Comfort for Jerusalem: the second Isaiah as counselor to refugees

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Summer, 2004 by William S. Morrow

Global explanations affect a variety of outcomes and situations while specific explanations affect only a few outcomes and situations. A global explanation for the destruction of Jerusalem would be that YHWH, the God of Israel, was rendered powerless by the Babylonian conquest. In this respect, the prophet was at great pains to affirm the incomparability of Israel's deity (e.g., 40:12-31). It was not Babylon that had global power but the very deity whose power over both history and nature was being called into doubt. A frequent assertion of YHWH's incomparability has to do with his power to predict the course of Israel's history (e.g., 41:4, 21-24, 26; 42:9; 43:9-12; 44:7-8; 45:20-23 and 46:10). By the same token, this power is denied to the gods and idols of Babylon (e.g., 44:24-25 and 47:12-13). Moreover, the conditions of destruction are to be reversed: now Babylon will fall (47:1-15) and drink the cup of judgment that Israel will never have to drink again (51:17-23).

Behaviors

A prominent behavioral symptom of learned helplessness is passivity with regard to one's ability to avoid or change a bad outcome in the future. In this respect, one of the groups known to be prone to learned helplessness are long-term captives who become resigned to chronic loss of hope and freedom (Herman: 74-95). Captive Israel's passive behavior towards its own future was predicated on its doubts about the power of YHWH, its inability to appropriate a positive identity as a faith community and fascination with the religion of its captors. Since these first two traits have already been described, this last factor will be elaborated here.

Attraction to Babylonian religion can be regarded as the other side of the faith community's pessimism about its own practices and beliefs. It was a symptom of exiled Israel's resignation to permanent Babylonian hegemony. The Second Isaiah's poetry devotes considerable space to discrediting Babylonian religious practices. This material often contrasts the ineffectiveness of the conqueror's rites and deities with the power of YHWH. Such arguments may taken as an indicators that members of the exilic community were resorting to Babylonian religious practices in order to compensate for perceived inadequacies in the faith of Israel.

The Second Isaiah's approach to the worship of Babylonian gods and religious practices is well known. Babylon is regarded as a place of servitude to non-gods; YHWH is the sole existing deity (Clifford: 498-99). Despite the extensive lore of Babylonian divination, the utility of its diviners and augurers is rejected (e.g., 44:24-25 and 47:12-13). Only Israel's God has the capacity to predict the future (e.g., 46:9-13). Moreover, YHWH is bringing to pass a defeat of Babylon that its deities do not foresee (e.g., 47:8-14).

The poetry of the Second Isaiah contains a number of polemics against idol worship and manufacture. According to the Second Isaiah, the statues of the Babylonian gods are only pieces of decorated wood and metal which are the products of human workmanship (e.g., 40:18-20, 44:9-22, and 46:5-13). In fact, the Babylonians themselves seem to have had some anxiety about the human origins of their divine statues and attempted to allay such reservations in their ceremonies for "washing the mouth" when the divine image was inaugurated. The Second Isaiah may have perceived this uneasiness underlying Babylonian rituals for the installation of a cult statue and sought to dispute their efficacy (Horovitz: 346-47).