58 Dimensions of Baptism
To Dunn's analysis the Aramaic paraphrase of Isa. 30.27-28 should be
added:
(^27) Behold, the name of the LORD is revealed just as the prophets from of old
prophesied concerning it;
his indignation is strong and too hard to bear.
Before him a curse goes forth upon the wicked,
and his Memra is like a devouring fire;
(^28) his Memra like a river overflowing to the neck will kill the strong,
to sift the Gentiles with a sieve of emptiness,
as a bridle of deception on the jaws of the people.^17
In two important ways this paraphrase draws the oracle of Isaiah closer to
the thrust of John's message. First, the Aramaic heightens the prophetic
and eschatological orientation: the oracle is speaking of the revelation of
the Lord, 'just as the prophets from of old prophesied concerning it'. The
declaration that the Lord 'is revealed' anticipates the thematic and highly
eschatological paraphrase found in Targ. Isa. 40.9 and 52.7 'the kingdom
of your God is revealed!' Secondly, the Aramaic version of Isaiah's oracle
intensifies the judgmental aspect. God's wrath is 'strong and too hard to
bear', which coheres with the Baptist's assertion that he who comes is
'stronger'. The Aramaic paraphrase warns that a 'curse goes forth upon
the wicked' and that the overflowing river 'will kill the strong'. Although
the Isaiah targum as we have it postdates the first century, in many places
it preserves tradition that dates to the first century and even earlier. The
eschatological and judgmental intensification of Isa. 30.27-28 in all
probability reflects early tradition.
Dunn concludes that the 'tradition of the Baptist's mission and preach-
ing was through and through scriptural' and that most of John's language,
at least as we find it preserved in the New Testament Gospels, is derived
from Isaiah. Elsewhere in his study Dunn makes mention of some of the
parallels with Malachi, some of the very ones treated in Jeffrey Trum-
bower's study. We should not suppose that the observations of Dunn and
Trumbower are necessarily competitive, or that one cancels out the other.
Drawing on several texts is neither unexpected nor unusual.
Summary. Our survey of scriptural figures and traditions justifies the con-
clusion that John's ministry and message were typological, as coherence
with Elijah and Joshua traditions—both biblical and contemporaneous
- The translation, slightly adapted, is from B.D. Chilton, The Isaiah Targum
(ArBib, 11; Wilmington: Glazier, 1987), p. 61. The words presented in italics indicate
those places where the Aramaic departs from the Hebrew.