Isaiah 56:1-8 and the redefining of the restoration Judean community

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Summer, 2000 by Clinton E. Hammock

Verse 3 voices the complaints of two groups of people, the eunuch and the foreigner. Verses 4-7 address these complaints with an oracle for their inclusion into the temple community. These verses are presented as a speech by Yahweh, which is delivered in a messenger-formula of a prophet who comes to a decision of Torah (Westermann: 312). Verses 4-7 give the Torah decision. This Torah decision is a new legal decision that alters the Law regarding the foreigner and the eunuch in Deuteronomy 23:1-8. This passage is thus a challenge to the codification of the books of Moses and the developing normative status of those works for the Judean community (Hanson 1995: 194). Verses 4-5, read symbolically, stipulate that the eunuch will be given a place in the temple if he keeps the covenant and observes the Sabbath (Japhet: 78-79). (Compare this interpretation to Whybray: 198). A eunuch was a man who was castrated as a condition of entering into Babylonian and Persian official service (Frost: 445; see also Yamauchi: 132-42). A man could also become a eunuch through disease or an accident, and the same restrictions would apply--but I am not considering these cases. Deuteronomy 23:1 completely excludes the eunuch from religious participation. This decision of Torah overrides his exclusion that was based on ritual restrictions concerning bodily defects.

Verses 6-7 give the decree regarding the foreigner. For the foreigners the same criteria apply, granting them inclusion, if they keep the covenant and observe the Sabbath. They will not be rejected even though they were not born as Judeans, (that is, as "people of the land"--although this could refer to a gentile convert). The foreigner can become a priest, and the foreigner can join into the community of Israel (Hanson 1995: 195). Verse 8 expresses that Yahweh's intentions are to gather a worshiping community that extends beyond the Judeans.

This prophecy proclaims that the people who are truly faithful are not the ritually or ethnically pure, but those who observe the Sabbath and adhere to the covenant. These people will be acceptable in the temple (the eunuch) and their sacrifices will be acceptable to God (the foreigner). The issue here is how will Israel be saved, by exclusivity and ritual, or by adhering to a covenant that demands, not ritual, but faithfulness (with Sabbath observance as the defining mark) and just behavior toward others (Achtemeier: 35). Finally, Isaiah 56:1-8 does not insist on circumcision.

Watts points out that in Isaiah 56:1-8 the scene is one of return to the original principles and understanding of Israel as a worshiping and covenanting community, which shows allegiance to God in a covenant ceremony. This contrasts with the returnees' claims of rights to the temple based upon birth and claims to property ownership, which do not involve a prior emotional commitment or acceptance of ethical covenant duties (Watts: 249). In this passage the function of the temple has changed from a place of offering and sacrifice, to a place of prayer (although sacrifices are not ended, they have less importance). This shift in emphasis shows a new understanding of the temple as a place of worship for all people (Watts: 249-50).