by Stephen Rodgers
ISAIAH IN 10 WORDS OR LESS
“A coming messiah will save people from their sins.”
TITLE
I’ll let you in on a little secret: this section is about to get really repetitious for the next few months. ALL the prophetic books take their name from the prophet who…well…prophesied them. So there’s really no great mystery here. However, there may be some good background material…
MSB:
The book derives its title from the author, whose name means “The LORD is salvation,” and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus. Isaiah is quoted directly in the NT over 65 times, far more than any other OT prophet, and mentioned by name over 20 times.
Per Constable:
The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the other prophetical books, comes from its writer. The book claims to have come from Isaiah (Isa 1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2; 37:2, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8), and Jesus Christ and the apostles quoted him as being the writer at least 21 times, more often than they quoted all the other writing prophets combined. There are also many more quotations and allusions to Isaiah in the New Testament without reference to Isaiah being the writer. The only Old Testament book referred to more frequently than Isaiah in the New Testament is Psalms.
AUTHOR & AUDIENCE
I’m going to have to stake out some rather serious real estate either in this section or in the OBJECTIONS section below to deal with the issue of bipartite or tripartite authorship (over and against the traditional claim of a single author and a unified book). I’ll deal with that later and just use this section to give you a brief biography of Isaiah son of Amoz, sometimes referred to as the “prince of prophets.”
So let’s start with the summary out of the MSB:
Isaiah, the son of Amoz, ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah: Uzziah (called “Azariah” in 2 Kings), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isa 1:1), from ca. 739–686 B.C. He evidently came from a family of some rank, because he had easy access to the king (Isa 7:3) and intimacy with a priest (Isa 8:2). He was married and had two sons who bore symbolic names: “Shear- jashub” (“a remnant shall return,” Isa 7:3) and “Maher-shalalhash-baz” (“hasting to the spoil, hurrying to the prey,” Isa 8:3). When called by God to prophesy, in the year of King Uzziah’s death (ca. 739 B.C.), he responded with a cheerful readiness, though he knew from the beginning that his ministry would be one of fruitless warning and exhortation (Isa 6:9–13). Having been reared in Jerusalem, he was an appropriate choice as a political and religious counselor to the nation.
Isaiah was a contemporary of Hosea and Micah. His writing style has no rival in its versatility of expression, brilliance of imagery, and richness of vocabulary. The early church father Jerome likened him to Demosthenes, the legendary Greek orator. His writing features a range of 2,186 different words, compared to 1,535 in Ezekiel, 1,653 in Jeremiah, and 2,170 in the Psalms. Second Chronicles 32:32 records that he wrote a biography of King Hezekiah also. The prophet lived until at least 681 B.C. when he penned the account of Sennacherib’s death (cf. Isa. 37:38). Tradition has it that he met his death under King Manasseh (ca. 695–642 B.C.) by being cut in two with a wooden saw (cf. Heb. 11:37).
The primary audience that Isaiah addressed were the people of Judah, who were failing to live according to the requirements of God’s law. (As previously mentioned, the “Covenant Lawsuit” is a recurring theme throughout all of the prophetic books). However, it should be understood that while his audience was Judah, his message actually encompassed Israel and the surrounding regions.
DATE
As mentioned in the excerpt from the MSB above, we actually have a very good idea of the time period during which Isaiah prophesied: roughly from 740 BC to 700 BC (which we know since he names the relevant reigning monarchs at the outset of the book in Isa 1:1). Additionally, while it’s not completely clear how active his ministry was beyond that, we know that he was still alive in 681 BC, since he recorded the death of Sennacharib (Isa. 37:38).
BACKGROUND & SETTING
There are some similarities between Judah during the ministry of Isaiah and the last several decades in the United States. Essentially there was a period of increasing economic and political prosperity that unfortunately was accompanied by moral decline as well. So on one hand, Judah was able to successfully resist the encroaching Assyrians (unlike the northern kingdom of Israel), even to the point that Babylonian envoys were seeking political and military alliances (2 Kings 20:12 ff). On the other hand, the spiritual state of Israel was in such decline that that was less difference (spiritually speaking) between Israel and the pagan world-powers with each passing day.
This was the context into which Isaiah stepped as a prophet of the LORD.
HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES
There are three major themes that run throughout Isaiah:
- Judgment and Salvation. Often overlooked by critics, the entire book of Isaiah was written under the presupposition that Judah was doomed. God is the “Holy one of Israel” (Isa. 1:4) who must punish the rebellious (Isa. 1:2). But He tells Isaiah that He will yet have compassion on them (Isa. 14:1-2) and redeem them (Isa. 41:14, 43:3, 49:8).
