Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretive Tradition

Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretive Tradition. Edited by Craig C. Broyles and Craig A. Evans. 2 vole. SVT 70. Leiden: Brill, 1997, xx + 829 pp., $153.00.

These two volumes offer an update on the status on Isaianic scholarship for the student, pastor, and professor who have an interest in Isaiah studies. As part of the SVT series, this set also introduces another series entitled "Formation and Interpretation of the OT" (FIOTL). According to the editors, the aim of these two volumes is to "combine the more recent approaches that treat the formation of the final form of the book of Isaiah with the more conventional historical-critical approaches that treat the use of traditions by the book's authors and editors" (p. ix). The material is divided into three sections: (1) the formation and leitmotifs of the book of Isaiah, (2) specific oracles and passages within Isaiah, and (3) the interpretation of Isaiah in late antiquity. The three sections reflect the three chronological states in the composition and transmission of the book of Isaiah normally proposed by the critics. The second section of this set probes the first phase of the "authorship" issue. Several authors of these essays investigate how the "composer" of a given passage used the traditions they inherited (e.g. Exodus, Zion, David). The first section considers the second stage of "editorial shaping," examining how the editors interpreted and shaped these received oracles as they were compiled and gathered into an anthology. The final section of this set explores the third stage of "readers" and "translators" where the Hebrew book of Isaiah serves as the tradition passed on to others.

These two volumes contain 36 essays (part one, 13 essays; part two, 11 essays; part three, 12 essays). The second volume concludes with a thorough bibliography (55 pages), and a helpful index of ancient writings (45 pages) and modern authors (11 pages).

Three of the essays in the first section give special attention to authorship/formation issues. J. Blenkinsopp ("The Servant and the Servants in Isaiah and the Formation of the Book") employs the different uses of "servant" in chaps. 40-66 to support his claim that chaps. 40-54[55] depict an individual prophetic figure who died on account of his beliefs while chaps. 55[56]-66 allude to a specific group who cherished eschatological beliefs and was alienated from the official leadership. W. Holladay ("Was Trito-Isaiah Deutero-Isaiah after all?") and O. Steck ("Autor und/oder Redaktor in Jesaja 56-66") focus on the authorship or redaction of Isaiah 56-66. Two essays in this section deal with reading strategies. Both E. Conrad ("Reading Isaiah and the Twelve as Prophetic Books") and R. Melugin ("The Book of Isaiah and the Construction of Meaning") distance themselves from a grammatical-historical approach of interpreting Scripture in favor of a more open-ended approach. After affirming that written texts deaden the vitality of the oral, Conrad concludes that a written text must be encountered in each new present through reading (pp. 16-17). Although Melugin does not deny the value of "original meanings," he encourages the reader to enlarge their vision and embrace new horizons of meaning (pp. 54-55), i.e. to reinterpret Isaiah in the manifold varieties of settings offered by the world of the reader.

The majority of essays in this section (eight of 13 essays) give attention to a theme or structure common to the book of Isaiah: the plan of God (W. Brueggemann, "Planned People/Planned Book?"), metaphors (Y. Gitay, "Why Metaphors? A Study of the Texture of Isaiah"), ethics (J. Barton, "Ethics in the Book of Isaiah"), blindness/insight (R. Carroll, "Blindsight and the Vision Thing: Blindness and Insight in the Book of Isaiah"), Jerusalem depicted as a woman (J. Schmitt, "The City as Woman in Isaiah 1-39"), rhetorical questions (J. K. Kuntz, "The Form, Location, and Function of Rhetorical Questions in Deutero-Isaiah"), the kingship of YHWH (T. Mettinger, "In Search of the Hidden Structure: YHWH as King in Isaiah 40-55"), and the concept of righteousness (J. Oswalt, "Righteousness in Isaiah: A Study of the Function of Chapters 55-66 in the Present Structure of the Book").

Due to space limitations, additional comments will be made concerning only two of these essays. Mettinger's essay concludes with an excursus that updates his thinking with regard to the "servant song." He adjusts his former interpretation of 49:5-6 and argues that the "Ebed" denotes the exiled elite of the people that may have a mission to the majority of Israel. Rather than linking the Cyrus oracle with Isaiah 53, he links it with chaps. 51-52. He reaffirms his suggestion that a set of hymnic passages exists in Isaiah 40-55 as well as his skepticism concerning the "servant song" hypothesis. Also, in contrast to the approaches to Isaiah that emphasize the differences between chaps. 56-66 and the rest of the book (in support of a Trito-Isaiah proposal), Oswalt contends that chaps. 56-66 are written in the full knowledge of chaps. 1-55 and serve to unify that corpus. This last section of Isaiah resolves the tensions between chaps. 1-39 and 40-55. In chaps. 1-39 "righteousness primarily signifies behavior that is according to moral standards. In chaps. 40-55 the term focuses on God's righteousness, i.e. his adherence to his covenant promises. The final section (chaps. 56-66) combines these two threads by emphasizing that God's people should live righteously because of God's righteousness.