Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
Isaiah
61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126, or Luke 1:47-55; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8;
19-28
Gaudete (Joy) Sunday
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Background
This week's post is going to be awfully long and geeky. My apologies for that. I'm actually in the middle of a book on this topic, so every now and then when one of these posts begins to drag on and on, think to yourself, "aha! This is one of those places where Stan is writing a book chapter, but disguising it for us as a blog post." It'll read a whole lot better after that...:-)
Isaiah
61 is a central passage in the development of Biblical theology. As we will see
below, it is strongly influenced by the seminal Jubilee passage of Leviticus
25, and it is central to the self-consciousness of Jesus, as portrayed by Luke
in the critically important sermon of Luke 4. There is also strong evidence that
Jesus understood the notion of the “Kingdom (or realm) of God” that he heralded
the coming of, as being based on the Jubilee.
The author of what we know as Third Isaiah is
otherwise unknown to us. We call him by that name only because his writings are
the third of the three writings in the book known as Isaiah, and because Bible
scholars have never been terribly creative at book naming. The breakdown is
generally believed to be like this: First Isaiah—Chapters 1-39; Second
Isaiah—40-55; and Third Isaiah—56-66.
Second Isaiah wrote just
before and just after the fall of Babylon (where thousands of Jews had been
held captive)[a] to
Cyrus the Great of Persia (Oct 29th 539 b.c.e.), and his works are filled with joyous anticipation
of the re-establishment of Jerusalem
This passage
The immediate occasion of the writing of this
particular poem is an economic crisis brought about by the financial dealings
of the wealthy returnees who used their status and wealth to grab more land and
income from both their deported brothers and sisters and from those who had
been left behind. They used their economic and class power to influence the
application of tax and finance laws in the emerging nation to their advantage, which
caused huge increases in their own incomes, but also tremendous poverty in
others. For example, they would make agricultural start-up loans during times
of drought at exorbitant rates, which violated the Jubilee laws of Leviticus 25
and Deuteronomy 15, but which was allowed legally because they could buy off
courts and lawmakers in case anyone complained. If the poor borrower was not
able to pay the entire amount in one year, the next year the unpaid portion
would be rolled over into a second loan, thus doubling the interest rate. After
two or three years of doubling and quadrupling the interests, the poor farmer
was effectively bankrupt (though concept did not exist in the era) and had to
give up his far--and often his freedom--to the loaner.
Nehemiah
tells the story:
1Now there was a great outcry
of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin. 2For
there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we
must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.” 3There were also
those who said, “We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our
houses in order to get grain during the famine.” 4And there were
those who said, “We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to
pay the king’s tax. 5Now our flesh is the same as that of our
kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing
our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been
ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others”
(5:1-5).
For Second Isaiah and Israel’s other theologians,
the period of captivity was God’s punishment for just this kind of oppression
of the poor, and the eventual release—he believed—was God’s forgiveness.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem
that she has served her term,
that
her penalty is paid,
that
she has received from the Lord’s hand
double
for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:2, the reading for Advent 2, Year B)
They had believed that God’s
act of granting them release would bring about a spiritual change in attitude toward
God and toward others. In return for their redemption through God , Israel
But that great conversion did
not happen. To the dismay of this anonymous prophet (and others), many of the
more powerful exiles returned to Israel to begin the same kind of oppressive
practices that led to the exile fifty years earlier.
Isaiah, speaking for God, characterized them this
way:
The
way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice
in their paths.
Their roads
they have made crooked;
no one who walks in them
knows peace.
(Isaiah
59:8)
In the first section of
today’s reading, the prophet envisions himself as receiving an “anointing”[b] from
the Spirit of God to go to those who are poor and oppressed and to bring them
“good news”[c] of
the establishment of the “year of God’s favor.” He is going to all of those who
were pushed to the sidelines and passed by in the euphoria over the booming
economy. The “good news” he brings is that the city of Jerusalem
They shall
build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the
former devastations;
they
shall repair the ruined cities,
the
devastations of former generations. (61:4)
But what is most startling is
that the “they” of this passage, the ones who will be doing the rebuilding (and
receiving the glory) will not be the prophet nor the landowners, nor even God,
but instead this particularly abused group within the larger Israelite
community: the oppressed, the broken hearted, the captives, the prisoners and
the mourners. “The spirit...is upon me...to bring good news to the
oppressed....and They shall build up the ancient ruins....” (vv. 1a, 4a
emphasis added). Those who have been pushed to the margins will become the
center in the newly created society.
A Few Words on Terminology:
In the prophet’s list of
recipients of the good news, the word the nrsv
translates as “oppressed” (Hebrew, anau)
has two meanings. One is “weak” or “powerless,” and the other is “poor” or
“economically oppressed,” and it is rendered both ways at different times in
the Hebrew Scriptures. In ancient Israel
“Liberty
You
shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the
period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the
trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month--on the Day of
Atonement--you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land.
And you
shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the
land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return,
every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. (Lev.
