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Mirrored from MyJewishLearing.com accessed 05 December 2022
Isaiah ben Amoz: Political Prophet (Isaiah: 1-39)
Isaiah's greatness lies not only in his ethical teachings, but in his central
involvement — and prophetic intervention — in the political events of his day.
Isaiah son of Amoz towers among the giants of classical biblical prophecy — repeatedly challenging the nation and its leaders with the ethical and religious will of God, and providing instructions and visions of moral renewal and universal peace. In such ways, he both dramatizes the engagement of a prophet with the social and political events of his times and expresses an impassioned concern for a life governed by covenantal values.
For Isaiah, deceit and dissembling, like moral blindness and greed, corrupt the religious spirit and are anathema to God. The ancient covenant is thus no abstract teaching, but a concrete challenge for rectitude and justice in daily life. Intensely alive in the troubled times of Judah in the late eighth century B.C.E., Isaiah’s words and deeds have became a model for a life of prophetic witness to divine demands.
The Turmoil That Shaped Isaiah’s Vision
Isaiah’s prophetic career was enmeshed in the political and cultural turmoil of the times. According to the superscription to the book, this career spanned the last half century of the eighth century B.C.E. ‑including all or part of the reigns of the Judean kings Uzziah (769 -733), Jotham (758‑743, regent), Ahaz (743‑733 B.C.E., regent; 733‑727 B.C.E.), and Hezekiah (727‑698 B.C.E.). According to the date provided in Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah experienced an awesome vision of the Lord in the year that King Uzziah died (733 B.C.E.). If this experience was his commission to divine service, then his prophetic career began with the death of the monarch. Alternatively, the vision marks a renewal or redirection of his prophetic career begun sometime earlier (and not otherwise indicated).
Aram and Israel Ally Against Judah
We first find Isaiah involved in historical events during the reign of Ahaz, shortly after 735 B.C.E. At that time, according to the Book of Kings, “King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel (the northern Israelite nation) advanced on Jerusalem (the capital of Judah, the southern Israelite nation) for battle. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome [him]” (2 Kings 16:5). The account of this alliance against Judah and Jerusalem is expanded upon in Isaiah 7:1‑16. Here we learn that the two kings conspire to dethrone Ahaz and replace him with someone called “son of Tabeel” (7:6).
The reasons for this attack are not stated, though it is generally assumed that Aram and Israel joined as allies against Assyria and moved against Jerusalem in the hopes of overcoming Ahaz’s resistance and dethroning him. Undoubtedly, this was part of a larger anti‑Assyrian alliance, in which Tyre and perhaps even Philistia joined in; but one should not dismiss longtime rivalries between Israel, Aram, and Judah, in particular in light of Judah’s expansion into Israel’s trans‑Jordanian territory of Gilead during the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham. This event may have encouraged Israel to join with Aram in the hopes of weakening Judah.
Isaiah Appeals to King Ahaz
During the period prior to the invasion, Isaiah approaches Ahaz, who apparently intends to join forces with Assyria (2 Kings 16:7‑9; Isaiah 7:13, 20), and delivers several oracles. The prophet regards Ahaz’s action as indicating a lack of faith in divine support, and he also believes that such an attack will not materialize.
In Isaiah 7:3, Isaiah goes out to the Fuller’s Field with his son Shear‑Yashuv (meaning “[only] a remnant will turn back”) and confronts the king with the words: “Be firm and be calm. Do not be afraid and do not lose heart on account of those two smoking stubs of firebrands, on account of the raging of Rezin and his Arameans and the son of Remaliah…. It shall not succeed, it shall not come to pass…. If you [Ahaz] will not believe, you shall not be established” (7:4‑9).
The Prophecy Concerning Immanuel
Shortly, thereafter, the prophet refers to the fact that “the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son,” who should be named Immanuel (“With us is God”) (7:14). It is not clear whether this is to be the prophet’s own son or a royal scion; in any case, he predicts that (in a short period of time) before the lad can “reject the bad and choose the good” (7:16), the danger will pass.
