| Repentance
is a prerequisite for divine forgiveness: God will not
pardon man unconditionally but waits for him to repent.
In repentance man must experience genuine remorse for the
wrong he has committed and then convert his acts. Two sub
stages are discernible in the latter process: first, the
negative one of ceasing to do evil (Isa. 33;15 ; Ps. 15;
24;4) and second the positive step of doing good (Isa.
1:17; 58:5 ff; Jer. 7:3; 26:13 ; Amos 5:14-15; Ps.
34:15-16; 37:27). The Bible is rich in idioms describing
man's active role in the process of repentance e.g.,
"incline the heart to the Lord" ( Josh. 24:23),
"Make oneself a new heart" (Ezek. 18:31),
circumcise the heart". (Jer. 4:4), "wash the
heart" (Jer. 4:14), and "break one's fallow
ground" (Hos. 10:12). However all these expressions
of man's penitential activity are summarizes by one verb
which dominates the Bible, (SHWB, 'to return') which
develops ultimately into rabbinic concept of teshuvah,
repentance. This root combines in itself both requisites
of repentance: To turn from the evil and turn to the
good. The motion of turning implies that sin is not an
ineradicable stain but a straying from the path, and that
by the effort of turning; a power God has given to all
men, The sinner can redirect his destiny. That this
concept of turning back (to YHWH) is not a prophetic
innovation but goes back to Israel's ancient traditions
is clear from Amos, without bothering to explain it's
meaning (Amos 4:6-11). Neither he nor Isaiah stresses
repentance, except in his earliest prophecy (1:16-18 to
which the prophet adds 19 - 20 by way of interpretation
and 27), not because in they believe it is insignificant,
but because in their time the people had sinned to such
an extent, that they had overstepped the limits of divine
forbearance and the gates of repentance were closed (Amos
7; Isa. 6) For Isaiah, the need to turn back indeed continues to play a role, but only for the few who will survive God's Purge. This Surviving remnant will itself actively engage in a program of repentance to qualify for residence in the New Zion (e.g. Isa. 10:20-23; 17:7-8: 27:9; 29:18 ff.; 30:18-26; 31: 6-7; 32:1-8, 15ff.; 33:5-6). Indeed, the name of the prophet's firstborn was imprinted with this message: "[Only] a remnant will return" (Shear-Jashub Isa. 7:3) In the teaching of both Hosea and Jeremiah, on the other hand, the call to turn back is never abandoned. When Jeremiah despairs of man's capability of self-renewal, he postulates that God will provide a "new heart" that will overcome sin and merit eternal forgiveness (31:32-33; 32:39-40; cf Deut 30:6; Ezek. 36:26-27). |
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