Isaiah 24 is part of a literary unit in Isaiah, namely, chapters 24–27, which many understand to conclude the larger literary unit in Isaiah comprising chapters 13–27.
While Hans Wildberger argues that Isaiah 24–27 are a later addition to Isaiah 13–23 and ought “not to be classified as oracles against the nations,” he does note that they “follow the pattern of chaps. 13–23” though “no longer is there mention of a judgment against any specific people.”79 The content of Isaiah 24–27 is certainly less specific and more universal. Alec Motyer argues that in Isaiah 24 the “central theme is a city destroyed and a city established . . . the latter is referred to by location, e.g., Mount Zion.”80
Parallels
The verbal parallels between these two texts include the somewhat rare verbs א
ב
ל and למא. Both passages anthropomorphize the land and its fruit. Non-verbal parallels include that both texts specifically mention joy that is taken away from mankind when the fruit of the vine is removed. Parallels from the surrounding context of Joel 1:2–14 and Isaiah 24 include the following: (1) Joel highlights different people as representatives of all the inhabitants of the land (1:2), as does Isaiah 24:2; (2) both Joel and Isaiah 24 share the theme of the punishment of the nations (Joel 4:1ff.; Isa 24:21–22); (3) YHWH reigning in Zion is featured toward the end of both texts (Joel 4:17; Isa 24:23); and (4) the phenomenon of the sun and moon darkening occurs in both texts (Joel 2:10; 4:15; Isa 24:25).
79 Wildberger, Isaiah 13–27: A Continental Commentary, trans. Thomas Trapp (Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1997), 446.
80 Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1993), 194.
Table 5. Parallels between Joel 1:5, 10, 12 and Isaiah 24:7, 9, 11 Joel 1:10
שֻׁ
דַּ֣
ד שָׂ
דֶ֔
ה אָ
בְ
לָ֖
ה אֲ
דָ
מָ֑
ה כִּ֚
י שֻׁ
דַּ֣
ד דָּ
גָ֔
ן ה וֹ בִ֥
י שׁ
תִּ
י ר֖
וֹ שׁ אֻ
מְ
לַ֥
ל יִ
צְ
הָֽ
ר
׃
Isa 24:7
אָ
בַ֥
ל תִּ
י ר֖
וֹ שׁ אֻ
מְ
לְ
לָ
ה
־ גָ֑
פֶ
ן נֶ
אֶ
נְ
ח֖
וּ כָּ
ל
־ שִׂ
מְ
חֵ
י
־ לֵֽ
ב
׃
Joel 1:12
הַ
גֶּ֣
פֶ
ן ה וֹ בִ֔
י שָׁ
ה וְ
הַ
תְּ
אֵ
נָ֖
ה אֻ
מְ
לָ֑
לָ
ה רִ
מּ֞
וֹן גַּ
ם
־ תָּ
מָ֣
ר
וְ
תַ
פּ֗
וּ חַ
כָּ
ל
־ ﬠֲ
צֵ֤
י הַ
שָּׂ
דֶ
ה֙
יָ
בֵ֔
שׁ וּ כִּֽ
י
־ ה
ֹ
בִ֥
י שׁ שָׂ
שׂ֖
וֹן מִ
ן
־
בְּ
נֵ֥
י אָ
דָֽ
ם
׃
Isa 24:11
צְ
וָ
חָ֥
ה ﬠַ
ל
־ הַ
יַּ֖
יִן בַּֽ
ח וּ צ֑
וֹ ת ﬠָֽ
רְ
בָ
ה֙
כָּ
ל
־ שִׂ
מְ
חָ֔
ה גָּ
לָ֖
ה
מְ
שׂ֥
וֹ שׂ הָ
אָֽ
רֶ
ץ
׃ Joel 1:5
הָ
קִ֤
י צ וּ שִׁ
כּ וֹ רִ
י ם֙
וּ בְ
כ֔
וּ וְ
הֵ
י לִ֖
ל וּ כָּ
ל
־ שׁ
ֹ ֣ תֵ
י יָ֑
יִן ﬠַ
ל
־ ﬠָ
סִ֕
י ס
Isa 24:9
בַּ
שִּׁ֖
י ר ל
ֹ ֣ א יִ
שְׁ
תּ וּ
־ יָ֑
יִן יֵ
מַ֥
ר שֵׁ
כָ֖
ר לְ
שׁ
ֹ
תָֽ
י ו
׃
Literary Relationship
The theme of both passages has a number of similarities—the devastation of the land, the languishing of its fruit, and the taking away joy from men—though the depiction in Isaiah 24 is more removed from historical events than the concrete event of a locust plague and drought in Joel 1. Is there evidence for literary dependence and not just shared themes and stock prophetic imagery and language?
