The year of Yahweh's Favor
These three verses read like a menu of transformations. There is language that takes us back to Isaiah 40 and the comfort that God wanted to bring to the exiled community.
40 “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God.
2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her,
that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for,
that she has ⌊received⌋ from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”
3 A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh!
Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
There is talk of a day of ‘favour’ which picks up an Old Testament word to do with acceptable sacrifices. Elsewhere in Isaiah it’s a word that describes the day when the servant acts (49:8) and the unexpected acceptance of Gentile offerings (56:7). There is a pun on the menu: just a letter reversal (in Hebrew) changes ‘ashes’ into ‘beauty’.
The voice changes again. Now the Lord speaks about his people, giving the reader an inside look at the heart of God. Verse 7 speaks of God’s intent to treat his people with the honour of a firstborn son who receives a double portion of the inheritance. This seems to be an undoing of the severe punishment for sin described in 40:2.