You and I talk about history, theology, and philosophy quite a bit, so I thought I would craft this post for you. The last three weeks, my Old Testament class has been studying the Latter Prophets. The Latter Prophets is "[t]he technical name for the collection of prophetic writings composed of the books of the three “Major” Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and those of the twelve “Minor” (or shorter) Prophets, collectively called the Book of the Twelve (Bandastra)." The Latter Prophets began prophesying during the monarchy and continued through the post-exilic period. But let go of any preconceived notions about prophecy and these prophets. "The basic function of biblical prophecy was to analyze political policies and social conditions in light of Yhwh’s demands of justice, loyalty, and faith in [Yhwh] (Bandastra)."
This week, we moved into the post-exilic period and the restoration of Jerusalem. Prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah have writings towards the end of their books that shed hope for the Israelites who are living through the Babylonian exile. The bring messages of restoration and reconciliation.
Second Isaiah (There are really three parts of this book! Book one is chapters 1-39 and was composed of real sayings by a real Isaiah. Chapters 40-55 are from the Second Isaiah.) also wrote during this time period. He hopes for a second exodus, like the one experienced by the Israelites with Moses from Egypt. At this time in history, Cyrus and his Persian empire are in opposition to the Babylonians. We see in Isaiah's writings that the Israelites viewed Cyrus as the "great deliverer. Second Isaiah even uses the term messiah—that is, anointed one—to refer to him in order to indicate the divine initiative behind his mission:
“I am Yhwh, who made all things, . . . who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, he shall carry out all my plans.’” Thus says Yhwh to his anointed one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subjugate nations before him, . . . ‘I am Yhwh, there is no other. Except for me there is no god. I equip you, though you do not know me.’” (44:24, 28; 45:1, 5)
With eyes of faith, Second Isaiah interpreted the current events of his day as ordained and directed by Yhwh, even down to the actions of their most likely political ally at that time. Second Isaiah clearly threw his support behind Cyrus and promoted an anti-Babylonian policy. By 539 Cyrus was successful against the Babylonians (Bandastra)."
So, what's the deal here? If we know about the Davidic Covenant—that someone from the line of David would be always the be king of Israel—this doesn't make sense. What does Isaiah mean by calling Cyrus a messiah? "Second Isaiah seems to be suggesting something quite remarkable. The loving covenantal arrangement that Yhwh earlier had established with David would now be transferred to his people as a whole. The dynastic covenant would become a national covenant. The people would complete the mission begun by David. In this way, Second Isaiah is claiming that the Davidic covenant had not been annulled. Rather, it has been democratized (Bandastra)."
We talked about this some in a Google Hangout (We need to do that again soon, by the way.). First, what does it mean to be a messiah? Messiah means "anointed one." The anointed ones were the leaders of the people, usually kings. We see this in the anointing of Saul and of David by Samuel.
Can Second Isaiah make a claim that Cyrus is a messiah? Well, Cyrus was a king. He delivered the people from oppression. He even allowed for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. But, like Dr. Lester said in the Hangout, "Second Isaiah greets Cyrus as the anointed, because that is the way the greeted kings! Isaiah welcomed Cyrus as the Lord and Yahweh's anointed." It's a title.
In Cyrus the Messiah by Lisbeth S. Fried, she says, "Why did the prophet Isaiah, the priests of Marduk, and the Egyptian priests bestow this honor on Cyrus? First, self-interest. These priests tied their own successes to the success of their conquerors. Second, the priests recognized that the restoration of their temples depended on the good will of the Persian leader."
Isn't this interesting? When we take away what has become the Christian understanding of "messiah", we can see the long history of titles and work of Yahweh (God) throughout history, even through an outsider of the community. Pretty cool.
Love you,
Britt
I love your post! First of all, you always do such a nice job of explaining what you're trying to get across. You always give enough of a historical background to fill your reader into where you're going and then you give the new information in a way that makes it easy on the reader!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I love that this is to your dad! It seems like you have a great relationships (the fact that your dad knows how to Hangout is such fun!), but even more impressive is the idea that you are able to share historical and theological ideas with each other.
My favorite part was your very last paragraph: "When we take away what has become the Christian understanding of 'messiah,' we can see the long history of titles and work of Yahweh throughout history, even through an outsider of the community." That's a great statement about the historical trailings seen of the power of God!
I echo Melissa, I too, appreciated that you are writing to your father - my father and I don't talk or even breathe church! Secondly, your last paragraph sums it up really well. It was interesting to me that Yahweh chose a foreigner to complete this role of "messiah" for this time period, to liberate the Israelites. I appreciate that you backed the truck up to the beginning and gave your father the historical context as well. Good post, thanks for your thoughts and insights!
ReplyDeleteBoth of the previous commenters have said a lot of what I was going to say! This is such a great letter. One thing that I really appreciate about this post is your explanation of Second Isaiah. As a reader, before this class, I'm afraid I would have seen "Second Isaiah" and wondered whether my Bible was missing a book or if I was missing something! The way you explained this was so simple and clear, it was wonderful! The way you asked questions and then proceeded to answer them was fantastic. Your explanation of messiah as a title and explanation of how Cyrus could be greeted as such was wonderful, too. I find it difficult, personally, to explain some of these things in such simple and approachable ways, but you do it so well! All-in-all I really love this post. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
ReplyDeletePlaying the devil's advocate (always appropriate in seminary right?), is Cyrus called the messiah just as a sign of self preservation and allowing them to fulfill their own goals? Unlike Egypt and Babylon, the title of Messiah implies a lot more than just the king of the area. While all three titles suggest the rightful king, messiah says it is the rightful king chosen by God. So is Second Isaiah just looking out for his own skin and for the sake of the temple, or is Isaiah acknowledging that Cyrus is the king chosen by YHWH for Judah at this time? Remember, the Temple is built, not under Cyrus, but under Darius as Cyrus died about 9 years after defeating Babylon and about 15 years before the Temple is rebuilt and Darius is never given this title of messiah. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteTrying again to comment!
ReplyDeleteIn brief: Between Dr. Lester's comment about Handel in the google Hangout to our modern concept of "messiah complex", how much messiah baggage is actually about Jesus and how much is pop culture? I like how you break it down to the basic definitions here, and root it in historical political space so people have something to hold onto (an a pagan messiah at that!)
I am going to be the broken record and say how much I loved that very last paragraph! I agree with Melissa, you always do such a great job on getting the information to flow in a comfortable way. You're a gifted writer!
ReplyDeleteI do love that last paragraph- "When we take away what has become the Christian understanding of 'messiah,' we can see the long history of titles and work of Yahweh throughout history, even through an outsider of the community."
What a powerful statement! Instead of seeing this understanding of messiah as taking away from our definition of Jesus, it really does add to the history and show the hand of Yahweh at work through out creation.
Thanks!