Back to: Handel’s Messiah, Prophecy and Birth of the Messiah
Who is the Messiah ?
In those ancient days, kings were not crowned when they assumed office. Rather, a priest would take a ram’s horn filled with olive oil and pour it over the head of the one who had been chosen to lead. This was anointing, and the king was thus the Anointed One — as he is often called in the Old Testament. In Hebrew, the Anointed One is meshiach, which comes over into English as “Messiah.” The Greek equivalent to this is christos, or Christ.
The first of these anointed kings was actually Saul (1079 BC). But beginning a new dynasty, David followed him (1011 BC-1005 BC). Then came Davids son and successor Solomon (died 931 BC). On Solomon’s death, the kingdom split in two (930BC ruler was Solomon’s son Rehoboam), as the northern tribes revolted against the house of David and set up their own kingdom in the north. Somewhat confusingly, this is known as Israel. In the south the line of David ruled over the kingdom of Judah, with its capital in David’s city, Jerusalem.
In the Old Testament the word meshiach is used only of Saul, David, Solomon, and the kings of Judah, except for one place in which Cyrus of Persia is referred to figuratively as God’s anointed. The Israelite kingship is thus the matrix out of which was to grow the hope of Israel for its true messiah.
Jesus is, of course, the messiah whom Handel’s oratorio concerns. Yet in the whole performance of the music we will never hear his name and we will never hear his voice. The text will tell us of the promise of Messiah, the coming of Messiah, the ministry of Messiah, the suffering, death, and resurrection of Messiah, and of his exaltation and eternal reign. But it will all be told by indirection. We will not hear his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, we will not hear the seven last words from the cross, and we will not be told the story of the. empty tomb. Scripture will be used to tell the story in ways that point beyond the immediate meaning of the texts chosen.
#1 Setting the Scene
Under David and Solomon the kingdom of Israel enjoyed a sort of golden age
David wished to build a temple for God. But through the prophet Nathan, God told David that he was not to build God a house. Rather, God would build David a house — a dynasty of kings — that would rule from Zion forever.
Mighty David! Long after his death, as the line of his descendants held sway over Judah, he was remembered as the ideal king, and the patriotic protocols of the kingdom called for whatever king sat on the throne to be honored as would be David himself Some of the Psalms — Psalms 2, 20, 21, 45, 72, no — sing the praises of the king, God’s Anointed One. Psalm 72 sounds very much like a prayer at the inauguration of an American president, calling on God for the success, wisdom, and justice of the king, that the Anointed One might rule over a nation at peace, over a prosperous people. At times the prophets also would speak of the king in terms reminiscent of David.
Soon after Solomon’s death, however, the kingdom split apart over issues of who would rule and how. The larger kingdom to the north retained the name of Israel but crowned a king from outside the line of David. The smaller southern kingdom took the name of Judah and retained both the Davidic line of kings and the capital city of Jerusalem.
In 721 B.C.E., the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians, the dominant power of the day. In accordance with a sinister Assyrian policy designed to discourage subsequent uprisings, the inhabitants of Israel were deported, and other conquered peoples were brought in to colonize their land. This, by the way, was the origin of the Samaritans who, as their descendants, remained the target of the covenant people’s resentment even in Jesus’ day (see Luke 10:29-37 and John 4:9). Read the story of these events in 2 Kings 17.
