Isaiah 66:6-7

“Hark, an uproar from the city!

A voice from the temple!

The voice of the Lord,

rendering recompense to his enemies.

Before she was in labor

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she was delivered of a son” (Isaiah 66:6-7 RSV).

Comment:

There are at least three different voices in Isaiah, writing at three very different times. This is the writer known as Third Isaiah, writing after the Exile (that First Isaiah warned about), and after the freedom granted by Cyrus when the Persians conquered Babylon (which was the time of Second Isaiah). Now the Israelites—or a fragment of them, at least—have returned to find Jerusalem in ruins, their lands occupied by others. They feel bereft, as though God has abandoned them. Nonsense, the prophet insists. God doesn't need a temple to be present (“Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool” in v.1). God is still present as a voice from the temple, and Jerusalem can still give birth to new spiritual possibilities. It's an encouraging passage for us when we feel separate from our spiritual good, living lives of lack and suffering. God is always present, and new possibilities can always be born through us.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed