Responses in Isaiah 40:1-11 to Jeremiah's "Set Time" Prophecy and Ezekiel's Temple Vision

This article identifies in Isa 40:1-11 two responses to earlier prophecies. The first response appears in Isa 40:2b, which argues that, although the set time of seventy years (Jer 25:12; 29:10) has not yet elapsed, the time for restoration has nevertheless arrived. The more complex response is found in Isa 40:5, which reacts to passages in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezek 43:1-5; 44:4). In those passages, Ezekiel envisions the return of (sic) (the Presence of Yhwh) to the restored Jerusalem temple. Isaiah 40:5 envisions a different type of return of (sic)-not to the temple but to the towns of Judah, as part of the Judahites' return to these towns. Isaiah 40:3-11 innovatively argues that the Presence of God can be made manifest even in the absence of the temple. These verses argue against Ezek 43:1-5 and 44:4, which view the Presence of God as intrinsically linked to the temple.