“Pillage Hastens, Looting Speeds”
Another prophecy, probably also from this period of imminent siege, involves the birth of another son to the prophet (whose wife is here designated “the prophetess”). This child will be named Maher‑shalal‑hash‑baz (“pillage hastens, looting speeds”) — a reference to the despoliation of Aram and Israel at the hands of Assyria (Isaiah 8:1‑3).
In 732 B.C.E., in fact, Assyria invaded and sacked Damascus, the capital of Aram. Thus was Jerusalem saved. Whatever prompted Isaiah to refer to Assyria as the agent of divine wrath against his people is not certain (see 10:5‑6); equally uncertain is the report of a military advance against Jerusalem in 10:27‑34.
Israel Revolts Against Assyria, and Falls
The hegemony of Assyria over the western Asiatic kingdoms refueled the fires of revolt. In the year 724 B.C.E., King Hoshea of Israel decided to discontinue his tribute payments to King Shalmeneser V of Assyria and establish diplomatic ties with Egypt (2 Kings 17:4.). This proved disastrous. Shalmeneser V reacted with force and besieged Samaria. Sometime in late summer or early autumn of 722 B.C.E., Samaria buckled under the siege and fell. Shalmeneser’s successor Sargon II repeatedly boasted of destroying Samaria, but it would appear that the city had already fallen.
The surviving region was made into an Assyrian province (Samerina). The upper class was deported to Babylonia and Media (2 Kings 17:6), and a new upper class was imported from Babylonia and possibly Syria as well (2 Kings 17:24). It was this great northern destruction that caused Isaiah’s contemporary Micah to wail: “Because of this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked! I will lament as sadly as the jackals, as mournfully as the ostriches. For her [the nation’s] wound is incurable, it has reached Judah, it has spread to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem” (Micah 1:8‑9).
Isaiah Goes Naked
Several years later, in 714 B.C.E., a different revolt broke out in southern Palestine ‑ led by the city of Ashdod. This event is recorded in Isaiah 20. Once again the prophet took an active part, dramatizing the dangerous consequences of impetuous revolt against Assyria.
His symbolic and excessive performance (he went “naked and barefoot for three years,” verse 31) probably had a greater popular impact than his ongoing oracles to the people of Judah to trust the Lord for victory and not to rely upon the words and weapons of Egypt (Isaiah 30‑32). Isaiah’s warnings proved true. Sargon II smashed the coalition in 712 B.C.E., and while Judah participated in the event, there was no Assyrian action against her.
Assyria’s Siege of Jerusalem
This was not the case, however, during the stormy political events of 701 B.C.E. In response to a widespread revolt in Palestine, Philistia, and Egypt that followed the death of Sargon II (705 B.C.E.), King Sennacherib of Assyria (701‑681 B.C.E.) invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem.
Isaiah’s Oracle of Deliverance to Hezekiah
Subject to taunts and destruction, King Hezekiah of Judah sought the word of God from Isaiah and received a prophecy of the salvation and deliverance of Zion. This miraculous episode is recorded in Isaiah 36‑38, but the reprieve did not save Judah from subjugation, tribute, and loss of territory (2 Kings 18:13‑16). The price of political activism was vassalage, for Isaiah’s great appeal for trust in God’s plan was ignored.
Isaiah: Court Prophet and Scribe?
Following these critical events, Isaiah’s voice fell silent. His direct access to King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:3‑24), his familiarity with Shevna, the royal chamberlain (22:15), and his prominent position during the reign of King Hezekiah, when he was summoned to provide oracles for the city and prayers for the king (Isaiah 37‑38), suggest that Isaiah had some court position‑possibly of a scribal nature. It is of interest, in this regard, that the Chronicler refers to him as a royal historian: “The other events of Uzziah’s reign, early and late, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz” (2 Chronicles 26:22). From this vantage point, he responded to the turns of political power with God’s word to him.
Isaiah’s Legacy in the Later Literature: Saint and Martyr
Looking back from the Hellenistic period, Ben Sira sang a song in praise of famous men and praised Isaiah as “the great prophet whose vision could be trusted” (Ecclus. 48:22). In due course, this revered prophet became the model of a saintly life. According to rabbinic and pseudepigraphical traditions, Isaiah died the death of a monotheist martyr, hacked to death during the reign of the ruthless paganizing King Manasseh (see B. Yevamot 49b and The Ascension of lsaiah 5: 11‑14).
