Response to...

So, how will we need to proceed?

1. we will check the text itself for any clues as to how it was to be understood
2. then we check out the NEAR context
3. then we check out the FAR context
4. we will need to check the EXTERNAL data-any 1st century Palestinian references to it--Dead Sea Scrolls, early rabbinix stuff, etc.

(Well, we IMMEDIATELY run into a methodological problem here. For, even IF we show it applies to the return from exile, we have ALREADY shown how this was interpreted typologically in ancient Israel AND in 1st century 'rabbinical' Judaism, and therefore we would have a messianic passage ANYWAY!)

But, let's look at the text anyway...what observations can we make from the 40.3 passage?

• First, it starts a literary unit of vss. 3-5:

  A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

• Oddly enough, it contains NO MENTION of exiles, return, Babylon, Jerusalem.
• the only references to people are 'all mankind' and perhaps the 'voice'
• the image of "desert/wilderness" is prominent, as is that of "highway"
• The end of the passage deals with "ALL MANKIND" seeing the Glory of YHWH.
• the highway is expressly said to be for "our God", not people (on the surface, that is)

So, at first blush, it looks TOTALLY MESSIANIC...there seems to be NOTHING AT ALL in there about the exiles...But, we need to see the NEAR and FAR context.

The NEAR context is roughly the chapter from 40.1 to .11 (vs 12 starts a major section on "God the incomparable").

Observations:

• vss 1-2 address the nation Israel with 'comfort my people'
• vss 1-2 speak of punishment being fulfilled (could be a reference to the exile)
• vss 1-2 speak to Jerusalem (instead of to the Jews in Babylon, though)
• vss 6-8 speak of God's power over mankind (or the power of His Spirit)
• vss 6-8 speak of the stability of God's Word (over against the frailty of man)
• vss 9-11 speak of bearing good news to Zion, to Jerusalem, to the towns of Judah
• vss 9-11 speak of YHWH's coming with blessing to His nation
• vss 9-11 has the image of YHWH as a great and gentle shepherd, leading His flock
• the section seems to be linked by the 'voice' words (speak, announce, voice, cry, etc.)--these occur in each major section (1, 2, 3, 6,9)

• 1-2: Tell the captives the Exile will soon be over
• 3-5: YHWH is preparing to lead His people home, through easy roads and with glory before the nations
• 6-8: Mankind (the Babylonians) will not be able to stop this--it is done by God's Spirit and Word
• 9-11: The Sovereign God will lead His people home, as a Shepherd gently leads a flock

This NEAR context would suggest that our passage fits into the promises of Restoration (but we have already seen that this is a 'type' of the coming of the Messiah, so it would still be appropriate to see it messianically.)

What about the FAR context? The Far context in this case would be those passages that were 'linked' to it by keywords, such as 'desert', 'highway', 'voice', 'wilderness' etc.

The main passages that are associated with this are Is 35.1-10, Hosea 2.14, Mal 3.1, Ex 23.20.

In Is 35.1-10, we have the same basic elements as in 40.1-10 (desert-v.1,6, wilderness-v.1,6, the glory of YHWH-v.2, He will save-v.4, highway-v.8, the return-v.10, speaking words of comfort-v. 4).

But this passage goes WAY BEYOND a simple Restoration--it has elements of the Paradise-state in it (desert blooming; healing of the blind, deaf, lame; steams in the desert; no dangerous beasts; only the redeemed are there). This 'heightening' is EXACTLY what creates a high-visibility TYPE. Cf. Goppelt, in TYPOS:39:

God prepares a way through the wilderness for his redeemed people. As in the first Exodus, God will lead them through the wilderness and give them water from the rock to drink. From the rock the paradisaical water will flow. The introduction of features from paradise produces the typological heightening; they make the new appear to be a state of perfection.

