Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 43 echoes the sea crossing in Exodus 14 by describing a path made through the waters, but then shifts focus away from the past, urging the audience not to dwell on earlier events. Instead, it introduces a new exodus, a new act of deliverance set in the wilderness.
Share:
Exodus 14:21
Hebrew Bible
19 The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. 20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other the whole night. 21 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. 22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Isaiah 43:16
Hebrew Bible
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the one who created Israel, your King.” 16 This is what the Lord says, the one who made a road through the sea, a pathway through the surging waters, 17 the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, together with a mighty army. They fell down, never to rise again; they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick: 18 “Don’t remember these earlier events; don’t recall these former events. 19 “Look, I am about to do something new. Now it begins to happen! Do you not recognize it? Yes, I will make a road in the wilderness and paths in the wastelands.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Search:
Notes and References
"... The theme of the new exodus is revisited two other times in Second Isaiah. In 43:16 the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord “who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters”—a clear allusion to the exodus story. Yet a few verses later he says, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing ... I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ... for I give water in the wilderness ... to give drink to my chosen people” (43:18-20). There are clear allusions here to the wandering in the wilderness (compare Numbers 20 for the motif of water in the wilderness). They are not presented as reminiscences of the past, however, but as projections of the future. The exodus is not to be regarded as “a thing of old” but as a pattern of divine intervention that is being reenacted in the present ..."
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.