An Old Woman and the Sermon of Second Isaiah

Laura J. Nelson

Article Type: Article

Publication Date: 4/1/1989

Issue: Ministry and Mental Health (Vol. 9, No 2, Spring, 1989)

The frustration experienced by the prophet’s original audience certainly equaled that of this old woman. They were exiled in Babylon with little hope of freedom. Their feeling of futility and estrangement from God is reflected in their lament, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God” (Isa 40:27). This individual lament speaks for the whole people of exiled Israel. The same can be said for the old woman. Her individual lament speaks for an ever increasing population of elderly persons in our society who suffer alone, often without a voice. If a connection can be made between the laments of this old woman and of the exiled Israelites, cannot the comfort and the promise of return given by God to the exiled Israelites be given to her as well?

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