ISAIAH 60:1-3: AN EXEGETICAL EXPOSITION WITH APPLICATION ON THE THEME 'ARISE AND SHINE'

Prophet Isaiah lived during the trouble time in the history of Judah. He also witnessed, from Judah, the destruction of Israel and their captivity by the Assyrians (McCain 299). Isaiah’s prophecy was primarily directed to Judah and Jerusalem, though there were prophecies to many of the surrounding nations as well. He prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. During the reigns of these kings, there was wealth and prosperity in the kingdom, resulting a corresponding wickedness, apostasy and moral corruption; hence, Isaiah’s prophecy was made to denounce all these evils in his days (McCain 300).  

Isaiah prophesied to let them know that Yahweh’s judgment is certain to come but Yahweh will spare a remnant for himself (VanGemeren 471). It was the remnant who were latter charged to arise and Shine (Isaiah 60:1) (Nyoyoko 116). Around 600 B.C, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem, burnt it, and destroyed the temple (Ngele 3). He captured King Jehoiakim and took some Judah’s brightest young men to Babylon to serve Babylonians (Hardin 523). In Babylon, the Jews faced shrewd foreign policy which made the Jews totally dependent on their conquerors. The policy assured that conquered people would be too loyal and too weak to revolt. Besides, they practiced cultural assimilation which made the exiles to change their names, language, food, faith and culture (Bible Study Guide 2). In fact, the Jews in the exile became homeless, fatherless, persecuted, mocked, hungry, hopeless, molested, maltreated, and subjected to slave labor (Daily Guide 181). These were the manifestations of God’s judgment against Jerusalem.

However, God did not punish them to destroy them, but to redeem them. He (God) showed his redemptive plan and comfort toward the exiles through Cyrus, a Persian King, who conquered Babylon and issued his decree around 538 B.C allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Yoilah 1104). But at return, people of Jerusalem were faced with the problem of poverty and disorganized religion; showing that they suffered through the darkness of a lengthy exile, hunger when they returned and neighbors’ opposition to the rebuilding of the city and the temple. It was this uttermost gloom both in exile and back home that Jerusalem was charged by Isaiah’s prophecy to arise and shine, for the time of her redemption has come (Myers 420).