6. Oracles Against the Nations: Isaiah 1323

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6. Oracles Against the Nations Isaiah 13-23

• BOT634 Exegesis of Isaiah

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A. Major collections of OAN

• Isaiah 13-23
• Jer 46-51
• Ezek 25-32
• Amos 1-2

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B. War Oracles and their Transformation

• 1. Early Period
• 1.1 Pre-monarchical Period Num 22-24, especially
  24.15-24 (Ex 17.16 Num 10.35-36 Josh 10.12-13
  Jud 1.1-2 Jud 4-5 18.5-6 20.18, 23, 26-28)
  
• 1.2 9th Century Israel 1 Kgs 20.13-15, 28 2 Kgs
  3.16-19
  
• 2. Amos 1-2 5.18-20

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C. Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah

• 1. Isaiah 13-23 (esp. 7.7-9 10.27c-34 14.28-32
  17.1-6)
  
• 2. Zeph 2.1-15
• 3. Obadiah 1b-6a
• 4. Nahum (esp. 1.2-8 2.2 2.14-34)

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D. Habakkuk and Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 46-51 Christensen's divisions
• 1. Jeremianic
• 1.1 1st Against Egypt 46.2-12
• 1.2 2nd Against Egypt 46.13-24
• 1.3 Philistia 47.1-7
• 1.4 Qedar 49.28-33
• 1.5 Elam 49.34-39

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D. Habakkuk and Jeremiah

• 2. Archaic OAN
• 2.1 Moab 48.1-44
• 2.2 Ammon 49.1-6
• 2.3 Edom 49.7-22
• 2.4 Aram 49.23-27
• 3. Early Apocalyptic
• 3.1 1st Against Babylon 50.1-46
• 3.2 2nd Against Babylon 51.1-40

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E. Ezekiel, Zechariah and Joel

• 1. Ezekiel 25-32 38-39
• 2. Zechariah 9.1-17
• 3. Joel 4.9-17

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F. Psalms

• 1. War Oracles used 12 58? 60 74 79 80 83
  85 90 94.1-11 123 126 137
  
• 2. Ps 83.2-19
• 3. Ps 60.3-14 (cf. 108.6-13)

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G. Purpose of the Isaianic OAN

• 1. "Delitzsch is undoubtedly correct when he sees
  these chapters as following naturally upon the
  vision of Immanuel as ruler of the kingdoms.
  Young is also correct when he observes that the
  thought is generally an expansion of 10.5-34 with
  its attack upon the pride of Assyria. But perhaps
  Erlandsson gives the most perceptive key when he
  comments that these oracles are not so much an
  announcement of doom upon the nations as they are
  an announcement of salvation to Israel if she
  would trust her Lord." Oswalt, Ibid., 298

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G. Purpose of the Isaianic OAN

• 2. "Furthermore, the section continues the
  treatment of pride which appears in the first
  chapters of the book. It is the arrogance of the
  nations that will finally bring them down (13.11,
  19 14.11 16.6 23.9). Because they have exalted
  themselves in the face of God, creating gods in
  their image (2.6-22 17.7-11), they will not
  endure. Permanence is only an expression of a
  relationship with the one permanent Being in the
  universe." Oswalt, Ibid., 299

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Hamborg, G. R., Reasons for Judgement in the
Oracles Against the Nations of the Prophet
Isaiah, VT XXXI, 2 (1981)

• G. Purpose of the Isaianic OAN

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Corrections

• First, it is clear that the OAN form an integral
  part of Isaiahs message of judgement on Israel.
  Any treatment of the OAN which studies them in
  isolation is therefore deficient.
• Secondly, and following on from this, any
  presentation of the theology of the prophet
  Isaiah which fails to make reference to his OAN
  is equally deficient.
• Thirdly, it is manifestly incorrect to suggest
  that Isaiahs OAN functions as a form of
  salvation prophecy for Israel. Nothing could be
  further from the truth.
• Fourthly, the study contributes to our
  understanding of Isaiahs view of history, in
  which Yahweh does indeed control the destinies of
  all the nations, but for the furtherance of his
  aims with regard to Israel rather than for any
  other reasons.
• Fifthly, in the relatively few instances where
  Isaiah does give a reason for judgement against a
  foreign nation, it is often the sin of pride or
  hybris. This concept of the hybris of nations is
  one which should be included in a study of
  prophetic theology. It is also a concept which
  could be of theological significance for our own
  day.

