Exilic Isaiah’s reuse of Isaiah chapter 6

Abstract

This thesis explores and discusses a selection of texts from the second part of the Book of Isaiah, that reuse key vocabulary from Isaiah 6, to answer the question ”How does the exilic prophet reuses the literary allusions from the first part of the Book of Isaiah?“ For this I give a general overall understanding of the Book of Isaiah, as well as a literary research specific overview. For discussing reuse within the Book of Isaiah, I mainly use Benjamin Sommers four categories of reuse, al lusion, influence, echo and exegesis, together with Ziva Ben-Porat’s model for actualizing allusions, as I see allusions as the most prominent form of reuse. Hugh Williamson theory of the exilic prophet’s gathering and reuse of older material from the prophet Isaiah is also central to the discussion of reuse. Chapter 1 gives the introduction to the research done in the thesis, as well as an example illustrative case for reuse. Before the relevant research overview and literary theory is discussed in Chapter 2. That theory is then applied to a selection of texts in Chapter 3, to explore the reuse of material from Isa. 6. A systematizing discussion in Chapter 4 then draws together the texts discussed to show a pattern in reuse for the exilic prophet. The conclusion then in Chapter 5 is that the exilic prophet does reuse the material from Isa. 6 as four different themes for the exilic context. Those models are Isaiah as a model, Creation is not the Creator, Confirm and reinterpret, and the Unrealised hope from Isa. 6, as the way the exilic prophet relates to the older prophetic material from Isaiah of Jerusalem, but at the same time reuses it theologically towards the exilic community.