Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - P. H. R. van Houwelingen: Jeruzsálem, az anyagyülekezet. Az apostoli egyház fejlődése Jeruzsálem szemszögéből
He has worked extremely hard proclaiming the new redemption the Lord was bringing, but the people remained blind and deaf to it. In my view, however, it is preferable to think of still another prophetic figure. My first argument is that it does not seem very probable to imagine Deutero-Isaiah describing his own death in Isaiah 53. My second argument is that Deutero-Isaiah himself never used first person language from Isaiah 40 onwards (sometimes Isa 40:6 LXX is interpreted in this way) and always keeps himself in the background. It is not until Isa 48:16, a few verses before the Servant text of Isaiah 49, that an anonymous prophetic figure presents himself as being sent by the Lord. In Hebrew he says: im-n '3IT72? STirr '37K ilfiyv. The first word Hfil?'! normally marks the beginning of a new text, currently indicating a change of participants within a text, though in Isa 48:16 the Masoretes understood it as the closure of the foregoing paragraph, just as many Bible translations do. This, however, does not match with the first person language of this foregoing paragraph that refers to the Lord himself. For that reason some exegetes have eliminated this phrase as a gloss (B. Duhm, for example) or emended the phrase to make it fit (P. Volz, for example). It is much more probable, however, that this last phrase of verse 16 marks the introduction of the message that follows and is introduced with the well-known messenger formula. The last line of verse 16 can then be translated as: ‘And now, the Lord God has sent me and his spirit. ’ The prophecy of Isa 48:17-21 gives a summary of his preaching. By consequence he might be the Servant we meet in first person^language in Isa 49:1-6 and 50:4-9. The remarkable use of the divine name Hi IT' ’37fs which is characteristic for the : T “ Servant in Isa 50:4-9, confirms that this prophetic Servant appears on the scene in Isa 48:16b already. In Isaiah research there is a growing tendency now to interpret this prophetic Servant of Isaiah 49 in a collective sense as representing the obedient part of Israel, those exiles who were ready to leave Babylon in contrast to the majority of the exiles.16 Recently the Indian scholar Tharekadavil identified the Servant as ‘the YHWH alone movement’ that during the exile proclaimed monotheism.17 Such a collective interpretation need not at once be excluded, but it remains a remarkable fact that from Isaiah 49 onwards this prophetic Servant is painted with growing individualizing colors. Still the book of Isaiah keeps secret the exact identity of this newly appointed Servant of the Lord. In any case he is presented to us as a prophetic figure that clings to the Lord, although his preaching lacks the effect he had hoped for. He is convinced that his reward is with his God. He is thus the opposite of the people of Jacob and Israel that thought that its way was hidden from the Lord, and that thought its right to have been disregarded by God (Isa 40:27). By not exposing the exact identity of this prophetic Servant, a prevailing mystery is connected with him. This is especially the case when the motive of the suffering of this Servant is further elaborated in the Servant text of Isa 50:4-9 and above all in the Servant text of Isa 52:13-53:12. Paradoxically the more this Servant is personified as an individual character, the less Jaap Di kker 16 Cf. Ulrich Berges, Jesaja 40-48, HThKAT, Freiburg 2008, p. 537: ‘die prophetische Gemeinschaft, die als berufener und geläuterter Knecht bereit ist, sich von Babel und ihrem Fremdgötterdienst zu trennen und den Weg in die judaische Heimat anzutreten.’ 17 Antony Tharekadavil, Servant ofYahweh in Second Isaiah. Isaianic Servant Passages in Their Literary and Historical Context, Frankfurt am Main 2007.
