Memory Formation in Isaiah 40–55

Poetic Reimagination that Accomplishes Comfort

Series: 

While scholars recognize that comfort and memory are dominant, interconnected themes in Isaiah 40–55, the phenomenon of collective memory itself has not received specific attention to clarify why memory is connected to comfort. Sociological memory studies and trauma theory fill this methodological gap by explaining the nature of memory framework formation within Second Isaiah. Jacob/Israel and Zion, as poetic figures, exemplify the broken memory frameworks of exilic Judeans that do not lead to comfort. This analysis of Isa 40–55, then, reveals Yahweh’s poetic process by which he re-forms his people’s memory frameworks so that they can receive comfort.
Copyright Year:
2025
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73411-1
Publication:
11 Aug 2025
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-70804-4
Publication:
21 Aug 2025
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Megan C. Roberts, Ph.D. (2021), McMaster Divinity College, is assistant professor of Old Testament at Prairie College in Three Hills, Alberta, and an associate research fellow with the Kirby Laing Centre, Cambridge, UK.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations

1 Second Isaiah: Comfort for Trauma through Memory Formation
 1 Introduction
 2 Exilic Judeans in the Sixth Century BCE
 3 Trauma Characteristics: Framework for Second Isaiah
 4 Second Isaiah’s Comfort in the History of Interpretation
 5 Tradition Criticism and Intertextuality as Exercises in Memory
 6 Sociological Memory Studies and Second Isaiah’s Comfort

2 Sociological Memory Studies: the Dynamics of Memory Framework Formation
 1 Sociological Memory Studies and Memory Frameworks
 2 Sociological Memory Studies and the Hebrew Bible
 3 Memory Negotiation as an Analytical Framework
 4 Two Foundation Stones: Second Isaiah as a Pause and Lyric Poetry as Genre
 5 The Convergence of Memory, Lyric Poetry, and Trauma
 6 Analysis Process and Poem Choice

3 Jacob/Israel’s Memory Framework: Who Has Forsaken Whom?
 Isaiah 40:1–42:25
 1 Introduction
 2 Isaiah 41:8–20: the Afflicted and Needy Are Not Forsaken
 3 Isaiah 41:21–42:13: an Overview
 4 Isaiah 42:14–20: the Blind are Not Forsaken
 5 Isaiah 42:21–25: an Overview

4 Jacob/Israel’s Memory Framework: Dangerous Nostalgia, Deceptive Idolatry
 Isaiah 43:1–45:25
 1 Introduction
 2 The “Former Things” and Memory Formation
 3 Isaiah 43:1–21: Do Not Remember Former Things!
 4 Isaiah 43:22–28: Your Sins I Will Not Remember!
 5 Isaiah 44:1–5: an Overview
 6 Isaiah 44:6–22: Remember These Things!
 7 Isaiah 44:23–45:25: an Overview

5 Jacob/Israel’s Memory Framework: Destructive Idolatry, Transformative Confession
 Isaiah 46:1–49:13
 1 Introduction
 2 Isaiah 46:1–13: Remember the Former Things!
 3 Isaiah 47:1–49:13: an Overview
 4 Conclusion

6 Zion’s Memory Framework: Comforting the Not-Forgotten, Briefly-Forsaken
 Isaiah 49:14–55:13
 1 Introduction
 2 Isaiah 49:14–50:3: I Myself Will Not Forget You!
 3 Isaiah 50:4–51:8: an Overview
 4 Isaiah 51:9–16: You Have Forgotten Yahweh
 5 Isaiah 51:17–53:12: an Overview
 6 Isaiah 54:1–17: I Forsook You
 7 Isaiah 55: an Overview
 8 Conclusion

7 Memory Framework Formation and the Struggle to Receive Comfort
 1 Introduction
 2 The Nature of Comfort
 3 Faulty Remembering and Forgetting: the Barrier to Comfort
 4 Memory Negotiations as Wagner-Pacifici’s Pause
 5 Receiving Comfort as an Event
 6 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Isaiah scholars, graduate/post-graduate students, libraries, memory studies/trauma theory/Hebrew Bible interdisciplinary work, poetic imagination/formation, prophets and poetic imagination
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