For Isaiah 35, salvation is imagined in creational terms. Up to this point, I have emphasized the text’s use of corporeal language, but the text actually begins with the non-human creation (verses 1-2). ![]() Fearful hearts will look to the future with faith, hope and courage, while sorrow and sighing will be on the run. Formerly feeble knees will walk themselves to Zion. Silent tongues will be loosed to sing songs of joy and freedom. Their sorrow will come to an end, and on a day when the sick body will find new life in God:Įverlasting joy shall be upon their heads Īnd sorrow and sighing shall flee away (verse 10). The good news is that the God of Jacob does not abandon God’s people to their despair. ![]() The exiles feel God’s sorrow in their very bodies. Their capacities needed to move through this world have been diminished. The literary “body” constructed in Isaiah 35 has been utterly overwhelmed by despair and weariness. ![]() Their suffering is manifested in “weak hands” (verse 3), “feeble knees” (verse 3), a “fearful heart” (verse 4), obscured vision (verse 5), hindered hearing (verse 5), broken bodies (verse 6), and silent tongues (verse 6). Isaiah 35 is a powerful poetic word of comfort for the mourning Judahite exiles, who lost their temple, land, and sovereignty. The first verse is particularly relevant: “O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here.” If I had to pair this text with one Advent song, it would be O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
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