Isaiah is one of the most appealing and quoted books of the Bible, especially because of the Messiah portion of the text. The prophet Isaiah is considered the most important evangelist of the Old Testament. This is an analytical summary of the book of Isaiah, based on the Great News Bible and the chapter by Hans-Winfried Jüngling in the authoritative work Einleiting in das Alte Testament by Erich Zenger and others.
The structure
The Book of Isaiah can be roughly divided into eight parts:
It starts with an opening statement stating that the book contains visions of Isaiah – the son of Amoz – about Judah and Jerusalem. Also a chronological order is insinuated in which the names of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah are mentioned. This shows that the book takes place in the second half of the eighth century. However, from chapter 40 onwards the names of these kings and Isaiah are no longer mentioned. The city of Babylon and King Cyrus, who lived in the mid-sixth century, are mentioned. The book thus makes a time jump of two centuries between chapters 39 and 40. This is why parts 40 – 55 are said to come from a kindred spirit of Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah. This is the second of the three major parts of the Book of Isaiah, which is also divided into the parts of Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah and that of Trito-Isaiah.
The second part runs from 1.2 to the song of thanksgiving in 12.6. In this first part the themes of sin, catastrophe and resurrection, restoration of Judah and/or Jerusalem emerge four times. Another layout shows three concentric text areas. The first area deals with the theme of law and righteousness, then Jerusalem and Zion, pride, the trial of YHWH, pride again and finally the theme of law and righteousness again. This area contains verses 1,2 – 5,7. The second area goes from 5.8 – 10.19. This is about the lamentations, the anger of YHWH, an I-narration, a stranger’s narration, another I-narration, the anger of YHWH and the lamentations. The third area runs from 10.20 – 11.16 and is about the hope for Israel, the coming of danger and the hope for the people of YHWH.
The third part consists of Isa. 13.1 – 23.18. This part is about the prophecies against foreign nations. A subdivision is also possible here. The three parts are separated by a date in the text. The prophecies in the first part concern Babylon, the king of Babylon, Assyria and Philistia. The second part is about Moab, Damascus and Israel, Assyria, Cush and Egypt. The last part is about Babylon, Duma/Edom, Arabia, Jerusalem, Tire and Sidon.
The fourth part consists of Isa. 24 – 27. Here is a piece of end times literature, also known as the Isaiah Apocalypse. The end of the world or world power is announced, but also salvation on Mount Zion.
The fifth part consists of Isa. 28 – 35. It is the part of the lamentations. These lamentations are about Ephraim, Ariel, the people, the sons, Jerusalem and the destroyer. These lamentations always present a catastrophe followed by recovery.
The sixth part, which consists of chapters 36 – 39, is a history of the salvation of Zion and the healing of King Hezekiah. It tells about the siege of Jerusalem and the theme of trust in God is strong. King Ahaz’s unbelief, depicted in chapter seven, is contrasted with King Hezekiah’s confidence.
The seventh part consists of chapters 40 – 55. Broadly speaking, this is about the return from Babylon and the restoration of Zion and Jerusalem. Throughout this section the theme is the word of God. The text is bordered by a prologue (40, 1 – 11) and an epilogue (55,10 – 11.12 – 13). The intermediate piece is separated into a part with YHWH as the subject and a part with the new Exodus as the subject. Each part is made up of pieces that end with a song. The prophecies about the servant of the Lord also belong to this seventh part. Four facts about this servant and the text are certain: 1) They consist of two first-person narratives and two narratives about a servant. 2) The servant is called Israel in 49.3. 3) In 50, 4 – 9 the narrator calls himself a student. Then in 50, 10 he calls himself his servant. 4) A fixed connection between the four texts is always the suffering of the servant.
In the first text the servant has possession of the spirit of God and then tries to transfer good to humanity. In the second text the servant is in the service of God and addresses a universal crowd. In the third text he is a disciple who does not avoid suffering, but hopes for God’s help. In the fourth text, God and a group speak about the servant and especially the suffering of the servant, the suffering that benefits humanity. Throughout the passage of Deutero-Isaiah the servant can be seen as Israel. The first text could also refer to Cyrus.
The eighth part is the last part with chapters 56 – 66. The theme of law and justice is strongly emphasized here. The word pair father and mother is used here as a metaphor. The structure of this part can be viewed in two ways, using word pairs and a concentric structure. In the first way a division is made:
1) The word pairs here are righteousness – justice and salvation – righteousness. These word pairs correspond to 56.1 – 63.6. Revenge is seen here as justice and salvation. 2) Here the word pair is father – mother and it refers to verses 63,7 – 66,24. In a human speech God is seen as father and in a divine speech as mother. The concentric structure consists of a total of fifteen parts with the following topics:
- Israel/the people of God (56, 1 – 8 and 66, 7 – 24)
- False worship (56, 9 – 57, 13 and 66, 1 – 6)
- Salvation for the people (57, 14 – 21 and 65, 17 – 25)
- The people’s failed search for God (58, 1 – 14 and 65, 1 – 16)
- Indictment and confession of the people (59, 1 – 15a and 63, 7 – 64, 11)
- The arm of YHWH (59, 15b – 20 and 63, 1 – 6)
- The luminous brilliance of Sion (60 and 62)
- Mental giftedness (61)
There is a kind of unity effect throughout the book. Concepts such as the holy (Israel) and Zion in particular ensure this. The entire book also returns to God’s accusation in verses 1, 2 – 3 and at the end of the book the mentioned themes, keywords and theological state of affairs are brought together in a reinforced manner. Examples of this are the themes of heaven and earth, the relationship between father and mother and sons and the falling away from God. A final characteristic of the coherence between the different parts of the Book of Isaiah is the theme of guilt, with which the three major parts end and the second part begins.
