanity): an abomination, worship—before a block of wood! Oswalt has a wonderful discussion of the use of “abomination” to describe this act of worship before a block of wood:

This extreme conclusion is an important one. Why, if it is not a god, is it an abomination? Why not merely a mistake? It is because of what the worshiper has claimed for the block of wood. We have claimed that we can find the transcendent (the holy), the destiny and meaning of life, in the shapes and stuff of this world. But what if we are wrong? The consequences are of an ultimate nature. Thus an instructor might say to any unroped climber who reaches for an outcropping of rotten granite, “Death is in your hand.” A wrong choice is not merely a mistake when one’s whole life rides on it (The Book of Isaiah, chapters 40-66, 185).

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

I get tired a lot. Whether it is sinuses or just plain tiredness, I get tired a lot. And in a world as fast paced as America, it is hard to not hit the pillow hard at night. But God does not get tired. He never grows weary in caring for His people. Even if our friends, our neighbors, even if those who should be caring for us fail, God’s care never does. If we seek Him, we will be found. When we are faint He gives us power and when we struggle to be strong He gives us strength. In fact, it is in Him that the only true strength is found.

I am not a Dad yet…though it is coming soon. But the kids I have been around seem to have endless energy for so long. But even then, after a day spent running around screaming with a seemingly endless amount of energy, they collapse in the car seat on the way home. Likewise, I think back to when I was a younger man and am amazed at how I was able to go endlessly, and on pizza and soda no less. But sooner or later, I crashed. If youths and young men crash, how much more so for those of us who are no longer as young as we wish were. So what is the remedy?

Waiting for the Lord is the remedy. This waiting is not simply sitting around letting time pass, rather it is a complete dependence on the Lord to decide His way. John Oswald puts it this way:

“To wait on Him is to admit we have no other help, either in ourselves or in another. Therefore we are helpless until He acts. By the same token, to wait on Him is to declare our confidence in His eventual action on our behalf. Thus waiting (qawa) in Hebrew is not merely killing time but a life of confident expectation. Those who give up their own frantic efforts to save themselves and turn expectantly to God will be able to replace or exchange their worn-out strength for new strength. How like God: He takes the useless and gives back the good.”

And so we are challenged to give up our own efforts in life. To stop striving on our own, to stop needing things from other people, and to simply need Him. My ability to do this has been growing over the years, but I struggle with it daily as a lover of Jesus. I struggle to simply need Him and nothing else. Despite the unmet expectations of others all around me, despite people letting me down, my family situation being as dysfunctional as the rest, and the sin I battle daily, I continue to strive to need nothing but Him alone.

But what happens when we do trust Him? We are free to be who He made us to be.

I remember as a kid having next door neighbors who had a Macaw. It was a beautiful and colorful tropical bird. It was also really loud, would bite people, and was really annoying (sorry bird lovers). But every so often the bird would get loose and fly away because they hadn’t clipped its wings in time. It flew all over the place. As high as the trees would go, squawking away. It flew up into the air to gain a view of life and the world that it was never able to see otherwise. The bird was finally free to be what it was intended to be…a bird with fully functioning wings that would take it around the world. So it is with us if we can depend on Him completely. We are finally set free to be who God intends us to be and we will see the world in a way we never have before.

I am on my way, but I am not there. I often clip my own wings, slipping back into the habit of looking at people more than God. I begin to focus on my expectations of others and of a life that will continually disappoint. But as I daily strive to depend on Him alone, my wings grow, I am free to fly, and I get glimpses of a new world. It is then that I see the world in a way that I can’t on the ground. It is then that I have the relationship with God that He wants me to have.

It is exciting to think about what is around the corner. It is exciting to think about what is coming at the church I pastor, what will come in the next 7 years of my marriage, and who I will be as a Dad. And in all that I know but one thing: if I continue to depend on Him alone, what is around the corner is going to be simply amazing.