2 Kings 17 17 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned nine years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria confined him and imprisoned him. Israel Carried Captive to Assyria 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7 This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.[a] 9 The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; 10 they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles[b] on every high hill and under every green tree; 11 there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger; 12 they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14 They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their ancestors, and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. 16 They rejected all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole,[c] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire; they used divination and augury; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone. 19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20 The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel; he punished them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had banished them from his presence. 21 When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. 22 The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had foretold through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. Assyria Resettles Samaria 24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel; they took possession of Samaria, and settled in its cities. 25 When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them; they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there; let him[d] go and live there, and teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel; he taught them how they should worship the Lord. 29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived; 30 the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima; 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They also worshiped the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 So they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 34 To this day they continue to practice their former customs. They do not worship the Lord and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35 The Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not worship other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36 but you shall worship the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37 The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to observe. You shall not worship other gods; 38 you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not worship other gods, 39 but you shall worship the Lord your God; he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” 40 They would not listen, however, but they continued to practice their former custom. 41 So these nations worshiped the Lord, but also served their carved images; to this day their children and their children’s children continue to do as their ancestors did.” This, by the way, was the origin of the Samaritans who, as the descendants of these resident aliens, remained the target of the covenant people’s resentment even in Jesus’ day (see Luke 10:29-37 and John 4:9). The southern kingdom of Judah narrowly escaped the onslaught of the Assyrians. The story of what was broadly interpreted as their miraculous rescue under King Hezekiah is preserved for us in 2 Kings 18 and 19. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) survived the Assyrian invasions, largely because of the godly Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-19) who responded to the warnings of Isaiah. Yet, as the years went by the people did not really change 2 Kings 18 and 19 18 In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord just as his ancestor David had done. 4 He removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole.[a] He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He attacked the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. 9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it, 10 and at the end of three years, took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed. Sennacherib Invades Judah 13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17 The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 18 When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder. 19 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? 20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 21 See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.” 26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?” 28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered its land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’” 36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. 19 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’” 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 When the king[a] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,[b] “See, he has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?” 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” 20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: She despises you, she scorns you— 22 “Whom have you mocked and reviled? 25 “Have you not heard 27 “But I know your rising[c] and your sitting, 29 “And this shall be the sign for you: This year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 31 for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 35 That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 37 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him. See also Isaiah 36 and 37. Isaiah 36 and 37 36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder. 4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6 See, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.” 