Canter Bridge

The polyvalence of Isaiah’s imagery makes one feel as though he treads familiar ground. Yet just before he gains mastery of that terrain, the imagery shifts before the careful reader. Shadows are everywhere, and movement among the shadows.

When introducing the servant of YHWH in chapter 42, the book of Isaiah rehearses the paradox that it is the lowly and the shattered who stand closest to YHWH. Precisely because the servant is YHWH’s agent, he will be gentle with those who are weak. The text deploys the image of a faltering wick, faintly burning and about to fail against the darkness. YHWH’s servant, we are instructed, will not quench that kind of bravely flickering flame.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. (Isaiah 42:1–3 ESV)

Yet a chapter later, when we read that Babylon’s might is no hindrance against the New Thing that the Lord is about to accomplish, the text ransacks the vocabulary of the ancient Exodus from slavery in Egypt to press towards hope that Judah’s forced slavery in Babylon will soon prove just as futile. A wick appears once more, this time with the assurance that it shall be quenched.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.’

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: ‘Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?’ (Isaiah 43:14–19 ESV)

This is the way of the prophet Isaiah with words, the way also of his reverent traditioners with the deposit they steward and declare. The reader who sits at such feet learns to expect irony, reversal of imagery, truth carried along by the careful stewardship of language’s gift, a surprise at mid-stride.