Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- 9 Daughter Zion
- 10 The Creator
- 11 Haggai the Prophet
- 12 Nehemiah the Builder
- 13 Ezra the Educator
- 14 Hoshayahu the Soldier
- Part III A New Narrative
- Part IV A People of Protest
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
10 - The Creator
Comforting the Afflicted
from Part II - Admitting Defeat
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 July 2023
Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- 9 Daughter Zion
- 10 The Creator
- 11 Haggai the Prophet
- 12 Nehemiah the Builder
- 13 Ezra the Educator
- 14 Hoshayahu the Soldier
- Part III A New Narrative
- Part IV A People of Protest
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
Summary
These first lines of Handel’s Messiah are drawn from poetry that an anonymous group of Judean scribes known collectively as Second Isaiah composed to comfort their people in the wake of Babylon’s devastation of Judah. The first half of Isaiah (chapters 1–39) concludes with a foretelling of Judah’s suffering and downfall. Without pausing to describe the fulfillment of that disturbing forecast, the book begins anew with Second Isaiah’s stirring poems and prophecies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why the Bible BeganAn Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins, pp. 153 - 168Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
Further Reading
Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Verso, 1983.Google Scholar
Blenkinsopp, Joseph, Isaiah 40–55: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Doubleday, 2002.Google Scholar
Cuéllar, Gregory Lee, Voices of Marginality: Exile and Return in Second Isaiah 40–55 and the Mexican Immigrant Experience, Peter Lang, 2008.Google Scholar
Fried, David, “Man is not God: The Limits of Imitatio Dei,” Lehrhaus, 2021 https://thelehrhaus.com/jewish-thought-history/man-is-not-god-the-limits-of-imitatio-dei/.Google Scholar
Keller, Catherine, The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming, Routledge, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landy, Francis, “Death and Exile in the Book of Isaiah,” lecture at University of Victoria 2018, https://soundcloud.com/universityofvictoria/death-and-exile-in-the-book-of-isaiah-francis-landyGoogle Scholar
Landy, Francis, “The Prologue to Deutero-Isaiah,” TheTorah.com, 2020, https://thetorah.com/article/the-prologue-to-deutero-isaiahGoogle Scholar
Schniedewind, William M., A Social History of Hebrew: Its Origins through the Rabbinic Period, Yale University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Thiong’o, Ngugi wa, Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance, Basic Books, 2009 (a rich study of “linguicide” in Africa’s colonialist history).Google Scholar
Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia, For the Comfort of Zion: The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40–55, Brill, 2010.Google Scholar
Wright, Jacob L. “Shabbat of the Full Moon,” TheTorah.com, 2015, https://thetorah.com/article/shabbat-of-the-full-moonGoogle Scholar
Wright, Jacob L., “How and When the Seventh Day Became Shabbat,” TheTorah.com, 2015, https://thetorah.com/article/how-and-when-the-seventh-day-became-shabbatGoogle Scholar