The Israelites experience God not as an abstract set of attributes but through stories of saving power. Yes, God is described as holy, powerful, just, steadfast in love. But mostly God is the one who has chosen Abraham and his descendants, has brought them out of slavery, has provided food and water in the desert, has led them to the Promised Land, and has defeated their enemies, even down to the days of King Hezekiah and his prophet Isaiah when God destroys the Assyrian army besieging Jerusalem. But after Hezekiah’s day, kings turn away from God and the nation is taken into exile in Babylon. There, a prophet arises in the tradition of Isaiah to promise divine comfort and a triumphant return home. This prophet, whose words appear in Isaiah 40–55, is sometimes called Second Isaiah.

The return comes not as a triumphant march but as a sporadic trickle facing constant opposition from people who have occupied the territory of Judah in the interim. (See the book of Nehemiah.) In this unsettled situation, a new prophet speaks new words of encouragement along with paraphrases and expansions of the words of First and Second Isaiah. This Third Isaiah’s words are in Isaiah 56–66. Against Nehemiah’s calls for great strictness and racial purity, Third Isaiah invites all to come to the feast of God’s people and looks for a day when the entire world will answer that call. Still the prophet laments the unending opposition: “If only you would tear open the heavens and come down! Mountains would quake before you like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil” (ceb). Taking care of God’s people—that’s what God (and no other “god”) does. “You look after those who gladly do right; they will praise you for your ways” (ceb). The prophet expects those days to come again.