Lessons on Isaiah Lesson # 2
Introduction to the Book of Isaiah
Introduction:
A. the Book Itself: Isaiah is the second longest book in the Old Testament and the most quoted book from the Old Testament in the New Testament. There are over 400 allusions in the New Testament to Isaiah. The book is known for its sheer beauty and theological grandeur. It is often considered to be the centerpiece of prophetic literature.
B. the Man: Isaiah was a Judean, son of Amos (not Amos the Prophet who is in the Old Testament). He ministered from 740 BCE possibly till 685. Perhaps, he was related to royalty. He certainly had access to Kings. Some see him as a cousin to Uzziah (II Chronicles 26:22 and he could have been Uzziah’s official chronicler.) He was married to a prophetess and had two sons. According to Jewish tradition Isaiah was sawn in half by Manasseh (see the Assumption of Isaiah and Hebrews 11:37).
C. the Times: Isaiah lived in a time when Judea had been separated from her sister country Israel for nearly 200 years. Israel did not know it at the time of the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry but her days of existence as a nation were about to end. That end came about as a result by the great Assyrian Empire.
740 – Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, had started conquering Syria, Israel’s northern and larger neighbor.
733 – The Syro-Ephramite war starts. Many Israelites are deported and the nation of Israel is reduced to the region around the capital of the country which was Samaria. Pekah, the king of Israel and Reza, the king of Damascus (Syria) try to remove Ahaz, the king of Judah because he would not go along with their alliance to fight the king of Assyria.
721 – Samaria falls after a three year siege to Assyria. Sargon II, king of Assyria, takes many more Israelites into captivity.
713 – The Assyrians attack on the Philistine coast. Edom, Moab, Judah and the Philistine city of Ashdod join forces and revolt against the Assyrians. They appeal to Egyptian help because the Egyptians feared the Assyrians would eventually try to come further south and attack Egypt itself. The Assyrians defeat the coalition and the smaller states sue for peace.
705 – Sargon II dies and this sets off another round of revolt among these smaller states. The revolt is encouraged by Egypt that is trying to use these smaller states as a buffer between the great Assyrian army and the land of Egypt.
701 – Sennacherib, the new Assyrian king, first had to put down a revolt in Babylon, but by 701 turns back to fight in the West and attacks Judah. He devastated much of the Mediterranean coast and destroyed many Judean cites. It was later in the year that he sends envoys to terrify Judah into surrender, but Hezekiah the king of Judea, though full of fear does not capitulate. He trusts in God and in a word that Isaiah the prophet is given by God. When the morning dawns, the Assyrian army has been struck by a plague and Sennacherib has to return to his home country. Jerusalem is spared, though the rest of the country is in ruins. This is beautifully portrayed in Isaiah chapter 1.
The kings during Isaiah’s ministry are as follows:
Uzziah 790-740
Jotham 751-732
Ahaz 735-716
Hezekiah 728-687
Manasseh 696-642 the overlap was due to the son co-reigning with their fathers.
D. Outline of the Book of Isaiah:
1. From Bush, LaSor and Hubbard: This outline has eight parts and is more descriptive than interpretive.
I. Judah’s Sins 1-12
II. Prophecies against the Nations 13-23
III. Purpose in the Future Judgments 24-27
IV. Warnings against Human Salvation Efforts 28-35
V. Historical Interlude 36-39
VI. Deliverance 40-48
VII. Salvation from Sin 49-59
VIII. Glory 60-66
2. From Harrison and W. Brownlee: This outline has two major parts and sees a pattern that is repeated in each part.
I. Part I 1-33
A. Ruin and Restoration 1-5
B. Biographical Material 6-8
C. Agents of Divine Blessing and Judgment 9-12
D. Oracles against the Nations 13-23
E. Universal Redemption and Deliverance of Israel 24-27
F. Ethical Sermons 28-31
G. Restoration of the Nation 32-33
II. Part II 34-66
A. Ruin and Restoration 34-35
B. Biographical Material 36-39
C. Agents of Divine Blessing and Judgment 40-45
D. Oracles against the Nations 46-48
E. Universal Redemption and Deliverance of Israel 49-55
F. Ethical Sermons 56-59
G. Restoration of the Nation 60-66
3. Traditional Critical Outline: This sees the book written by three persons or three Isaiahs. Some scholars see as many as four authors or see an Isaiah school that compiled the material.
I. Isaiah 1-39 ca. 700 B.C.E.
II. Deutero-Isaiah 40-55 ca. 550 B.C.E.
III. Trito-Isaiah 56-66 ca. later
4. From A. Motyer: He sees the book in three parts but all of it coming from the historical Isaiah but in three different periods of his life.
I. the Book of the Kings 1-37
A. The Preface: Diagnosis and Prognosis 1-5
B. Triumph of Grace 6-12
C. The Universal Kingdom 13-27
D. The Lord of History 28-37
II. The Book of the Servant 38-55
A. Historical Prologue 38-39
B. Consolation of the World 40-42:17
C. The Redemption of Israel 42:18-44:23
D. The Great Deliverance 44:24-48
E. The Greater Deliverance 49-55
III. The Book of the Anointed Conqueror 56-66
A. The Needs and Sins of the Lord’s People 56-59:13
B. The Coming of the Anointed Conqueror 59:14-63:6
C. Prayer and Response 63:7-66
II. Authorship (primarily form Bush, LaSor and Hubbard)
The discussion of why many scholars doubt the unity or single authorship of Isaiah could be summed up in three categories: Historical perspective, style and theological themes.
