Eating in Isaiah: Approaching the Role of Food and Drink in Isaiah's Structure and Message

249 Pages·2014·2.649 MB·English

by  Andrew T. Abernethy

Eating in Isaiah
Biblical Interpretation Series
Editors in Chief
Paul Anderson (George Fox University)
Yvonne Sherwood (University of Kent)
Editorial Board
A.K.M. Adam (University of Oxford)
Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Musa Dube (University of Botswana)
Jennifer L. Koosed (Albright College. Reading, usa)
Vernon Robbins (Emory University)
Annette Schellenberg (Theological Seminary, San Francisco)
Carolyn J. Sharp (Yale Divinity School)
Johanna Stiebert (University of Leeds, uk)
Duane Watson (Malone University, usa)
Ruben Zimmermann ( Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
VOLUME 131
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bins
Eating in Isaiah
Approaching the Role of Food and Drink
in Isaiah’s Structure and Message
By
Andrew T. Abernethy
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abernethy, Andrew T.
 Eating in Isaiah : approaching the role of food and drink in Isaiah’s structure and message /
by Andrew T. Abernethy.
  pages cm. — (Biblical interpretation series, ISSN 0928-0731 ; Volume 131)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-27037-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28086-1 (e-book)
 1. Bible. Isaiah—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Dinners and dining in the Bible. I. Title.
 BS1515.6.D55A24 2014
 224’.10839412—dc23
2014027826
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
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issn 0928-0731
isbn 978-90-04-27037-4 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28086-1 (e-book)
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Contents
Acknowledgments  ix
Abbreviations  xi
1 Introduction  1
Food and Drink in Old Testament Scholarship  1
Method for Approaching Eating in Isaiah  11
Diachronic or Synchronic?  11
Three Methodological Premises  14
Literature is Purposeful  14
Textual and Reading Strategies  15
Textual Features of Ancient Hebrew Texts  18
Summary  19
A Sequential-Synchronic Approach to Eating in Isaiah  20
2 Repentance, Retribution, and Sovereignty: Eating in Isaiah 1  22
Eating in Isaiah 1  22
Isaiah 1:2  23
Isaiah 1:3  26
Isaiah 1:7  26
Feeding Troops  29
Battle Tactics  31
Isaiah 1:11–14  34
Isaiah 1:18–20  38
The Logic of Isaiah 1:18–20  38
Reasons for Eating at Rhetorical Climax  40
Eating and Retribution  41
Eating, Sovereignty, and Reversing Isaiah 1:7  43
Eating and Full-Scale Restoration  45
Conclusion on Eating in Isaiah 1:18–20  47
Isaiah 1:22  48
Isaiah 1:29  48
Summary  49
Eating in Isaiah 1 as an Introduction?  50
3 An Imperial-Retributive Schema: Eating in Isaiah 2–35 in
Light of Isaiah 1 as an Introduction  54
Lack of Food and Drink in Isaiah 2–35  54
vi contents
Lack of Food and Drink in Isaiah 1–12  55
Lack of Food and Drink in Isaiah 13–23  60
Lack of Food and Drink in Isaiah 24–27  64
Lack of Food and Drink in Isaiah 28–35  66
Summary  68
Promises of Food and Drink in Isaiah 2–35  69
The Prospect of Eating in Isaiah 1–12  69
The Prospect of Eating in Isaiah 13–23  74
The Prospect of Eating in Isaiah 24–27  75
Ways of Understanding the Feast  75
The Feast as a Covenant Meal  75
The Feast as a Mythological Victory Feast  76
Enthronement Feast  78
Summary  79
Feast from an “Imperial-Retributive” Perspective  79
The Prospect of Eating in Isaiah 28–35  86
Summary  90
Conclusion  90
4 Imperial Rhetoric and Eating in Isaiah 36–37  94
Isaiah 36–37 as a Literary Unit  96
Repetition between Threats  97
Repetition between Responses  100
Repetition between Oracles  100
Sovereignty and Repetition between Forms  101
Eating in Isaiah 36:12, 16–17 and 37:30  104
Conclusion on Eating in Isaiah 36–37  113
Eating in Isaiah 36–37 within Isaiah 1–39  113
Eating in Isaiah 7 and 37  113
Eating in Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 36–37  114
Eating in Isaiah 36–37 and Isaiah 1–39  117
Conclusion  118
5 Comfort Food: Eating in Isaiah 40–55 in Association with
Isaiah 1–39  119
Eating in Isaiah 55:1–3a within Isaiah 40–55  120
Thirst and Water in Isaiah 40–55  124
Isaiah 41:17–20  125
Isaiah 43:16–21  126
contents vii
Isaiah 44:3  128
Isaiah 48:20–21  129
Isaiah 49:9–10  130
