I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes: Lyric Cohesion and Conflict in Second Isaiah

345 Pages·2011·1.96 MB·English

by  Katie M. Heffelfinger

I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes
Biblical Interpretation Series
Editors
R. Alan Culpepper
Ellen van Wolde
Associate Editor
Rolf Rendtorff
Editorial Advisory Board
Janice Capel Anderson – Phyllis A. Bird
Erhard Blum – Werner H. Kelber
Ekkehard W. Stegemann – Vincent L. Wimbush
Jean Zumstein
VOLUME 105
I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes
Lyric Cohesion and Conflict in Second Isaiah
By
Katie M. Heffelfinger
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heffelfinger, Katie M.
I am large, I contain multitudes : lyric cohesion and conflict in Second Isaiah / by
Katie M. Heffelfinger.
p. cm. — (Biblical interpretation series ; v. 105)
“This project is a revision of my Emory University doctoral dissertation”—Pref.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-19383-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T. Isaiah XL–LV—
Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible. O.T. Isaiah XL–LV—Language, Style. 3. Hebrew
poetry, Biblical. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1520.H44 2011
224’.1066—dc22
2010049574
ISSN 0928-0731
ISBN 978 90 04 19383 3
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission
from the publisher.
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Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to
The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910,
Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
For Jamie and Evelyn
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
– Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 69.
CONTENTS
Preface .................................................................................................. xi
Abbreviations ...................................................................................... xiii
Chapter One
Introduction: The Role of Poetry in the Interpretation of
Second Isaiah .................................................................................. 1
1. History of Scholarship .............................................................. 3
1.1 James Muilenburg ........................................................... 3
1.2 Roy F. Melugin ................................................................ 6
1.3 Richard J. Clifford ........................................................... 9
1.4 Beyond Clifford ................................................................ 19
2. Explaining the Neglect of Lyric Poetic Tools ....................... 22
2.1 Poetry and Prophecy ....................................................... 22
2.2 Poetry and Fragmentary Meaning ................................ 28
2.3 Implications of a Lyric Approach to Second Isaiah .... 32
3. Proposal and Plan ..................................................................... 33
Chapter Two
Second Isaiah and Lyric Tools ......................................................... 36
1. Defining Lyric ............................................................................ 37
2. A Word about Anachronism .................................................. 42
3. Assessing Second Isaiah as Lyric ............................................ 44
3.1 Characteristic One: Second Isaiah’s Units as
Non-Narrative .................................................................. 45
3.2 Characteristic Two: Second Isaiah’s Units and
Vocality, Musicality, and Tropological Density ......... 53
3.3 Summary: Second Isaiah’s Units as Lyric Poems ...... 57
4. Tools for Reading Lyric Poetry ............................................... 58
4.1 Lyric Sequencing as a Lens for Reading Lyric
Collections ........................................................................ 58
4.2 Disjunction as Significant and Meaningful ................. 66
4.3 The Significance of ‘Voice’ ............................................. 71
4.4 The Centrality of Emotion ............................................. 73
5. Conclusion .................................................................................. 81
viii contents
Chapter Three
The Problem of Comfort: Second Isaiah’s Rhetorical
Environment and its Intractable Problem ................................. 82
1. Situating Second Isaiah ............................................................ 83
2. Indications of Exigence within Second Isaiah ..................... 91
2.1 Identifying Second Isaiah’s Intended Audience ......... 91
2.2 Embedded Speeches as Indicators of Rhetorical
Environment – The Audience’s Perspective ............... 95
2.3 Allusions as Indicators of the Rhetorical Environment 96
3. The Tension between the People’s Complaint and the
Divine Response ........................................................................ 100
3.1 Opening announcement of the Intention to
Comfort – Isa 40:1–2 ....................................................... 101
3.2 Further Expressions of the Comfort Theme ................. 110
4. Tension between Comfort and Indictment .......................... 111
4.1 The Divine Voice and Past Rage .................................... 112
4.2 Divine Rage and Present Threat ..................................... 112
5. Comfort as Intractable Problem ............................................. 113
6. Conclusion .................................................................................. 116
Chapter Four
A Paratactic-Cohesive Whole: Lyric Unity in Second Isaiah ..... 117
1. Tension and Balance: Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces 118
2. Centrifugal Forces and Disjunction in Second Isaiah ........ 118
2.1 Parataxis and Its Impact ................................................. 119
2.2 Concrete References ........................................................ 128
2.3 Lack of Terminal Closure .............................................. 130
3. Ambivalent Forces in Second Isaiah ...................................... 138
3.1 Second Isaiah’s Lack of Clear Boundary Markers ..... 139
3.2 Second Isaiah’s Lexical Recurrences and Thematic
Threads .............................................................................. 148
4. Centripetal Forces and Cohesion in Second Isaiah ............ 158
4.1 Mirrored Passages ........................................................... 158
4.2 Dominance of the Divine Voice ................................... 161
5. Second Isaiah’s Balance Point and the Significance of the
Divine Speaking Voice ............................................................. 165
6. Cohesion in Prior Scholarship ................................................ 166
7. Voice as ‘Unstable’ Unity ........................................................ 172
contents ix
Chapter Five
Tonal Tension and Resolution in the Divine Speaking Voice ... 175
1. Determining the Tonalities of the Divine Voice in Second
Isaiah ........................................................................................... 176
1.1 Major Stream 1: Compassionate Comfort .................. 177
1.2 Major Stream 2: Righteous Indignation with
Accusation and Disputation .......................................... 181
1.3 Major Stream 3: Majestically Supreme Confidence ... 186
1.4 Juxtaposition as Tonal Indicator throughout Second
Isaiah .................................................................................. 189
1.5 The Interplay of Tonal Streams in the Divine Voice 191
2. Tracing the Flow of Tonalities in the Divine Voice ............. 192
2.1 Survey of Second Isaiah’s Tonal Flow ......................... 192
2.2 An Opening Announcement of Comfort – Isaiah
40:1–2 ................................................................................. 194
2.3 The Confidence of the Creator – Isaiah 42:5–9 ......... 194
2.4 Sinners in the Hands of an Obliterating God –
Isaiah 43:22–28 ................................................................. 204
2.5 Your Name is Transgressor – Isaiah 48:1–11 ............. 216
2.6 Indelibly Engraved – Isaiah 49:14–50:3 ....................... 228
2.7 A Rebuking Consolation – Isaiah 51:12–16 ................ 245
2.8 The Climax of Comfort – Isaiah 54:1–17 .................... 253
3. Summary of Tonal Flow: The Progression of Tonalities
and the Resolution of Their Tension ..................................... 269
4. Tonal Flow and the Intractable Problem .............................. 270
4.1 Contributions of the Comfort Tonality ....................... 270
4.2 Contributions of the Indictment Tonality .................. 271
4.3 Contributions of the Confidence Tonality .................. 272
5. Rhetorical Impact and Implications for Second Isaiah’s
‘Message’ ..................................................................................... 273
Chapter Six
Conclusion ....................................................................................... 275
1. Summary of Argument ............................................................ 275
2. Significance of these Findings ................................................. 277
2.1 The Question of Second Isaiah’s Meaningful
Arrangement .................................................................... 277
2.2 Methodological Contributions ...................................... 279
2.3 Addressing Critical Problems in Second Isaiah ......... 280