THE DIVINE ELECTION OF IS R A E L
of the remnant basically has an organic unity with the concepts of election, rejection, and restoration in its theoretical description and in its employment of language and metaphors.
31 32
33
34
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF ISRAEL THE RELATED THEMES
“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” de- clares Yahweh.
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh,
“for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
(2) Yahweh Will Bring Israel Back from Captivity The return of Israel from her captivity is a conspicuous and prac- tical feature of her restoration as the people of Yahweh. The role of Yahweh in Israel’s restoration from slavery in Babylon is also de- scribed in terms of the metaphor of the divine warrior. Again, Yah- weh is fighting for Israel against Babylon, and he chooses another agent, the Medes, to execute his plan of restoration.
1) Yahweh Will Be Against Babylon
Assyria and Babylon played a significant role as Yahweh’s agents in his rejection of Israel. At the time of the restoration of Israel, however, they were to be forsaken and punished until desolate.
Isaiah 13-14 is the oracle concerning the fate of Babylon. This oracle begins with the description of Yahweh as a divine warrior who summons his consecrated ones for battles ( 13: 1- 16).34 They are his mighty warriors and his proudly exulting ones (13:3). Yahweh is about to execute his anger through them. Verses 17- 19 reveal more about the plan of Yahweh.
The days that come in verse 31 indicate the days of restoration (cf.
v. 27). In those days Yahweh will make a new covenant with his people which will be entirely different from the old one that was made on Mount Sinai with their fathers. At that time Yahweh will not write the covenant document on stone but on their hearts so that it may not be broken. Thus, there will be no need to teach each other because every one will know (~7’) him. Here we can see the election formula (I will be their God and they shall be My people) as an aspect of the new covenant, especially since the marriage term yt’ is used. Furthermore, a covenant is viewed as a marriage treaty. These facts lead us to conclude that even the new covenant is portrayed in terms of the marriage metaphor, and thus the legal bond of marriage through the new covenant is also one of the im- portant parts of the Yahweh-Israel reunion. This new covenant also has a basic continuity with the old one (cf. Ezek. 16:60). In Jer. 505, this covenant of reunion is named “an everlasting covenant” (n’ia
&ly), and in Ezek. 37:26 it is identified with “the covenant of peace”
(ai% ma).
Since restoration metaphors carry the meaning of marriage re- union, “Yahweh’s making Israel live in tents again” (Hos. 12:9) and
“Yahweh’s dwelling in the midst of Israel” (Ezek. 43:9; Joel 2:27) and “in the Tabernacle” (Ezek. 37:27) are noteworthy.
Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold, And their bows will mow down the young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’
pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
According to these verses, the mighty warrior that Yahweh has con- secrated is the Medes.J5 Yahweh’s plan is to destroy Babylon through
34. See above, pp. 51-52.
35. Cf. Jer. 51:28. The Medes (‘la, Assyrian Madai: in a Persian inscription Micida) were first mentioned by Shalmaneser II, in the ninth century B.C.; in the eighth century raids against Median chieftains were recorded by the Assyrian kings
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF IS R A E L
the Medes, who do not take pleasure in booty and spoils but only in the taking of lives. In that day Babylon will be like Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of their destruction. Yahweh’s first step in restoring his people was to break the power of Babylon under whose grip Israel was held captive.
After this doom is pronounced, Is. 14 begins with the descrip- tion of Yahweh’s restoration of Israel. “When Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And the people will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of Yahweh as male and female ser- vants; and they will take them as their captors, and will rule over their oppressors” (Is. 14: l-2). In these verses, the clause tlY 1I’I~t
%W> (and [He] again will choose Israel) merits our attention. The restoration of Israel, according to Isaiah, is viewed in terms of re- election, and thus follows the idea of resettling and repossessing of the land by Yahweh as an inheritance. Furthermore, the situation is reversed in that they will now rule over their oppressors. In that day Israel will sing over the fallen tyrant, the king of Babylon (Is. 14:4- 21).
The imagery portraying Yahweh as a divine warrior who sends his army against Babylon and destroys her is also one of the impor- tant themes of Is. 46-47, as well as of Jer. 50-51. In particular, Is.
44:28 and 45: 1 reveal that Yahweh’s anointed agent against Baby- lon is Cyrus, the king of Persia.
Thus says Yahweh to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him, And to loose the loins of kings;
To open the doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
Tiglath-pileser and Sargon. In the seventh century they had a military alliance with the Babylonians in destroying Nineveh, and this friendly relationship continued until the end of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (561 B.C.). It ceased to exist with the capture of Babylon by Cyrus in 538 B.C. See G.B. Gray, The Book of Isaiah, pp.
242-43.
226
THE RELATED TH E M E S
I will go before you and make the rough place smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars.
(Is. 45: l-2) Cyrus was appointed by Yahweh in order to subdue nations and to manifest the power of Yahweh to the whole world. Yahweh would use him to restore his people from the Babylonian captivity (Ezr.
l:l-11).
2) Yahweh Will Deliver Captive Israel
In the first stage of Israel’s restoration, Yahweh destroyed Babylon through his agent, Cyrus, who held her captive. He then broke the bonds of the captives and delivered his people from them. Since Yahweh released Israel from captivity, they are commanded now to loose themselves from the chains around their necks.
Awake, awake,
Clothe yourself in your strength, 0 Zion;
Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, 0 Jerusalem, the holy city.
For the uncircumcised and the unclean Will no more come into you.
Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, 0 captive Jerusalem;
Loose yourself from the chains around your neck [ 0 captive daughter of Zion. (Is. 52: l-2)VW,
As the counterconcept of “to be taken into captivit:y” (as a result of defeat in war), the release from captivity as a result of Yahweh’s breaking the bonds of slavery is viewed as an image of Yahweh’s restoration of Israel (cf. Jer. 30:8; 46:27-28). Having been released from the bondage of slaves, the Israelites were to come back to their homeland.
36. Here the NASB rendering of ;nl;l'l hlfP YQ mm as “the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah” is misleading. The literal meaning of “the captivity of My people Israel and Judah” is more acceptable. In the same way, “I will return”
is a better translation for mm (NASB “I will restore”).
“For, behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will re- store the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.“36 Yahweh says, “I
9.
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF ISRAEL
will also bring them to the land that I gave to their Forefathers, and they shall possess it.” (Jer. 30:3)