Authorizing an End: The Isaiah Apocalypse and Intertextuality

433 Pages·2000·57.844 MB·English

by  Polaski

AUTHORIZING AN END
BIBLICAL
INTERPRETATION
SERIES
Editors
R. ALAN CULPEPPER
ROLF RENDTORFF
AssociateEditor
DAVID E. ORTON
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
Janice CapelAnderson . MiekeBal
PhyllisA. Bird . Erhard Blum
Werner H.Kelber . Ekkehard Stegemann
Anthony C.Thiselton . Vincent L. Wimbush .Jean Zumstein
VOLUME 50
AUTHORIZING
AN END
The Isaiah Apocalypse and Intertextuality
BY
DONALD C. POLASKI
BRILL
LEIDEN ·BOSTON· KOLN
2001
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Polaski,Donald C.
Authorizinganend:theIsaiah apocalypseandintertextuality/ by
DonaldC.Polaski.
p. em.- (Biblicalinterpretationseries,ISSN0928-0731;
v.50)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN9004116079(alk.paper)
I. Bible.O:I:.Isaiah XXIV-XXVII-Criticism,interpretation,etc.
2.Apocalypticliterature-Historyand criticism. I. Title. II.Series.
BSI515.2.P65 2000
224'.1'0046- dc21 00-031151
CIP
DieDeutsche Bibliothek- CIP-Einheitsaufnalune
Polaski, Donald C.:
Authorizinganend: theIsaiahApocalypseand intertextuality/ by
DonaldC. Polaski.- Leiden ;Boston ;K61n :Brill,2000
(Biblicalinterpretationseries; Vol.50)
ISBN90-04-11607-9
ISSN 0928-0731
ISBN 9004 116079
©Copyright2001byKoninklijkeBrillNIl,Leiden,TIeNetherlands
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PRINTED INTHENETHERLANDS
To myparents,
William B. andPatricia Polaski
Myfirst teachers
My best teachers

CONTENTS
Preface Xl
Abbreviations XllI
Chapter I. Framing the OJtestion ..
The Conditions for the Development ofJewish Apocalyptic
Literature 2
A Variety of Roads to Apocalypticism 2
Proto-Apocalyptic as a Face-Saving Gesture "When
Prophecy Fails" 8
Proto-Apocalyptic and its Relationship to Society:
Two Exemplary Positions 12
Relating Text to Context: History, Literarure
and Intertextuality 24
Dominick LaCapra: Rethinking Contexts 25
New Historicism/Cultural Poetics: Shifting the
Verbal Icon 28
Intertextuality: Its Theoretical Use and Practical
Application 32
The Text at the Center of the Intertextual Web: The Isaiah
Apocalypse 49
Isaiah Apocalypse: A Misnomer? 49
Date and Unity 51
The Isaiah Apocalypse and Social Location 62
The Isaiah Apocalypse, Intertextuality and Influence 66
Chapter 2. A Broken Covenant and Woven Texts: Isaiah 24 71
The Structure of Isaiah 24:1-20 71
External Connections 71
Internal Arrangement 79
The Structure of 24:1-20: A Proposal................................ 90
The Eternal Covenant: An Intertextual Approach 94
Gathering the Fragments: Piecing Together
a Mosaic Covenant 101
Pieces of Legislation: P and the Covenant Mosaic 117
Vln CONTENTS
Responses to a Fractured World:Joy and Lament 124
King's Horses and King's Men: Putting the Dynasty
Together Again? 131
Echoes Filling a Canyon: The r:::inv n'...,::J in
Second Temple Discourse 143
Chapter 3. International and TextualRelations:
Isaiah 24:21-25:12 146
The Structure of Isaiah 24:21-25:12 146
The Individual Units 147
Finding a Structure: Examining the Options 150
A Proposal 161
Identifying Israel at the Feast 164
Sharing a Common Meal: Israel Identified
with the Nations 165
Feasting, Israel and the Politics of Empire 172
Just Des(s)erts:Judgment and Binary Oppositions at
YHWH's Imperial Meal 179
Praise and the Formation of Identity:
Isaiah 25:1-5, 9- 1Oa 198
Conclusion 204
Chapter 4. The Construction ifDestruction: Isaiah 26 206
The Structure of Construction 206
26:1-6 as a Separate Work 207
Resurrection and the Text 212
A Structure . 216
The Function of the Structure: Retelling the
Destruction 218
26:1-6: Praise as a Form of Differentiation 219
Singing as Rereading 219
Rereading the Cities 221
Rereading the Nation 223
26:7-21: Lamentation as an Expression of Survival .............. 226
Pointing to Survival................................................................ 229
Surviving to Glorify ................................................................ 235
Means to an End: Righteousness, 'Wickedness and the
Metaphor of Death 238
Plotting the Righteous on the Intertextual Map 242
CONTENTS IX
The Righteous and the Sanctuary 243
Lamenting (In)effectually 253
The Righteous and YHWH: Blurring the Lines 263
Disciplined and Punished: The Righteous Subject 267
Conclusion 279
Chapter 5. Toward a New World Order: Isaiah 27 280
Taming the Twisting Serpent: An Organizing Principle in
Isaiah 27 (27:1) 280
Reading Leviathan 280
Reading Isaiah 27 289
Comparing Punishments: The Benefits of Order
(Isa 27:7- 11) 291
A World Divided: Isaiah 27:7 291
27:8-9: On the Benefits of Punishment 299
The Unpurposive Punishment of the Smiters-From
Chaos to Nothingness: 27:10-11 309
Conclusion 319
27:12-13: An Ordered People 320
A Division within the Land: 27:12 320
A Division within the World: 27:13 324
27:2-6: Revisiting the Vineyard 331
Relating the Texts 332
Chaos, Order and the Vineyard 340
The Martyrdom of Isaiah the Implied Author? Textual
Authority in the Songs 354
Conclusion 356
Chapter 6. Authorizing an End 358
The Temple in YHWH's Society 359
Continuity 360
Order 361
Making Distinctions: Boundaries in YHWH's Society 362
Textual Authority and the Isaiah Apocalypse 364
Conclusion 367
Bibliography 369
Index 391