G.K. Beale, «Peace and Mercy Upon the Israel of God. The Old Testament Background of Galatians 6,16b», Vol. 80 (1999) 204-223

This essay has contended that Paul’s reference to "new creation" and the pronouncement of "peace and mercy" on the readers in Gal 6,15-16 is best understood against the background of Isa 54,10 and the surrounding context of similar new creation themes elsewhere in Isa 32–66, which are echoed also earlier in Galatians, especially in 5,22-26. The analysis confirms those prior studies which have concluded that "the Israel of God" refers to all Christians in Galatia, whether Jewish or Christian. Lastly, the demonstration of an Isaianic background for the concept of new creation in Gal 6,15-16 falls in line with Paul’s other reference to "new creation" in 2 Cor 5,17 and John’s allusion to new creation in Rev 3,14, where Isa 43 and 65–66 stand behind both passages. Isa 54,10 was likely not the sole influence on Gal 6,16, but such texts as Psalm 84 (LXX), the Qumran Hymn Scroll (1QH 13,5), and Jub 22,9 may have formed a collective impression on Paul, with the Isaiah text most in focus; alternatively, the texts in Qumran and Jubilees may be mere examples of a similar use of Isaiah 54 on a parallel trajectory with that of Paul’s in Galatians 6.

backgrounds, but it would be hard to demonstrate the probability that the language in question in the Shemoneh ‘Esreh existed in an earlier form as far back as the first century, since the Palestinian recension, which approximates the wording of the prayer around AD 70-100, omits about half of the wording of the later Babylonian recension’s nineteenth benediction, including the crucial word "mercy"¹³! The Psalm references lack not only a reference to "mercy" but also do not have a double reference to the recipients, which the Shemoneh ‘Esreh, at least, has. If the Shemoneh ‘Esreh were in mind, then the kai/ in Gal 6,16 would most naturally be understood as appositional (contra to Richardson’s above-mentioned analysis).

        There may exist a better background than any of these preceding proposals which has closer similarities in both wording and contextual idea: a hitherto unnoticed OT background in Isaiah 54 appears to have more probability of standing behind the phrase "peace and mercy" than any other background previously proposed. If this is so, it would confirm the idea that the "Israel of God" is a reference to the entire church and not only the Jewish Christian segment of it (though the other proposed references would also have similar ramifications). The phrase "peace upon them and mercy" in Gal 6,16 is likely a further development of the use of Isa 54,1 in Gal 4,27. In Isa 54,10 God says to Israel "But my lovingkindness (dsx) will not be removed from you, and my covenant of peace (Mwl#$) will not be shaken". The LXX renders the Hebrew dsx by e!leoj ("mercy") and Mwl#$ by ei)rh/nh, ("peace"). The only other times in which the two Hebrew words occur in such close connection (e.g., within an eight-word range)¹⁴ are Jer 16,5 and Ps 84,10, the former referring to God’s removing of "lovingkindness" and "peace" when the nation goes into captivity, and the latter alluding to the return of these two aspects of divine favor when God restores the nation