Second Sunday after the Epiphany Isaiah 62:1-5

Preaching commentary

Speakers in the Text

First, let’s sort out the text on the basis of the speakers. The books of the major prophets, much like the Psalms, are anthologies of the respective prophet’s oracles. And also much like the Psalms, in any one prophetic passage we may identify more than one voice: the prophet, God, Israel, the nations, etc. Isaiah 62:1-5 is an example. Earlier commentators tended to recognize God’s voice in this prophetic text, and later commentaries have generally identified the prophet as speaker. This oracle, I propose, is both. The “I” of verse 1 is the prophet Isaiah, and the “you/your” of verses 2-5 is Zion/Jerusalem personified. Yet when we read verse 6, which is an extension of the…