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Reasons for Judgment

• In a number of instances (19.1-15 18.1-6
  14.28-32 15-16) Isaiah announces judgement on a
  foreign nation because of Judahs possible
  reliance on or alliance with the nation, and not
  for any sin of the nation itself. In addition he
  was doubtless a sufficiently realistic person to
  know that Assyrian punishment on Israel would
  inevitably affect Israels neighbours. There is
  thus a sense in which for Isaiah, the nations
  were no more than pawns in the game Yahwehs
  dealings with Israel.It could perhaps be noted at
  this point that, were any of the oracles against
  Babylon to turn out to be Isaianic, they would
  fit in with the pattern already discovered, since
  there clearly were times in Isaiahs career when
  Judah and Babylon were in alliance (see Isa
  39.1-8)
• The main sin of the nations is pride or hybris.
  In 15-16 Isaiah may be using an older poem which
  accuses Moab of pride. Isaiah himself accuses
  Tyre of pride (23.1-12, especially 23.9), and in
  this instance it refers particularly to Tyres
  wealth. Assyria is accused of hybris (38.22-29
  10.5-19)

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Reasons for Judgment

• Action against Israel is hinted at as a reason
  for judgement in 14.25b, with reference to the
  Assyrians and action against Judah in 17.1-6,
  9-11 with reference to the Syro-Ephraimite
  alliance of 734.
• It is noteworthy that even if one accepts only a
  more limited selection of these OAN as deriving
  from Isaiah, such as those accepted by Fohrer p.
  402 (10.5-15 14.24-27 14.28-32 17.1-6 18 20)
  still these three types of reason for judgement
  all appear.

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H. Contra OAN?

• Almost without exception, scholars assume that
  the oracle on Babylon in Isaiah 13 initiates a
  special section of the book, namely, a collection
  of oracles against non-Israelite kingdoms.
  Supposedly, this collection was editorially
  produced by bringing together material
  characterized by a focus on foreign nations. Such
  assumptions would mean that Isaiah 13-23 has been
  topically, rather than chronologically, arranged.
  This hypothesis is unacceptable for three
  reasons.

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H. Contra OAN?

• (1) Much of the material in chapters 13-23 is
  related to Israel and Judah and, therefore, is
  not speeches on foreign nations. This is the case
  with 141-4a, 173-14, and 221-25. Thus to
  designate 13-23 as oracles on foreign nations is
  a misnomer.
• (2) No clear pattern or rationale for the order
  of the nations concerned is clear. If the oracles
  were deliberately arranged, then some criterion
  should be ascertainable. Isaiah 1428-32, for
  example, seems peculiarly located according to
  any subject or geographical ordering.

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H. Contra OAN?

• (3) All the material in Isaiah 13-23, both the
  foreign nations speeches and those on Israel and
  Judah, make perfectly good sense, as we shall
  see, if understood as having a chronological
  ordering. Hayes, John H. Stuart A. Irvine,
  Isaiah The Eighth-Century Prophet, His Time
  His Preaching, 221

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aF'm

• Weis, "Oracle," ABD, p.28

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A. aF'm (mas8s8a4))

• Isa 13.1 14.28 15.1 17.1 21.1, 11, 13 22.1
  23.1 2 Kgs 9.26a Isa 13.2-14.2314.29-32
  15.1b-16.12 17.lb-11 19.1b-25 21.1b-10,
  11b-12, 13b-17 22.1b-14 23.1b-18 30.6b-7 Eze
  12.11-16 Nah 1.2-3.19 Hab 1.2-2.20 Zech
  9.1-11.3 12.1b-14.21 Mal 1.2-3.24 (-Eng
  1.2-3.24).

