Canter Bridge

From the late biblical book of Zechariah emanates the spirit that has made ‘Second Isaiah’ the most quotable row of the Old Testament vineyard. ‘Second Isaiah’ is a scholarly term referring usually to chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah, and sometimes to 40-66. There the hope-drenched, restorative message of Isaiah is writ large.

Zechariah speaks of YHWH’s choosing Zion again, of that YHWH-originated comfort that is comprised of the humiliation of the nations that hold Zion captive and the restoration of a Jewish people to Jerusalem and its environs, of daughter Babylon and daughter Zion, of the summons for Zion to sing and rejoice over God’s mercy and accompaniment, of a repopulated Jerusalem bursting at the scenes in a way that—in Zechariah—means the city’s growth makes the customary walls unnecessary or even a ludicrous impediment.

Those who struggle to understand the ways of biblical criticism may be helped by understanding that these commonalities are one of the reasons that the second part of a complex and large book like Isaiah is customarily dated to the Babylonian exile, a good century and a half after the life and death of the prophet Isaiah himself. A shorter, arguably simpler, more date-able book like Zechariah, that is, provides an historical point of reference by which the poetry and prose of Isaiah 40–55 can be ‘located’. Thus, the term ‘Second Isaiah’.

Regardless, Zechariah 1-3 makes for reading as stirring as its Isaianic compeer. Zion is not forgotten, rather she falls square within the redemptive program and exertions of YHWH. His punishment was meant to be ‘little’ though the nations overreached themselves in executing it within none of the self-restraint that he claims for himself and for his intentions. The recall of Judah to their land and to their covenanted deity will cause a swirling turmoil among the nations as the required calibrations and adjustments are carried out.

At the center of it all, mercy. Not mercy as a soft sentiment, rather mercy as the manifestation of a determined turning by YHWH with good intentions towards those whom he had found it necessary to bruise and scorch.

In the discernible rhythm of YHWH’s ways with is people, this mercy—encrusted as it is in time and space rather than ethereal piety—is among the best of moments. It aligns most neatly with his people’s need and with YHWH’s own heart.

How could the hired nations have understood?