Sunday, August 23, 2020

Margaret Barker, "The Original Setting of the Fourth Servant Song"

 

I own and have read all of Margaret Barker’s books. There are some Latter-day Saints out there who think she is the next best thing since sliced bread; some think she is off her rocker. I take a mid-way position. I appreciate her ability to think outside the box at times and come up with fresh ideas—some of these ideas I think are good and hold up to scrutiny; others . . . not so.

 

In one of my favourite tv shows of all time, Parks and Recreation, Ron Swanson, a fellow hardcore libertarian, said the following to Leslie Knope:

 

"Capitalism . . . It's what makes America great, and England okay, and France terrible.”

 

One would rework Swanson’s quote thusly:

 

“Barker’s ability to think outside the box . . . It’s what makes The Great High Priest great; The Great Angel pretty good; and The Mother of My Lord dreadful.”

 

Notwithstanding, her article, “The Original Setting of the Fourth Servant Song” (PKA “Hezekiah’s Boil,” JSOT 95 [2001]:31-42) is a pretty good article. In it, she shows that the Fourth Servant Song (Isa 52:13-53:12) is set (and was written) during the time of Proto-Isaiah (Barker accepts multiple authorship of Isaiah, but believes this belongs to the Proto-Isaiah corpus, not Deutero).

 

On the topic of the Fourth Servant Song in the Book of Mormon and Abinadi’s use thereof, see my article:

 

Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Mosiah 14, and KJV Chapter and Verse Separations in the Book of Mormon