God’s Kingdom Concentrated in Zion and the Afflicted among His People

Description

In the Old Testament, the kingdom of God is often associated with Mount Zion. Mount Sinai, also called the mountain of God, also has associations with God’s majesty and holiness, but the focus shifts from Sinai to Zion in the Old Testament. The relationship between Sinai and Zion is pluriform, Levenson wrote in 1985. One way to explain this relationship, though not mentioned by Levenson, is that the shift from Sinai to Zion represents a concentration, a movement of narrowing and focussing. According to the Dutch biblical scholar Henk de Jong, who works from a canonical perspective, this movement of concentration is essential in the Old Testament. One of the important building blocks for him in this regard is Isaiah 14:32: “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.” In scholarly literature, this text raises several questions, mainly because the connection with the preceding prophecy about Philistia (14:28–31) is unclear. Many exegetes explain this connection by interpreting the word about Zion as an appeal to the king of Judah to put his trust not in political alliances, but in the Lord alone. Such a call occurs several times in the book of Isaiah. The question, then, is why Zion is specifically mentioned here. What does it mean that God’s kingship and his saving and protecting work are concentrated in Zion? In Isaiah 14:32 there is another concentration: it is not the entire nation of Israel/Judah that is mentioned, but rather the afflicted among God’s people. Isaiah 14:32 thus shows a double concentration. As part of a PhD project, this paper explores how attention to the movement of concentration helps to interpret Isaiah 14:32 in its immediate literary context, and what this concentration means for understanding God’s kingdom over Israel in relation to the nations.

Period	18 Jul 2024
Event title	EABS Annual Conference 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Sofia, BulgariaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International