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B. Definition

• 1. ... prophetic exposition of divine
  revelation would be preferable to oracle.
  Weis, Ibid., 28

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B. Definition

• 2. "Within ancient Israel the type, or genre of
  speech called afm is found exclusively within the
  prophetic movement. A afm responds to a question
  about a lack of clarity in the relation between
  divine intention and human reality. Either the
  divine intention being expressed in some aspect
  of human experience is unclear, or the divine
  intention is clear enough, but the human events
  through which it will gain expression are
  unclear. In any event, the initiative for a afm
  lies not with the deity or the prophet, but with
  the prophets community - or a member thereof
  which asks the question to which the afm is a
  response." Weis, Ibid., 28

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B. Definition

• 3. "The topic of a afm is thus always some
  person, group, situation, or event (e.g.,
  Philistia, the ravaging of Moab, the destruction
  of Tyre, Babylon, the renovation of postexilic
  Judah, Nineveh, Jerusalem, King Ahab). The
  addressee of a afm is either the prophet's own
  community or the person or group that is the
  topic of the passage." Weis, Ibid., 28

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B. Definition

• 4. "A afm is based on a particular revelation
  (given to the prophet) of the divine intention or
  of a forthcoming divine action. A speech or text
  belonging to this genre was composed by the
  prophet in order to expound the way in which the
  revealed divine action or intention would
  actually express itself to human affairs. Thus
  regardless of the overall formal structure they
  exhibited, all texts belonging to the genre afm
  link the description of God's acts or intentions
  with descriptions of human acts and events in
  order to present events taking place in the human
  realm as the manifestation or result of divine
  initiation (e.g., Isa 13.6-8 19.1b 23.11-13
  Zech 9.4-5a)." Weis, Ibid., 28

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B. Definition

• 5. "...a afm gives direction for human action in
  the present or near future, or provides insight
  into the future. Those texts that give insight
  into the future are predominantly announcements
  of future events and conditions (e.g., Isa
  17.1b-11 30.6b-7 Ezk 12.11-16). Those texts
  that give direction contain commands and/or
  prohibitions that are justified by reports of
  past or present events and conditions (e.g., Isa
  15.1b-16.12 21.1b-10 22.1b-14 23.1b-18).
  Commands or prohibitions concerning jubilation
  and lamentation are addressed to the person or
  group that is the text's topic (e.g., Isa
  23.1b-6, 14). Commands or prohibitions concerning
  concrete human actions apart from jubilation or
  lamentation are always given to the text's
  addressee (e.g., Isa 16.3-4a is addressed to
  officials of Judah, not to the Moabites)." Weis,
  Ibid., 28

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Outline of 13-23
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Rough Outline

• 1. 13.1-14.27 Judgment on Assyria
• 2. 14.28-17.10 Judgment upon Judah's Neighbors
• 2.1 14.28-32 Philistines
• 2.2 15.1-16.14 Moabites
• 2.3 17.1-11 Syria and Ephraim
• 3. 17.12-18.7 Judgment on all Nations

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Rough Outline

• 4. 19.1-20.6 Judgment upon Egypt
• 5. 21.1-22.25 Judgment upon Babylon and Allies
• 5.1 21.1-10 Babylon
• 5.2 21.11-12 Dumah
• 5.3 21.13-17 Arabia
• 5.4 22.1-25 Jerusalem
• 6. 23.1-18 Judgment upon Tyre

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JUDGMENT ON MESOPOTAMIA AND ALLIES

• 13.1-14.27

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Delimitation of the Pericope

• The outer limits of the scent are marked by the
  superscription in 13.1 and by the reference to
  the death of Ahaz in the heading of the last
  speech (14.28). The latter marks the end of the
  act, which deals with the reign of Ahaz. Watts,
  WBCIsaiah1-33, 184

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13.1-22 Prophecies Concerning Babylon