1. Historical Perspective: Chapters 1-39 seem to point to Israel’s contact with Assyria which would imply an eighth century time. Chapters 40-55 seem to stress Israel’s contact with the Babylonian exiles. In other words, it seems to imply Jerusalem has fallen which would be after 587 or a sixth century time. In the final chapters of 56-66 there appears to be a Palestinian context where Jerusalem has been built up again which would imply a date after 539 or after the Israelites had returned from Babylon.
2. The literary style of chapters 40-66 is held to be different than those of chapters 1-39.
3. The theological themes seem different in 40-66 than those in chapters 1-39. The arguments for a “Trito-Isaiah” are the seeming reestablishment of Jerusalem, a missing emphasis on “returning” home. Rather, concentration on the miserable conditions seems to dominate. Salvation appears more in an earthly, materialistic context.
Before we discuss these three categories in might be helpful to say three things. First, in some scholarly circles it is taken for granted that there was a “Second” or “Deutero-Isaiah” and yet the issue is far from clear that such an author existed. Second, one’s position concerning Isaiah authorship is not necessarily the best test of orthodoxy. We should not dismiss an individual as unspiritual if they see multiple authors of these 66 chapters. Third, along with Brevard Childs, I believe it is necessary to grapple with the meaning of the book, not necessarily nail down the process of its composition. Childs does not even think it is possible to do so and therefore would be wasted energy.
Now in regard to the three categories we will briefly discuss how it might be possible to see single author of the book of Isaiah.
1. Historical Perspective: If we turn to Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1 we have mention of Cyrus the Great or the Great Persian ruler who conquered Babylon in 539 and was responsible for allowing the Jewish captives to return to their homeland. If Cyrus comes into prominence in 539 B.C.E. and Isaiah ministers near 700 B.C.E. you have a 150 year difference. However, if one does believe in the possibility of divine, supernatural, prophesy then this 150 + year difference takes on a different nuance. The mention of Cyrus can either be a problem or a proof. What becomes important is the disposition of the scholar towards the possibility of miracles. Does the scholar himself believe a prophet near 700 B.C.E. could speak about the distant future concerning an issue that has little relevance to their own time and to name a particular individual ruler who would arise from a political configuration that during the prophet’s time did not even exist?
There is another issue and that is the call expressed in chapters 40-55 for the people to have hope. The prophet seems to be addressing a broken people. It is assumed that Judah was not that broken of a society until after the Babylonian invasion and the devastation they caused. Would God give the prophet words of comfort for a people in the future? What is interesting is that these chapters have encouraged and blessed nations and individuals ever sense they have been read. Could they have functioned that way even before 539? These texts have certainly functioned this way for many generations in entirely different cultures after the specific reference they appear to be aimed at in the discouraging time for Judah after 539.
2. Style Arguments: All scholars admit that arguments based on style are tenuous at best. An author’s style can vary in his or her life time due to a change of mood, or which audience is being addressed, or what period in the author’s life the material was written (remember Isaiah did live a long time). Do we ourselves write exactly the same way we did years ago? Even those who posit a “Babylonian Isaiah” admit he tried to imitate the Isaiah of Jerusalem. Several studies show that certain vocabulary words are fairly evenly distributed in each of the three sections (1-39, 40-55, and 56-66). The same is true with concepts and literary images. J. Reinken’s modern statistical methods prove neither one, nor many authors. (See R. K. Harrison, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p.896.)
3. Theological Themes: The evidence is not clear from the texts that three distinct periods and therefore social settings are behind the three divisions of 1-39, 40-55 and 56-66. The grammatical-historical hermeneutic postulates that prophesy arose from a particular historical situation that speaks primarily to their particular historical context (and only secondarily to the future). However, some prophesy is clearly predictive prophesy and some passages in 1-39 do not seem to be exclusively eighth century in their perspective. (Of course, those passages are then said to be added later and not original with Isaiah.) It is true that chapters 1-39 seem to anticipate the exile or judgment and chapters 40f stands with in it and anticipate deliverance. However, chapters 40-55 have few references to a Babylonian setting and one would expect more than is present in the text. There are hints in the text itself that Isaiah himself saw much of his ministry as designed for future generations. He seems to imply that only after the coming Fall of Jerusalem will his message be revisited and believed (see 8:16, 9:9-13 and 30:8-9).
In addition, many references in 56-66 do not have a Babylonian situation implied, but a Jerusalem one. These are then relegated to Palestine after the Exile, but such references in 56-66 are not in harmony with post-exilic Jerusalem. Post-exilic Jerusalem no longer struggled with idolatry, high places, etc. which are mentioned in chapters 56-66. An example of this is in 59:1-8 which gave a list of sins that sound much more like Amos or Hosea than Malachi or Nehemiah.
Finally, we have no evidence that parts of our present book of Isaiah circulated without being attached to the whole. As far as we know only one book (the one we now have) ever existed. As Brevard Childs would say, it is only in the form, now in the canon, that has ever been authority or functioned as canon and it combines judgment and deliverance.