START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 60:1-6
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OBSERVE:
This passage, like so many in Isaiah, assumes a kind of “dual-citizenship.”
Obviously there is the meaning intended for Isaiah’s time; but then, there is the interpretation that Christian readers cannot help but make.
Many scholars believe that Isaiah 60 was written in the post-exilic period, after the Jews had been permitted to return to Jerusalem. Some even attribute this passage to the author they call “Third Isaiah.” This Isaiah would have been inspired by Isaiah, but not identical with the original Isaiah of the time of Uzziah, Ahaz and Hezekiah.
Whether we accept this view of historical criticism or not is not really the point. This passage is celebrating the triumph of God’s light over darkness, and the glory that will bring “all nations” to the brightness of God’s light.
Those who see this passage as a celebration of the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon/Persia in 538 B.C. have a good case when Isaiah describes how:
…our sons will come from far away,
and your daughters will be carried in arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant,
and your heart will thrill and be enlarged. . .
And then there is the promised tribute that will come from the many nations as Jerusalem and its temple are rebuilt, long after their destruction in 587 B.C. by the Babylonians.
But what catches the Christian eye is the reference to:
A multitude of camels will cover you,
the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah.
All from Sheba will come.
They will bring gold and frankincense,
and will proclaim the praises of Yahweh.
It’s hard for us not to see a parallel with Matthew 2, and the coming of the Magi, who are Gentiles (from the nations) bringing their gold, frankincense and myrrh. From the Christian point of view, the light and the glory that has dawned is the light and glory that is fulfilled in Christ!
APPLY:
Whether we are Jewish or Christian, this is a passage of hope and promise. Whatever darkness we may experience — and there is more than enough darkness in the world and in our lives — God’s light and glory will dawn with radiant beams.
Then our children will be brought into the presence of God, and there will be the sense of abundance that comes when God is in our midst.
RESPOND:
There has been, in my experience, no substitute for the “light” of God’s presence in the midst of my own darkness. Then my heart does thrill and rejoice. As I have felt exiled from God by my own faults and failures, so I have felt that I was able to return home to God illumined by his light.
Lord, may your light dawn again and again on your benighted people of all the world. We dwell in darkness without you. But when your glory radiates in our lives, we rejoice and experience a sense of abundance in you. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“respond-to-gods-light” is in the public domain.
The background photo: “Light on door at the end of tunnel” by Dusan Bicanski is in the Public Domain.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 