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Reading Notes for the Book of Isaiah
 
Message
 
Isaiah’s message is marked by dialectic between God’s sovereignty over the events of history and the centrality of Jerusalem with respect to kingship and worship. Judgment inevitably comes upon the city of God and all nations because of their rebellion. Yet, God will demonstrate his faithfulness by fulfilling his word of hope to his people.
 
Setting
 
Isaiah preached in Judah during the period of the Assyrian crisis (see 1:1). The major segments of the book of Isaiah are generally set against important moments of Judah’s history.[1] For timeline and scriptrue references see Selected Chronology of Empires for the Book of Isaiah.
            First, Ahaz faced significant pressure from a Syria-Ephraim coalition. Pekah king of Israel (Samaria, Ephraim) and Rezin king of Syria (Damascus, Aram) tried to persuade Ahaz, king of Judah to join them in an alliance against Assyrian (c. 735 BCE). When he refused they attacked Jerusalem, perhaps in a effort to have Ahaz replaced with a king favorable to the alliance. Ahaz turned to Tiglath-Pileser III king of Assyria for help, thus, becoming a vassal of the empire. The Syria-Ephraim threat forms the backdrop of the narrative of Isaiah 7 and the related oracles in 8-12.
            Second, Hezekiah took advantage of the change of Assyrian rulers between Sargon II and Sennacherib in 705 BCE to rebel against Assyria. Hezekiah sought help from Egypt (Isa 36:6; 30:1-7; 3:1-3) but it did not materialize. The Assyrian invasion of 701 BCE provides background for the oracles in Isaiah 28-35 and the narrative in 36-37.
            Third, when Hezekiah showed off the treasures of Jerusalem to Babylonian visitors Isaiah declared that the Babylonians one day would plunder Jerusalem and take the people captive (39). The anticipated Babylonian captivity serves as the basis for the hope of return from exile. The threatened judgment took place in the exiles of 597 and 586 BCE, the latter part of king Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The Babylonian exile functions as the background for the narrative of Isaiah 39 and the oracles in 40-55.
            Fourth, remnant of God’s people who would return from captivity beginning in 538 BCE under the rule of the Persian empire serves as backdrop for the oracles of hope in Isaiah 56-66.
 
Structure
 
The book of Isaiah is anthology of the prophet’s poetic oracles. The poems, along with a few narratives (6, 7, 20, 36-37, 38-39), are edited together into a carefully structured book. The first half of the book is mainly a word of judgment (1-35) and the second half a word of comfort (40-66). The narratives of 36-37 and 38-39 make transition between and connect the two parts of the book. Immediately after God delivered Hezekiah from the seeming inescapable Assyrian threat, Hezekiah’s pride seals his people’s doom by the hand of the Babylonians which functions as the basis for the comfort for Jerusalem.
 
Introduction (1-5)
Call (6)
Oracles against the Syria-Ephraim coalition (7-12)
Oracles against the nations (13-27)
Woe oracles and the Assyrian threat (28-35)
Delivered from Assyria and doomed to Babylon (36-39)
Comfort oracles for the exiles in Babylon (40-55)
Oracles of hope for the remnant returned from exile (56-66)

Click here for a more detailed view of the structure of the book.
 
The Prophet and the Book
 
The present tense force of the call for a new exodus from Babylon and Jerusalem as a new creation for the remnant who return from captivity (40-55, 56-66) gave rise to the idea that the book of Isaiah is comprised of materials from more than one author. The most popular form of the theory of authorship ascribes Isaiah 1-39 to the eight century BCE prophet, 40-55 to a sixth century exilic writer, and 56-66 to a late sixth or fifth century postexilic poet. The author and their respective parts of the book are conventionally referred to as I Isaiah (1-39), II Isaiah (40-55), and III Isaiah (56-66).
            Opponents of these views have argued vigorously for the unity of the book of Isaiah. Important differences between evangelical and critical scholarship turned on whether prophets offered predictive prophecy, the different styles of the different parts of the book, and numerous related issues. In recent years some evangelicals, who accept predictive prophecy, think in terms of the book of Isaiah being a composite from different hands, and while many critical scholars advocate the unity of the book, even while maintaining multiple authors. The “authorship” question is more difficult than ever, and continues to get much attention.[2]
            The canonical form of the book invites readers to consider the word of consolation (Isa 40-66) from the vantage point of the days of Hezekiah. The idea that God would forgive Judah and save them from the Assyrian treat after anticipating it through the first half of the book is exhilarating. The narrative of Hezekiah’s pride juxtaposes the inevitability of doom directly against the salvation of Jerusalem from Sennacherib. This striking juxtaposition offers readers the great theological contrast between God’s willingness to forgive and the depth of sinful pride even from amongst the best of the kings of Judah. The implications are many, and include the assurance of God’s faithfulness and goodness even in light of the necessary and inevitable judgment of the city of God.


[1] Indebted to Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1—39, Anchor Bible (Doubleday, 2000), 98-105; Blenkisopp, “Introduction to Isaiah,” New Oxford Annotated Bible, 3d ed. (2007), 974-77.
[2] For recent arguments concerning authorship of Isaiah, see in Richard L. Schultz, “How Many Isaiah Were There and What Does It Matter?: Prophetic Inspiration and Recent Evangelical Scholarship,” 15-70, in Vincent Bacote, et al, eds., Evangelicals and Scripture: Tradition, Authority, and Hermeneutics (InterVarsity, 2004); criticized by Kenton Sparks, God’s Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship (Baker Academic, 2008), 153; also see 147-49. For challenges from another direction, see Brevard Childs, “On Reclaiming the Bible for Christian Theology,” in C. Braaten and R. Jenson, eds., Reclaiming the Bible for the Church (Eerdmans, 1995), 1-17, esp. 7.

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