Full Title: “‘All Human Ḥesed Is as the Flowers of the Field’: The Marriage Metaphor and the Rhetoric of Secure (Re)attachment in Isaiah 40–55.”
This paper examines the rhetoric of Isaiah 40–55 through the metaphor of marriage reconciliation, healing, and attachment. The relationship of YHWH and Zion is figured as a marriage in well-known texts such as Isaiah 49:14–26; 50:1–3; 51:17–52:3; 54. These texts parallel closely the book of Lamentations, which likewise figures the covenant relationship of YHWH and Daughter Zion in a marriage.
However, prior to these explicit marriage-metaphor texts, Isaiah 40–48, particularly 40–41, acknowledges the need for YHWH to “speak to the heart of Jerusalem” (40:2) and to take the first step toward reestablishment of trust. In these chapters, YHWH must establish that, despite what Zion has believed about her fate, her catastrophe has not happened because YHWH is not in control or regards their relationship as over. YHWH promises to redeem Zion (43:3–6; 45:13; 52:3), and that those who abused Zion will be reckoned with (45:14; 47:1–15).
The prophet, as a mediator between YHWH and Zion, seeks to persuade Daughter Zion not to foreclose the possibility of reattachment (40:27; 49:14). The prophet acknowledges that it might seem to Daughter Zion (the prophet’s own people) easier to resign herself to the end of her relationship with YHWH, cut her losses, attribute her exile to YHWH’s rejection, impotence or non-existence, and accept the worship of Marduk. In the face of this temptation, the prophet urges Zion instead to double-down on her relationship to YHWH, in response to YHWH’s rapprochement.
Finally, Isaiah 40–55 begins and concludes with ḥesed, which is more than simple faithfulness to an obligation but includes attachment. In 40:6, human ḥesed is not reliable. By contrast, YHWH’s ḥesed in 54:8, 10 and 55:3 is abiding.
In addition to attachment theory, this this study incorporates insights from negotiation and game theory. The prophet’s strategy includes suggesting third-party involvement in order to mediate, or in some cases to litigate the differences between the parties (40:6–8, 40:26; 41:21; 43:26); and admission of some fault on the part of the more-aggrieved party (YHWH), in order to allow the more-guilty party “permission” to own up to their faults (40:2; 42:22–25; 52:7–8; 54:7–10). This study has implications for the interpretation of Isaiah 40–55, for biblical theology, for spiritual formation, and for biblical counselling.