1 - Introduction

Summary

Into the apparent divine silence of the exile, a poetic voice sounds: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God” (Isa 40:1). The chapters that follow are filled with voices. The prophetic poet, the Servant, and Zion all have something to say. But throughout, the dominant voice is that of Israel’s God. This divine first-person speech conveyed by the prophetic text soothes as well as rages. It offers vivid images of coming restoration and of estranging wrath. At times the contrast between passages pulls the reader in opposite directions, producing an almost irreconcilable tension.¹ At other points, the words seem so overlapped with earlier passages that it is as though the text is doubling back upon itself.² These features are elements of Isaiah 40–66’s poetic style. As poems, the texts of Isaiah 40–66 convey their message more through vivid word pictures, juxtapositions, and emotional encounters than through an argument about ideas.