Reading Water and Thirst in Isaiah 55:1a  131
Buying Wine and Milk Without Money in Isaiah 40–55  132
Buying What is Not Bread in Isaiah 40–55  133
Eating and Listening  135
Summary  138
Eating in Isaiah 40–55 in Association with Isaiah 1–39  139
Differences between Eating in Isaiah 1–39 and 40–55  139
Associations through Eating between Isaiah 1–39 and 40–55  141
Conclusion  143
6 In or Out? Eating in Isaiah 65–66 as a Conclusion to Isaiah  144
Food and Drink in Isaiah 65–66  144
Out through Eating  146
The “In” Shall Eat  152
Eating in Isaiah 65:8  152
Eating in Isaiah 65:13  153
Eating in Isaiah 65:21–22a  155
Eating in Isaiah 66:7–14  158
Eating in Isaiah 66:15–24  160
Summary of Eating in Isaiah 65–66  162
Food and Drink in Isaiah 65–66 as a Conclusion to Isaiah 56–66  162
Isaiah 56:1–8 and Eating in Isaiah 65–66  163
Isaiah 56:9–57:21 and Eating in Isaiah 65–66  165
Isaiah 58–59 and Eating in Isaiah 65–66  166
Isaiah 60–62 and Eating in Isaiah 65–66  168
Nursing the Glory of the Nations  168
Eating and Foreigners  170
Isaiah 63–64 and Eating in Isaiah 65–66  172
Summary  173
Food and Drink in Isaiah 65–66 as Part of the Conclusion of the
Book of Isaiah  174
Eating, Retribution, Obedience, and Ethnicity  175
Eating and Sovereignty  178
Eating and Zion  180
Conclusion  181
viii contents
7 Conclusion  183
Food and Drink in the Scaffolding of Isaiah  183
Food and Drink in the Sections of Isaiah  184
Food and Drink in Major Themes  185
Uses of Food and Drink  188
Final Reflections  189
Bibliography  191
Author Index  212
Scripture Index  217
Acknowledgments
Just as eating is communal, so this study is the product of community. This
work is a significantly revised version of my PhD thesis, completed under
the supervision of Professor Willem VanGemeren, my advisor and mentor at
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Not only has he helped me develop
as an exegete, but he has graciously shared his life with me, modeling how
commensal meals foster fellowship and transformation. Thanks are also due
to my examiners, Professor Richard Averbeck (TEDS), Professor John Monson
(TEDS), and Professor Reed Lessing (Concordia Seminary) for their encour-
agement and feedback that has enhanced this project. Several timely conver-
sations with Professor K. Lawson Younger (TEDS) proved invaluable as well.
I am also grateful for the friendship and collaboration with my colleagues
studying with me at TEDS, who greatly enriched my experience: Yacouba
Sanon, Ingrid Faro, May Young, Jillian Ross, YunGab Choi, Won-Suk Jung, Chin
Hong Yee, Elizabeth Backfish, Charles Telfer, Adam Johnson, Scott Harrower,
Jared Compton, Ron Hayden, Jason Stanghelle, Neal Huddleston, A. D. Riddle,
and many others. Thanks go to Welson Cesar and Jon Wright for help with the
indices and proofreading.
Additionally, Dr. Peter Altmann (University of Zurich) deserves spe-
cial thanks for his careful and critical feedback on an earlier version of this
study in light of his vast knowledge of eating in the ancient Near East and
the Old Testament. Thanks also to Professor Mark Brett (Whitley College) for
his encouragement in this project. Furthermore, Professor Carolyn J. Sharp
(Yale Divinity School) went above and beyond the call of duty in her review
of my manuscript for Brill’s Biblical Interpretation Series by offering care-
ful and thoughtful feedback that has strengthened numerous aspects of the
study below. Thanks also go to the series editor, Professor Yvonne Sherwood
(University of Kent), for accepting this monograph for publication, and to
Liesbeth Hugenholtz, my acquisitions editor at Brill, for her professionalism,
speedy communication, and help in seeing my manuscript through to publica-
tion. I trust that through these revisions my thesis can now read as a book, with
its contents having been enriched, the argument clarified, and its accessibility
for students and scholars enhanced. All deficiencies are, of course, my own.
Since the majority of this project was written “on the job,” many thanks
go to Ridley College (Melbourne) for their support in the process. In partic-
ular, Dr. Lindsay Wilson (Senior Lecturer in Old Testament), Dr. Tim Foster
(Director of College), Dr. Andrew Malone, and Dr. Brian Rosner (Principal),
have provided me with encouragement and the space for me to complete this