Charged with the Glory of God: Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55
Isaiah’s servant songs reveal a true and better Adam
In Charged with the Glory of God, Caroline Batchelder provides a synchronic, theological, and canonical reading of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah, presenting how they relate to one another and message of the prophetic book.
A coherent message results when one reads Isaiah as a compositional unity and in conversation with the Old Testament. Isaiah’s polemic against idolatry reveals rebellious Israel to be false imagers of God. In contrast, Isaiah’s mysterious servant is an ideal embodiment of Yahweh’s image and likeness. Thus, the servant is a paradigm for those who wish to recapture and realize God’s good creation purposes for all humanity. The servant poems not only summon readers to reorient themselves towards God and his creation but also present a map and means for doing so.
In this study, Batchelder offers fresh insights from Isaiah for understanding God’s true image and its idolatrous counterfeits.
Praise for Charged with the Glory of God
This meticulous study is laced through with intriguing proposals and exquisitely illuminates Isaiah’s poetic cadences and wordplays. A valuable read for anyone interested in Isaiah, idolatry, or imaging God in the world.
—Jill Firth, Ridley College
Caroline Batchelder gifts us with a beautiful and provocative reimagining of Yahweh’s image in Isaiah’s servant. She presents a fresh reading of the Servant Songs intertextually integrated within the Isaiah literary corpus that presents a vision of justice outworked in the servant life. It is a glorious vision of humanity’s purpose that invites readers to also share in this creation charge as Yahweh’s servants.
—Jacqueline N. Grey, Alphacrucis University College
Caroline Batchelder’s literary and theological reading of the book of Isaiah throws new light onto the function of the Servant Songs in the book. Exploring the dynamics of Isaiah’s poetry and the resonances with other parts of Isaiah and the Hebrew Bible, Caroline provides a thoroughly stimulating study that gives both a greater appreciation of the work of the Servant of the Lord, and an appeal to see Isaiah’s challenge to readers to be servants in the Lord’s likeness.
—Anthony R. Petterson, Morling College
Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology is a peer-reviewed series of contemporary monographs exploring key topics and issues in biblical studies and biblical theology from an evangelical perspective.
Learn more about the other titles in this series.
- Foreword by Andrew Sloane
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Method and Methodology
- The Persistent Question of Yahweh’s Likeness in Isaiah 40
- An Inverted Mišpāṭ: Image and the Idols in Isaiah 40–48
- “Not without My Servant”: Genesis 18–19 and the Covenantal Task
- The First Servant Song: The Image Projected
- The Second Servant Song: The Turning and the True Likeness
- The Third Servant Song: Likeness in Darkness
- The Fourth Servant Song: Desecration and Likeness
- Conclusion
- Title: Charged with the Glory of God: Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55
- Author: Caroline Batchelder
- Series: Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2020
- Page Count: 456
- Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
- Trim Size: 6x9
- ISBN: 9781683594093
Caroline Batchelder (ThD, Australian College of Theology) was Lecturer in Old Testament at Alphacrucis College.