Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah
- Frontispiece
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Timeline of Events Related to the Book of Isaiah
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Book of Isaiah Through History
- 2 The Book of Isaiah in the Neo-Assyrian Period
- 3 The Book of Isaiah and the Neo-Babylonian Period
- 4 The Book of Isaiah in the Persian Period
- 5 The Book of Isaiah at Qumran
- 6 Early Versions of Isaiah as Translations and Interpretations
- 7 The Formation of the Book of Isaiah
- Part II Isaiah in Its Cultural World
- Part III Isaiah as Literature
- Part IV Afterlives of the Book of Isaiah
- Scripture Index
- Other Texts Index
- Subject Index
- Cambridge Companions to Religion ()
- References
3 - The Book of Isaiah and the Neo-Babylonian Period
from Part I - The Book of Isaiah Through History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2024
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah
- Frontispiece
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Timeline of Events Related to the Book of Isaiah
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Book of Isaiah Through History
- 2 The Book of Isaiah in the Neo-Assyrian Period
- 3 The Book of Isaiah and the Neo-Babylonian Period
- 4 The Book of Isaiah in the Persian Period
- 5 The Book of Isaiah at Qumran
- 6 Early Versions of Isaiah as Translations and Interpretations
- 7 The Formation of the Book of Isaiah
- Part II Isaiah in Its Cultural World
- Part III Isaiah as Literature
- Part IV Afterlives of the Book of Isaiah
- Scripture Index
- Other Texts Index
- Subject Index
- Cambridge Companions to Religion ()
- References
Summary
“The Book of Isaiah and the Neo-Babylonian Period” by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer investigates the “black hole” in the book that is the Babylonian Exile from three perspectives. First, it analyzes how the Book of Isaiah conceptualizes Babylon. It demonstrates how the Isaianic authors sought to underscore Babylon’s weakness and transitory existence, and aimed to assert that its demise was the result of Yhwh’s supremacy over Babylon’s own deities. Second, it challenges the dating of those texts in Isaiah that are traditionally assigned to the Neo-Babylonian period. References to Babylonian customs and religious traditions, polemic against Babylon, and support of Cyrus should not be used without reflection as dating criteria. Third, it argues that the material in Isa 40–55, traditionally assumed to have been written in Babylon because of its familiarity with Babylonian matters, rather reflects the kind of general knowledge that the people living in the shadow of the Neo-Babylonian Empire would be expected to have.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah , pp. 33 - 48Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
References
Further Reading
Anthonioz, Stéphanie. “La polémique contre l’idolâtrie (Is. 40–48) à la lumière du cylindre de Cyrus.” Revue des Sciences Religieuses 84 (2010): 19–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Beuken, Willem A. M. Jesaja 28–39. Translated by Andrea Spans. HThKAT. Freiburg: Herder, 2010.Google Scholar
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. “Isaiah and the Neo-Babylonian Background.” Pages 159–75 in The Oxford Handbook of Isaiah. Edited by Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.Google Scholar
Franke, Chris A. “The Function of the Satiric Lament over Babylon in Second Isaiah (xlvii).” VT 41 (1991): 408–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hägglund, Fredrik. Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming after Exile. FAT II/31. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Poulsen, Frederik. The Black Hole in Isaiah: A Study of Exile as a Literary Theme. FAT 125. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019.Google Scholar
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Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia. For the Comfort of Zion: The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40–55. VTSup 139. Leiden: Brill, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waerzeggers, Caroline. “Locating Contact in the Babylonian Exile: Some Reflections on Tracing Judean-Babylonian Encounters in Cuneiform Texts.” Pages 131–46 in Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians and Babylonians in Antiquity. TSAJ 160. Edited by Gabbay, Uri and Secunda, Shai. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.Google Scholar
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