• In this speech, Isaiah claims that Yahweh was the
  power behind Assyria's invasion of Babylon. Such
  a claim meant that Assyria was acting as Yahweh's
  instrument and thus the Israelite Deity was in
  control of international affairs. For his
  Jerusalemite/Judean audience, this would have
  served as insightful interpretation aiding in
  understanding international events and also would
  have offered consolation and assurance that
  events were not occurring in an undirected,
  haphazard manner. To emphasize the war as an act
  of God, the prophet never once mentions the
  Assyrians and Tiglath-pileser. Hayes, John H.
  Stuart A. Irvine, Isaiah The Eighth-Century
  Prophet, His Time His Preaching, 223

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13.1-22 Prophecies Concerning Babylon

• Isaiah's oracle in 131-22 belongs to the period
  of Tiglath-pileser's efforts to subdue the
  rebellion in the city of Babylon. An Assyrian
  eponym list reports that the Assyrian king fought
  in Babylonia in 731, remained at home in Assyria
  in 730, and became king in Babylon in 729.
  Isaiah's speech against Babylon could date,
  therefore, within the period of 731 to 729. This
  fits with the assumption that Isaiah's oracles
  are arranged chronologically. The preceding
  oracle, 1027d-126, was delivered in the context
  of the Syro-Ephraimitic siege of Jerusalem in
  735/4. Assuming we have no speeches of Isaiah for
  the years 734 to 731, Isaiah 13 belongs to the
  prophet's activity immediately following
  Tiglath-pileser's wars in the west in the years
  734-732. Hayes Irvine, 222

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13.1-22 Prophecies Concerning Babylon

• The chapter is a complex, carefully balanced
  composition which builds dramatically from
  theophanic views of the Divine Warrior preparing
  for battle (vv. 2-16) to an explanation of the
  events in historical terms. Yahweh is acting to
  subdue and destroy Babylon by subverting her
  traditional allies, the Medes, against her.
  Watts, WBCIsaiah1-33, 195

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14.1-23 The Taunt Against Babylon

• Isaiah 141-27 is a complex text. It opens with
  an optimistic prediction about the future of
  Israel (vv. 1-2). Then follows a taunt (mashal)
  against the king of Babylon, which takes the form
  of a satirical funeral eulogy (vv. 3-20b). This
  ends with a prayerful wish for the extermination
  of the king's royal descendants (v. 20c) and an
  admonition to slaughter the monarch's sons (v.
  21). Two divine oracles announce the destruction
  of Babylon and the royal family (vv. 22-23). The
  speech concludes with a divine oath (vv. 24-25),
  in which Yahweh swears that Assyria will be
  broken "in my land," and the prophet then
  interprets this divine word as the purpose that
  Yahweh has decreed (vv. 26-27). Hayes Irvine,
  227

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14.1-23 The Taunt Against Babylon

• A central issue in interpreting this speech
  concerns the identity of the king of Babylon.
  Contextually, the oracle should date from a time
  following 731-729, the date of Isaiah 13, but
  prior to the death of Ahaz in 727, the topic of
  the following speech in Isaiah 1428-32. The
  speech in 141-27 becomes clear when interpreted
  against the international situation of the years
  729 to 727. The king of Babylon, whose death is
  announced in the form of a celebrative eulogy, is
  Tiglath-pileser." Hayes Irvine, 227

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14.1-23 The Taunt Against Babylon

• 14.12-15 In vv. 12-15 the scene shifts from the
  underworld to heaven and illuminates the pretense
  of human pride. That pride refuses to brook any
  rival, even God himself, insisting that all his
  prerogatives will be its own. Some of the church
  fathers, linking this passage to Luke 10.18 and
  Rev. 12.8, 9, took it to refer to the fall of
  Satan described in those places. However, the
  great expositors of the Reformation were
  unanimous in arguing that the context here does
  not support such an interpretation. This passage
  is discussing human pride, which, while,
  monumental to be sure, is still human not
  angelic. Oswalt, NICOTIsaiah1-39, 320

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14.24-27 The Lord's Plan Concerning the Assyrians

• The divine oracles quoted in verses 24-25,
  rather than being a redactional addition or a
  theological insertion, are part of Isaiahs
  conclusion to the speech in 141-27. They are an
  integral element of his speech, in fact, the
  culmination of the speech." Hayes Irvine, 234