The incidents of chapter 22 are related to the situation in Judah when Sennacherib invaded the country and for a time Jerusalem was threatened. An oracle of judgment on Phoenicia is followed by a lament. The whole area is pictured as laid waste, the lament being attributed especially to the merchant ships on which Phoenicia depends. The disaster is seen as resulting from God’s decree; the wealth of the merchants avail nothing. The oracles are followed by a section which pictures the final age, the moment of judgment of the whole world and of the fulfillment of promise. The final judgment is one of praise at the majesty of God. Throughout the earth the faithful welcome his glorious activity. The central moment now becomes Yahweh’s feast of the nations. The prospect of God’s victory evokes a psalm of praise in which the references are not to particular cities or powers but to the hostile forces of the world. The feast is interrupted with a word of doom for Moab, the enemy. “The earth,” says the writer, “is profaned by the sins of men.” A startling thought- sin corrupts not man alone, but the very earth on which he dwells. And, isn’t this the heart of liberation theology which rails against the systemic injustices of our present day society? Not to mention the Roman structure against which Jesus fought in his day.
The incidents of chapter 22 are related to the situation in Judah when Sennacherib invaded the country and for a time Jerusalem was threatened. An oracle of judgment on Phoenicia is followed by a lament. The whole area is pictured as laid waste, the lament being attributed especially to the merchant ships on which Phoenicia depends. The disaster is seen as resulting from God’s decree; the wealth of the merchants avail nothing. The oracles are followed by a section which pictures the final age, the moment of judgment of the whole world and of the fulfillment of promise. The final judgment is one of praise at the majesty of God. Throughout the earth the faithful welcome his glorious activity. The central moment now becomes Yahweh’s feast of the nations. The prospect of God’s victory evokes a psalm of praise in which the references are not to particular cities or powers but to the hostile forces of the world. The feast is interrupted with a word of doom for Moab, the enemy. “The earth,” says the writer, “is profaned by the sins of men.” A startling thought- sin corrupts not man alone, but the very earth on which he dwells. And, isn’t this the heart of liberation theology which rails against the systemic injustices of our present day society? Not to mention the Roman structure against which Jesus fought in his day.
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