The Book of Isaiah: Persian/Hellenistic Background

Abstract

The chapter discusses topics that scholars have associated with the Persian context of the book of Isaiah, such as Cyrus, creation, monotheism, and universalism. Common to these topics is that they relate to Achaemenid imperial ideology in one way or another. Moreover, a Hellenistic context has been identified for texts that are thought to offer current historical allusions or that are related to literary features associated with what is labeled proto-apocalyptic. A fundamental challenge, which exists throughout the discussion of the historical background of prophetic discourse, is that scholars tend to historicize the poetry and metaphors—namely, to blend the world in the text with constructions of what is regarded as the historical and social background of the text.

“Restructuring the Symbolic Universe”: Resilience through Literary and Ideological Reframing in Isaiah 2.2–4(5)

“…2.2–4(5) (see, e.g., Sweeney, 1996:93; Blenkinsopp, 2000:190; Berges, 2012:61–62; Clements, 1980:40; Williamson, 1994:154; Mays, 1976:94–96). On this subject, Kirsten Joachimsen notes that the theme of universal salvation in Isaiah (along with the themes of creation, monotheism, and Cyrus as messiah) correlates closely with a Persian period milieu (Joachimsen, 2020:176), and many scholars assert that the antithetical quotation of the oracle in Joel 3.10 (ca. 4 th c. BCE) serves as terminus ante quem (Berges, 2012:62; Blenkinsopp, 2000:190; Kaiser, 1972: 51, 55; Wolff, 1969:91; Plöger, 1959:127).…”

“…For example, the Naqsh-i Rustam inscription reports the worldwide scope of the Persian empire, stating with double entendre, “A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth ( būmi )…I am Darius the great king…king of this great earth/empire ( būmi ) far and wide” (Kuhrt, 2007:502). 17 Therefore, the political rule of Persia is “the culminating event in Ahuramazda’s work in the world,” inextricably connecting political success with exclusive theological claim (Tucker, 2014:29; see also Joachimsen, 2020:177). On the portrayal of subjects joyously participating in the empire, Persia departed considerably from earlier ANE depictions by consistently portraying “a cooperative effort of voluntary support of the king by the subject peoples” (Root, 1979:131).…”

“…60) seems to address Persian imagery in a subversive manner: “[the] propaganda—its ideology and theology—has been co-opted, modified, and reapplied to Jerusalem and YHWH. The Pax Persica has become the Pax Jerusalem ” (Hulster and Strawn, 2015:213; see also Joachimsen, 2020:179). Thus, the image of nations choosing to stream to Jerusalem, the resulting worldwide peace, and the exhortation to “walk in the light of the LORD” decisively seize and ideologically reframe imperial propaganda with rhetorical claims of YHWH’s supremacy over the cosmos and Zion’s eventual exaltation.…”

“…Accordingly, scribal activity recalibrates the symbolic universe by presenting a “more real” alternate reality. Within an imperial paradigm of political center and marginalized periphery (see Joachimsen, 2020:177), the salvation oracle of Isa. 2.2–4(5) recasts a marginalized Jerusalem as cosmic heartland while implicitly pushing Persia to its periphery.…”

“… 14. Due to its many editorial layers, Isaiah likely expresses a variety of responses to empire in general, representing a “composite” composed of affirmation, ambivalence, and animosity (Joachimsen, 2020:179). Thus, even if the only explicit reference to the Achaemenid empire reflects a positive appraisal of Cyrus, differing appraisals of empires appear elsewhere in the Isaiah scroll.…”