The emergence
The Book of Isaiah has a very long history. It starts with some basic information. The great Isaiah scroll is dated to the second half of the second century BC. This shows that the size of the Book of Isaiah was already determined at that time. Quotations and allusions from the New Testament indicate that the Book of Isaiah already had its current size at that time. The book Jesus Sirach from the second century BC. is also a proof of the current size, because in Sir. 48, 22 – 25 reference is made to Isa. 1, 1, Isa. 36 – 39 and Isa. 40 and beyond. The LXX editors of the Book of Isaiah recognize its current size in the third century.
There are two ways to reconstruct the history of its origins. Firstly, the search for the origin and thus prove a certain history of origin. Secondly, to prove that a certain hypothesis about the history of its origins is incorrect. A major problem is the question to what extent the text parts actually come from Protojesaja. There is no evidence for this, only conjecture. It is arguable that Proto-Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem and Judah from about 740 to 701 and that he had a crowd of disciples around him, but the form and extent of his words can only be guessed at.
In the time of King Josiah (637 – 609), the Assyrian editorial had a major influence on the Isaiah texts. This is because of the role that Assur played in it. There are two models with which the history of the chapters from 40 can be viewed. The first model is based on its own history of development. The second model assumes that the part from chapter 40 is a continuation of chapters 1 – 39.
- According to B. Duhm, the largest part of 40 – 55 comes from Deutero-Isaiah, who wrote it around 540 in Lebanon. The prophecies about the servant of the Lord were written later and chapters 56 – 66 even later. The whole of 40 – 66 would then have been written in the third century. In this case, the question why this part and the first part of Protojesaja were combined is difficult to answer. OH Steck has a different view of the origins of chapters 40 and beyond. According to him, after 540, parts 40 – 55 were created in several steps, after which chapters 60 – 62 were still written. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323, those parts would be combined with parts 1 – 39 to form the book of Great Isaiah. The missing pieces were then added in several steps. A third option in this model comes from U. Berges. He thinks that the statements of an anonymous person working in Babylon from 550 to 539 were collected by students and then written down by the Golar editorial staff. The text was then treated by the first Jerusalem editorial team after 521, resulting in the more Jerusalem/Zion-oriented parts. This also includes the prologue, after which parts 1 – 32 are added. Chapter 33 then works as a bridge. In the middle of the fifth century the text went through the second Jerusalem redaction and in the second half of that century chapter 35 functioned as a new bridge and parts 60 – 62 were added. After a few more chapters were added by the conversion editors, the remainder was added by the editors of the congregation of servants at the end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth century.
- Since the text 40 – 55 responds to many parts of 1 – 32, it is easy to imagine that 40 – 55 continues with parts 1 – 32. Chapter 33 serves as a bridge. Parts 56 – 59 and 60 – 62 were created in this way.
- Sweeney has another hypothesis. He assumes four main stages in the composition of the book.
- Statements from Isaiah are the basis for development. Chapters 1 follow from his words; 2 – 4; 5 – 10 and 28 – 32.
- At the end of the seventh century there is the Josiah – Isaiah book. This includes Chapters 5 – 12; 14 – 23; 27; 28 – 32 and 36 – 37.
- At the end of the sixth century (520 – 515) an editor added their own texts. These are Zion scrolls about Israel and the nations, texts about the return of the exiles, texts about King Cyrus and hymnic texts.
- A final editing at the end of the fifth century completes the book. Little can be said about the true history of its origins. However, Duhm’s hypothesis is now outdated.
Politics
The history of the Book of Isaiah takes place between the middle of the eighth century and the middle of the third century. So a period of five centuries. Divided into three major parts, this gives the following picture in relation to politics.
- Chapter 1 – 39: From 740 to 690 the prophet Isaiah is active in Jerusalem and Judah. There was political peace at that time. It is a heyday for the upper layers of the population. However, there is great impoverishment for the lower layer of the population. Isaiah sees this and makes the following pleas:
- A social – political plea for law and justice.
- A plea for trust in God. This is associated with Ahaz. Ahaz is asked to join Aram of Syria and Israel in an anti-Assyrian coalition. He chooses not to do this and is therefore threatened by the kings of Syria and Israel. He then calls for help from the Assyrians, which is seen as disbelief in God by Isaiah.
- Once again a plea for trust in God. This time it is associated with King Hezekiah in the years 705 – 701. Hezekiah does have confidence, with the result that Jerusalem is not captured by the Assyrian king Sennacherib.
- Chapter 40 – 55: This takes place during the exile in Babylon. Deutero Isaiah asks for trust and faith in God the savior, who sends King Cyrus as a kind of Messiah. Cyrus arranges the return to Jerusalem.
- Chapter 56 – 66: During this time around 520, the restoration of Jerusalem is realized. God’s salvation works if you rely on justice and righteousness from YHWH. This takes place during the time of the Persian Empire.
The main theme
Some themes have already been mentioned in the structure, history and politics. Five main themes are equally important to mention:
- The sacred in chapter 1 – 39
- Theological anthropology in chapter 1 – 39
- The act of salvation as new creation in chapters 40 – 55
- Vicarious suffering of the servants in chapters 56 – 66
- Zion/Jerusalem as a place of salvation and as a beloved place of YHWH throughout the book