A reading from the prophet Isaiah (54:5-14)
Thus says the Lord:
‘Your creator is your husband,
the Lord Sabaoth is his name;
the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer,
he is called God of all the earth.
For like a wife forsaken and sad at heart,
the Lord has called you back;
like the young wife repudiated, says your God.
I did forsake you for a brief moment,
but in great compassion I shall take you back.
In a flood of anger,
for a moment I hid my face from you
but in everlasting love I have taken pity on you,’
says the Lord, your redeemer.
‘This will be to me as it was in the days of Noah
when I swore that Noah’s floodwaters
should never again cover the earth.
So now I swear never to be angry with you
and never to rebuke you.
The mountains may depart and the hills may be shaken
but my faithful love will never leave you,
my covenant of peace will never be shaken,’
says the Lord in his pity for you.
‘Unhappy city, storm-tossed, unpitied,
look, I shall lay your stones with fine mortar
and your foundations on sapphires.
I shall make your battlements rubies,
your gateways firestone and your enclosure precious stones.
All your children will be taught by the Lord
and great will be your children’s prosperity.
You will be established in saving justice,
far removed from oppression.
You will have nothing to fear:
free from terror, for it will not approach you.’
The fourth ‘night of salvation’ as presented in the Targum Jonathan is the night of the Messiah. In the current arrangement of the Easter Vigil readings, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh have something to say about the ‘fourth night’, about the future hope, and Christians see how it is realised in Christ.
This reading from the Second Isaiah, composed against the backdrop of the return from exile in Babylon, takes up the familiar image of Israel as the spouse of the Lord. The one rejected and abandoned for her infidelity has been welcomed home by the Lord, who is her ‘husband’, her ‘maker’, her ‘redeemer’, who buys her freedom. The prophet exults in the names of God.
The Lord admits to having forsaken her, but only ‘for a moment’. She has been regathered in great ‘compassion’ (rahamim). After fleeting anger (Ps 30:6), she has been pitied in ‘everlasting love’ (hesed ‘olam). The prophet exults in the tenderness of God, by which God takes her back.
God renews the oath, an oath which recalls that made with Noah. Though the creation, the mountains and hills, may collapse, ‘my faithful love’ (hasdi) and ‘my covenant of peace’ (berit shelomi) will stand for ever. God is the one who has compassion.
The final section addresses the people as the city of Sion with foundations and battlements. Metaphors of precious stones such as sapphires and rubies, evocative of wedding presents, announce a new start. Her sons and daughters will be taught by God, and their ‘peace’ (shalom) will be great. For they will be established in ‘justice’ (tsedeq). The eternal love of God brings salvation, a future of peace and justice.
Psalm 30 (29)
This psalm uses the imagery of resurrection. The first of the verses selected for use here speaks to God: ‘you have raised me up’. God has reached down to raise us up, like a bucket of water from a well. ‘Sheol’ and the ‘pit’ are not the destination of those who love God. God’s anger is momentary, life-long is God’s favour. It was evening, and then morning. This ‘night of salvation’, filled with tears, leads to the morning of joy. The Lord who listened to the people in exile is shown to be a God of pity in the life of this person. Mourning is changed to dancing, and sackcloth exchanged for joy. The psalmist’s words ‘I will thank you for ever’ will become the words of the Risen Christ, and of baptised Christians.