Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40:1-11

Advent 2020: Tear Down the Heavens

Comfort My People

Updated & expanded for 2023

AIM commentary

Ancient lens

What's the historical context?

Longing created by exile

While crises seem innumerable in the OT, none could compare to the crisis of exile. Babylon, in 587 BC, destroys the city of Jerusalem and the temple, and carries many of its citizens away from the promised land of Judah into Mesopotamia and the biggest empire of the time, Babylon. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah prophecy this judgment, but for it to actually take place must have been an…