Isaiah

Of Isaiah's personal life we know but little, and that of slight importance. Born presumably in the second quarter of the eighth century, probably in Jerusalem, he received his call in the year of Uzziah’s death (c. 740 B.C.). Unlike Amos, he did not refuse to be called a prophet, and was indeed so pre-eminently a prophet that his wife could be called the prophetess (8:3). In 735 he had a son, Shear-jashub, old enough to accompany him to the famous interview with Ahaz; and soon after that interview a second son was born, bearing, like his elder brother, a significant name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. He lived through the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and much, if not the whole, of Hezekiah's. Whether he survived into the reign of Manasseh is uncertain. We know only that he was still active at the time of Sennacherib's invasion (701). The late tradition that he was sawn asunder by order of Manasseh, in the persecution that accompanied the reaction against the prophetic teaching, may be true (Heb. 11:37), but the silence of Kings is strong negative evidence against it. His work was doubtless carried on after his death by the disciples (8:16) whom he had gathered about him, and who kept alive the higher prophetic faith, preparing the way for Deuteronomy, for the Reformation under Josiah, and the teaching of Jeremiah.

A great deal in our present book belongs to later writers than Isaiah. The book obviously falls into three divisions : (1) 1-35. (2) 36-39, (3) 40-66. The last of these is itself a compilation: it includes no Isaianic matter, and the earliest sections in it are a century and a half later than Isaiah's time. The second is an extract from 2 Kings, but it contains an oracle attributed to Isaiah. But even 1-35 contains much that is not Isaiah's. Indubitably this is so with 13:1-14:23, 24-27, 34f, and almost universal consent would add 21:1-10. But this by no means exhausts the list. We should probably include 11:10-16, 12, 15f, 21:11-17, 23, 33, to which in the judgment of several scholars 2:2-4, 4:2-6, 19 should be added. And even the authentic prophecies have probably in some instances been expanded by later insertions. Some scholars insist that the two great Messianic passages, 9:2-7, 11:1-9, are much later than Isaiah's time.

Enough, however, of certainly authentic matter remains to make the prophet's significance clear to us and enable us to measure his contribution to religion. The account of the vision (6) in which he was consecrated to his vocation is here of fundamental importance. Overwhelmed with the majesty of Yahweh, crushed by the sense of his own uncleanness, as it stands revealed against the background of God’s holiness, he realises that he must confess also his people’s uncleanness, since his solidarity with them made it his own. Such sinfulness merits no milder penalty than death. Yet Judah may repent as he has repented, be cleansed as he has been cleansed; but since the prophetic message will harden rather than persuade them, he is assured that irretrievable judgment will overtake the great mass of the nation. The vision indeed suggests complete extermination; but the fact that early in his ministry Isaiah embodied in the name of his son Shear-jashub his faith that a remnant would turn to God, makes it probable that from the first this doctrine formed part of his message.

It was suggested by his own experience, by Yahweh's choice of Israel, which surely would not be stultified, and by the assurance the vision conveyed to him that Yahweh of a truth dwelt in the Temple at Jerusalem. His forecast of the future was thus one of mingled gloom and hope; only a remnant would turn and live, but still a remnant. Yet the sense that his ministry was destined to failure did not lead him to relax his efforts. The uncleanness of his people was expressed in various ways, partly in idolatry and in vice, especially, however, in the oppression of the poor and defenceless and in the maladministration of justice. Reform might avert disaster, otherwise ruin was inevitable. Assyria would be the rod of Yahweh’s anger. When Ahaz, panic-stricken at the invasion of Syria and Ephraim, which was intended to force Judah into a coalition against Assyria, was meditating an appeal for help to Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, Isaiah warned him against a step which would free him from a temporary embarrassment at the price of accepting the Assyrian king as his suzerain. He bade him trust in God and despise his foes, 'two tails of smoking firebrands,' a source of annoyance, but impotent for serious mischief (7:4). The heavy tribute to Assyria would have to be wrung largely from the needy; social misery would be aggravated, reform indefinitely postponed.

And why pay Assyria for doing the work her own interest would compel her to do for herself? The faith of the mother, who would name her son Immanuel, thus uttering her conviction that God was with His people, would shame the policy of the unbelieving king. But when the fatal step had been taken and Judah's independence had been bartered for Assyria's help, Isaiah counselled his countrymen against futile attempts at revolt. For no pause could be set to Assyria's advance by any human power. Assyria was indeed to be broken and cast aside, but only by Yahweh, and not till she had achieved His purpose. Meanwhile he commends his motto, 'In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.' For when Assyria's work is done, her haughtiness and braggart arrogance will be punished. Then, when she is destroyed and Judah is free, the era of blessedness will begin. There will be a stable government and a righteous administration under the Messianic king, who passes through victory to an abiding peace. Agriculture will flourish, the land will be very fruitful, prosperity will abound. Judah's reliance will be placed on no earthly power, but on Yahweh alone.

No Hebrew prophet has a style more majestic than that of Isaiah. The loftiness of thought and feeling finds a fit expression in his lofty eloquence. In the noble splendour of his verse he is surpassed by no poet of his race. No attentive reader can fail to observe the felicities of his rhythm, the choiceness of his diction, the concise power of his descriptions, the volcanic force of his denunciation, the serene beauty with which he suffuses his pictures of Israel's future blessedness. Nor can he miss the range and aptness of his metaphors. No adequate estimate of the later writers in 1-39 can be attempted in our space, but although the gift of expression is naturally at very different levels, some passages are of high literary quality.