There are 39 occurrences of לבא and only 16 occurrences of למא in the OT.81
81 BDB contains three homonyms for לבא, namely, I לבא “to mourn,” II לבא “to grow green,”
and III לבא “to manage camels.” Only I לבא occurs as a verb in Hebrew, II לבא and III לבא being proposed as unattested verbs from which attested nouns were derived. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A.
Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1994), s.v.
“לבא.” DCH lists two suggested homonyms in addition to I לבא “to mourn,” namely, II לבא “to be dry,”
and III לבא “to shut” (Ezek 31:15 †). DCH suggests 8 occurrences of II לבא including Isa 24 and Joel 1.
David J. A. Clines, ed., Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 1993–2014), s.v. “לבא.” HALOT lists I לבא “to mourn” and II לבא “to be dry” rejecting III לבא “to shut” in Ezek 31:15 as better understood as a hiphil of I לבא. HALOT supports II לבא from Akkadian abālu and Arabic ’ubullat
“dried figs.” Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. and ed. Mervyn E. J. Richardson (Leiden: Brill, 1994–1999), s.v.
“לבא.” Ben Yosef Tawil provides Akkadian evidence for II לבא “to be dry” and suggests 14 occurrences of II לבא in the OT. Hayim ben Yosef Tawil, An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew:
Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents with Supplement of Biblical Aramaic (Brooklyn, NY:
KTAV, 2017), 3. Bauman and Driver argue that there are not two homonyms, but one root that has two meanings, with “to be dry” being more ancient, and “to mourn” being a later developed meaning. Arnulf Bauman, “לבַאָ ’ābhal; לבֵאָ ’ābhēl; לבֶאֵ ’ēbhel,” in TDOT, 1:44–48; G. R. Driver, “Confused Hebrew Roots,” in Occident and Orient: Being Studies in Semitic Philology and Literature, Jewish History and Philosophy and Folklore in the Widest Sense, in Honour of Haham Dr. M. Gaster’s 80th Birthday, ed.
Bruno Schindler (London: Taylor’s Foreign Press, 1936), 73–82. I find Clines most convincing who argues that in classical Hebrew, the meaning “to be dry” is not to be found. He rightly notes that for the land to “be dry” makes more immediate sense than “to mourn.” However, he shows that, in Isa 3:26, Lam 1:4, and 2:8, inanimate objects, namely, the city gates, the roads to Zion, and the ramparts of Jerusalem’s walls, are
They are common terms in lament literature and can be described as stock language fitting the genre of lament. However, the use of both לבא and למא together only occurs nine times in the OT (Isa 19:8; 24:4, 7; 33:9; Jer 14:2; Lam 2:8; Hos 4:3; Joel 1:10, 12).
Isaiah 19 contains an oracle proclaiming the destruction of Egypt, and 19:8 refers to the fishermen mourning and lamenting their lack of a catch in the Nile. Lamentations 2:8 and Jeremiah 14:2 both describe parts of the wall of Jerusalem languishing and mourning.
Isaiah 33:9 mentions the earth (ץרא) mourning, and Hosea 4:3 mentions the earth (ץרא) in addition to its inhabitants (הבבשׁוי־לכ) as mourning. Joel 1 and Isaiah 24, however, alone mention the vine and the wine as subjects of lament verbs.
Isaiah 24:7 reads ןפג־הללמא שׁוריתלבא. While Joel 1:10 does not use the same subjects of the verbs לבא and למא as Isaiah does, his text is more expansive than Isaiah 24:7, reading רהציללמאשׁוריתשׁיבוהןגדדדשׁיכהמדאהלבאהדשׂדדשׁ. Joel 1:10 mentions wine (שׁורית), and the vine (ןפג) is mentioned soon after in 1:12 in connection with the joy being taken away, a theme also in Isaiah 24:9 and 24:11.82 Such lexical and thematic parallels are not shared with any other text. Thus, if they are not the result of a literary dependence, they are quite an extraordinary coincidence.