25:8-10; cf. Jer. 34:8, 15, 17)
Also, most scholars believe
that the phrases, “year of the Lord’s
favor,” and “the day of vengeance” (better, “day of rescue”)[d] also
refer to the biblical Jubilee. They point to an age to come when Yahweh’s
original intention for the world would be realized and the ancient and
equitable system of communal land and property ownership would be re-instated
(cf. Jer. 34:8, 15, 17). The poor would finally get their economic rights and
powers within the larger community and God’s peace would once again prevail.
However, the
political/economic/religious powers never allowed an authentic enactment of the
laws of Jubilee. That meant that prophets like Third Isaiah and others increasingly
began to sprinkle their oracles with phrases that got at the sense of the Jubilee without actually
using the dangerous and politically charged word. (Perhaps we could also say paraphrasing
Reinhold Niebuhr that just because a cause is difficult, it doesn’t mean that
it is something unworthy of giving our lives to.)
The upshot of all of this is
that the mission, for which the prophet has been anointed, is to bring the
“good news” to the oppressed and broken hearted, that a new age of Jubilee is
coming, and that they will be the ones who will rebuild the new society
which embodies it. They will be comforted, given the oil of gladness and
mantles of praise and will be called oaks of righteousness. And they will also
be the ones to recover the lost glory of Jerusalem
Actually, there was a
tradition of pronouncing sweeping debt cancellation that preceded Israel. It
was a common practice in the Ancient Near East for a new king to declare a
“release/liberty” for debts and slaves as a way of buying favor with his new
subjects. King Hammurabi of Babylonia announced no fewer than four royal
“releases” during his 42-year reign. However, as the economies of the region
began to move from communal property ownership to wealthy private ownership,
and be based more on trade and less on family values, it became increasingly
difficult to actually enforce a “release.” By the time the priestly legislators
of Leviticus added the concept to Israel’s legal statutes it had already become
virtually impossible to implement. In the view of the wealthy elites, the
“world as God intended,” could never be allowed to get in the way of a world of
profits and gated communities, a view that has not changed measurably from
their time to ours. Therefore, prophets like Third Isaiah increasingly
sprinkled their oracles with phrases that got at the sense of the Jubilee without actually using the dangerous and
politically charged word.
Verses 5-7 continue to shower
accolades upon the restored outcasts of v. 1, but the lectionary reading skips
them going on to vss. 8-9, where God begins to speak. God loves justice and
hates wrongdoing, and will pay them for all of their years of unrewarded labor.
Then, amazingly, God will make a special covenant with them which is so grand
that “their descendants shall be know among the nations”! These people, poor
and despised by the powers that be, have become the special chosen ones of God,
the light to the nations which was envisioned originally for the nation itself.
This is a radical reorientation of society’s values and hierarchy. Only a God
of the poor and oppressed would think of such a thing. And only justice made
flesh in the poor and oppressed can make it real.
In vs. 10-11, the prophet
closes the passage by bursting into song, celebrating what God is doing through
him. With his role as the anointed one to bring this news to the poor, his very
clothes and robe become righteousness and garlands, which are as glorious as
the clothes and jewelry worn by a bride and groom on their wedding day. With
his message (and the people’s response) as sure as seeds grow in a garden,
God’s plan for righteousness and praise will shine forth before all the nations.
This is an excellent Advent
passage, because it offers authentic hope for those broken and excluded from
proper society, and it is mixed with personal responsibility: if the prophet
does not “bring” the good news, it won’t get shared, and if the renewed people
do not claim their new role, it won’t get taken. It is with promise,
expectation, and personal responsibility that we wait for the claims of the
coming (and coming again) Christ.
Exegetical and Translation
Notes:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The Good News of Deliverance
61 The spirit of the Lord[e] GOD is upon me,
to bind up the
brokenhearted,[j]
and release to the
prisoners;[m]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’S
favor,
to comfort all who
mourn;[p]
3 to provide for those who mourn
in Zion
to give them a garland
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness[q] instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise
instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of
righteousness,[r]
the planting of the LORD,[s] to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the
ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the
former devastations;[t]
they shall repair the ruined
cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed
your flocks,
foreigners shall till your
land and dress your vines;
6 but you shall be called
priests of the LORD,
you shall be named ministers
of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of
the nations,
and in their riches you shall
glory.
and dishonor was proclaimed
as their lot,
therefore they shall possess
a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be
theirs.
8 For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;[w]
I will faithfully give them
their recompense,
and I will make an
everlasting covenant[x] with them.
9 Their descendants shall be
known among the nations,
and their offspring among the
peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom
the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in
my God;
for he has clothed me with
the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the
robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself
with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth
its shoots,
and as a garden causes what
is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause
righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the
nations.
[a] No one knows the number for
sure, but Jeremiah 52:28-30 says that the total was 4,600, the total of two
deportations in 586 and 582. However, it was at least three to four times that
because in Jeremiah’s day, they didn’t count women and children. The number was
probably closer to 20,000, a staggering number of people for the size of nation
populations of the time.
[b] mashach, from which we get the term “messiah” [Hebrew: meshiach], cf. 1 Sam 10:1.
[c] bäsar, used also in the Advent 2, Year B reading,
Isaiah 40:9.
