Torah From Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah

Abstract

The book of Isaiah envisions a future where foreigners will one day receive torah and worship Yahweh, but neither the text nor its later interpretation is univocal in its understanding of the relationship between foreigners and Israel’s law. For example, does Isaiah imply that righteous Gentiles will observe all Mosaic law (purity laws, circumcision, etc.), or will they worship God as Gentiles, honoring the law but not observing commands meant for Israelites? This dissertation examines the concepts of conversion and Gentile law observance in Isaiah and outlines the history of their interpretation, particularly in the Septuagint of Isaiah (LXX-Isaiah). Numerous semantic and cultural shifts took place around “law” and “conversion” from the eighth to second centuries B.C.E., and oracles that would have originally been interpreted as speaking of instruction and reverence for Yahweh came to be understood as speaking of Mosaic law and the conversion of foreigners to Judaism. This trend comes to fullest expression in LXX-Isaiah, where we see significant changes meant to emphasize such a later understanding. This happens in isolated instances, such as LXX-Isa 14:1–2, 24:16, 26:9, 41:1, 45:16, and 54:15, but the author of LXX-Isaiah also reworks entire sections to focus on law and conversion, such as LXX-Isa 8. Small changes can likewise be seen throughout the so-called “Servant Songs” in LXX-Isaiah, where the Servant’s role as a “covenant of people” and “light of nations” (Isa 42:6) is reinterpreted to refer to Gentile observance of the law. The changes evident in LXX-Isaiah illuminate a strand of early Jewish thinking on conversion and law observance, and they help us understand the background of the debate surrounding these issues in nascent Judaism and Christianity.