Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 63 describes the Spirit of God giving rest to the people, comparing it to an animal grazing in a valley. The Greek Septuagint translation removes the reference to rest, changing it to describe the Spirit guiding them.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 63:14
Hebrew Bible
12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, who divided the water before them, gaining for himself a lasting reputation, 13 who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running through the wilderness they did not stumble. 14 As an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest. In this way you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation. 15 Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion! 16 For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our Protector from ancient times.
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 63:14
Septuagint
12 who led Moses with his right hand, the arm of his glory? he forced the water to separate from before him, to make himself an everlasting name. 13 He led them through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they did not faint, 14 and as cattle through a plain: the Spirit came down from the Lord, and guided them: thus you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name. 15 Turn from heaven, and look from your holy habitation and from your glory: where is your zeal and your strength? where is the abundance of your mercy and of your compassions, that you have withheld yourself from us? 16 For you are our Father; for though Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us, yet you, Lord, our Father, deliver us: your name has been upon us from the beginning.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Given then the rare but here explicit linguistic connection (to be led by the Spirit, together with walking), and the ethical/moral context of living/behaving rightly and doing God’s will, and that this is in the larger context of a psalm that we know was important for Paul (also in nearby soteriological contexts), it is likely that Paul was deliberately alluding to it also for “walk by/ led by the Spirit.” Even if it is only a partial background that Paul is echoing, the context of the psalm could be expected to shed light on Paul’s meaning in his usage that has been influenced by it ... Beale acknowledges that Psalm 143 is part of the “important background for Galatians 5:18.” However, he argues that it is not the primary background for two reasons: 1) the psalm uses ὁδηγέω instead of ἄγω (in Paul). But LXX Isaiah 63:14 also uses the same verb in the only place it directly describes the Spirit leading; and anyway, the two verbs are close synonyms; 2) Isaiah 63 is part of an eschatological exodus-new exodus context, while the psalm is applying the concept to David’s life. But that is surely not a limitation for Paul, for whom the Psalms indeed function eschatologically ..."
Scott A. Swanson, The Instruction of the Spirit: The Wisdom Framework for Pauline Spirit Dependence (Mid-America Journal of Theology, No. 29, 2018), 81–128.
* 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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