[d] Nâqâm, “requital,” or “rescue” are better than “Vengeance.”
It follows a Ugaritic root which means to avenge someone, but in the sense of rescuing them. “The word is to be taken in the sense of ‘for’ and not ‘against’
restoration; as it is also true of the original meaning of ‘revenge’ the days
before Israel became a state: ‘the restoration of wholeness’” (West, p. 367. Cf.
J. Morgenstern, “Jubilee, Year of,” IDB,
Vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), p. 1002. “Day of restoration of
wholeness.” Westermann, p. 347.
[e] “Lord” ('Adonai
) Proper title, “My Lord,” word spoken
in place of saying
the divine name, “Yahweh” in Jewish display of reverence Combined with God. Should be read as “Yahweh God.”
[f] “Lord” (Yahweh)
[g] “Anoint” (mashiach) to rub with oil, i.e. anoint; consecrate;
also to paint. Related to noun, Messiah,
the “anointed one.”
[h] “Good news,” (bśr)
to be fresh, i.e. full (rosy, cheerful); to announce, preach, tell, good
tidings. The term “Good News” (or “good tidings”) is found also in 40:9, 52:7,
but only here does it refer to the poor, and only here is it the speaker (the
prophet) who brings it. Bringing Good News is usually the task of a runner for
a king or other dignitary, proclaiming the arrival of the dignitary. Also, importantly,
in its biblical usage, it is usually “proclamation of an event which has
already come about.” Here the prophet’s words themselves will bring about liberty
to the captives (etc.). This is a critical distinction. (Westermann, p. 366).
[i] “Oppressed,” anaw, depressed in mind or
circumstances, needy (especially saintly); humble, lowly, meek, poor.
[j] “Brokenhearted” From Shabar, break, destroy, break in pieces,
break down, hurt, torn, crush.
[k] “Liberty,” derôr, from an unused root, to move
rapidly; freedom; hence spontaneity of outflow—liberty. This is understood by
commentators to not refer to Israel
[l] “Liberty
[m] “Release to the Prisoners” (peqaḥ-qôaḥ) “Masculine noun indicating an opening; a release from
captivity. This phrase means literally, opening of vision as eyesight. In
context it indicates the freeing of those who had been bound.” Spiros Zodhiates,
Ed., The Complete Word Study Dictionary
(Chattanooga, TN: AMG International, 1992).
[n] “Day of vengeance” (cf. also, Isa. 34:8; 63:4; Jer. 46:10; and “day of
Yahweh”: Isa. 2:12; 13:6; Joel 2:1ff.). Chris Haslam (and others) says
that “rescue” is a better translation of the Hebrew (Nâqâm) than “Vengeance.” It follows a Ugaritic root which means to avenge
someone, and can also be translated as “rescue.” In so doing, God offers
vindication. Note that the meaning of the
word doesn’t have the “sense of God’s taking vengeance on Israel’s foes....the
word is to be taken in the sense of ‘for’ and not ‘against’ restoration; as it
is also true of the original meaning of ‘revenge’ the days before Israel became
a state: ‘the restoration of wholeness’” (West, p. 367. Cf. J. Morgenstern,
“Jubilee, Year of,” IDB, Vol. 2
(Nashville: Abington, 1962), p. 1002. “Day of restoration of wholeness.”
Westermann, p. 347.
[o] Note the equal status of
“year” and “day,” indicating that no particular event or time is in mind, but
what is envisioned is a new era. The Jubilee has become unhooked from a
specific fifty-year event, and has become a vision of what will be in God’s
time. (Westermann, p. 367).
[p] “Comfort to all who mourn,” 2nd Isaiah particularized the
mourners, as in 40:1. 3rd Isaiah generalizes them, universalizes
them. This difference is common between the two writers.
[q] “Oil of gladness,” NET has “Oil of Joy.”
[r] “Oak of righteousness”: See
44:14 for becoming like an oak as a symbol for spiritual strengthening.
[s] “The planting of the Lord”:
For this image, see also 60:21 and Jeremiah 17:8.
[t] “They shall raise up the
former devastations”; NET has, “and the formerly desolate places they will
raise up.”
[u] “Their shame,” Heb: Your
shame.
[v] “Double,” see 40:2.
[w] “Wrongdoing” (‛ôlâh). Feminine
active participle of the verb, ‛âlâh,
“to ascend.” Could mean, a step (as
in “step up,” or “ascend”). Used usually in reference to a holocaust (as in, going up in smoke), and therefore occasionally
translated “burnt offering,” as the kjv translates
it, with some justification. The nrsv
puts that option in a note.
[x] “Everlasting covenant”: In
Genesis 9:16, God tells Noah that the rainbow is a reminder of the everlasting
covenant between God and all living creatures. In Genesis 17:7, God makes such
a covenant with Abraham and his offspring. In Genesis 17:19, God promises a
covenant with Isaac and his progeny. David. In his death speech (2 Samuel 23:5)
recalls the everlasting covenant God made with him when he wished to build a
temple (2 Samuel 7:13, 16, 24-26, 29). See also 54:9-10; 55:3; 59:21; Jeremiah
32:40; 50:5; Psalm 105:10.
