There is a marked shift in tone in the later half of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. The first thirty-nine chapters chide the people of Judah to shape up. They had seen what happened to the northern kingdom — destroyed and exiled in 721B.C. The same fate awaited them unless they turned to the Lord, heeded his commands and lived according to his ways. Here Isaiah is exercising the first of the prophetic roles: afflicting the comfortable. Starting in chapter 40 the prophet exercises his other role: comforting the afflicted. “Comfort, give comfort to my people.” Changed circumstance (the Babylonian exile?) required the prophet to let people know that God was still at work. No matter how bleak things seemed, God’s grace and mercy would triumph.
