Our knowledge of how Hebrew rhetoric emerged and functions is limited, as no textbook out- line has survived history. Despite this we are able to explore DI’s persuasive intention via the methodological tool of rhetorical criticism.43 I will first explore how DI uses particular rhetor- ical devices to persuade, then I will focus on metaphor. The role of parallelism in the HB to emphasise key themes to the reader is well established. Hebrew poetry demonstrates terse-
43. Richard J. Clifford and Yehoshua Gitay both consider the text of DI as poetry with a purpose of persuasion. Clifford,Fair Spoken and Persuading; Yehoshua Gitay, “Why Metaphors: A Study of the Texture of Isaiah,” in
Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: studies of an Interpretive Tradition,ed. Craid C. Broyles and Craig A. Evans, VTSup (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 57-65, esp. 57. On innovation in prophetic poetry see Thomas Jemielity,
Satire and the Hebrew Prophets, Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 53.
ness and relates to memory; the impact and the inclusion and exclusion of words may tell us much about the emphasis that is given.44 Raising an awareness of the damaging exilic context and the need to depart and return to Zion underlies the message of DI.45 There may be more than one intended audience, or even a deliberately concealed audience due to political com- plexities of the age, or an expunged setting in later redactions.46
There seem to be mixed agendas in DI’s rhetoric with strong comfort messages but also forms of argument and angst with perhaps an overall emphasis upon restoring trust in YHWH.47 We are often faced with passages in DI that are not sweetly persuasive and Gitay suggests they can be downright disagreeable, even if the aim is to alter the perspectives of the recipients.48 I will be particularly attentive to where this format of argumentation takes place. DI extensively utilises a specific literary tool of rhetorical questions, possibly to control a conversation, challenge distrust and restore confidence as well as provide its own answers.49 It may have an intention of putting the reader in agreement with the speaker.50 In the readings of DI that I will be analysing, there are many uses of rhetorical questions where expected responses are overturned or affirmed. Rhetorical questions allow for some ambiguity in
44. For further discussion on the development and features of parallelism and terseness in Hebrew poetry see Robert Alter,The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 7; Tremper Longman III, “Poetry: In the Old Testament,” inNew Bible Dictionary,ed. I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman (Leicester: IVP, 1996), 938-939; Adele Berlin, “Introduction to Hebrew Poetry,” in NIB Vol IV: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Introduction to Hebrew Poetry, Job, Psalms, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 301-315.
45. Gregory Lee Cuéllar, Voices of Marginality: Exile and Return in Second Isaiah 40-55 and the Mexican Immigrant Experience, American University Studies (New York: Peter Lang, 2008), 64. Petersen argues that a rhetoric regarding exile developed in the Neo-Assyrian period and influenced the later exilic and post-exilic prophets, even though the circumstances of exile in the Babylonian period were different. David L. Petersen, “Prophetic Rhetoric and Exile,” inThe Prophets Speak on Forced Migration, ed. Mark J. Boda, Frank Ritchel Ames, John J. Ahn, and Mark Leuchter, AIL 21 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2015), 9-18.
46. See Harner on the notion of the two audiences of DI, a direct and indirect audience, using the trial scenes to the nations as an example with Israel being the real target. Philip B. Harner,Grace and Law in Second Isaiah: I Am the Lord, Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies 2 (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 1988), 160.
47. O’Connell, Concentricity and Continuity: The Literary Structure of Isaiah, 149.
48. Gitay, “Why Metaphors,” 58, 64-65. Gitay suggests that metaphors are particularly used to frame the argument. The use of trial scenes and disputations set the case before the exiles that they are in need of rescue by carefully interweaving their current state as well as wooing them. Gitay also asserts that this argumentative discourse is the primary reason why the text seems to be disjointed. He notes the various views of redaction, that perhaps it was compiled as separate speeches in a historical order but not in a thematic order or a storyline. 49. It is not a form unique to DI, as Kuntz explains. J. Kenneth Kuntz, “The Form, Location, and Function of Rhetorical Questions in Deutero-Isaiah,” inWriting and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah: Studies of an Interpretive Tradition, ed. Craig C. Broyles and Craig A. Evans, VTSup (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 121-141, 121.