Direction of Dependence
Wildberger notes Joel 1:10, 12, 16 as only sharing thematic parallels to Isaiah 24:7, but he does not discuss literary dependence.83 Similarly, Katherine Hayes argues
subjects of the verb לבא. While it makes sense for the land to be dry, it does not make sense for the ramparts, for example, to be dry. Thus, I לבא can clearly be used in a metaphorical sense. And if that is so, there is less reason to argue for II לבא in classical Hebrew. David Clines, “Was there an ’bl II “be dry” in Classical Hebrew?,” VT 42, no. 1 (1992): 1–11. See also the discussion in Hayes,“The Earth Mourns,” 12–
18.
82 The theme of joy being taken away when a city is destroyed is somewhat common. In addition to Isa 24:11, Wildberger mentions Jer 16:9; 48:33; Joel 1:12, 16; Ezek 24:25; and Hos 2:13.
Wildberger, Isaiah 13–27, 487. However, Joel and Isaiah alone contain the verbs לבא and למא.
83 From earlier comments, it seems he attributes the parallel terms to stock language.
Wildberger, Isaiah 13–27, 484.
that the earth mourning is a stock prophetic metaphor.84 Coggins however suggests that
“Isa 24:7 is surely related in some way to Joel 1:10, 12. All the words in the first half of the Isaiah verse are found in these verses in Joel,” but he does not investigate further.85 Hugh Williamson lists a number of parallel passages between Isaiah 24–27 and other prophetic texts arguing that Isaiah is typically the borrower often universalizing his source texts. Regarding the direction of dependence between Joel 1:10–12 and Isaiah 24:7, however, Williamson expresses doubt acknowledging that Joel also has a strong tendency to use earlier texts—and both are difficult to date.86
Isaiah 24–27 is often dated late in the postexilic period due to its supposed reuse of other biblical texts and its apocalyptic language.87 Dan Johnson, however, supposes that “the city” (Isa 24:10, 12, etc.) refers to Jerusalem and thus dates the entire composition of Isaiah 24–27 to no later than the early postexilic period. Relevant to this study, he dates Isaiah 24:1–20 to the “eve of the destruction of Jerusalem in 587.”88 Christopher Hays dates this section even earlier. He argues that Isaiah 24–27 contains no evidence of late biblical Hebrew, nor does it contain apocalyptic language but includes features of ancient Near Eastern royal propaganda,89 and contains strong parallels with
84 She discusses nine texts that contain the verb לבא with an inanimate object, such as the land, as subject. Surely she is right that this was a stock phrase, albeit rare, within the prophetic tradition. But there is no obvious reason why there cannot also be literary dependence even between stock phrases.
Moreover, she does not discuss the additional similarities between Joel 1:10–12 and Isa 24:7 which suggest a literary relationship. Hayes,“The Earth Mourns,” 207–16.
85 Richard Coggins, “Interbiblical Quotations in Joel,” in After the Exile: Essays in Honour of Rex Mason, ed. John Barton and David Reimer (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1996), 78.
Similarly, Levin notes that in Joel the drought “turns into an eschatological catastrophe for the human race, comparable to the Isaiah apocalypse in Isa 24.” Christopher Levin, “Drought and Locust Plague in Joel 1–
2,” in Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period, ed. Ehud ben Zvi and Christopher Levin, BZAW 461 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014), 198.
86 Hugh G. M. Williamson, The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiah’s Role in Composition and Redaction (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 181–82.
87 For example, see Otto Plöger, Theocracy and Eschatology, trans. S. Rudman (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1968), 56.
88 Dan Johnson, From Chaos to Restoration: An Integrative Reading of Isaiah 24–27, JSOTSup 61 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1988), 16.
89 Christopher B. Hays, “From Propaganda to Apocalypse: An Empirical Model for the
the book of Zephaniah. Thus, he dates Isaiah 24–27 to the time of Josiah in the seventh century.90 Motyer has correctly identified the main theme of this section, the destruction of a city and the establishment of an eternal city; and Johnson is also surely correct that this city is Jerusalem. Thus, especially in light of Hays’s evidence for a seventh century dating, I see little reason to view this section of Isaiah as secondary, but to have been a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem by Isaiah likely during the reign of Hezekiah, thus long before Joel.
