Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 42 describes God as a warrior going out to battle, echoing Exodus 15 where the same description appears in the Song at the Sea following the defeat of Pharaoh’s army. This language reinforces Isaiah’s description of a second exodus.
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Exodus 15:3
Hebrew Bible
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war10— the Lord is his name. 4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea, and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Isaiah 42:13
Hebrew Bible
12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. 13 The Lord emerges like a hero, like a man of war27 he inspires himself for battle; he shouts, yes, he yells, he shows his enemies his power. 14 “I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Allusion to this Exodus typology is not always as overt as in these passages. The description of Yahveh as is milhama, 'a warrior,' in Isaiah 42:13 is paralleled only in the Song at the Papyrus Sea (Exodus 15:3), which also ends with the acclamation of Yahveh as king (Exodus 15:18 compare Isaiah 52:7). The prediction that the descendants of the deportees will not leave their exile in haste (52:12), following an explicit reference to the Exodus (verses 3-4), echoes Exodus 12:11 and Deuteronomy 16:3, the command to eat the Passover in haste (behippazon, only in these three texts) ..."
Blenkinsopp, Joseph
Isaiah 40-55: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 112) Doubleday, 2002
* 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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