A Re-interpretation of Zion in Isaiah 62:1-5 Focusing on the Personification of Queen Zion

This study conducts a contextual, literary and theological interpretation of the theme of Zion in Isa 62:1-5 that focuses on the rhetorical and intertextual implications of Queen Zion. The method explicates the logical interrelationship and theological meaning of three enigmatic motifs in this passage-crown, renaming and marriage-within the literary and canonical context of the book of Isaiah. The study uses the mirror text theory adopted by Willem A. M. Beuken in Isaianic interpretation to consider the appearance of Queen Zion with these three conspicuous motifs. It is argued that Queen Zion retrospectively reflects the female Zion in Isa 1:7 (a daughter Zion) and 49:14-21 (an abandoned wife and childless mother) and prospectively foreshadows her in Isa 66:7-14 (a glorious mother). Furthermore, this study demonstrates that Isa 62:1-5 functions as a mirror text in the book of Isaiah and demonstrates how we conceive the reading of Isaiah as a unified whole.