50. Sharon Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors in Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, OTM (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 125.
reading. Does the lack of voice that Daughter Zion or the children of Zion have in the
passages I am investigating indicate a manipulation of the subject matter?51 The ambiguity of rhetorical questions does not necessarily mean that they have no agenda, and some may actually have implied condemnation.52
(a) Metaphor, Simile and Personification
DI’s innovative form of poetic rhetoric frequently uses the literary devices of metaphor, simile and personification to evoke visual imagery, and the study of metaphor in DI has emerged from rhetorical criticism.53 Utilising commonplace imagery and familial metaphors, the wounded and scarred exiles are wooed by familiar images but these are sometimes overturned to challenge them towards new thinking.54 A topic that can be described in more practical terms may achieve rational results but a metaphor enables greater ideas to be encapsulated with a deeper emotional and psychological impact. 55
51. See Kuntz, “The Form, Location, and Function,” 122 on this feature of the speaker holding the attention by using rhetorical questions.
52. Kuntz, “The Form, Location, and Function,” 123.
53. On the power and purpose of the poetry by prophets in general, see Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry,
137-140; Brueggemann,Hopeful Imagination,96. Regarding the poetic style of DI, influenced by Psalms, see Rainer Albertz, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E, Studies in Biblical Literature (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 379. The resources available on the nature of metaphor in the HB and specifically in Isaiah are plentiful. Of particular relevance to this study are: Phyllis Trible,God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978); Janet Martin Soskice, Metaphor and Religious Language (Oxford: Clarendon Pr, 1985); John F. A. Sawyer, “Daughter of Zion and Servant of the Lord in Isaiah: A Comparison,”JSOT44 (1989): 89-107; Nelly Stienstra,Yhwh is the Husband of His People: Analysis of a Biblical Metaphor With Special Reference to Translation(Kampen, Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1993); Gitay, “Why Metaphors,”; Richtsje Abma,Bonds of Love: Methodic Studies of Prophetic Texts With Marriage Imagery (Isaiah 50:1-3 and 54:1-10, Hosea 1-3, Jeremiah 2-3), SSN (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1999); Kathleen M. O’Connor, “‘Speak Tenderly to Jerusalem’: Second Isaiah’s Reception and Use of Daughter Zion,”PSB20, no. 3 (1999): 281-294; Gerlinde Baumann, “Prophetic Objections to Yhwh as the Violent Husband of Israel: Reinterpretations of the Prophetic Marriage Metaphor in Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55),” in A Feminist Companion to Prophets and Daniel, ed. Atalya Brenner (London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 88-120; Gerlinde Baumann,Love and Violence: Marriage as Metaphor for the Relationship Between Yhwh and Israel in the Prophetic Books (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 2003); Ehud Ben Zvi, “Observations on the Marital Metaphor of YHWH and Israel in Its Ancient Israelite Context: General Considerations and Particular Images in Hosea 1.2,” JSOT 28, no. 3 (2004): 363-384; Claudia D. Bergmann, Childbirth as a Metaphor for Crisis: Evidence From the Ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, and IQH XI, 1-18, BZAW 382 (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2008); Moughtin-Mumby,Sexual and Marital Metaphors; John J Schmitt, “The Motherhood of God and Zion as Mother,” RB92, no. 4 (Oct 1985): 557-569. Dille makes the observation regarding the place of metaphor analysis in the rhetorical school in her study of familial metaphors in DI. Dille, Mixing Metaphors, 3.
54. Katheryn Pfisterer Darr,Isaiah’s Vision and the Family of God, Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 11.
55. Peter W. Macky, The Centrality of Metaphors to Biblical Thought: A Method for Interpreting the Bible, Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity (Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen, 1990), 2. Macky gives an overview of the study of metaphor, with the main scholars represented, 5-8.
DI utilises a powerful set of images and metaphors for exile: deserts, wastelands, divorce, barrenness, captivity, desolation, death56; for the exiles themselves: as children, as a woman, as a bride, as a scorned lover, as a barren raped mother, like eagles, as blind and deaf; for the city of Jerusalem as Mother or Daughter Zion; for the rebuilding of the city: as a bride preparing for a wedding, as a tent being enlarged; for their oppressors: as harlot Daughter Babylon, as invading tormentors; and for the one who is to herald comfort: as a servant. There are metaphors within metaphors.
