Friday, July 28, 2023

Holly Beers on the Prophecy in Isaiah 66 of Gentiles being Ordained Priests and Levites

  

In one sense Isaiah ends with a strong note of inclusion, evidenced by the vision of restored ones going to the ends of the earth to help Yahweh gather all people. The gathered foreigners will make the pilgrimage to Zion, and God will make some of them priests and Levites (66:18–23; cf. 2:1–4). This alludes to the table of nations in Genesis 10 and seems to indicate a redefinition of Yahweh’s people. To complete the picture, God promises the new heavens and earth, in which all flesh will worship him (66:22–23; cf. 40:5). (Holly Beers, The Followers of Jesus as the "Servant": Luke's Model from Isaiah for the Disciples in Luke-Acts [Library of New Testament Studies 535; London: T&T Clark, 2015], 48)

 

Their reception of the Spirit shows that Cornelius and his household are accepted into the people of God (10:44). This may coincide with the co-texts of the servant passages, especially Isa. 56:6–8 and its message of inclusion for foreigners who join themselves to God. Isaiah 66:21 takes this even farther and envisions foreigners as priest and Levites. (Ibid., 152)