An Intertextual Reading of ‘A Crushed Reed’ and ‘A Dim Wick’ in Isaiah 42.3 *

Abstract

The present study proposes a new reading of the ‘crushed reed’ and ‘dim wick’ passage in Isa. 42.3a by examining the interconnections of phrases and metaphors within Isaiah and beyond. Several similar phrases in other texts help one read these seemingly ambivalent phrases as referring to the group of people weakened and shattered, the Judaeans, on an explicit level and to the foreign forces of Egypt and Babylon on an implied level. A deliberate double entendre in the phrases conveys that Israel is assured of consolation, particularly under the coming authority of the individual servant, Cyrus or a Davidic king. At the same time, this double entendre also implies an irony in that Israel, also as the servant, will establish justice over against Egypt and Babylon and on the whole earth with the task that moves beyond anti-Babylonian ideology, a part of the new vision of the prophet.