Isaiah, Book

We first meet Bat Tzion as YHWH’s defiant virgin daughter in Isaiah’s prophecy against the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The metaphor turns dark when Jerusalem is ravaged by the Babylonians.

“What need have I of all your sacrifices?” says YHWH. “Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow” (Isaiah 1:11, 17). By placing a reminiscence of the Assyrian invasion of Judah right before this rebuke (1:7–8), the opening chapter of Isaiah sends the message that Judah can survive only when society takes care of its most vulnerable members.

Abram’s journey from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, and God’s changing his name to Abraham, “father of a multitude of nations,” presage the struggles and aspirations of his descendants’ return migration from Babylon to Judah. At stake is Isaiah’s vision about the place of Israel among the nations.

Using the metaphor of Israel as YHWH’s vineyard, three biblical texts—Isaiah 5, Psalm 80 and Isaiah 27—grapple with Judah’s destruction and the hope for its future recovery.

Why?

The Kedushah prayer is based on two quotes from angels: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts...” (Isaiah 6:3) and “Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from its place” (Ezekiel 3:12). However, Shadal, the 19^th century polymath, explains that the second verse is not a quote by angels, but the result of a scribal error.