- God as King. Isaiah pictures God as the sovereign King, seated on a throne, and reigning not just over Israel, but over all of creation and history as well.
- The Suffering Servant. Perhaps the most notable theme of Isaiah, this theme is featured in four “servant songs” (Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) that describe the coming Messianic King. What makes this servant of God so notable is that He would bring justice and salvation not just for Israel (Isa. 42:1-17; 43:1-7, 14-21; 44:21-23) but for the Gentiles as well (Isa. 42:6; 55:4-5; 53:5-12; 61:1-2). When we get to the NT, we will see that this servant is identified as none other than Jesus Christ (Mt. 12:18-21; Lk. 4:20-21).
INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES
In regards to interpretation, Isaiah is probably one of the more hotly contested books of the Bible, nevermind just the OT, or even the prophetic books. It’s definitely up there with Revelation and Song of Solomon, and depending on the theological controversies du jour, James and/or Genesis. You see, almost any position that wants to argue one way or the other regarding the state of future Israel is going to reach pretty deep into the book of Isaiah for their pet prooftexts. And just to be clear, I don’t mean to denigrate the various positions themselves, merely point out that they all use Isaiah in one way or another to justify their conclusions.
Generally however, the major issues have to do with whether the promises made by God through Isaiah regarding the future state of Israel are meant to be fulfilled literally (in which case they would apply to Israel) or figuratively (in which case they would apply to the church). And while the prophets often spoke in highly poetic language, if one expects to interpret the fulfillment of the earlier prophecies literally, then it would be reasonable to expect to interpret the later prophecies literally as well (barring some hermeneutical reason for expecting otherwise).
LITERARY FEATURES
Per the ESVSB:
The overall genre of the book is prophecy. Although biblical prophets primarily tell forth God’s message in their contemporary situation, and less frequently foretell the future, the last third of Isaiah is an exception in being mainly predictive of the future. It is important to clarify two literary features of the foretelling: first, having been received in visions, it has many figurative elements; and second, its purpose is not simply to tell the future but to express the author’s sense of Israel’s place in God’s overarching redemptive plan for the world.
OBJECTIONS
There really is only one major objection that the secular mind brings to bear on Isaiah, and it’s a considerable one: just how many Isaiah’s were there really? I’ll let Constable set the scene for you (emphasis mine):
There is no record of any serious scholar doubting the Isaianic authorship of the entire book before the twelfth century when Ibn Ezra, a Jewish commentator, did so. With the rise of rationalism, however, some German scholars took the lead in questioning it in the late eighteenth century. They claimed that the basis for their new view was the differences in style, content, and emphases in the various parts of the prophecy. Many scholars have noted that it is not really the text itself that argues for multiple authorship as much as the presence of predictive prophecy in chapters 40—66, which antisupernaturalistic critics try to explain away. Many modern rationalistic critics believe the purpose of prophetic literature is simply to call a particular people to faith in God, not to predict the future. However if the prophets did not predict the future, their theology is questionable. They frequently claimed that the fulfillment of their predictions would validate their theology, and it did. Six times in Isaiah God claimed the ability to predict the future (Isa. 42:8-9; 44:7-8; 45:1-4, 21; 46:10; 48:3-6).
I really do believe that cuts to the core of the issue. In case you didn’t follow that, let me summarize it for you:
- Secular critics content that there were 2-3 different prophets who wrote what we now know as the book of Isaiah.
- “Proto-Isaiah” wrote chapters 1-39 and lived during the time described in Isaiah 1:1.
- “Deutero-Isaiah” wrote chapters 40-55 and lived sometime in the 6th century BC, in the time of the return of the Babylonians exiles.
- “Tritero-Isaiah” wrote chapters 56-66 and lived sometime in the 5th century BC (although some scholars dispute this and lump him in with the second Isaiah).
I believe that the evidence strongly points to the author of Isaiah being Isaiah the son of Amoz alone. Arguments in support of this generally fall into three major categories: Biblical and historical attestation, thematic continuity, and the role of prophecy. I’d like to quote the ESVSB on all three of these issues, and summarize each section with my own comments.
