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Pentecost Season · All Souls: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed · Year B

Isaiah 25:6-9

Praise to the Lord

The Wedding Feast at Cana, Paolo Veronese
The Wedding Feast at Cana, Paolo Veronese, 1563Musée du Louvre, Paris · public domain

Overview & Insights

“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples… he will swallow up death forever.” (Isaiah 25:6–8)

Devastation and Renewal for the Whole Land: The word massa’ no longer introduces the prophecies, but not until chapter 28 do we return to the direct, confrontational challenges to the people of God that dominate chapters 1–12. Chapters 24–27 thus stand out from the material on either side. The canvas broadens yet further than it had in chapters 13–23, but the tone of these chapters continues. The prophecy depicts further disaster and devastation, but makes fewer references to specific peoples. The effect is to convey a more terrifying impression of calamity for any city or land (such as whichever one the hearers belong to). Beyond that, this section envisages Yahweh’s dealing with powers in heaven as well as powers on earth. It also envisages comfort and deliverance for all peoples on a day when death is swallowed up forever—a more radically new day than any of which we have read so far in the book.

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What is the feast on the mountain?

Isaiah pictures God spreading a banquet of rich food and aged wine for all nations, wiping away every tear and destroying death itself. It is one of the Bible’s great images of the age to come, fitting the Gospel’s wedding banquet.

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