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Why the lectionary excerpts only three and a half verses from Isaiah 35’s cohesive ten-verse poem is unclear. The chapter reads best together. These ten verses display a striking inverse relationship to the previous chapter, in which the heavens disappear, the land is ruined, streams and soil are poisoned, and only liminal animals and fruitless … Continue reading “Isaiah 35:4-7a Commentary by Patricia Tull”

This is one of those texts for which many of the hearers will know not only the words but the tune, because it stands behind the well-known alto recitative in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah: “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened.” For these people, the preacher’s challenge will be to help them hear … Continue reading “Isaiah 35:1-10 Commentary by Fred Gaiser”

“They will rejoice.” This is the first word of Isaiah’s vision in chapter 35, and it is the focus of the entire passage. The time of these opening verses is future, though exactly when is not specified. The place is named clearly and repeatedly: it is the wilderness. This detail is not incidental. It locates … Continue reading “Isaiah 35:1-10 Commentary by Anathea Portier-Young”

This text shouldn’t be here. Amid rumors of war and desolation, Isaiah 35 surprises us. A voice speaks without addressing anyone by name, without the particularity of time. This poem follows another poem filled with ecological destruction: “The streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become … Continue reading “Isaiah 35:1-10 Commentary by Barbara Lundblad”

Food is not just the fuel that we use to propel our bodies through the challenges and joys of daily life. Food is also a source of comfort; food is associated with fellowship as people eat together, celebrate together, and mourn together (cf. the notion of “funeral food”). It is little wonder that when Israel … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:6-9 Commentary by Juliana Claassens”

Isaiah 25:6-10a serves up one of the most glorious images in the Hebrew Bible. “On this mountain,” God labors (God’s self!) to prepare a sumptuous, Julia-Childs-worthy meal. God crawls to the back of the wine cellar to retrieve the best vintage wines, wines that have aged for years, perhaps in preparation for this very occasion … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:6-9 Commentary by Amy Erickson”

In this remarkable passage, the Lord prepares a lavish feast at the Lord’s own sacred mountain. All peoples are invited: oppressors and oppressed, powerful and lowly, native and foreigner (Isaiah 25:6). The host of such a feast can only be a king. In the ancient near eastern world, such feasts provided opportunities for mighty rulers … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:6-9 Commentary by Anathea Portier-Young”

Giving attention to the text and getting at tension in the text: Sound biblical interpretation has always required careful attention to texts within their scriptural and historical contexts.  When I was in seminary, the primary goal of exegesis was to determine the single, major point of a biblical passage — this point became the theme … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:1-9 Commentary by James K. Mead”

Feasts, festivals, banquets, and wedding suppers abound in the Bible, and with good reason: meal fellowship represents community of the closest kind, especially perhaps in tribal cultures (then and now); and feasts give rise to abundance, even in times of distress. When people celebrate, they are often able to share in surprising ways, welcoming others … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:1-9 Commentary by Fred Gaiser”

Isaiah 25 celebrates divine faithfulness in soaring, lofty words, words too lofty for everyday reality. Yet they inspire hope. Hymns of thanksgiving stand on either side of a prophetic description of a universal banquet hosted by God “on this mountain,” that is, on Mount Zion, where the temple stood. The chapter begins with a communal … Continue reading “Isaiah 25:1-9 Commentary by Patricia Tull”