Further internal evidence points towards Joel being dependent upon Isaiah 24 and not vice versa. The evidence includes that (a) it is more likely Joel expanded the phrase ןפג־הללמאשׁוריתלבא from Isaiah 24:7, utilizing the source vocabulary over a number of lines rather than Isaiah created a succinct phrase by combining scattered lexical items from Joel 1:10–12; (b) ןפג ללמא elsewhere in the OT occurs only in Isaiah 16:8 suggesting that the phrase is, though rare, more Isaianic rather than originating in Joel; (c) למא occurs three times in Isaiah 24 and six times throughout the book of Isaiah making it a more common word choice for Isaiah than Joel; (d) it is not apparent in Isaiah 24 that the author meant to allude to and supplement his own message with Joel’s locust plague. That Joel is adding to his depiction of the locust plague with the language of cosmic upheaval in the context of the destruction and restoration of the holy city, however, is more understandable in the literary context of Joel.
Interpretive Significance of Reuse
Joel’s initial message (1:2–14) sought to communicate the significance of the locust plague to his contemporaries. This was not just any locust plague, but a covenantal
Formation of Isaiah 24–27,” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 6, no. 1 (2017): 120–44.
90 Christopher B. Hays, “Isa 24–27 and Zephaniah amid the Terrors and Hopes of the Seventh Century: An Intertextual Analysis,” in Isaiah and the Twelve: Perspectives, Similarities and Differences, ed. Richard Bautch, Joachim Eck, and Burkard Zapff (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020), 130–53; Hays, The Origins of Isaiah 24–27: Josiah’s Festival Scroll for the Fall of Assyria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).
curse and a harbinger of the Day of the Lord, an-Egyptian-like plague and a portent of a climactic plague. He embellished this message by alluding to the cosmic eschatological passage of Isaiah 24. Such a literary allusion emphasizes the cosmic effect of covenant disobedience and further supports the ideology that the temple at Zion represented a mini cosmos as noted above in reference to Joel’s use of 1 Kings 8.
Brian Doyle argues that Isaiah 24 employs extensive use of metaphor to describe the reversal of creation as the result of a divine theophany because of Judah’s failure to keep the covenant.91 As Motyer lucidly notes, it is “intrinsic to the doctrine of creation that human beings in sin are the supreme environmental threat,”92 and he interprets 24–27 as moving beyond the historical judgments of Isaiah 13–20 to a blurry picture of the eschaton in which “the earth itself returns to primeval meaninglessness . . . and beyond which shines the city where the Lord reigns.”93 John Watts interprets Isaiah 24 as utilizing creation/land language from the Noah narrative (Gen 6–9) and building upon the Day of the Lord theme (Isa 13; cf. Joel 1:15) to describe “the end of an age and the beginning of another.”94 Dan Johnson argues that Isaiah 24 depicts the destruction of Jerusalem in cosmic terms, utilizing and reinterpreting previous prophetic oracles.95 Hayes, commenting upon the literary techniques in Isaiah 24, notes that
the wordplay linking the roots for breaking (hēpēr) of the eternal covenant and the splitting apart (hitpôrēr) of the earth creates a parallel that suggests the association
91 For example, Isa 24:10 mentions the “town of tohû” alluding to Gen 1:2. Brian Doyle, The Apocalypse of Isaiah Metaphorically Speaking: A Study of the Use, Function, and Significance of Metaphors in Isaiah 24–27, BETL 151 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2000), 214–16.
92 Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 197.
93 Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 196.
94 John D. Watts, Isaiah 1–33, WBC, vol. 24 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1985), 320–22. He locates the specific fulfillment of Isa 24 to the year 655 BC when Assyria subdued Phoenicia. However, the significance of the message is ongoing, namely, that “those who survive the destruction to be alert to God’s will for them, to God’s new structures” and that “only those who yield to God and seek to serve him in his new way will share his life and his city.”
95 Johnson, From Chaos to Restoration, 19–47.
of act and consequence. Throughout Isa 24:1–20 the interweaving of human and natural imagery illustrates the interconnected fate of the earth and its people.96
It is obvious how such Isaianic themes of cosmic punishment for covenant infidelity parallel Joel’s message. Joel is interpreting a locust plague. He is
communicating by means of metaphor and allusion that this is no mere locust plague, but a covenantal curse, a harbinger of the Day of the Lord. And this is no mere covenantal curse, but one with cosmic effects, one that is de-creating the land and afflicting the people. This Day of the Lord will bring about a new world order. Such a cosmic effect ought to be clear from the lack of offering at the mini cosmos, the temple. By alluding to Isaiah 24, the attentive reader recognizes that Joel has theologically depicted the locust plague as a covenantal curse which is de-creating the earth, returning it to its primeval meaninglessness and, by implication, Joel is stressing the cosmic effect of the people’s sin.