Texts in Conversation
Isaiah and Ezekiel similarly describe God directly participating in honor and shame culture, being motivated to redeem Israel in order to repair his reputation and not for Israel’s benefit.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 48:11
Hebrew Bible
8 You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. For I know that you are very deceitful; you were labeled a rebel from birth. 9 For the sake of my reputation I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige I restrain myself from destroying you. 10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery. 11 For my sake alone I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? I will not share my glory with anyone else! 12 Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I summoned. I am the one; I am present at the very beginning and at the very end.
Ezekiel 36:22
Hebrew Bible
21 I was concerned for my holy reputation, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went. 22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will magnify my great name that has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight.
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Notes and References
“... The final 5 appearances of חלל שם יהוה (טמא) stem from other prophets: 15. Isaiah 48:9aα, 11a—שמי למען אעריך אפי. . . . למעני למעני אעשה כי איך יחל ‘For the sake of my name I control my wrath. . . . For my sake, my own do I act—lest [my name] be desecrated’. This thought flows in the same stream as Ezekiel 36:20–23. YHWH will not destroy Israel, so as not to desecrate his name among the nations. ...”
Milgrom, Jacob
Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul
(p. 74) Eisenbrauns, 2008
* 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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