11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these countries have saved their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should save Jerusalem out of my hand?’” 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. Isaiah 37 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 37 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’” 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king[a] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,[b] “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?” 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods, but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” 21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: She despises you, she scorns you— 23 “Whom have you mocked and reviled? 26 “Have you not heard 28 “I know your rising up[d] and your sitting down, 30 “And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 32 for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 36 Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 38 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him. Many people believed that the reason Judah had survived was because its capital city, Jerusalem, was both the site of the Temple and the seat of the Davidic monarchy. God, they reasoned, would never allow these two institutions to be destroyed. For an example of this line of reasoning, read 2 Kings 19:32-34. Commentators refer to this view as “Jerusalem theology,” and it remained a powerful influence in Judah for more than a century. Ultimately, however, the city of Jerusalem proved to be an ineffective charm against disaster. In the year 587 B.C.E. the kingdom of Judah fell to the new world power, Babylon. Following the lead of its Assyrian predecessor, Babylon carted Judah’s leading citizens and their families into captivity. Solomon’s Temple, in which the people had put such unshakable trust, lay in ruins. #2 Prophetic Perspectives But beginning in the eighth century before Christ, when we first begin to pick up their words, the message of the prophets is somber, laden with a burden of impending doom. These seers — Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, the young Jeremiah — were not peering across centuries to see what would come about long after their own time. Their inspired prophetic insight consisted in the gift of perceiving divine action in their own time. When they predicted the future, as sometimes they did, it was a relatively near future. There was a kind of prophetic syllogism. They made an observation about their historical circumstances: Gods people are sinful. Then they interpreted that observation in the light of what they believed about the nature of God: God punishes sin. From this they drew a conclusion: God will punish his people. Whether the agent of that punishment would be Egypt or Assyria or Babylonia ultimately did not matter. God would act in history and use historical forces to bring on his own people just punishment for their sin. The Bible preserves the words of several prophets who spoke and wrote during this tumultuous period. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah, for instance, were spoken by one “Isaiah of Jerusalem” during the years just before and after the fall of the northern kingdom. Not surprisingly, the political situation of the day had a distinct effect on both the tone and the content of his prophecies. With the lion of Assyria looming menacingly in the north, Isaiah of Jerusalem sought to wake his people up … to shake them out of their complacency and insincerity. Most of his prophecies were calculated to convict people of their sin and thus, hopefully, avoid disaster. He was especially critical of religion that is all form and no substance, going through the motions of piety without paying the slightest attention to the social injustices which surround it. Isaiah 1:21-23 With the prevailing religious and moral situation in the city in mind, the prophet breaks out into a funeral lamentation over the city, although it is still flourishing (cf. Lam. 1.1; 2.1; 4.1). At the beginning of the history of God’s dealings with his people, Jerusalem was a fortress of justice, in which the ordinance of the covenant was genuinely in force. The city has lost this noble title under the rule of unfaithful judges. Consequently, it is like a girl of good repute, who has fallen into wrong ways and become a harlot. The prophet is not deceived by outward appearances; for him, what is decisive in passing judgment on the future of the city of God is not its prosperity and apparent security, but the attitude of its inhabitants, and especially of its ruling class, towards God’s demand for righteousness. Isaiah compares the city to silver, which has once again turned to an ore mixed with lead,c and with wheat beer which has been adulterated with water (v.22). Both images emphasize how the city has fallen in esteem in the sight of God. The men who ought to be concerned with keeping law and order – in their capacity as royal officials, the judges are here called princes – are only concerned with seeking their own advantage (v. 23). Whoever has the most to offer them obtains their support. Judges have become companions of thieves, and those who should maintain order are destroying it. Those classes who are without influence and property, especially the widows and orphans, who rely on strangers to plead their cause, cannot find a righteous advocate (cf.1.17; 10.2). 1:21 | How the faithful city has become a whore! She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her- but now murderers! 1:22 | Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. 1:23 | Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them Isaiah 1:24-31 1:24 | Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes! 1:25 | I will turn my hand against you; I will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. 