The Return Of Our God (Isaiah 40:1-11) Series

Last week, I introduced a new series we are beginning that covers Isaiah 40-55. If you missed last week, I think today will still mostly make sense, but you might want to get a copy of last week's sermon from me. Today, then, we are just going to dive in to Isaiah 40. This chapter opens by giving us a half-veiled, half-opened, picture of heaven. What we see, as though through a dirty window, is God in the midst of his divine council. God is not in heaven alone. He's surrounded by the sons of God, who work with God, and for God. And so what we should imagine today, is that we are caught up into heaven, and we get to overhear a conversation in heaven involving God, and his council. And, what we will see, is that there is a human who at some point is caught up into this council, and this human participates in all of it.

So let's read verses 1-2:

(1) Comfort, comfort (2nd person plural) my people, says your God (Elohim);

(2) speak (2nd person plural) to the heart of Jerusalem

(idiom can mean something like "speak tenderly/gently," as in Gen. 34:3; Judges 19:3; Hos 2:16; Ruth 2:13?), or "encourage," as in Gen. 2 Sam 19:8 [EB 7]; Ruth 2:13 in particular is interesting; Ruth doesn't have the type of relationship with Boaz that would've expected this);

and call (2nd person plural) to her

because her term of hard service has been fulfilled, (Job 7:1; 10:17; 14:14),

because her guilt has been paid for,

because she has received from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.

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A note on the three "because" statements:

Goldingay, The Message of Isaiah 40-55, prefers to read these three "ki"s, usually translated a "that" (intoducing the content of the speech) as instead "because," as explanations for why now is the time to call out, and as a deliberately delayed description of the content of the message. The only place in the Hebrew Bible where this verb + preposition occur together is apparently here, based on DCH. "That" is certainly a possible option, but (after reflection) I think Goldingay is right. It's certainly not a normal way to introduce indirect speech. My guess is that Hebrew scholars all know Greek as well, where "hoti" after verbs of speech often means something like "that," marking indirect speech, and they bring that into their reading of the Hebrew "ki."

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So God here turns the page on his relationship with Israel. He initiates something new. He turns to his divine council, and He calls on them to comfort his people, to speak tenderly to them, to encourage them.

Why do God's people need this message of comfort? We talked about it last week, but these words are addressed to a conquered people. Jerusalem was captured, and conquered, in 587 B.C. by Babylon. Many of its people were taken, and resettled across the Babylonian empire (and actually, there were a series of forced resettlements that began about a decade before that as well). The ones who were left in Jerusalem were poor, and struggled to make a life for themselves in a city and a land ruined by war. If you were an Israelite living in all of this, ideally you'd understand that all of this happened to you because of your rebellion against Yahweh. You are in exile, not because Yahweh is weaker than the Babylonian gods, or because Yahweh isn't very attentive, or just because you're unlucky. You're in exile as punishment for sin.

And what God is announcing here, is that Israel has paid off her own sin through her hard service. This idea is foreign to us, probably. But the idea here is linked to (something along the lines of) Exodus 24. Let's turn there. (NRSV updated no reason):

22 [a]“When someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. 2 [b](If the thief is found breaking in and is struck dead, no bloodguilt is incurred; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, bloodguilt is incurred.) The thief shall make full restitution or, if unable to do so, shall be sold for the theft. 4 When the animal, whether ox or donkey or sheep, is found alive in the thief’s possession, the thief shall pay double.

5 “When someone causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets livestock loose to graze in someone else’s field, restitution shall be made from the best in the owner’s field or vineyard.

6 “When fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, the one who started the fire shall make full restitution.