The Exodus 23.20 passage ("'See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared."), with its promise of a 'messenger' to lead the way in the FIRST Exodus, was EXPRESSLY linked to the messenger of Malachi 3.1 by the rabbis (Exodus R 23.20)-in a messianic context. [They also said, in that passage, that the messenger was Elijah, identifying the 'voice' also with Mal 4.5f.]

In the Malachi 3.1 passage, Malachi builds on the imagery of Is 40.3, using the 'prepare the way' motif. The 'prepare the way' motif was tightly connected with Isaiah's views of the Restoration AND the Messianic age. [We noted the Is 40.3-5 passage that portrayed YHWH Himself as traveling on the road; another passage linking the 'preparation of the highway' with the Advent of YHWH is Is 62.10ff:

Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, `See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.'"

To try to summarize this data:

1. the First Exodus was preceded by a messenger, who was typologically linked to the messenger of Mal 3.1 by the rabbis;
2. Is 40.1-10 described the same events as did Is 35.1-12--the Restoration from Babylon, but with the heightening that 'tips us off' to typological content;
3. Malachi builds on the imagery of Is 40.3, using the 'prepare the way' motif.

So, what we end up with are passages in Isaiah that have STRONG typological content about the Messianic age, and a tight link between Mal 3.1 (a 'pure' messianic passage; not typological) and the "voice crying 'prepare'" in Is 40.3. (We also have a link between Mal 3.1, 4.5 and Ex 23.20).

What this nets out to is that the INTERNAL data tends to support a 'messianic' (via typology) interpretation of the Is 40.3 passage.

Now, do we have any EXTERNAL confirmation that Is 40.3 was understood messianically by non-Christians before Jesus?

VERY DEFINITELY--both at Qumran and in the Rabbinical literature.

The Qumran community specifically understood Is 40.3 in this sense. There are two references to Is 40.3 in the Manual of Discipline:

When these men [Qumran elders] exist in Israel, these are the provisions whereby they are to be kept apart from any consort with froward men, to the end that they may indeed 'go into the wilderness to prepare the way', i.e. do what Scripture enjoins when it says, 'Prepare in the wilderness the way...make straight in the desert a highway for our God' [MD 8.12-16]

The purpose of such discussions is to guide the minds of the members of the community to give them insight into God's inscrutable wonders and truth, and to bring them to walk blamelessly each with his neighbor in harmony with all that has been revealed to them. For this is the time when 'the way is being prepared in the wilderness', and it behooves them to understand all that is happening. [MD 9.118-20]

Isaiah 40.3 was used by the community of Qumran as a rationale for leading a separated life in the desert, where they believed they were preparing the way of the Lord by means of constant reading of the Law (1QS 8.12-16; 9.19-20). [Liefeld, EBC: Luke 3.4-6]

Qumran saw itself literally fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by its life of study and torah-observance situated precisely in the desert of Judea...[MJ:2.87]

When we turn to the Rabbinic material, we find a couple of references that cite Is 40.3 messianically, as well.

First, we have a passage in the Midrash on Lamentations 1:2, in which Is 40.3 is cited as one of the blessings upon Israel in the messianic age;

Second, we have a later passage in the Talmud by Tanhuma, citing 40.3 messianically in the comments on Deut 1.1 (it is ALSO associated with Is 35.1 in this passage--a link we noted earlier)

Third, the Targum on 40.9, renders the phrase 'Behold your God' with 'The Kingdom of your God shall be manifested'--remarkably similar to the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus.

So, the rabbinic literature ALSO witnesses to a messianic understanding of Is 40.3.

This data demonstrates quite clearly that Is 40.3 was understood messianically in the time of Jesus.

Summary: Both the INTERNAL data and the 'hard' EXTERNAL data support the understanding of Is 40.3 messianically.

To what extent Josephus mentally linked the Baptist with Jesus is unknown; what IS known is that it would have made NO SENSE WHATSOEVER to make that connection IN THIS PASSAGE on John's popularity.

So, the silence of Josephus, in this one passage, can hardly be construed as an argument against the Baptist's role as forerunner.