1:26 | And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. 1:27 | Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. 1:28 | But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. 1:29 | For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. 1:30 | For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. 1:31 | The strong shall become like tinder, and their work like a spark; they and their work shall burn together, with no one to quench them. Commentary 24-26 threat of judgment Through this state of affairs, Jerusalem calls into action the giver and guardian of the covenant ordinance, who tolerates no other God besides himself (Ex. 20.1-5), and who is in particular the advocate of the defenseless. As a result of the severe blows that are to come, the eyes of the leaders of the nation will be opened to the ultimate cause of its ruin. Here again, it is clear that according to biblical belief, God’s judgment is not simply a punishment.* It is a division between the devout and the godless. God rejects the base metal in order to preserve the pure silver. The destruction of the godless is followed by the renewal of the congregation (v. 26). Whereas the irresistible destruction has been provoked by the breakdown of justice (cf.5.7), the time of salvation will be characterized by righteous rule. As in the days of David and Solomon, Jerusalem will once again have true judges, who follow God’s guidance, so that it can once again bear the title of honor which it has lost. Then its inhabitants will exclusively follow Yahweh, and submit wholly to his will.* 27-28 2 Fold judgment The remnant who have turned to God may hope that Yahweh will set free the enslaved city of God by his advocacy (cf. Deut.9.26; Jer.31.11; Ps.44.26), while all who have fallen away from him and transgressed his commandments will be subjected to his punishment For only those who fear God may dwell upon Yahweh’s holy hill of Zion (cf. Ps. 15) and rely upon his help. Thus the Israel of the writer’s own time is meant to see itself as in the furnace of God (v. 20), and, trusting in God, who can forgive not only the sins of those who are repentant but also their consequences (w. i8ff.), the people are to turn to him with total seriousness, as to their only helper.0 29-31 the prophet attacks those among his compatriots who believe they can make themselves safe from all misfortune by taking part in nature worship. They gather under trees which have grown in a striking way, for Canaanite fertility cults, with rites which in Israel’s eyes are obscene Relics of tree worship in a changed form can still be seen at the present day among the Arabs. The ‘gardens’ are sanctuaries for the cult, in which the alternation between death and life, between the summer heat and the spring, is meant to be made present and brought about The prophet accepts these views, but only in order firmly to oppose them: those who worship these gods will themselves wither (v. 30). But this withering will not be followed by a resurrection; they will ultimately be like trees and gardens whose water supply has dried up Probably with the current conception of Yahweh’s fire of judgment in mind, the prophet concludes with a further comparison: the mighty, who at the present time believe that they are not subject to God’s ordinances, will recognize how much they have fallen prey to error. Just as the spark sets the tinder on fire, their own deeds will ultimately rebound against them and destroy them without mercy (v.31). Even this modified version of Jerusalem theology was no match for the disastrous events of 587, however. Imagine the searing sense of disillusionment that the people of Judah must have felt watching the Babylonians breach Jerusalem’s walls … the anguish of standing beside the smoldering ruins of Solomon’s Temple … the despair of being carted into captivity through the gates of God’s “invincible” city. There were no words for what they felt. And so they simply fell silent (see Psalm 137:1-4). How could they sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? #3 Breaking the Silence For Isaiah and his followers, the silence lasted for 48 years-48 years before they could muster so much as a word. And then, suddenly, out across the desert of their disillusionment comes Isaiah 40. Psalm 137 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? Psalm 137 is clearly speaking about the exile, coming either from the very time of captivity in Babylon, or shortly after. The pain of the experience of exile in Babylon is not forgotten; it is very sharp indeed. We feel the pain of the psalmist through the words of the song. The psalmist remembers the distress of that experience (vv. 1-6). It was a time of tears (v. 1). Musical instruments, things that provide entertainment as well as connecting a people with their past and ancestors, were hung up, not to be used in that context. This is both a sign of despair as well as an indication that such captivity raises questions about one’s identity and tradition. Songs of Zion, songs of faith and of the places that are at the core of the national identity, seem out of place in the context of captivity. Moreover, their captors taunt them asking for the very things that cannot be said or sung (v. 3). Central to the psalm is the question in v. 4: ‘How can we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land’. The psalmist would rather suffer disability than forget Jerusalem. The use of the word ‘foreign’ carries with it a couple of implications. Clearly it underlines for the psalmist the inappropriateness of singing songs of Zion in captivity. Songs of Zion belong, or recall, Jerusalem, their home. Such does not belong in a foreign land. But beyond this, the word ‘foreign’ is rare in the Psalms occurring elsewhere only in Pss. 18:45-46 and 