Biblical and Historical Attestation. There is unified testimony from the ancient world for single authorship. (1) The NT refers to passages throughout the book as the work of Isaiah (see Matt. 3:3; 4:14–16; 8:17; 12:17–21; 13:14–15; 15:7–9; Mark 7:6–7; Luke 3:4–6; 4:17–19; John 1:23; 12:37–41; Acts 8:27–35; 28:25–27; Rom. 9:27–29; 10:16, 20–21; 15:12). The NT acknowledges no other author or authors. The testimony of John in John 12:41 is especially instructive: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” “These things,” which is plural, refers to the two previous quotations in John 12:38 (using Isa. 53:1, from the so-called “Second Isaiah”) and John 12:40 (using Isa. 6:10, from so-called “First Isaiah”), but John refers to the one person, Isaiah, who both “saw his glory” and “spoke of him.” (2) The intertestamental book of Sirach (48:24–25) and the first-century Jewish historian Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 11.5–6) attest Isaiah’s authorship of the whole book. (3) A Hebrew manuscript of Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls bears witness to the seamless unity of the book as the work of Isaiah. (4) It is hard to imagine how prophets could have issued such oracles as those of Isaiah 40–66, which were of such importance in the history of Judah, and yet fade into obscurity. (5) Later OT authors seem to cite prophecies from chapters 40–66, which they could not have done if the book were broken up as described (e.g., see note on 60:7, used in Ezra 7:27).
Short version: the apostles, Christ Himself, and our earliest historical records all indicate that the multiple-authorship theory was an utterly foreign idea.
Thematic Unity. There are many distinctive features of Isaiah’s style that run through all three parts. For example, Isaiah’s characteristic title for the Lord is “the Holy One of Israel,” which appears 25 times in the whole book (12 times in Isaiah 1–39; 11 times in chs. 40–55; and twice in chs. 56–66). It appears only six times outside of Isaiah: twice in Jeremiah, three times in the Psalms, and in 2 Kings 19:22 (cf. Isa. 37:33). The phrase “high and lifted up” is a feature of Isaiah, appearing in Isa. 2:12–14; 6:1; 52:13; 57:15 (i.e., in each of the three sections; see note on 6:1). The notes will show other aspects of coherent thought and expression in Isaiah. Any differences of style can be explained by the different topics of the chapters and by different stages in Isaiah’s life (e.g., Isaiah may have written chapters 40–66 after the Assyrian invasion of 701 b.c.).
Short version: if you’re going to argue against single-authorship, you need to account for the unlikely event that 2-3 different writers managed to be so consistent across a 300+ year period. Naturalism is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways; simply saying that a Biblical view of prophecy is unlikely is insufficient…you have to show that a competing explanation is significantly more plausible. In this case, the competing explanation actually flies in the face of the thematic and textual evidence.
The Role of Prophecy. The predictive material in chapters 40–66 is highly relevant both to the exilic audience and to Isaiah’s own day. Certainly it demonstrates the Lord’s rule over history; these chapters appeal to it for that purpose (e.g., Isa. 41:21–29), and Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 11.5–7) records a story of the impression the specific prediction of Cyrus (Isa. 44:28) made on the Persian monarch when he learned of it (a prediction made about 150 years in advance). The biblical worldview, which begins with the majestic Creator, can readily accept this. Further, chapters 40–66 often mention pagan religion, but specifically Babylonian material is rare (Isa. 46:1); most address Canaanite idolatry, which Judah mixed in with their worship of Yahweh (e.g., Isa. 57:5; 66:3, 17; cf. 40:19; 41:7, 29; 42:17; 45:16–20; 46:6; 48:5; and the extended satire on idolatry, 44:9–20)—and this was no longer a problem in Judah after the fall of Jerusalem.
Short version: even in an ANE context, Isaiah was understood to be prophecy. It’s also worth bearing in mind that predicting the future was NOT the primary work of the Biblical prophets (speaking the very words of God was), it was simply the means by which they were authenticated. Think of it like a police officer showing their badge to you. Their job is to enforce the law, not to show their badge. They simply show the badge in order to establish their identity, and therefore their right to enforce the law.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
- Isaiah 6:3
- Isaiah 7:14
- Isaiah 9:6
- Isaiah 53:6
DID YOU KNOW?
- Objections to the fact that Isaiah 40-55 clearly deal with the post-exilic period overlook the fact that the names he gave his children points to that very fact as well…all the way back in chapter 7 (Isa. 7:3; 8:3).
- Recent archaelogical discoveries confirm that paganism in Judah got so bad that some Israelites worshiped Asherah as the LORD’s consort (Isa. 17:8).
- The Hebrew phrase for “a memorial and a name” (yad vashem) was many centuries later chosen as the name of the principle Holocaust monoment in Jerusalem in modern Israel (Isa. 56:5).
Other Works Referenced
- Apologetics Study Bible, “Isaiah”
- Archaeological Study Bible, “Introduction to Isaiah”
- ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Isaiah” (PDF sample from their RESOURCES page)
- MacArthur Study Bible, “Isaiah”
- NET Bible, Isaiah
- NIV Study Bible, Isaiah
- Reformation Study Bible, “Isaiah”
- The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, “Isaiah”
- Know Your Bible
- Dever, The Message of the Old Testament
- Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
- Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook