Peter J. Leithart

The color “scarlet” is named most often in the Bible in connection with the tabernacle curtains and the garments of the High Priest. It’s also, of course, the color of the whore of Revelation. That means: Only a people already clothed in scarlet can become a prostitute clothed in . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION The House of Jacob has wandered into darkness.  If they want to avoid destruction, they must turn to the light (v. 5), because a day of reckoning is coming (v. 12). THE TEXT “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have forsaken Your . . . . Continue Reading »

For two reasons, Isaiah 2:5 should be taken as the introduction to what follows, rather than as the conclusion to 2:1-4. First, the exhortation of v. 5 is to walk in the “light” of Yahweh, and the following passage refers to the “splendor” of Yahweh (vv. 10, 19, 21), as well . . . . Continue Reading »

Some commentators take Isaiah 2:5 as the conclusion to the first paragraph of Isaiah.  Seitz, for instance, says that v. 5’s exhortation to Israel to walk in light shows that Israel is going to have to make a pilgrimage to the mount of Yahweh’s house just like all the other . . . . Continue Reading »

In the latter days, the mountain of Yahweh’s house becomes the head mountain, and the nations come to it.  They say “Let us ascend the mountain of Yahweh” (Isaiah 2:3).  They are the great ascension offering of the nations arising in smoke to the Lord. Hence Paul: His . . . . Continue Reading »

In an earlier post, I noted the connection between Isaiah 1:29 and Genesis 3: As Adam became ashamed by eating the fruit and being defeated by the serpent, so Judah will become shamed by the oak trees where she worships idols, where she spreads her legs to every passing john. There’s . . . . Continue Reading »

“I will turn My hand against you,” Yahweh says (Isaiah 1:25). Then, “I will turn your judges as at the first” (Isaiah 1:26).  Despite the difference in English translation, the Hebrew verb is the same in both verses ( shub ). Then, Zion’s “turned ones” . . . . Continue Reading »

As a consuming fire, Yahweh “eats” the bread of His sacrifices  As a consuming fire, He also purges and smelts His people, burning away the dross so that the gold can become more pure and glorious. These two processes are one.  In consuming His food on the altar, Yahweh is . . . . Continue Reading »

Jerusalem, Isaiah charges, is full of “murderers.”  That is to say, it is like a city of refuge - the same word is used some 20 times in Number 35 to describe both the “manslayer” who finds refuge, and the murderer who is put to death. Isaiah uses the image of a city of . . . . Continue Reading »

Maybe better: What did he say?  Mary Beard’s review of Simon Hornblower’s final volume of commentary on Thucydides, and Robert Kagan’s recent book on the same, complicates matters.  Thucydides wrote in sometimes incomprehensible Greek, and some of the most memorable and . . . . Continue Reading »