Excerpted from The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot, and is reprinted with permission from the Jewish Publication Society.
Mirrored from MyJewishLearing.com accessed 05 December 2022
Isaiah 40-66: Return and Restoration
In Isaiah 40-66, the prophet(s) built on the theological
paradigms of Isaiah ben Amoz (Isaiah 1-39).
The second half of Isaiah speaks to a people despairing at the “loss” of their God, since their relationship with the deity had always presumed an intimate relationship with the land. These chapters, a lifeline to the exiles, are crucial in the development of Jewish theology, and most of the haftarot (synagogue prophetic readings) from Isaiah are drawn from them.
This article is excerpted from The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot and is reprinted with permission from the Jewish Publication Society.
The Commentators’ Puzzle
The Book of Isaiah as a whole (chapters 1‑66) constitutes the first of the three large collections of prophetic books in the received Hebrew Scriptures: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The opening superscription to the book dates the Prophetic mission of Isaiah ben Amoz from the reigns of Kings Uzziah and Ahaz, in the mid‑eighth century B.C.E. (Isaiah 1:1). Since Isaiah 40‑66 does not begin with any new chronological reference, the prophecies in the last half of the book were presumably understood by the ancients as part of the predictions of Isaiah ben Amoz.
The abrupt shift in the Isaianic corpus from oracles of doom to themes of consolation (beginning with Isaiah 40) has long drawn the attention of commentators –particularly since the prophecies of exile announced to King Hezekiah (in the first part) refer to the eighth century B.C.E., while the prophecies of return from exile (in the second part) refer to a historical reality two centuries later.
Splitting the Collection
Isaiah 40‑66 is an ensemble of several units that have been variously subdivided over the centuries. A broad consensus of scholarly opinion distinguishes three parts:
Part I, chapters 40‑48, is a collection of prophecies of comfort emphasizing an imminent redemption; these oracles arc addressed to the Babylonian exiles (called Jacob or Israel) and highlight the power of God as the creator of the universe and the fulfiller of prophecies.
Part 2, chapters 49‑55, is a group of prophecies directed toward Zion (called a bride or woman); these materials emphasize her reconciliation with God and physical restoration.
Part 3, chapters 56‑66, is a diverse group of prophecies of social and religious rebuke and of hope; these are apparently directed to the Judean community restored to its homeland.
A Theological Motherlode
Isaiah 40‑66 constitutes one of the richest theological collections in the Hebrew Bible. These chapters compose a virtual handbook of theological arguments and doctrines. As a collection of revelations on such themes as God’s uniqueness, Israel’s unique status, and the suffering of exile, chapters 40‑55 are beyond compare in postexilic literature. And as a series of universalist teachings on the participation of foreigners in the new Zion, the prophetic teachings in this collection stand in stark contrast to more exclusivist outlooks. It was presumably the exilic condition of the nation that elicited the polemical tone of the discourses–a tone that variously proclaims the good tidings of God’s advent and exhorts the people from their exilic ennui and despair.
Comforting the Exiles
The dominant concern of the collection is clear from the start. Isaiah 40 begins with a proclamation of hope and reconciliation. “Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her that her term of service is over, that her iniquity is expiated” (Isaiah 40:1‑2). In this call of comfort (nahamu), the despair of destruction and emptiness of exile is reversed.
Earlier, the ancient lament over Zion had proclaimed, “Alas! Lonely sits the city once great with people! … Zion spreads out her hands, she has no one to comfort [menahem] her” (Lamentations 1:1, 17); while now the prophet proclaims, “Truly the LORD has comforted [niham] Zion, comforted all her ruins” (Isaiah 51:3) and “Raise a shout together, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD will comfort [niham] His people” (52:9).
The news of God’s advent is announced, then, as a time when sorrows will be assuaged and divine forgiveness freely given. The very God who punished Israel in the past (42:24‑25) now proclaims His redemptive deeds on behalf of the exiles and Zion.