Multiple metaphors representing YHWH permeate DI in order to prevent reducing God to one image.57 Relational depictions of YHWH as mother, father, husband, shepherd and kinsman-redeemer are paralleled with YHWH as Divine Warrior, King and Destructive- Creator. As Dille observes “The literal meaning of God is an unknown, apart from metaphor or analogy.”58 This relates not just to ancient texts but to the way that people of faith
communicate about the divine, particularly about a relationship with the divine. Relational metaphors of marriage, birth, and parenthood evoke images of intimacy, love, compassion and comfort. If the aim of DI is persuasion, presenting YHWH as appealing in relational images is particularly useful.
Traditionally the focus on metaphor study has been literary, assessing how the metaphor functions in the text. Soskice defines metaphor as “that figure of speech whereby we speak about one thing in terms which are seen to be suggestive of another.”59Macky’s definition suggests “Metaphor is that figurative way of speaking (and meaning) in which one reality, the
56. For my exploration of the use of ‘exile’ as a metaphor, refer to the ch. 3. See Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor,
Enduring Exile: The Metaphorization of Exile in the Hebrew Bible, VTSup (Leiden: Brill, 2011); Walter Brueggemann,Cadences of Home: Preaching Among Exiles, 1st ed. (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1997); Carolyn J. Sharp, “The Trope of “exile” and the Displacement of Old Testament Theology,”PRSt31, no. 2 (2004): 153-169. Note that these were also actual situations of exile as well as metaphorical representations of exile. The challenge for the contemporary scholar is to ascertain just how metaphorical are some of these depictions. See Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, “Reassessing the Historical and Sociological Impact of the Babylonian Exile (597/587-539 BCE),” inExile: Old Testament, Jewish and Christian Conceptions,ed. James M. Scott (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 7-36, particularly 28-31 on Hebrew terms used related to exile, many are found in DI, with historical connections.
57. L. Juliana M. Claassens, Mourner, Mother, Midwife: Reimagining God’s Delivering Presence in the Old Testament (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 2012), 60.
58. Dille, Mixing Metaphors, 18. This is also a sentiment expressed by Soskice. Soskice, Metaphor, x. 59. Soskice, Metaphor, 15.
Subject, is depicted in terms that are more commonly associated with a different reality, the Symbol, which is related to it by Analogy.”60 At the simplest level, most metaphor theorists accept I. A Richards’ notion of the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor relates to the underlying idea or principal subject of the metaphor whereas the vehicle is the mechanism used in the metaphor to represent the tenor. It is the interaction or connection of the tenor and the vehicle that gives meaning to the metaphor. Metaphors overlap and interact with one another to provide a sense of coherence and consistency, or when inconsistent still provide a coherent depiction.61 Richard’s concept may provide a useful framework when investigating the vehicles in DI that either resonate with or seem disparate from the tenor. For example, the concept of YHWH as Shepherd resonates in DI, as a calming, comforting God (40:11) who is speaking to shattered exiles. However, the vehicle of a divine warrior giving birth in Isaiah 42 and the tenor of a powerful, loving YHWH initially creates a disparity or tension in our reading that forces us to investigate further. We are further challenged by the vehicle of a breastfeeding mother in Isa 49:15 with the tenor of a caring YHWH, but this is later juxtaposed with the warrior vehicle again, with the tenor of a powerful but caring YHWH.
Metaphors are selective, in that they can emphasise and highlight, or suppress, hide or downplay aspects of the tenor. The interesting questions for our look at DI include: where are the voices of Daughter Zion, and her children? They are mostly silent. Why are their voices not present and if they were present what might they say in response? What is being highlighted, downplayed or hidden in the depiction of Daughter Zion or YHWH and why might this have been the case given the exilic context? Following this analysis will be the discussion of whether these devices are helpful to a post-church reading or whether they raise further issues. For example, emphasising YHWH’s feminine characteristics may be
productive to a reader who has found patriarchal authoritarian styles of leadership detrimental, whereas not providing space for a voice of response to an experience of Daughter Zion’s abandonment may unhelpful.
Over the past 30 years, feminist and postcolonial responses to DI’s relational metaphors
60. Macky, The Centrality of Metaphors, 49. 61. Dille, Mixing Metaphors, ch. 3.
(usually in combination with other prophetic texts) have expanded the conversation to investigating relevant contemporary issues.62 Some have sought to understand the socio- historical context, historical and literary concerns, as well as the effect the metaphors have when read in a contemporary context, whereas other scholars may only be interested in the latter part of the study - the effect. These studies have particularly sought to interpret the disturbing depictions of women as evil or punishable, or use imagery accompanied by violence, especially sexual violence, that characterises many of the relational metaphors. Connecting to justice themes may provide an avenue of scriptural connection for post-church readers as relationship is a key feature of post-modern discourse if read with a keen
awareness of the sense of incongruity generated in DI’s metaphors. These challenges shall be explored as they arise.
