Jerusalem’s New Glory?
There are some interesting parallels between Isa 60 and Jer 6. Both texts
portray Zion / Jerusalem, yet in different directions. Isaiah 60 shows the new
splendor of it. Two aspects are: v. 6 announces “gold and incense will be
brought from Sheba,” and v. 18 states that “Violence will not be heard any more
in your country, (nor) oppression and ruin in your territory.”
Jeremiah 6 twice stands in opposition to such declarations. In v. 20,
God himself asks what use “incense coming from Sheba” might have for him, the
rhetorical question is equal to a critique of it. On the one hand, if Jer 6
predates Isa 60, it seems rather odd that Isaiah did not counter explicitly the
divine statement in Jeremiah. On the other hand, if Jer 6 predates Isa 60, it
seems rather odd that Isaiah did not counter explicitly the divine statement in
Jeremiah 60. On the other hand, if the one writing Jer 6 knows Isa 60, he effectively
opposed luxury imports for the temple liturgy by questioning its usefulness and
putting this critique in the mouth of the LORD.
The second contrast appears in Jer 6:7, “violence and oppression are
heard in it” (חמס ושׁ͏ד). This critical view of Jerusalem stays in explicit opposition
to Isa 60:18. Both phrases fit their relative contexts well: in Isaiah the new
grandeur of Zion, in Jeremiah, this would indicate some kind of healing of the brokenness
of the city—which would make sense. So also the other direction, Jeremiah
drawing on Isaiah, can illuminate the relationship between these two texts. In
this case, similarly to the previous opposition, Jeremiah would counter the
idealized portrayal of Jerusalem in Isaiah with a series of accusations, thus
showing that the reality is different and that Judah’s capital is accused of
the combined sins of other cities. Interested in this way, Jer 6 confronts the
idyllic vision of Isaiah. (Georg Fischer, “Can Jeremiah Quote Deutero- or
Trito-Isaiah? Its Impact on the ‘Unity’ Movement in Isaiah Studies,” in Unity
in the Book of Isaiah, ed. Benedetta Rossi, Dominic S. Irudayarai, and Gina
Hens-Piazza [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 732; London: T&T
Clark, 2024], 162-63)