144:7, 11 (cf. Ps. 81.10 ‘foreign god’). The infrequency of the word in the psalms means that as well as voicing the bitter experience of exile Psalm 137 anticipates the question of continued foreign domination after return from exile. Isaiah 40 40:1 | Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 40:2 | Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The prophet begins, “Comfort, 0 comfort my people.” In Hebrew the words have the soft, resonant sound of a lullaby, “Na-ha-mu, na-ha-mu, ami …” It sounds for all the world like a parent soothing a child. “Comfort, comfort. It’s all right. It’s all over. I’m going to take you home.” Those of you who have ever had surgery know that one of the most frightening moments of that ordeal is when you first start to come out from under the anesthetic. There is pain, confusion, and perhaps worst of all, an inability to understand what is happening. Messiah Overture The first piece is the Overture which explores major themes of the Messiah. “The somber opening chords of the overture place us in the darkness of the exile, away from our roots, bereft of our identity, with no hope for present or future. But the somber chords introduce no funeral dirge, no march of the dead. Gloom there is, but there is stateliness in the gloom, something of a refusal to believe that death is all that awaits. The musical line moves higher through the dark, moved by the faith that God has not forsaken his people, that a future yet lies ahead. As the brilliant fugue opens, the hope shines through, lively with faith; the music works its way into a crescendo before the movement resolves itself on chords once more somber. But these closing chords are now informed by a sustaining confidence. It is not despair sounding forth here, but firmness of spirit. Something has been moving in these depths that will issue in a new beginning. Herein is the hope: God will yet act.” From Messiah, the Gospel according to Handel’s Oratorio– Roger A. Bullard. ->Recitative for Tenor Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her war fare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. (Isaiah 40:1-2) The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Comfort – Cutting through the gloom of exile come words of assurance, the opening lines of the second part of the book of the prophet Isaiah This book, as we noted, is divided into two parts. The first is associated with the eighth-century prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem; the second, beginning with chapter 40, is thought by most scholars to be a collection of prophecies from anonymous prophets of the exilic and post-exilic periods. Many think chapters 40-55 are the literary remains of a nameless prophet of the exile known as the Second Isaiah. These words are spoken to the Jewish community in Babylonian exile, who in their land of alien sojourning, by whose waters they sang in Psalm 137 of hanging their harps on the willows, hear the prophet announcing a word of comfort from none other than their ancestral God. This is the God who, two hundred years earlier, had commanded the prophet Hosea to speak to Israel the disowning words; “You are not my people and I am not your God” (Hosea 1:9). But now there is a reversal. The welcome word of comfort is stated and repeated, as God reclaims them as “my people.” This is said in the name of “your God.” The alienation is ended. Separation from the land represented separation from God, but God now reclaims his people and will return them to their heritage. The prophet Micah had asked, “What is the sin of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?” (Micah 1:5 Revised English Bible). David’s capital city had become crystallized as a symbol of the peoples sin, but now Jerusalem is to be told that her time of alienation is over. Her warfare is accomplished — “her term of service” is a better translation. Her sentence has been served. Her iniquity has been finally dealt with in a way open to God alone; it has been pardoned. Sin can be punished, but it cannot be dealt with in an ultimate way until it has been forgiven. The God who had brought them up from the land of Egypt would now lead them home. “Speak comfortably” of course means “speak comfortingly.” #4 The Road Home What, we may well ask, was the occasion for this sudden message of comfort? Simply a political reality which no one could have predicted; Persia’s rise to power and Babylon’s subsequent fall. Isaiah 44:28 mentions the Persian king Cyrus by name and Isaiah 45:1 even refers to him as the Lord’s “anointed,” a title usually reserved for a Davidic king. Yet, one can see how Cyrus’ actions might have called forth the people’s affections. One of the first things he did upon coming to the throne was to release all of Babylon’s captives. For the exiled Judeans, it must have seemed like a second exodus. Let my people go! It was good news-great news! But, there was one more practical detail to be worked out before Isaiah 40’s comfort could be complete. It’s one thing to say “you can go home again,” but it’s quite another to explain how the people were going to get there. For those among the exiled community who were old enough to remember the original trip, there must have been an indelible memory of hardship and suffering as the captives endured the long trek up and around the Arabian Desert. For them, the good news of their coming release must have been seriously qualified by a sense of uncertainty about the journey. Could they make it home? Would they and their loved ones survive to see Jerusalem? As if to anticipate and allay the people’s concerns, the prophet moves immediately to talk of a level and obstacle-free highway across the barren wilderness. Isaiah 40:3-4 40:3 | A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 40:4 | Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. If