Isaiah's Prayer


This illustration reads like a pendant to the previous one (Plate #96). Did Promise to Jerusalem
represent the side of God, so we are now looking at the human part of the covenant, voiced
by a confident but anguished people: "We are the work of your hands, be not implacably angry, O
Lord." The prophet Isaiah represents the people. A crouched figure, he appears like a formless
mass, seeking protection from the anger of Yahweh. He has dropped the book of life, and turns his
back to the angel. The expression of his face is both frightened and absent. In the upper left
corner, the luminous disk of God's presence can still be perceived, but the inscription of Yahweh's
name is inverted. His angel, aggressive but friendly, relentlessly attempts to reawaken Isaiah's
heart to the affection of Yahweh. Humanity is like a big clump of clay in need of the Potter-God,
confessing in humble admission: "We are the clay, and you are the potter." Also printed after the
Second World War, Isaiah's Prayer, according to some interpretations, may support God's absence
at Auschwitz and voice human anger with Yahweh instead of God's displeasure with his people.
Related scripture reading:  Isaiah 64: 7-12

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