The Creator’s Power Survives the Exile
But the call falls on deaf and despairing ears. “Why do you say, O Jacob, …’My way is hid from the LORD, my cause is ignored by my God’?” (40:27). The exile had clearly induced a sense of divine distance and spiritual weariness (40:31). In order to counter this mood, the power of God (as creator and redeemer) is repeatedly stressed. “The LORD is God from of old, Creator of the earth from end to end, He never grows faint or weary, His wisdom cannot be fathomed” (40:28). The many references to God as the transcendent creator and as wise beyond measure are thus teachings designed to support the prophet’s claim that the prophecies of divine restoration will be fulfilled.
In this regard, we may observe that the most repeated epithets of God are those that proclaim His majesty as the one and only creator, the one and only God. He says, “I am the LORD and there is none else; beside Me, there is no god…. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe-‑I the LORD do all these things (Isaiah 45:5‑7). As “the LORD, who made everything,” He “annul[s] the omens of diviners and fulfill[s] the prediction of [His] messengers” (44:24‑26).
This emphasis recurs in the contentions addressed to the nations and their prophetic predictions (41:22‑23; 47:10‑15), and it is repeatedly found in polemics addressed to the people of Israel. Significantly, the power of God as Lord of all is juxtaposed to polemics against the people’s idolatry. He alone is the redeemer, and not the idols (42:15‑17; 45:15‑25); and He is the one who “foretold things that happened” (the present redemption) long beforehand (before the exile), so “that you might not say, ‘My idol caused them, my carved and molten images ordained them'” (48:3, 5). “For thus said the LORD, the Creator of heaven who alone is God …Who announced this aforetime? … Was it not I the LORD? … By Myself have I sworn … a word that shall not turn back: To Me every knee shall bend, every tongue swear loyalty” (45:18, 21, 23).
The proclamation of redemption may be trusted because the exile has come to pass. The only and unique Creator guides Israel’s national destiny–this is the prophet’s challenge to all disbelievers.
Monotheism Open to the World
In Isaiah 40‑66, then, monotheism is portrayed as a total and absolute phenomenon. But this does not lead to exclusiveness or intolerance. The foreigners are repeatedly promised access to the Temple and the divine service performed there–both as pilgrims and as practitioners (56:1‑8; 66:18‑21). The strident nature of these passages, with their bold assertion of priestly service by non‑Israelites, strikes one as a polemical stance in the postexilic community. ‘As for the foreigners … who hold fast to My covenant–I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar; for My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (56:6‑7).
Outline
I. The Judgments (1:1–35:10)
A. Judgment and Hope for Judah (1:1–12:6)
1. Judgement for Sin (1:1–6:13)
a. Judah’s Rebellion (1:1–31)
b. Hope for the Future (2:1–4:6)
((1) The Mountain of the House of the LORD (2:1–5)
(2) Judgement on Jerusalem and Judah (2:6–3:26)
(3) A Remnant in Zion (4:1–6)
c. The Song of the Vineyard (5:1–30)
d. Isaiah's Commission (6:1–13)
2. Prophecies Concerning Political Threats against Judah (7:1–12:6)
a. Message to Ahaz King of Judah (7:1–25)
(1) Aram and Israel Advance (7:1–9)
(2) The Sign of Immanuel (7:10–16)
(3) Judgement to Come (7:17–25)
b. Assyrian Invasion Prophesied (8:1–22)
c. Unto Us a Child Is Born (9:1–7)
d. Judgement against Israel (9:8–21)
(1) For Pride (9:8–12)
(2) For Hypocrisy (9:13–17)
(3) For Unrepentance (9:18–21)
e. The Destruction of the Assyrian Empire (10:1–34)
f. Messiah’s Kingdom through the Root of Jesse (11:1–16)
