Scriptural Mormonism: H. Simian-Yofre and Helmer Ringgren on Isaiah 8:16, 20 and the terms עוד and תורה

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

H. Simian-Yofre and Helmer Ringgren on Isaiah 8:16, 20 and the terms עוד and תורה

3. t^eʿûḏâ. In Ruth 4:7 the author identifies and explicates the ancient custom of taking off and giving one’s sandals to someone else as t^eʿûḏâ, a symbol of transference of property or of a purchase contract. The t^eʿûḏâ, “testimony, attestation,” in Isa. 8:16, 20 is clearly a written document probably containing all the prophet’s actions and words from chs. 7 and 8. Isaiah demands that these two chapters be preserved in a written and sealed form because they contain a summary of the prophet’s entire message. The parallel with tôrâ, “instruction, teaching” (commensurate with the prophet’s frequent use of the term → תורה tôrâ) refers to the unity of message and decision, proclamation and commandment, and in an even broader sense to the relationship with Yahweh’s word (cf. 1:10; 2:3; 5:24; 30:9). Isa. 8:20 admonishes its readers to return to Yahweh’s word and to abandon any other occult means of discerning his ways.(H. Simian-Yofre and Helmer Ringgren, “עוד,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. Douglas W. Stott, 17 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1999], 10:515)