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10 - Isaiah and Empire

from Part II - Isaiah in Its Cultural World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Shawn Zelig Aster
Edited by
Christopher B. Hays
Christopher B. Hays
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
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Summary

Isaiah is resistance literature: The authors of this book knew the claims of different empires, and argued against them. Much of the first thirty-nine chapters of the book were written in the Assyrian period, when the Assyrian empire tried to force the elites of other Near Eastern kingdoms to accept the legitimacy of Assyrian domination. In a carefully-formulated program of subversive reading, passages in Isa 1–39 react against Assyrian claims of empire, arguing that Yhwh, rather than the king of Assyria, is the universal sovereign. “Isaiah and Empire” by Shawn Zelig Aster shows how passages in Isa 2, 10, and 37 react against Assyrian claims of empire. But just as these chapters react against Assyrian claims, so do Isa 40–45 react against the later imperial propaganda of Cyrus. These chapters claim that Yhwh, rather than the Babylonian god Marduk, sent Cyrus, and argue that Cyrus was sent to benefit Jerusalem, rather than Babylon.

Keywords

EmpireNeo-Assyrian EmpireEnd of DaysSennacheribCyrusMardukSecond IsaiahImperialismSubversionIsaiah 2
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah , pp. 154 - 169
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Aster, Shawn Zelig. “Transmission of Neo-Assyrian Claims of Empire to Judah in the Late Eighth Century,” HUCA 78 (2007): 1–44.Google Scholar
Aster, Shawn Zelig. “Images of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Calah in the Throne-Room Vision of Isaiah 6,” in Marbeh Hokma: Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near East in Loving Memory of Victor Avigdor Hurowitz ed. Yona, Shamir, Greenstein, Edward L., Gruber, Mayer I., Machinist, Peter, and Paul, Shalom M., Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015, 13–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aster, Shawn Zelig. Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1–39: Responses to Assyrian Ideology, SBL Ancient Near Eastern Monographs 19. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2017.Google Scholar
Cogan, Mordechai. The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel, 2nd updated and expanded edition. Jerusalem: Carta, 2015.Google Scholar
Cohen, Chaim. “Neo-Assyrian Elements in the First Speech of the Biblical Rab-Shaqe.” IOS 9 (1979): 32–48.Google Scholar
Kuhrt, Amélie. “The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid Imperial Policy,” JSOT 25 (1983): 83–97.Google Scholar
Levine, Baruch A. “Assyrian Ideology and Israelite Monotheism,” Iraq 67 (2005): 411–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machinist, Peter. “Assyria and its Image in the First Isaiah,” JAOS (1983): 719–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, Shalom M. “Deutero-Isaiah and Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions,” JAOS 88 (1968): 180–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, Shalom M. Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, J. J. M. First Isaiah. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sommer, Benjamin D. A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40–66. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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