g. Joyful Thanksgiving (12:1–6)
B. Judgment and Hope for the Nations (13:1–27:13)
1. Judgements (13:1–23:18)
a. Against Babylon (13:1–14:23)
b. Against Assyria (14:24–27)
c. Against Philistia (14:28–32)
d. Against Moab (15:1–16:13)
e. Against Damascus (17:1–14)
f. Against Cush (18:1–7)
g. Against Egypt (19:1–20:6)
h. Against Babylon Again (21:1–10)
i. Against Edom (21:11–12)
j. Against Arabia (21:13–17)
k. Against the Valley of Vision (22:1–25)
l. Against Tyre (23:1–18)
2. Judgment and Promise for the Future (24:1–27:13)
a. God’s Judgement on the Earth (24:1–23)
b. Praise to the Victorious God (25:1–12)
c. A Song of Salvation (26:1–21)
d. The LORD’s Vineyard (27:1–13)
C. The Woes (28:1–33:24)
1. Woe to Ephraim (28:1–29)
2. Woe to David's City (29:1–14)
3. Woe to Those Who Rely on Foreign Alliances (29:15–24)
4. Woe to the Rebellious Children (30:1–33)
5. Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt (31:1–32:20)
6. Woe to Assyria (33:1–24)
D. Conclusion of Judgments and Hope (34:1–35:10)
1. Judgement on the Nations (34:1–17)
2. The Glory of Zion (35:1–10)
II. The Nation of Judah from Assyria to Babylon (36:1–39:8)
A. Judah Saved from the Assyrians (36:1–37:38)
1. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (36:1–22)
2. The LORD Delivers Jerusalem (37:1–38)
B. Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery (38:1–22)
C. Hezekiah’s Error (39:1–8)
1. Hezekiah Shows His Treasures to Babylon (39:1–2)
2. Isaiah Prophesies the Babylonian Exile (39:3–8)
III. The Salvation (40:1–66:24)
A. The Deliverance from Exile (40:1–48:22)
1. Prepare the Way for the LORD (40:1–31)
2. God’s Help to Israel (41:1–29)
3. God’s Servant (42:1–9)
4. A New Song of Praise (42:10–25)
5. Israel’s Only Savior (43:1–28)
a. The Holy One of Israel, your Savior (43:1–13)
b. A Way in the Wilderness (43:14–21)
c. Israel’s Unfaithfulness (43:22–28)
6. The LORD Has Chosen Israel (44:1–20)
7. Jerusalem to Be Restored (44:21–28)
8. God Calls Cyrus (45:1–25)
9. The Judgement of Babylon (46:1–47:15)
a. Babylon’s Idols (46:1–13)
b. The Humiliation of Babylon (47:1–15)
10. Deliverance Promised to Israel (48:1–22)
B. The Servant's Ministry (49:1–55:8)
1. The Servant and Light to the Gentiles (49:1–26)
2. Israel's Sin (50:1–3)
3. The Servant's Obedience (50:4–11)
4. Salvation for Zion (51:1–16)
5. God’s Fury Removed (51:17–23)
6. Deliverance for Jerusalem (52:1–12)
7. The Servant Exalted (52:13–15)
8. The Suffering Servant (53:1–12)
9. The Future Blessing for Zion (54:1–17)
10. Invitation to the Needy (55:1–8)
C. The Servants Inherit God’s Kingdom (56:1–66:24)
1. Salvation for the Nations (56:1–8)
2. The Wicked and the Servants (56:9–58:14)
a. Israel’s Sinful Leaders (56:9–12)
b. The Blessed Death of the Righteous (57:1–2)
c. God Condemns Idolatry (57:3–13)
d. Healing for the Repentant (57:14–21)
e. True Fasts and Sabbaths (58:1–14)
3. Prayer of Repentance (59:1–21)
a. Sin Separates Us from God (59:1–15)
b. Salvation is Only of God (59:16–19)
c. The Covenant of the Redeemer (59:20–21)
4. God’s Kingdom (60:1–62:12)
a. Future Glory for Zion (60:1–22)
b. The Year of the LORD’s Favor (61:1–11)
c. Zion’s Salvation and New Name (62:1–12)
5. Prayer for Mercy (63:1–64:12)
a. God’s Vengeance on the Nations (63:1–6)
b. God’s Mercies Recalled (63:7–14)
c. The People Pray (63:15–64:12)
6. The Righteous and the Wicked (65:1–66:17)
a. Judgement and Promises (65:1–16)
b. A New Heaven and a New Earth (65:17–25)
c. Heaven Is My Throne (66:1–6)
d. Rejoice with Jerusalem (66:7–14)
e. Final Judgments against the Wicked (66:15–17)
7. Call to the Nations (66:18–24)
* Outline is derived from:
The Holy Bible,
Berean Standard Bible, BSB
Copyright ©2016, 2020 by Bible Hub
Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
