Book of Isaiah
Isaiah (Hebrew ישׁעיהו Yeshayahu or Yəša‘ăyāhû) is a book of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, containing prophecies attributed to Isaiah.
It consists of prophecies delivered (Isa. 1) in the reign of Uzziah (1-5), (2) of Jotham (6), (3) Ahaz (7-14:28), (4) the first half of Hezekiah's reign (14:28-35), (5) the second half of Hezekiah's reign (36-66).
Thus, counting from the fourth year before Uzziah's death (762 BC) to the last year of Hezekiah (698 BC), Isaiah's ministry extended over a period of sixty-four years. He may, however, have survived Hezekiah, and later been martyred by being sawed in half. (For more information on Isaiah's life, see Isaiah.)
The book, as a whole, has been divided into three main parts:
- The first thirty-five chapters, almost wholly prophetic, Israel's enemy Assyria, present the Messiah as a mighty Ruler and King.
- Four chapters are historical (36-39), relating to the reign of Hezekiah.
- Prophetical (40-66), Israel's enemy Babylon, describing the Messiah as a suffering victim, meek and lowly.
The genuineness of the section Isa. 40-66 has been keenly opposed by able critics, who assert that it must be the production of a deutero-Isaiah, who lived toward the close of the Babylonian captivity. This theory was first formulated by
700 BC, could not have foretold the appearance and the exploits of
Cyrus, who would set the Jews free from captivity one hundred and seventy years later.
While the first 39 chapters of the book are primarily concerned with the threat from Assyria, chapters 40-66 appear address a different historical situation, namely the Babylonian captivity (and possibly the period after the exile), as a present reality.
The later chapters (40-66) differ stylistically and linguistically from those that precede it.
These and other considerations have led most modern critical scholars to conclude that the book of Isaiah, in its present form, is the result of an extensive editing process, in which the promises of God's salvation are re-interpreted and claimed for the Judean people through the history of their exile and return to the land of Judah. Since it is probably useless to try to reconstruct a precise account of the history of the book's composition, Biblical scholars such as Brevard Childs have argued for reading the book as a literary unity. Current research is exploring the book's intertextuality, the allusions and references later editors made to connect the different layers of the book.
Other scholars dispute these conclusions and argue for the unity of the composition of the book. They argue that the diversity of subjects treated of and the peculiarities of the prophet's position at the time the prophecies were uttered can sufficiently account for the differences in style, theme, and language. Furthermore, when the Septuagint version was made (about 250 BC) the entire contents of the book were ascribed to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. In the time of Jesus the book existed in its present form. Many prophecies in the disputed portions are quoted in the New Testament as the words of Isaiah (Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4-6; 4:16-41; John 12:38; Acts 8:28; Romans 10:16-21). Tradition has ascribed the whole book to one author.
Besides this, the internal evidence, the similarity in the language and style, in the thoughts and images and rhetorical ornaments, all points to the same conclusion; and its local coloring and allusions suggest its Palestinian origin.
Bibliography
Commentaries
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph. Isaiah 1-39 : a new translation with introduction and commentary. New York: Doubleday, 2000.
- —. Isaiah 40-55 : a new translation with introduction and commentary. New York: Doubleday, 2002.
- —. Isaiah 56-66 : a new translation with introduction and commentary. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
- Brueggemann, Walter. Isaiah. Westminster Bible Companion. Louisville, Ky.: WJKP, 1998.
- Calvin, John. Isaiah. Wheaton, Il.: Crossway Books, 2000.
- Childs, Brevard S. Isaiah. Louisville, Ky.: WJKP, 2001.
- Clements, R. E. “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah.” Interpretation 36 (1982), 117-129.
- Collins, John J. Isaiah. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Pr, 1986.
- Hanson, Paul D. Isaiah 40-66. Interpretation. Louisville, Ky.: WJKP, 1995.
- Whybray, Roger Norman. Isaiah 40-66. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981.
Articles
- Beuken, W. A. M. “Servant and Herald of Good Tidings: Isaiah 61 as an Interpretation of Isaiah 40-55.” In The Book of Isaiah/Le livre d'Isaïe. Les oracles et leurs relectures unité et complexité de l'ouvrage. Ed. Jacques Vermeylen. BETL 81. Leuven: University Press, 1989. 411-422.
- Laato, Antti. The Servant of YHWH and Cyrus: A Reinterpretation of the Exilic Messianic Programme in Isaiah 40-55. CB.OT 35. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiskell, 1992.
- Sommer, Benjamin D. A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusions in Isaiah 40-66. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1998.
This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernization.
