| dc.description.abstract | AIMS OF THE THESIS:
(a) To analyse the ways in which the Zion concept is
used in the Psalter and in Deutero- Isaiah.
(b) To compare and contrast the ways in which the concept
is used.
(c) To discover the sources used in relation to the concept
in each set of texts.
(d) To discover if there is evidence for the dependence
of the one set of texts on the other in relation to
this concept.
METHOD:
The Zion psalms and the Zion poems of Deutero- Isaiah
are critically analysed. In the first part of the study
Psalms xlvi, xlviii, lxxvi, lxxxiv, lxxxvii, cxxii, cxxxii
and other shorter psalm passages are discussed. Similarly,
in the second part, Isaiah xl 1 -11, xlix 14- L 3, li 1 -23,
liv 1 -17 and other shorter passages are examined. The
findings are summarized at the end of the discussion on
each psalm or poem. At the end of the analysis of the Zion
psalms the findings from the Psalter are summarized and discussed.
A similar summary and discussion follows the section
on Deutero- Isaiah. In the final section of the thesis the
two sets of results are compared and conclusions are drawn.
MAIN CONCLUSIONS:
(a) Similarities between the two sets of texts in respect
of form, vocabulary and content are sufficiently marked to
warrant the assumption that Deutero- Isaiah was probably
familiar with the Zion psalms.
(b) The main differences in the two presentations of the
Zion concept are probably the result of the different
historical backgrounds, especially related to the city of
Jerusalem. The two main differences are: (1) The description
of Zion in Deutero- Isaiah, although containing many of the
same ingredients as that of the Psalms, is projected into
the future. (2) The emphasis in the Psalms is on the city
whereas in Deutero- Isaiah it is on Zion as a symbol of the
community and as a symbol of the hope of restoration. This
symbolism is frequently expressed in personifications of
Zion as a woman, the wife of Yahweh and mother of the
community.
(c) The Zion psalms were produced for use in the cult but
the Zion poems of Deutero- Isaiah, though borrowing liturgical
forms, were produced as a prophecy.
(d) Deutero- Isaiah was an original, creative artist who
used the ingredients of a past Zion ideology, as well as
prophetic and other ideas, to create a new, richer Zion
ideology.
(e) It is possible that Deutero- Isaiah was influenced by
the presentations of the Zion concept in Isaiah i- xxxix,
but the influence of the Zion psalms is more clearly marked. | en |