I am particularly interested in cognitive approaches which consider metaphor as conceptual structures.63 More than language and speech, metaphor can encapsulate thought and
experience as well as create these components.64 This explains why metaphor is effective as a tool of persuasion in DI as well as the potential for metaphors to impact today by drawing word pictures in our imagination. They cause us to see both a vivid ancient world and our contemporary context with new possibilities. Cognitive metaphor theories connect with Brueggemann’s contention that prophets create a new rhetorical reality (alternative worlds or social realities), or what Charles Taylor may call the “social imaginary.”65 Going further than the original intention and conceptual structuring function, DI’s use of metaphors is
particularly linked to the experience of exile which in turn connects with universal human experiences of grief, loss and pain.66 The probability that DI is representative of writing
62. Dille,Mixing Metaphors,1. Dille’s outline of metaphor theory is useful for my approach to DI as survival literature. Moughtin-Mumby,Sexual and Marital Metaphors, Introduction. Moughtin-Mumby helpfully traces the two main ways that metaphor study of the prophets has been undertaken, what she calls the traditional approach and the feminist approach.
63. On the presence of metaphors in life see George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 3. Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 3. See Moughtin-Mumby on the influence of cognitive theories in studies of metaphor in the Bible.
64. See Dille, Mixing Metaphors, 16.
65. See Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, x. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap, 2007), 171.
66. See Hyun Chul Paul Kim and Louis Stulman,You Are My People: An Introduction to Prophetic Literature
(Nashville: Abindgon, 2010), 58-65. See Morrow on the importance of new narratives, giving language to pain, for restoration. William Morrow, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Vicarious Atonement in Second Isaiah,” inPsychology and the Bible: A New Way to Read the Scriptures, ed. J. Harold Ellens and Wayne G. Rollins
emerging from disaster leads me to a reading that incorporates trauma studies. This offers opportunities to empathise, relate, and in our own worlds of transition and at times chaos, find new directions towards understandings of God.67 There needs to be a level of explanation of the original context to aid contemporary understanding as some features of the metaphors used are not as commonplace today and the role of the interpreter and reader is to open the window towards understanding.68
Personification is an aspect of metaphor study key to my analysis of Zion. This is defined by Lakoff and Johnson as “where the physical object is further specified as being a person. This allows us to comprehend a wide variety of experiences with nonhuman entities in terms of human motivations, characteristics, and activities.”69 DI also uses specific figures of speech such as synecdoche and metonymy when referencing Zion.70 When synecdoche is the literary device used we can understand references to Zion as representing the people of Israel in exile, not necessarily only the physical city or those from Jerusalem. Thus Zion the city is only part of Judah but the use of the term stands for the whole of the people in exile. Whereas with metonymy references to Zion as the people in exile are associated with the conceptual connection. Poetic devices such as synecdoche and metonymy rather than using literal references allow for subversive intent.
In DI the city of Zion personified as a broken woman replaces references to Jacob-Israel, but can represent exiles, Judah, a city - multiple and flexible interpretations. The “city as the
(Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2004), 167-184, esp. 171. 67. Kim and Stulman, You Are My People, 65.
68. Macky,The Centrality of Metaphors, 22. Macky refers to this process as having a speaker (who uses the metaphor) and a receiver.
69. Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors, 33.
70. Synecdoche is “the trope in which one uses a species term to stand in for a genus, or a genus term for a species, or a more comprehensive term for a less and vice versa; so one says 'the ships opened fire' when one means the guns opened fire...” Soskice, Metaphor, 57.
Metonymy is closely related to synecdoche and is where:
...one uses an adjunct to stand for the whole, so we say 'the White House said yesterday' when we mean that 'the presidential authority of the United States made public yesterday'. A distinction between these two and metaphor can be made like this: metonym and synecdoche seem superficially similar to metaphor but they are functionally (that is, semantically) different. In metonymy and synecdoche, one word or phrase stands