the journey east had been one of hardship and shame, then the journey west would be one of ease and triumph. We may well wonder whether the eventual reality measured up to the figurative and did not literally expect the mountains to flatten before them. There is another interpretation of these “highway” verses which suggests that the highway is described as being not so much for the people as for God (see 40:3). This interpretation takes into account certain Babylonian hymns which describe the triumphal highways on which a king or a god might enter a city. Perhaps the picture here is designed to depict the triumphal re-entry of God into Jerusalem. Whichever interpretation one chooses, it is clear that the message is one of supreme comfort. God is going to bring the exiles home again, and will be with them every step of the way. Messiah ->Air for Tenor Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low: (Isaiah 40:4; modified) Listen for: What the voice cries are two perfect parallel lines: wilderness/desert; prepare/make straight; the way/a highway, the Lord/our God. This parallel structuring was crucially important in Hebrew poetry, and this prophet, like most of the Hebrew prophets, was a poet. The image here is of a highway being built straight across the desert from Babylonia, the land of exile, to Israel, the once more Promised Land. Ordinarily the traveler going from Babylonia to Israel would follow the curvature of the Fertile Crescent, avoiding the desert; but this road is to cut direct through the arid wilderness. It is the Lord who will be traveling that road, leading his people homeward. While serving their sentence in exile, the people may have been bereft of king, land, and temple, but even while God executed his punishment, he had not abandoned them, and he was now to lead them to restoration. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. It is this version of the oracle that the evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke quote and which John refers to when they introduce the figure of John the Baptist, a latter-day prophet who, like Elijah long before him, was a rough-clad figure of the wilderness Jewish tradition held that Elijah, who had been taken directly up into heaven, would return as a herald of God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. Christian tradition saw John the Baptist as precisely this figure, Just as all four of the gospel writers begin the story of Jesus’ ministry with the witness borne to him by John, the oratorio begins with this harking forward to Johns announcement by reinterpreting the words of the ancient prophet. The Baptist’s call to repentance in preparation for Messiahs coming is quite in line with the prophets announcement of pardon, his proclamation that God would lead his forgiven people along a broad highway home. The traditions transmitted by the people of Israel from their past were constantly being shaped and reinterpreted; the evangelists’ connection of this passage with the proclamation of John the Baptist is simply taking this ancient process a step further. #5 Setting the Record Straight The return of the exiles to their homeland also vindicates God’s reputation among the nations. The salvation of God’s people serves to silence all those who had erroneously concluded that the exile was a sign of God’s abandonment or weakness. “All people shall see it together,” announces Isaiah 40:5. In that moment of truth, the taunts of the nations are rendered moot Ask for contemporary examples of problematic situations which could lead people to conclude that God is either dead or powerless. In other words, “what are the neighbors saying” about God today? Do their accusations ever give rise to doubt within the community of faith? How should we respond, both to internal doubts and external accusations? Isaiah 40:5 | Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” “Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed …” That really is the crux of the matter. While the previous verses demonstrate the intense degree to which the prophet cares about the people’s fate, here he raises a matter of still greater consequence: God’s reputation. How could Yahweh have let this happen to the covenant people? That’s what the “neighbors” were saying about the exile. What kind of a God, after all, would let the Temple be destroyed and the people be carted off to Babylon? So, in the release of the captive people and their restoration to the promised land, God’s reputation would be vindicated. The glory of the Lord would be revealed, and all people would see it together. The restoration would finally set the record straight, not only for the covenant people themselves, but for all the nations around them who had called God’s power into question. This sort of logic may seem rather strange to us. And yet, we are all conscious of the importance of maintaining a good reputation. “What would the neighbors think?” is a refrain with which we are all familiar. While other parts of Scripture issue a warning against making too much of this consideration, appeals to this sort of logic are quite frequent, especially in the Old Testament. Strange or not, it is clear that the author of Isaiah 40 derives a great deal of satisfaction from knowing that his God would be vindicated in full view of all the nations that had ridiculed the covenant community. Before playing “And the glory of the Lord” note that the overpowering sense of triumph and victory in this piece has earned it a reputation as the “Hallelujah Chorus” of the first section of Handel’s Messiah Messiah ->Chorus And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see (Isaiah 40:5) Messiah’s coming will bring justice, vindication for the downtrodden at the expense of those who have fostered injustice. The