Proclaim to [Jerusalem] that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for. (Isaiah 40:2)The wild ride from chapter 36 to 40 is enough to give the most hardened biblical scholar whiplash. In chapter 36 the biggest threat the people of Judah can imagine is their inevitable defeat at the hands of the Assyrians. Chapter 37 tells of Assyria's withdrawal and Judah's deliverance. In chapter 38, Hezekiah gets deathly ill. Although Isaiah warns him the end is near, the king won't take death for an answer. He prays for healing and is given fifteen more years. Chapter 39 brings a harbinger of things to come. An envoy from Babylon arrives in Jerusalem ostensibly to wish the king continued health. The chapter ends with Isaiah scolding Hezekiah for his naivete regarding Babylon's intention.
Between the end of chapter 39 and the beginning of chapter 40 lies an extended silence. Hezekiah is long dead with seven kings after him. Jerusalem has been destroyed and its people exiled to Babylon.
After 150 years, a new voice writing in the name of Isaiah begins his message: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God . . . her hard service has been completed, . . . her sin has been paid for (40:1,2).
Whiplash.
As Walter Brueggemann puts Isaiah's message: inescapable judgment reliably followed by generous restoration. [1] Defeat isn't final. Even when things look hopeless, we can still hope.
And what are you hoping for?
Walter Brueggemann. An Introduction to the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 170.
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