Book review by Bill Tucker of  Amy-Jill Levine's. The Light of the World:A Beginner’s Guide for Advent.

I do not remember Professor Levine as an advocate for the Gospel, yet in this book she recalls and comments on Luke’s Christmas story with utter respect, even reverence.  She even preaches a little to her Christian readers when she says: “Christmas should be more than putting up the tree and wrapping the presents. It should give birth to something that shakes up the routine. something that gets us to see the world otherwise. The shaking up is what it means to follow Jesus” (34). Who expects these reminders from a Jewish New Testament scholar?

Levine makes the connections between the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian. The story of John’s birth echoes others, such as the birth of  Isaac to the elderly Sarah, the birth of Jacob to the infertile Rachel, the birth of Samuel to the desperate Hannah. Hannah even sings a song foreshadowing the Magnificat of Mary recorded in Luke.  Levine does not take this story of John as a weak imitation of the Hebrew tradition, but as an allusion to the birth of prophets of old, something that Luke’s readers would recognize as God’s foreshadowing of greatness to come.  It’s an alert: God has done this before.

Sometimes Christians appropriate the prophesies of Isaiah and his successors (Malachi, Zechariah, etc.) as intended exclusively for the birth and ministry of Jesus. It is almost as if the historical events following these prophesies were irrelevant, that Isaiah could only have meant Chapter 40 to be about Jesus.  Jewish readers have never viewed Isaiah as a Christian prophet. There was an exile and a restoration accomplished centuries before Jesus’ birth. Isaiah most likely prophesied the messiah of an earlier period.

But Amy-Jill does not take offense or go to battle over the “messianic” texts. She sees them as familiar texts connected by the Gospel writers to current events.  She understands that Luke’s readers are conversant with Isaiah, especially the words “A voice is crying out/ Clear the Lord’s way in the desert/ Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God.” (48)

By evoking Isaiah’s prophecy, Luke is telling readers: I’ve given you the first verse of Isaiah 40: now fill  in the rest of the Song. The Gospel writers consistently allude to Israel’s Scriptures, and our reading is inevitably enhanced if we recognize the allusions and then put the context of the original quote into conversation with its Gospel use. Zechariah, by alluding to Isaiah, reminds us of exile and return, of promise and fulfillment, of ancient Israel and the new movement to come (49).

Hers is a most hospitable reading of Luke’s references to Isaiah. She sees the ancient prophecies resonating with the present revolution in Israel.  She does not wrangle over Isaiah’s intent when he says, “Comfort, comfort my people. . .” Rather she draws graceful lines from the Hebrew scriptures to the Christian, appreciating that God has done the same miracles in multiple settings.

Among the songs of Zechariah, of Elizabeth and of Mary there are rich resonances with Hebrew poetry, and Professor Levine’s connecting them surprises and delights. I am looking forward to reading more of her commentary on Advent as much, even more than I value the comments of Christian theologians.