pre-exilic words of Amos, who so insisted on social justice, who condemned those “who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth” (Amos 2:7), are not obviated by Messiah’s advent. The old words of judgment maintain validity and force. “The LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty,” wrote Isaiah of Jerusalem, “against all that is lifted up and high” (Isaiah 2:12). There will be no obstacle to the Lord in his coming, whether mountains in the desert or mountains of human presumption and arrogance. The highway will be made straight, level, even. The prophet sees God as determined in his intention to vindicate his people as he was determined that they should pay for their sin. The crooked will be made straight, and the rough places made into a wide and open plain — and the glory of the Lord will be revealed in this act. The glory of the Lord is a theme in the Old Testament. The literal term used in Hebrew is “the weight of the Lord,” his heaviness, as it were, his overwhelming importance. (The Greek translators realized that this would make no sense in Greek, so they used a term meaning “fame, reputation.” Jerome, in putting it into Latin, chose the word gloria, which has given us our term.) The glory of the Lord was revealed in powerful deeds, when God made a manifest statement; it might be pictured as accompanied by fire or cloud. The term is taken over in the New Testament, where it is associated with Christ. The Letter to the Hebrews opens: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son…. He is the reflection of Gods glory . . .” (Hebrews 1:1-3). The glory of the Lord is a theme returned to often in the text of Handel’s oratorio, and we must be alert to its occurrence. So the glory of God, the statement made by God in the powerful act of redeeming his people from oppression, becomes in larger context the Messiah himself, who will redeem God’s people from a bondage to sin more profound than the subjugation by Babylonian exile. This is what will be revealed: Gods redeeming activity; and all humanity shall see it together. The return across the desert highway will be of the Jews going home, but that act of glory, that revelation of God’s purposes, will be a witness to the nations, to all the worlds, of a salvation available to all through the God of Israel, who called Israel as a light to the nations. When Matthew and Mark quote the prophet in referring to John the Baptist, they close the quotation with “make his ways straight.” But Luke sees more in the prophets words. He continues the quotation until he comes to this point, which he cites from the ancient Greek translation: “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). Here are words of assurance for all God’s people, Jew and Gentile alike, pictured in God’s promise of redemption and restoration. Here are words guaranteed by the authority of the source of the prophet’s message, “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” In section 9, “O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings,” we will be returning to this passage from Isaiah 40 #6 Go, Tell It on the Mountain Nations and kingdoms may pass away, but God’s word is utterly reliable and will stand forever. God is victorious! That is the affirmation made by Isaiah 40:6-9. 40:6 | A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 40:7 | The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 40:8 | The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 40:9 | Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” The verse build on the motif of the ”nations” in the previous passage and contrast their short-lived glory with God’s reliability. That sense of God’s constancy and permanence is underscored by the focus on God’s “word.” The ancient world had much more of a sense that a person’s spoken word was binding than we do. This is why we so often hear references to how God’s word will not “return empty.” In this passage we get the sense that there was some uncertainty about whether God would indeed make good on previous promises. Yet, Cyrus’s edict provides evidence that God’s word is indeed “good.” What wonderful news! Verse 9 admonishes the prophet to “go, tell it on the mountain.” Messiah ->Air for Alto and Chorus O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; 0 thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah: behold your God! (Isaiah 40:9; modified) Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen A flashback to the exile. At the beginning of the oratorio we listened to the words of the exilic Isaiah, speaking for God to his deported nation: “Comfort my people “That particular passage ended with the chorus singing that the glory of the Lord was about to be revealed. Now we return to that passage in Isaiah 40, but here we are transported to the other end of the Fertile Crescent from Babylonia, to Jerusalem itself. Here is the lonely city who mourns and is mourned in the five despondent dirges that constitute the chapters of the book of Lamentations Zion and Jerusalem are technically separate, but in the devices of Hebrew poetry they designate the same entity: the beloved city. Originally Zion may have referred to the oldest part of the city, the ancient Canaanite stronghold captured by David and known as the City of David. Later the term was transferred to the Temple mount, the area north of the old city into which Jerusalem expanded under Solomon and where he built the Temple. It is in any case a considerable elevation, about 2500 feet above sea level, but not the highest point in the vicinity. In spite of this, however, in Hebrew poetry one always travels up to Jerusalem, from whatever direction or height, since figuratively, if not in fact, it is “the highest of the mountains . . . raised above the hills” (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). Here