Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

> 
> HH: Isaiah 55:4 speaks abstractly of the Davidic king, who was
> originally a witness to the nations of God's power. The word L)MYM
> ("people") generally indicates the nations in general in Isaiah. God
> in Isa 55:5 might address the future Davidic king, even though he has
> not yet arisen. I agree with you that the sentiments in isaiah 55:5
> are like those in Psalm 18:43-45 and that the meaning is similar. But
> I think that while it may seem logical to apply Isaiah 55:5 to Cyrus,
> it does not work. God made an eternal covenant with the house of
> David. Cyrus was not in the house of David. To turn the Davidic
> promises over to Cyrus in any permanent way would break God's promise
> to the house of David.

Dear Harold,
The difficulty with your proposal here is that the speaker says:
Hen, Behold, Look!, See! The addressee is right there, right in front 
of the speaker. This is not some Davidic king of the far-off future,
this is the hear and now.

> 
> HH: A second possibility for Isaiah 55:5 might be that the second
> person masculine singular addressee is the nation Israel. 

What would the point of that be? That a nation that Israel doesn't
know comes running to it? This is royal imagery, as we see
in the psalm.

Best,
Liz