The earliest of Christian writings, the letters of Paul, make no mention of John the Baptist.

I am not sure we should expect Paul's letters (all to Gentiles) to talk about the 'messenger to the Jews'. John the Baptist describes his mission SPECIFICALLY in terms of the Jews, in John 1.31:

I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

But, at the same time, the main focus of apostolic preaching was the life, words, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We see very little material on his birth, early life, confrontation with the Jewish oligarchy, etc. in the epistles--they stay focused on the central message of Who Jesus was (The God-man messiah), What Jesus did (unleashed the Kingdom power by His willing sacrificial death on the Cross for us, and subsequent resurrection), and Why He Did it (because of His love, compassion, and commitment to us). [It is only later that the material about these other items become important, and hence get recorded in the Gospels.]

We DO know that Paul KNEW about John the Baptist and his message. In Acts 19 we have a record of an encounter between Paul and some of John's disciples:

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. 4 Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

What Paul simply does is to follow the teaching of John to its designed conclusion--which pointed to Jesus. John was the forerunner; Jesus the entering Savior (Is 62)--it is the King who is celebrated, not the herald who runs before the King!

So, we shouldn't be surprised that Paul doesn't expound on John's ministry (there is nothing about Jesus' mother either).

Consider the setting:

• John the Baptist has been raised with prophecy of his father Zechariah in his ears (Luke 1.67-79):

  His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us -- 72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

  Notice that 'deliverance from enemies' is ascribed to the Lord THREE times [v71 (2x), v74].
  

• Then, notice the note of IMPENDING and IMMEDIATE judgment in John the Baptist's early preaching in Luke 3:
  • "who warned you to flee the coming wrath" (v7)
    
  • "the ax is already at the root of the trees" (v9)
    
  • "His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor" (v17)
    
  • "he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (v17)
    
  
  

  So, what we see is that among John's preaching of Jesus as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1.29) is ALSO the notion of the immediate judgment, typically associated with the 2nd Coming of the Messiah. In other words, John (as most of Jewry then) saw BOTH advents of Christ (one in meekness, one in power) as being the SAME event. [Rabbinical efforts to 'smooth out' this tension into ONE event are a study in themselves. For starters, look at Cohen's "Everyman's Talmud", chapter XI.I]
  

  So, then we come to the passage Jim points us to (Matt 11.2ff):

  When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

  The interesting thing to note is that John's question came upon his HEARING WHAT CHRIST "HAD BEEN doing". Liefeld makes a pointed statement on this verse (EBC):

  The one to whom he [John the Baptist] had pointed, the one who would come in blessing and judgment (3:11-12), had brought healing to many but, it would seem, judgment to none--not even to those who had immorally and unlawfully confined the Baptist in a cruel prison.

  and again...

  Not only may the Baptist have become demoralized, like his namesake Elijah, but the Baptist had preached in terms of imminent blessing and judgment. By contrast Jesus was preaching in veiled fulfillment terms and bringing much blessing but no real judgment, and as a result the Baptist was having second thoughts.

  
  

  Remember, also, that John's birth prophecy referred explicitly to 'deliverance from enemies'--often understood nationalistically, but certainly applicable to individuals.
  

  [It is also important to note that this passage occurs in the context of a rising tide of disappointment at Jesus' ministry, due to the slightly off-center expectations of the general populace (chapters 11-13).]
  

  But Jesus' answer was fitting to John's agonizing doubts. Jesus answered with a collage of messianic images from Is 35.5-6 (we have already looked at this) and Is 61 (we saw this was a link in the Is 35-40-61-62 chain). In EACH OF THOSE PASSAGES there are specific verses and phrases that have to do with JUDGMENT, but Jesus omits these in his citation! Mercy and Grace PRECEDE judgment ("The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to a new heart toward God"--2 Peter 3), and Jesus gently reminds John that the Kingdom program has begun and is on-track.