While scholars recognize that comfort and memory are dominant, interconnected themes in Isaiah 4055, 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 4055, then, reveals Yahwehs poetic process by which he re-forms his peoples memory frameworks so that they can receive comfort.
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.
