Die Ruckkehr JHWHs

The starting point of the investigation is the observation that Isaiah 40: 1-11 and Isaiah 52: 7-10 do not describe the return of the exiles from Babylon, as is often assumed, but rather YHWH's return to Zion. This view is developed in the first part of the work in an exegesis of the two texts. A second part reconstructs the conceptual context within which the motif of YHWH's return to Zion is to be understood, against a double background: On the one hand, a comparison with Mesopotamian inscriptions (from the time of Nebuchadnezzar I, Asarhaddon and Nabonids) shows parallels in view of the Interpretation of historical events. They suggest that the Deutero-Isaiah texts were created with knowledge and with a modifying inclusion of the Mesopotamian conceptual context. On the other hand, a look at the pre-exilic ideas of YHWH's presence in Zion / Jerusalem makes clear the traditional-historical prerequisites of the motif of the absence and return of YHWH to Zion. A comparison with the much parallel idea of the "glory of YHWH" moving out of the Jerusalem temple and moving back into it in Ezekiel 8-11 and 43 supports the considerations. The third part of the thesis asks the question of connecting lines that can be drawn against the background of the reconstructed conceptual context between Isaiah 40: 1-11 and Isaiah 52: 7-10 and other texts in the Book of Deutero-Isaiah. Above all, the Cyrus prophecies and Isaiah 46: 1-4 are considered here. It becomes clear that the motif of YHWH's return to Zion / Jerusalem in the Deutero-Isaiah book is not an isolated motif, but rather forms the factual prerequisite and basis of central parts of the Deutro-Isaiah basic class.