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The Black Hole in Isaiah

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The Black Hole in Isaiah Forschungen zum Alten Testament Edited by Konrad Schmid (Zürich) · Mark S. Smith (Princeton) Hermann Spieckermann (Göttingen) · Andrew Teeter (Harvard) 125 Frederik Poulsen The Black Hole in Isaiah A Study of Exile as a Literary Theme Mohr Siebeck Frederik Poulsen, born 1984; 2014 PhD; currently Assistant Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen. Denne afhandling er af Det Teologiske Fakultet ved Københavns Universitet antaget til offent- ligt at forsvares for den teologiske doktorgrad. Dekan Kirsten Busch Nielsen København, den 9. juli 2018 Forsvaret finder sted fredag den 29. marts 2019 kl. 13.00 på Det Teologiske Fakultet, Køben- havns Universitet, aud. 9A.0.01, Karen Blixens Plads 16, 2300 København S. The Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, has accepted this dissertation for public defense for the doctoral degree in theology. Dean Kirsten Busch Nielsen Copenhagen, 9 July 2018 The defense takes place Friday 29 March 2019 at 13.00 at The Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Aud. 9A.0.01, Karen Blixens Plads 16, DK-2300 Copenhagen S. ISBN 978-3-16-156862-6 / eISBN 978-3-16-156863-3 DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-156863-3 ISSN 0940-4155 / eISSN 2568-8359 (Forschungen zum Alten Testament) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. www.mohrsiebeck.com This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproduc- tions, translations and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed on non-aging paper by Gulde Druck in Tübingen, and bound by Groß- buch binderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. Til Maren Preface The present monograph was written between July 2015 and November 2017. It was submitted in December 2017 to the Faculty of Theology at the Univer- sity of Copenhagen for evaluation with the intent of defending it for the doc- toral degree (dr.theol.). In July 2018 the Academic Council accepted it for defense. The oral defense will take place in March 2019. I am grateful to the members of the assessment committee Ulrich Berges, Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, and Jesper Høgenhagen for their evaluation and to the series editors of FAT for accepting this work for publication. With the permission of the dean, a number of small errors in the original manuscript have been corrected. The monograph was written thanks to a postdoctoral scholarship from the Independent Research Fund Denmark and its Sapere Aude program. The generous grant has offered me completely undisturbed time for studying the poetically rich and theologically challenging vision of Isaiah, arguably the most exciting book of the Bible. I did not think scholarships like these still existed, but they do, and I am very grateful to have been the recipient of one. My research was carried out at the Department for Biblical Exegesis at the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. I would like to thank my colleagues for their pleasant and inspiring company over the years. I am grateful to Hermann Spieckermann who first encouraged me to explore exile in Isaiah and Francis Landy who read and discussed an early version of the book. Parts of the initial chapters were written during my research stay at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Spring of 2016, and the manuscript was completed during my stay at the University of Bonn in the Fall of 2017. I would like to thank my local hosts, Ronnie Goldstein (Jerusalem) and Ulrich Berges (Bonn), for hospitality and stimulating talks. I am particularly thank- ful to Sarah Hussell for the excellent effort in proofreading and improving my English. Family and friends have continuously supported and encouraged me during the work on this book. I am most grateful to my wife Maren and our children Johan, Samuel, and Ada for their love and care. Living with you, Maren, is like eating raisin cakes and apples all day long. This book is for you. Frederik Poulsen October 2018 Contents Preface ...................................................................................................... VII Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 Approaches to the study of exile ................................................................... 2 Recent studies on exile in Isaiah ................................................................... 7 Methodological considerations .................................................................... 13 The structure of the monograph ................................................................... 16 Chapter 1. Entering into the black hole ............................................ 19 1.1. The gap between Isaiah 39 and 40 ........................................................ 19 1.2. Entering down into Sheol (Isaiah 5:11–17) .......................................... 29 1.2.1. Isaiah 5:11–17: Text and translation ............................................ 32 1.2.2. Isaiah 5:11–12: Woe to the drunkards who neglect YHWH ......... 33 1.2.3. Isaiah 5:13–17: Exile, death, and a ruined city ............................ 35 1.2.4. Summing up ................................................................................ 46 1.3. The hidden God .................................................................................... 47 1.3.1. YHWH’s hiddenness ................................................................... 48 1.3.2. YHWH’s anger ........................................................................... 54 1.3.3. YHWH’s silence ......................................................................... 59 1.4. Conclusion............................................................................................ 66 Chapter 2. Anticipating exile: Oracles of doom ............................. 67 2.1. The destruction of Jerusalem and the exile in the Old Testament .......... 67 X Contents 2.1.1. Destruction and exile narrated and interpreted ............................. 68 2.1.2. Destruction and exile anticipated ................................................. 70 2.2. Exile and vast emptiness (Isaiah 6:1–13) .............................................. 74 2.2.1. The vision (Isaiah 6:1–7) ............................................................. 79 2.2.1.1. Isaiah 6:1–7: Text and translation ................................... 79 2.2.1.2. Isaiah 6:1–4: The sovereign judge .................................. 80 2.2.1.3. Isaiah 6:5–7: The prophet’s reaction and cleansing ......... 82 2.2.2. The mission (Isaiah 6:8–13) ........................................................ 85 2.2.2.1. Isaiah 6:8–13: Text and translation ................................. 86 2.2.2.2. Isaiah 6:8–10: The sending of the prophet and his message ................................................................................. 87 2.2.2.3. Isaiah 6:11–13: Deportation and complete destruction .... 91 2.2.3. Summing up .............................................................................. 100 2.3. Jerusalem is doomed (Isaiah 22:1–14) ............................................... 100 2.3.1. Isaiah 22:1–14: Text and translation .......................................... 104 2.3.2. Isaiah 22:1–4: The besieged Jerusalem and the weeping prophet ............................................................................ 106 2.3.3. Isaiah 22:5–8a: The enemy attack ............................................. 112 2.3.4. Isaiah 22:8b–11: Defense rather than faith ................................ 116 2.3.5. Isaiah 22:12–13: Festival rather than fasting ............................. 118 2.3.6. Isaiah 22:14: Death without forgiveness .................................... 119 2.3.7. Summing up .............................................................................. 121 2.4. Everything shall be carried off to Babylon (Isaiah 39:1–8) ................ 121 2.4.1. Isaiah 39:1–8: Text and translation ............................................ 125 2.4.2. Isaiah 39:1–2: The visit from Babylon ...................................... 127 2.4.3. Isaiah 39:3–4: The prophet’s interview ..................................... 129 2.4.4. Isaiah 39:5–8: The prophetic word of doom .............................. 131 2.4.5. Summing up .............................................................................. 136 2.5. Zion has become a wilderness (Isaiah 63:7–64:11) ............................ 136 2.5.1. Review of history and the confession of sin .............................. 140 2.5.2. Isaiah 63:17–19a: Enemies took control of the people’s land .... 142 2.5.3. Isaiah 64:7–11: Fire has destroyed the temple ........................... 147 2.5.4. Summing up .............................................................................. 152 2.6. Conclusion.......................................................................................... 152 Contents XI Chapter 3. Embodying exile: Typological figures ....................... 154 3.1. Figures of exile as a biblical theme .................................................... 154 3.1.1. Excurses on the figures of Cain and Jonah ................................ 155 3.1.1.1. Driven away from the land (Cain) ................................. 155 3.1.1.2. Down into the deep of the sea (Jonah) .......................... 159 3.2. The naked prophet (Isaiah 20:1–6) ....................................................
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