From: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Prologue: Promise of Deliverance
[1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. [3] A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. [5] And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
[9] Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” [10] Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. [11] He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
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Commentary:
40:1-55:13. These chapters make up the second part of the book of Isaiah, also known as “Second Isaiah” or “Deutero-Isaiah”. Almost everything here refers to a period of history one or two centuries later than that of “First Isaiah”. The oppressor is no longer Assyria but Babylon, which conquered Jerusalem in 587-586 BC, and then began a series of deportations that sent the upper classes of Jerusalem and Judah into exile. Many years later (539 BC), Cyrus, king of the Persians, conquered the Babylonians and issued a decree allowing those deportees who so wished to return home. These events are echoed in Second Isaiah’s oracles, songs, lamentations and denunciations, and the prophetic visions of the final, enduring deliverance and restoration of the chosen people and the city of Zion.
The various literary units in this part of the book are grouped into two Is 52:7-11 sections more or less by subject. The first (40:1-48:22) implies that the Jews are still held against their will in Babylon. Their deliverance is announced, thanks to the power of the Lord, who rules the world and determines the course of human affairs; he has chosen Cyrus, king of Persia, called here his “anointed”, his messiah, to redeem Israel from exile (44:24-45:25).
This section, too, contains the announcement that God will choose a “servant”, whom he will send empowered by the Spirit to establish law and justice (42:1-9, the first “song of the Servant”).
The second section celebrates the glorious restoration of the people of God on Zion; in this, too, the “Servant of the Lord” will play the key role; the section contains the last three “songs of the Servant” (49: 1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12).
40:1-48:22. The historical background to these chapters is the time immediately after the return of the exiles from Babylon, which is depicted as a “new exodus”. The exodus from Egypt was the prototype of all God’s interventions on his people’s behalf: now we hear of another one, “new” because the power with which God, the Creator of all things, acts now surpasses that to be seen in the exodus. The news that deliverance is at hand greatly consoles the people: we are told this at the start, and it is repeated in the oracles that follow. For this reason, this part of the book of Isaiah is usually called the “Book of Consolation", and it has been interpreted as an anticipation of the consolation that Christ will bring: “The true consolation, balm and release from all human ills is the Incarnation of our God and Saviour” (Theodoret of Cyrus, "Commentaria In Isaiam", 40, 3).
The section opens with a song of joy over the imminent release of the exiles (40: 1-11). After this a number of oracles are grouped together which describe the reason why the people should hope in the Lord who is mighty and desires to save, who is ready to do so (42:1-25), to manifest himself as the Redeemer of Israel (43:1-44:23) and bring salvation to Jerusalem (44:24-48:19). The section ends with a prophecy of the redemption of his people and a call to leave Babylon (48:20-22).
40:1-11. The section begins on a formal note with an anonymous voice proclaiming the Lord's consolation (vv 1-5) The same voice calls on the prophet himself to proclaim that the word of God and his message of salvation will endure forever (vv. 6-11). The oracles are addressed to those people of Jerusalem who have been deported to Babylon. When they were first spoken, many decades had passed since these people and the previous generation were forced to leave the holy city. Those years of suffering and exile have more than atoned for their sins. The time comes for them, with the Lord’s help, to set out on the return journey. That journey is mentioned throughout this section. The voice speaking in the name of the Lord boosts their morale: it won’t be a difficult journey; they will find a way opened up for them which will bring them to the glory of the Lord. As in the exodus from Egypt, on the “way” from Babylon to Jerusalem they will see wonderful evidence of the power of God. The words spoken by the mysterious voice, inviting them to set out, fills the returnees with hope.
The four Gospels see these words fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist, who is the voice crying in the wilderness “Prepare the way of the Lord” (cf. v. 3). And, ndeed, John, with his call to personal conversion and his baptism of repentance, does prepare the way for people to find Jesus (cf. Mt 3:3; Mk 1:3; Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23), whom the Gospels confess to be “the Lord” (cf. v. 3). John the Baptist is his herald, the “precursor”: “The voice commands that a way be opened for the Word of God, the path smoothed and all obstacles removed: when our God comes, he will be able to walk without hindrance. Prepare the way of the Lord: this means to preach the gospel and to offer consolation to his people, with the desire that the salvation of God embrace all mankind” (Eusebius of Caesarea, "Commentana In Isaiam", 40, 366). Hence, in Christian tradition, “John the Baptist is ‘more than a prophet’ (Lk 7:26). In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah (cf. Mt 11:13-14). He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the ‘voice’ of the Consoler who is coming (Jn 1:23; cf. Is 40:1-3)” ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 719).
In the second part of the oracle, the anonymous voice asks the prophet to speak in the name of the Lord (vv. 6-8). Merely human plans can only go so far; but the word of God stands forever In the things that the voice says there must be an allusion to the might of Babylon, which withers like the “flower of the field” when the “breath of the Lord blows upon it”, because it challenged the goodness of God. The message to be given to the people speaks of trusting in the power of God, who comes not to lay waste but to protect and recompense those in his care (vv. 9-11). Here we find for the first time the simile of the “flock” being applied to the people of God, one of a number of figures of speech used in Holy Scripture to describe God’s tender care of his people (cf. Jer 23:3; Ezek 34:1ff; Ps 23:4) and which Christian tradition uses to explain the mystery of the Church: “The Church is a sheepfold whose one and indispensable door is Christ (Jn 10: 1-10). It is a flock of which God himself foretold he would be the shepherd (Is 40: 11; Ezek 34:11-31), and whose sheep, although ruled by human shepherds, are nevertheless continuously led and nourished by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and the Prince of the shepherds (cf. Jn 10:11; 1 Pet 5:4), who gave his life for the sheep (cf. Jn 10:11-15)” (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 6). The words of vv. 6-8 will later be used in the First Letter of St Peter to confirm the validity of the precept of brotherly love (1 Pet 1:24-25).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
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