(א) נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י יֹאמַ֖ר אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ (ב) דַּבְּר֞וּ עַל־לֵ֤ב יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ וְקִרְא֣וּ אֵלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֤י מָֽלְאָה֙ צְבָאָ֔הּ כִּ֥י נִרְצָ֖ה עֲוֺנָ֑הּ כִּ֤י לָקְחָה֙ מִיַּ֣ד יְהוָ֔ה כִּפְלַ֖יִם בְּכָל־חַטֹּאתֶֽיהָ׃ (ס)
(1) Comfort, oh comfort my people, says your god!
(2) Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her that her term of service is over,
that her iniquity is expiated!;
For she has received at the hand of YHWH double for all her sins.
Rather than continually refer to him as "Deutero-Isaiah," which sounds silly as a proper name, let's call him "the Herald," borrowing YHWH's term from verse 9 below.
It is this exiled Judean community that the Herald addresses, announcing that the appointed time of redemption and deliverance has arrived at long last.
And YHWH, the Lord Almighty himself, will personally lead them home:
(3) A voice rings out:
“Clear in the desert a road for YHWH!
Level in the wilderness a highway for our god!
(4) Let every valley be raised;
Every hill and mount made low;
Let the rugged ground become level;
And the ridges become a plain!
This news is indeed worthy of publicity and celebration. And so the prophet enjoins someone to climb up to the mountaintops and bring such joyous news to all of the towns of Judah. No one will be left behind, not even those unable to make the journey, for if need be, YHWH will personally carry them himself in his own bosom:
(9) Ascend a lofty mountain, O herald of joy to Zion!;
Raise your voice with power, O herald of joy to Jerusalem!—
Raise it, have no fear!; Announce to the cities of Judah:
Behold your god! (10) Behold, the Lord YHWH comes in might, and His arm wins triumph for him;
See, his reward is with him! His recompense before him.
(11) Like a shepherd, he pastures his flock: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom; Gently he drives the mother sheep.
Consider the young David's epic and immortalized words to King Saul before sallying forth to challenge the Philistine hero Goliath in single-combat, when the courage of all of the other "battle-hardened" Israelite soldiers around him had already failed:
(לג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שָׁא֜וּל אֶל־דָּוִ֗ד לֹ֤א תוּכַל֙ לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אֶל־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֣י הַזֶּ֔ה לְהִלָּחֵ֖ם עִמּ֑וֹ כִּֽי־נַ֣עַר אַ֔תָּה וְה֛וּא אִ֥ישׁ מִלְחָמָ֖ה מִנְּעֻרָֽיו׃ (ס) (לד) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר דָּוִד֙ אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל רֹעֶ֨ה הָיָ֧ה עַבְדְּךָ֛ לְאָבִ֖יו בַּצֹּ֑אן וּבָ֤א הָֽאֲרִי֙ וְאֶת־הַדּ֔וֹב וְנָשָׂ֥א שֶׂ֖ה מֵהָעֵֽדֶר׃ (לה) וְיָצָ֧אתִי אַחֲרָ֛יו וְהִכִּתִ֖יו וְהִצַּ֣לְתִּי מִפִּ֑יו וַיָּ֣קָם עָלַ֔י וְהֶחֱזַ֙קְתִּי֙ בִּזְקָנ֔וֹ וְהִכִּתִ֖יו וַהֲמִיתִּֽיו׃
(33) And Saul said to David,
“You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!”
(34) And David said to Saul,
“Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, (35) I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it!"
YHWH, as our ultimate ruler, provider and care-giver, is our shepherd par excellence. We see the Herald expressing this here, but he is not the first, nor the last, to draw on this metaphor to explain our relationship to YHWH.
The most stirring and poignant of this example is psalm 23:
(א) מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִ֑ד יְהוָ֥ה רֹ֝עִ֗י לֹ֣א אֶחְסָֽר׃ (ב) בִּנְא֣וֹת דֶּ֭שֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי עַל־מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי׃ (ג) נַפְשִׁ֥י יְשׁוֹבֵ֑ב
YHWH is my shepherd; I do not lack.
(2) In green pastures he lays me down;
By resting waters he leads me;
My breath, he renews.
With this in mind, let's take another look at these words of encouragement of the Herald:
(11) Like a shepherd he pastures his flock: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom; Gently He drives the mother sheep.
In Ezekiel chapters 8-10, Ezekiel describes how, almost seemingly in slow-motion, he witnesses YHWH stepping off of his throne (the Holy Ark), and continually distancing himself from his earthly throne-room, the Holy of Holies, before leaving this world behind entirely.
We went in-depth into this in another limmud, Departure and Return in Ezekial (https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/235655?lang=bi). Here is a snapshot of but one moment on that fateful day:
(יח) וַיֵּצֵא֙ כְּב֣וֹד יְהוָ֔ה מֵעַ֖ל מִפְתַּ֣ן הַבָּ֑יִת וַֽיַּעֲמֹ֖ד עַל־הַכְּרוּבִֽים׃ (יט) וַיִּשְׂא֣וּ הַכְּרוּבִ֣ים אֶת־כַּ֠נְפֵיהֶם וַיֵּר֨וֹמּוּ מִן־הָאָ֤רֶץ לְעֵינַי֙ בְּצֵאתָ֔ם וְהָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים לְעֻמָּתָ֑ם וַֽיַּעֲמֹ֗ד פֶּ֣תַח שַׁ֤עַר בֵּית־יְהוָה֙ הַקַּדְמוֹנִ֔י וּכְב֧וֹד אֱלֹהֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מִלְמָֽעְלָה׃
(18) Then the Kavod of YHWH left the platform of the House and stopped above the cherubs. (19) And I saw the cherubs lift their wings and rise from the earth, with the wheels beside them as they departed; and they stopped at the entrance of the eastern gate of the House of YHWH, with the Kavod of the god of Israel above them.
The Judeans' merely relocating from exile to Judah - while certainly a step in the right direction - was not in-and-of-itself the redemption that had been hoped for; For dwelling in Judah without the presence of YHWH is akin to the emptiness of a hollow shell.
Let's jump ahead and see the climax of this, the last verse of our Haftorah:
(26) Lift high your eyes and see: Who created these?
He who sends out their host by count, who calls them each by name:
Because of his great might and vast power, Not one fails to appear.
This is a beautiful instance of the focusing or heightening that takes place between the first verset and the second in a line of biblical poetry: First, God musters the host of the heavens, the stars, as their supreme commander; then, gong beyond what any terrestrial general could to, He is able to name each one of the vast multitude of the stars.
As far back as human memory probably goes, we have been gazing up at the heavenly tapestry of stars and seeing order emerge, witnessing epic stories and heroic personalities materialize from the starry heavens above. The psalter here seems to picture YHWH as very carefully placing each and every one of those myriad of flickering lights, with utmost deliberation.
Like a Mozartian symphony made up of thousands of notes, every single detail is intended, and contributes to a grandiose and majestic whole.
Still, this is a mind-boggling statistic about the utter and incomprehensible vastness of space. And keep in mind, this is only in comparison to the observable universe. As for how many are beyond that... only the Almighty can know.
(Don't believe me? Bob Berman of Astronomy Magazine wanted to answer this old cliche once-and-for all, so took off a few years to just go ahead and count them: https://astronomy.com/magazine/bob-berman/2019/01/more-sand-or-stars .)
