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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Dying, you will die Gen 2:17
  • Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:01:47 -0500

Dear Peter,

HH: Actually, the Mosaic law was given to a specific people, not all people. It was given to the descendants of Jacob (not, for example, to the descendants of Esau, who were excluded). But of course others could and did join them. You are right that foreigners could participate in the Israelite religion, but they had to act like Israelites if they were do so:

Indeed, Harold, and this is the background to my suggestion that Isaiah 56:3-8 may simply be a restatement of this principle, that foreigners are welcome to participate in Israelite religion, that it was never intended to be a simply racial religion.

HH: I never said it was intended to be "a simply racial religion."

By the way, I am taking Isaiah 56 as the start of a new section, as many scholars do, and not so much linked to chapters 51-55.

HH: The wording in Isa 56:1 is quite like that in Isa 51:5.

How far these are intended to be future is another issue. I don't see the distant future in chapter 55; verses 12-13 are what will happen (symbolically) in the immediate future to those who accept the invitation of verses 1-7.

HH: I think Isaiah 55:12-13 is talking about something that has never happened yet. It is of a piece with Isaiah 35. Other related passages include 41:17-2-0, 43:19-20, 44:23, 48:21-22, 49:9-11.

I don't see 56:1 "close at hand ... will soon be revealed" as temporal at all, there is no "soon" in the Hebrew but only QAROB which means "near", usually in space.

HH: The word "near" can be used of time:

Num. 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.
Deut. 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not God — gods they had not known, gods that recently (MQRB) appeared, gods your fathers did not fear.

Deut. 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”
HH: This temporal meaning is present elsewhere in Isaiah:

Is. 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Is. 13:22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand (WQRWB), and her days will not be prolonged.

HH: The phrase LBW), "to come," is a temporal phrase in Isa 13:22, and I see no reason to think that it functions differently in Isa 56:1. The imperfect of BW) occurs in Isa 13:6. It is a normal way to mark time in other prophets as well, this temporal conjunction of QRB and BW):

Jer 48:16; Ezek 7:7; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1;

HH: I believe it is temporal in Isa 56:1, as in Isa 51:5.
Perhaps the "foreigners joined to the LORD" of 56:3 felt their position under threat, or felt unwelcome in the temple, but the prophet writes that they should not do, that their offerings are also acceptable. I don't say that this has no future relevance, but it has a future relevance because it is timelessly true, at least while the temple stands.

HH: I already explained my thinking. I understand your point of view, and there is a certain validity to it, but certainly most understand the context to be temporal in Isa 56:1. Check the major translations:

KJV: Is. 56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

NIV: Is. 56:1 This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.

NRSV: Is. 56:1 Thus says the LORD: Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.

NASB: Thus says the LORD, "Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed.

NLT: "Be just and fair to all," says the LORD. "Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you

GNB (or TEV): The Lord says to his people, "Do what is just and right, for soon I will save you.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard






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