Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55
CAROLINE BATCHELDER
STUDIES IN
SCRIPTURE & BIBLICAL
THEOLOGY
Charged with the Glory of God: Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55
Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
Copyright 2023 Caroline Batchelder
Lexham Academic, an imprint of Lexham Press
1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.
Print ISBN 9781683594093
Digital ISBN 9781683594109
Library of Congress Control Number 2022952271
Lexham Editorial: Derek Brown, Katrina Smith, James Spinti, Mandi Newell
Cover Design: Brittany Schrock
4. The Persistent Question of Yahweh’s Likeness in Isaiah 40
5. An Inverted Mišpāṭ: Image and the Idols in Isaiah 40–48
6. “Not without My Servant”: Genesis 18–19 and the Covenantal Task
7. The First Servant Song: The Image Projected
8. The Second Servant Song: The Turning and The True Likeness
9. The Third Servant Song: Likeness in Darkness
10. The Fourth Servant Song: Desecration and Likeness
Scripture & Other Ancient Sources Index
Who speaks the might of Yahweh? Who makes heard all his praise?
Happy are those who keep mišpāṭ, who do ṣĕdāqȃ at all times!
It is my painful privilege to write a few words introducing the late Dr. Caroline Batchelder and her book.
I met Caroline in 2004, when I taught her Old Testament in her first semester at Morling College. I was struck by her sharp, inquiring mind; her desire to learn and grow and contribute to her community; her love for God and God’s word; and her commitment to service. First impressions often deceive. With Caroline, they did not.
She came to theology later in life. She flourished in the world of theology and biblical studies, bearing fruit nourished by roots planted deep in rich experience.
While she excelled across the board, she developed a particular passion for the Hebrew Scriptures, which is where, in the end, she decided to specialize. She loved the Hebrew Bible, and her love was contagious, infecting others with her desire to read them carefully, to hear their beautiful resonances, and to allow them to strike in us chords of unsettling transformation and deep delight.
This led her to pursue a ThD in the role the Servant Songs played in the book of Isaiah, which she successfully completed in 2016 and which forms the basis for this book. It demonstrates how much she had to offer: careful analysis, love for the text, creative flair. Her work challenges our minds and speaks to our hearts; it can ...
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About Charged with the Glory of God: Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55Isaiah’s servant songs reveal a true and better Adam In Charged with the Glory of God, Caroline Batchelder provides a synchronic, theological, and canonical reading of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah, presenting how they relate to one another and message of the prophetic book. A coherent message results when one reads Isaiah as a compositional unity and in conversation with the Old Testament. Isaiah’s polemic against idolatry reveals rebellious Israel to be false imagers of God. In contrast, Isaiah’s mysterious servant is an ideal embodiment of Yahweh’s image and likeness. Thus, the servant is a paradigm for those who wish to recapture and realize God’s good creation purposes for all humanity. The servant poems not only summon readers to reorient themselves towards God and his creation but also present a map and means for doing so. In this study, Batchelder offers fresh insights from Isaiah for understanding God’s true image and its idolatrous counterfeits. |
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