The prophet’s words were not just meant as lofty poetry - their intention was to be fully embodied - to be taken to heart. Several readers have followed through over the years - some more famously so than others.
Isaiah’s prophecies were so important to the rabbis that they incorporated his juiciest chapters into Saturday morning worship at some point in our liturgical evolution, some 2,000 years ago. These scriptural additions were often among public readings from other prophets - a custom still alive today, known as The Haftara.
The oldest evidence of this tradition comes from the story of a famous Jew who entered a Synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth on a Saturday morning, read aloud from the scroll of Isaiah and then claimed - or seemed to claim - that he in fact is the Messiah that the prophet was talking about.
The story is narrated in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, and it quotes a verse from today’s chapter:
“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The response of the synagogue goers indicates that they were not amused, leading Jesus to comment, with irony, “A prophet is never accepted in his hometown.” Then the people tried to push him off a cliff, but he escaped. And that’s a whole other story.
Why did this verse of Isaiah chosen by the writers of the gospels to portray one of Jesus’s key moments of transition? Did this happen? Many scholars think so.
Beyond giving us rare historical evidence of Isaiah’s teachings woven into Jewish worship - it also gives us a glimpse of the early tensions between the ways Jews and Christians eventually were to make sense of their shared legacy and its diverging paths. One of those would be the role that Jesus took on and the question - how does one interpret Isaiah’s concept of the ‘suffering servant’ - as an individual or a (chosen) nation as a whole?
It’s interesting to notice that the verse Jesus is quoting is not exactly what we have in our version of the Bible - some of what Luke quotes is missing from our version and even in the New Testament manuscripts there are variations:
In most versions Luke makes no mention of the healing for the heartbroken though it’s later introduced in some editions. It’s unclear why this bit is missing. What Jesus seems to be focusing on once he is done reading the verse from the scroll is what’s most fascinating here. He is taking on the role of ‘interpreter’ or ‘darshan’ - taking it one step beyond commentary to apply Isaiah’s messianic message to himself.
Curiously, although both chapters flanking this one were chosen by the rabbis to be liturgical additions to Shabbat mornings during this time of the year - chapter 61 was never added. Some claim that it is in direct response to the way this chapter featured prominently in the Christian gospels.
Religious and textual differences aside, the prophet’s message still speaks to our deepest hopes right now: The yearning for the day on which our hearts will heal, our eyes will open, and the prison bars will melt away to free all who yearn for freedom - with help from whoever and however this messianic day, may, with our sincere hopes, faith and efforts - finally arrive; eternally alive, aware, and present.
NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:
Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah
Please join me on Zoom for our next Monthly Conversation, as we wrap up the Book of Isaiah, venture into Jeremiah’s world and explore what these ancient prophets have to offer our inner and political lives - just in time for a new Jewish year and continued political challenges - everywhere.
Join us on Thursday, August 17th 2023, at 1pm ET.
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Over the summer, with a Jewish racial justice group (based out of the South), we've been discussing the relationship between Blacks and Jews, which led us to discussing the relationships between Christians and Jews which led us to reading the Gospels. So I literally just read Luke, and it has been fascinating to see how often Isaiah is quoted, and how many "themes" are repeated. Reading Isaiah and your commentary simultaneously has been amazing.
Over the summer, with a Jewish racial justice group (based out of the South), we've been discussing the relationship between Blacks and Jews, which led us to discussing the relationships between Christians and Jews which led us to reading the Gospels. So I literally just read Luke, and it has been fascinating to see how often Isaiah is quoted, and how many "themes" are repeated. Reading Isaiah and your commentary simultaneously has been amazing.