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God of All the World: Universalism and Developing Monotheism in Isaiah 40–66

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Joel Kaminsky  and
Anne Stewart
Joel Kaminsky
Affiliation:
Smith College
Anne Stewart
Affiliation:
Princeton Theological Seminary
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Extract

The relationship between Israel, the nations, and Israel's God in the eschatological future has long occupied exegetes and theologians. The meaning of the pilgrimage of the nations to Zion and the servant's charge to become a “covenant to the people (), a light to the nations ()” (Isa 42:6) is a significant locus of dispute. Some argue that here the text charges the Israelites to missionize the Gentiles, while others contend that Second Isaiah holds only a passing interest in the status of foreigners. These disagreements are not unfounded, for the text itself contains seemingly contradictory exclamations right next to one another. In Isa 45:22, for example, YHWH proclaims: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” In the very next verses, however, Isaiah depicts the nations as subservient to Israel and elsewhere as even licking the dust of the former exiles' feet (49:23)—an image which, at least at first glance, seems incompatible with the notion that foreigners and Israelites similarly benefit from YHWH's saving acts.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 99 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 139 - 163
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We would like to dedicate this article to our colleague, teacher, and friend, Professor Karl P. Donfried, upon his retirement from the Department of Religion and Biblical Literature at Smith College.