Historical Backdrop of Yeshayahu 40/2

Historical Backdrop of Yeshayahu 40

Exegetical Approaches

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Era of Yeshayahu

Yeshayhau was comforting his contemporaries regarding current events.

Babylonian Exile

Yeshayahu's prophecy revolves around the return of the nation who had been exiled to Babylonia.

Sources:R. Yosef KaraYeshayahu 40About R. Yosef Kara, Ibn EzraYeshayahu 40:1, 3, 11, 25, 27, 31About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, ShadalYeshayahu 40:1-3, 10-12, 16, 18, 27About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto

Why speak about the return from Babylonia now? These sources offer several approaches to this question:

• Significant for both generations –The chapter¹ immediately before this prophecy closed with the prediction that Chizkiyahu's descendants were to be exiled to Babylonia. As such, Yeshayahu continued with a prophecy of consolation aimed at those in exile which would serve to comfort both them and his own generation who were otherwise left with an open-ended prediction of doom.²
• Relayed only later – According to Shadal, though Yeshayahu received this prophecy, he did not share it with his own generation, but rather wrote it down  to be relayed in the future, when relevant.³
• Received and relayed only later – Ibn Ezra cryptically implies that this prophecy (and those of the rest of the book) were actually not recorded by Yeshayahu at all, but by another, later prophet who lived in the time of the exile. As such, the Book of Yeshayahu includes both the prophecies of Yeshayahu Himself and those of an anonymous prophet. Ibn Ezra compares this to Sefer Shemuel, which was also composed by multiple prophets, Shemuel, Gad and Natan.

"כִּי מָלְאָה צְבָאָהּ כִּי נִרְצָה עֲוֺנָהּ" – Ibn Ezra and Shadal explains that "צבא" refers to a set amount of time or work.  The prophet tells the nation that the seventy years of Babylonian exile which were foretold by Yirmeyahu⁴ have come to their end.  The people paid their due in punishment (נִרְצָה עֲוֺנָהּ) and now it is time to return.

Present Exile

Yeshayahu's prophecy speaks of the future redemption.  He tells the people not to despair for Hashem will ultimately redeem the nation and return those in exile to Tzion.

Sources:RadakYeshayahu 40About R. David Kimchi, RidYeshayahu 40About R. Yeshayah of Trani, Abarbanel, MalbimYeshayahu Beur HaInyan 40About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

Why speak about Messianic times now?

¹ See Yeshayahu 39.

² Cf. Ibn Ezra who notes that the two chapters are juxtaposed since one predicts the exile and the other the return.  However, he does not agree with the possibility that the prophecy was meant to comfort Yeshayahu's own generation as well. See his alternative explanation below.

³ Shadal, however, does not explain why Hashem would prefer that Yeshayahu "store" the message, when Hashem could have simply relayed it to a later prophet. Since much of the prophecy focuses on reassuring the people that Hashem keeps His word, perhaps knowing that the prophecy was predicted over a century and a half before its fulfillment served to increase the people's faith in Hashem.

⁴ See Yirmeyahu 25:11-12.