Texts in Conversation
Isaiah and Jeremiah both use the language of nations streaming toward a divine location, but in unique ways. Isaiah envisions a future when people will flow into Zion to learn and live by the Torah. Jeremiah uses the same language to describe nations no longer streaming to Babylon’s god after its downfall.
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Isaiah 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz. 2 In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it; 3 many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Jeremiah 51:44
Hebrew Bible
42 The sea has swept over Babylon. She has been covered by a multitude of its waves. 43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more; no one even passes through them. 44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall. 45 “Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord! 46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Benjamin Sommer cites Isaiah 51:3–6 as a successor text that draws on Isaiah 2:2–4. Two other texts could qualify as successor texts echoing the Isaiah vocabulary. The vision of nations coming toward Israel in centripetal fashion is featured in Third Isaiah. “Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isaiah 60:3). They will come, not for instruction (Isaiah 2:3) but to bring wealth to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 51:44 depicts a similar image of nations streaming (nahar) though to a different deity. In an announcement against Babylon, the deity Bel is in focus. “I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him disgorge what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer stream (nhr) to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen.” ..."
Martens, Elmer A.
Impulses to Mission in Isaiah: An Intertextual Exploration
(pp. 215-239) Bulletin for Biblical Research 17.2, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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