More on Isaiah 2:5

I argued in a post a few months ago that Isaiah 2:5 begins a new paragraph of Isaiah 2, rather than concluding the opening section of that chapter. I still think that’s correct, but it is something of a Janus verse that faces backwards too.

“Come” in 2:5, addressed to the “house of Jacob,” echoes the exhortation of the nations to “come” to Yahweh’s mountain (2:3). Further, the exhortation in 2:5 is to “walk,” again echoing the exhortation of 2:3, where the nations plan to walk in Yahweh’s paths.

Given those parallels between 2:3 and 2:5, the difference is highlighted. The nations plan to go to the mountain of Yahweh’s house, while the house of Jacob is called to walk in His “light.” Mountain and light – that should sound familiar, since Jesus conflates mountain-city and lamp in Matthew 5. Reading 2:3 and 2:5 together, we get a double picture: The city is a city of light; the city on the mountain is a lamp on a lampstand.

As such, it attracts and guides the nations, and when the city becomes a city of light for the nations, it is also the light of Yahweh for Israel. For the nations, it is a city of instruction, a place to find Yahweh’s torah. But Yahweh’s torah is a lamp to Israel’s feet and a light to her path. There is a provocation to jealousy implicit in the chapter. Because of her sins, Israel has become just another goy (1:4), but when she sees Yahweh welcoming the nations to Zion, she’ll want to get in the act: “Hurry up! Run to the light!”