is the picture. The bereft city sits lonely, her people many decades long departed. Then, from a high mountain in the distance appears a herald, a forerunner of the regal caravan proceeding westward across the wilderness. The city looks up expectantly and hears the proclamation of the good news: Your God is on his way back! Here he comes! The Psalmist describes it as “His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation” (Psalm 48:2). But now this city set on a hill looks to higher elevations to hear the glad news proclaimed. The herald may shout fearlessly aloud, not only to the Holy City but to all the habitations of surrounding Judah, that the new day has arrived, that the Lord God is coming in all his might, bringing his people with him (Isaiah 40:10, omitted in the oratorio). As Handel has used this passage, however, we are not speaking about exiles returning from captivity, led by their God. The good news is being shouted out to us, God’s people sitting as lonely and deserted as old Jerusalem, that our God is on the way. The oratorio’s reference is to the advent of Messiah, whose birth by a virgin mother has just been announced. In the coming of the virgins son, God himself is manifest among us. This is good tidings indeed, what the New Testament calls “gospel,” a word which means “good news” and which translates a Greek word meaning precisely that. The aria continues by shirting to Isaiah 60:1, which appropriately refers back to 40:5, “and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed.” Zion is still being addressed; the verbs are still feminine. The city is pictured as a woman cast down to the ground. Fallen, no more to rise, The prostrate one is commanded to rise, to shine, to glow with the reflected light from the dawn breaking upon her, to shine as the face of Moses shone from his encounter with God on Sinai. The glory of the Lord has come up over the mountains like the break of day, “the light of the gospel, the image of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). #7 God as Good Shepherd The depiction of God in Isaiah 40 is one of both strength and gentleness. Both of these characteristics are captured in the metaphor of the good shepherd. 40:10 | See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 40:11 | He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Verse 10 emphasizes that God is indeed powerful enough to bring this about, but verse 11 reminds us that God can be gentle as well as powerful. The imagery shifts from God as mighty warrior to God as good shepherd. While this section of Isaiah 40 ends with the image of God as the good shepherd, Handel and Jennens save verse 11 and its comforting imagery for the end of Part I. We will spend more time analyzing this verse in Session Four. For now, however, take note of the way in which this imagery is “recycled” to apply to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. This follows the lead of early Christian tradition, which understood Jesus in precisely this way. Early Christians knew the Jesus that John had described-the Good Shepherd who had laid down his life for the sheep. Ancient exiles also looked to a God who would “gather the lambs in his arms … and gently lead the mother sheep.” Surely we can trust this same God to lead us home, even if our way be through “the valley of the shadow of death” (recall Psalm 23). John 10:1-18 10:1 | “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 10:2 | The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 10:3 | The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 10:4 | When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 10:5 | They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 10:6 | Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 10:7 | So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 10:8 | All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 10:9 | I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10:10 | The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 10:11 | “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 10:12 | The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 10:13 | The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 10:14 | I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 10:15 | just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 10:16 | I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 10:17 | For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 10:18 | No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” Messiah ->1.8 Duet (Air for Alto) He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: and he shall gather the lambs with Duet (Air for Soprano) Come unto him all ye that labour, that are heavy laden, and he will give you rest. Take his yoke upon you, and learn of him, for he is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29; modified)
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
Sennacherib’s Threat
Hezekiah’s Prayer
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest retreat,
its densest forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
28 Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
Hezekiah’s Prayer
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
its densest forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted[c] before it is grown.
your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
the crooked straight and the rough places plain.
it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1)
is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with none to raise her up.
(Amos 5:2)
Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath.
(Isaiah 51:17)
In Isaiah 40:10-11 the prophet returns to the matter of the journey home.
his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with
young. (Isaiah 40:11; modified)