SUMMARY
The exiles need not fear for God is with them. God treats them as a friend, just as God had regarded Abraham.
ANALYSIS
This is one of the oracles of salvationSalvation can mean saved from something (deliverance) or for something (redemption). Paul preached that salvation comes through the death of Christ on the cross which redeemed sinners from death and for a grace-filled life. typical of the prophecyProphecy is the gift, inspired by God, of speaking and interpreting the divine will. Prophets such as Amos, Isaiah, and Ezekiel spoke words of judgment and comfort to the people of Israel on behalf of God. of Second IsaiahSecond Isaiah refers chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah. This work was likely written during Israel's exile in Babylon (597-538 B.C.E.). Second Isaiah includes poetic passages of hope as well as descriptions of the Suffering Servant.. All of the institutions of Israel had been lost in the Babylonian conquest, but these texts announce that God’s personal and intimate connection to the people is not broken. The templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged..., the land, and the king might be gone–overwhelming losses–but Israel need not fear, for God is with them.
The oracles of salvation respond to Israel’s laments, which had mourned the broken relation with God, self, and neighbor (now enemy). Now all of those are restored. God is with them; the people are strengthened; and all their enemies “shall be as nothing.” Being deserted by “friends and companions” gives rise to lament (PsalmA psalm is a song of praise. In the Old Testament 150 psalms comprise the psalter, although some of the psalms are laments and thanksgivings. In the New Testament early Christians gathered to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 38:11), but now God is “friend” (Isaiah 41:8), so all can be well.
“I will help you,” says God–using the same term applied to the companion given the human creature in the garden of Eden, because it was “not good” that humans should be alone (Genesis 2:18). Humans were meant to be “helpers” of one another, but when there is “no one to help” (Psalm 22:11; 107:12; Lamentations 1:7), God steps in with the promise to be Israel’s helper, to be the “significant other” that the human companion was meant to be; this is another example of the remarkable intimacy of God’s language in Second Isaiah.
