Eating in Isaiah 65–66 As a Conclusion to Isaiah

chapter 6 In or Out? Eating in Isaiah 65–66 as a Conclusion to Isaiah

Isaiah 65–66 brings the book of Isaiah to a close with some decisive proclama- tions related to eating: “my servants shall eat . . . my servants shall drink” (65:13); “they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (65:21). Additionally, God’s people anticipate being nursed by Mother Zion (66:10–13), and the nations even stream to Zion for festal celebration (66:23). These positive announcements contrast with indictments against those feasting in idolatrous cults (65:4, 11; 66:3, 17). The aim of this chapter is to pursue the significance of the food and drink theme in Isa 65–66 in light of their role as concluding chapters to both Isa 56–66 and the entire book from a sequential-synchronic perspective.

Food and Drink in Isaiah 65–66

Previous studies on Isa 65–66 have uncovered many elements that contrib- ute to the coherence between these chapters, conveying a message about the contrasting destinies of the apostates and YHWH’s servants.1 Chief among these are (1) YHWH speaking throughout both chapters, initially to the wicked (65:1–66:2a) and then to the servants (66:2b–24);2 (2) both chapters responding

1 Approaching these chapters as a unity is a great contrast with the previous tendency to frag- ment texts. See Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969), 398–429, who identifies seven separate units in these chapters (65:1–16a, 17–25; 66:1–4, 5, 6–16, 17, 18–24). 2 Marvin A. Sweeney, Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature, FAT 45 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 49. On the first-person address in Isa 65, see Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), 135. Scholars debate how Isa 65:1–7 and 66:1–4(6) fit into treating Isa 65–66 as a unified collection. Sweeney argues that 65:1–7 does not directly address the wicked by treating the second person plural in v. 7 as a gloss. Form and Intertexuality, 49. Odil Hannes Steck, Studien zu Tritojesaja, BZAW 203 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1991), 218, claims that 65:1–7 addresses both audiences (wicked and godly). As for 66:1–4(6), though most divide after v. 4, see the recent studies on the chiastic structure of 66:1–6. W. A. M. Beuken, “Does Trito-Isaiah Reject the Temple? An Intertextual Inquiry into Isaiah 66.1–6,” in Intertextuality in Biblical Writings, ed. Sipke Draisma (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1989), 60; Jake Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile: The Author of Third Isaiah as Reader and

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��4 | doi ��.��63/9789004280861_�07 eating in isaiah 65–66 as a conclusion to isaiah 145 to the preceding lament;3 (3) recurring vocabulary and concepts between the various sub-sections of Isa 65–66, such as cultic terms,4 call and response language,5 terms for joy in contrast to shame,6 and references to the righteous as servants and chosen.7 Of most interest to our study is that though

Redactor of the Book, Oxford Theological Monographs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 44; Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Priestly Rites and Prophetic Rage: Post-Exilic Prophetic Critique of the Priesthood FAT II 19 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 48–53; Edwin C. Webster, “A Rhetorical Study of Isaiah 66,” JSOT 34 (1986): 94–96. Stromberg resolves the tension of where the audi- ence changes by arguing that a shift occurs at the center of the chiasm resulting in a formal division between 65:1–66:2 (addressing the wicked) and 66:3–24 (as addressing the servants). Isaiah After Exile, 44–47. 3 For an overview of evidence for treating Isa 65–66 as a response to the lament in 63:7–64:11, see Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile, 49–50; Emmanuel Uchenna Dim, The Eschatological Implications of Isaiah 65 and 66 as the Conclusion of the Book of Isaiah, Bible in History 3 (Bern: Peter Lang, 2005), 41–44. Whybray, however, resists seeing this as a response because 63:7–64:11 does not presuppose a divided community. Isaiah 40–66, New Century Bible (London: Oliphants, 1975), 266. See Koole, who focuses on the corrective element of this response. Isaiah III: Isaiah 56–66, HCOT (Leuven: Peeters, 2001), 407. For a creative explana- tion of Isa 65–66 as a “reorientation” for the disoriented lament in 63:7–64:11, see Michael Chan, “Isaiah 65–66 and the Genesis of Reorienting Speech,” CBQ 72 (2010): 445–63. -swine”) occurs three times (65:4; 66:3, 17). In the first and last instances, swine coor“) חזיר 4 As many note, this unites the message of Isa .בׂשר and the noun אכל dinates with the verb 65–66 as addressing a community involved in syncretistic worship. Repeated cultic terms within these (66:3 ;65:3) זבח and ,(66:17 ;65:3) גנות ,(66:17 ;65:5) קדׁש ,(66:3 ;65:3) לבן like verses further wed these sections together around the issue of false worship. See Dim, Eschatological Implications, 45 fn. 58; Paul A. Smith, Rhetoric and Redaction in Trito-Isaiah: The Structure, Growth and Authorship of Isaiah 56–66, VTSup 62 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 131; Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile, 48. schema also occurs in the major sub-sections of Isa (ענה ,ׁשמע) and response (קרא) The call 5 in 65:1, where YHWH דרׁש and 17–25) as well as in Isa 66 (cf. 66:4). The use of ,16–8 ,7–1) 65 claims to have made himself available to be sought (Niphal tolerative), coordinates with 65:10, him. See Dim, Eschatological (דרׁש) where God’s people are clarified as those who sought Implications, 45; Smith, Rhetoric and Redaction, 131; Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile, 48. See also, Hanson, The Dawn, 135, who limits his comments to Isa 65. ,recur in both chapters (see 65:13, 14, 18, 19; 66:5, 10 (מׂשוׂש ,ׂשיׂש ,גיל) Clusters of terms for joy 6 14), occurring with Jerusalem in 65:19 and 66:10. Stromberg notes that the mocking request of the servants in 66:5 presupposes knowledge of the (ׂשמח) ”by the wicked to see the “joy in 65:13. This point is strengthened when in both verses this prospect (ׂשמח) promise of joy awaiting the wicked (65:13; 66:5). See (בוׁש) of joy for God’s servants contrasts with the shame awaits the wicked as an (חרב) Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile, 48–49. Furthermore, the sword alternative to joy for God’s people in both chapters (65:12; 66:16). and chosen (66:14 ;15 ,14 ,[×3]13 ,9 ,65:8 ;עבד) ”References to the righteous as “servants 7 occur in both chapters. Stromberg, Isaiah After Exile, 48. The shift (22 ,15 ,66:9 ;בחיר) ones