ISAIAH, BOOK OF

poem announcing the near advent of the 'day of Jahweh* against 'everything proud and lifted up' (26-2i), another (3i"i5)dracribingtheininiinent social disintegration of Judah, and tracing its cause to the moral condition of the nation, and a third denouncing the light and luxurious ladies of Jerusalem (3»6-4>, the catalogue in prose of 3^^-^ being perhaps an interpolation), appears to preserve the earlier teachmg of Isaiah. It has been thought that in 20-" Isaiah writes with theexperienceof the great earthquake (Zee 14^) of Uzziah's time fresh in mind, and that 3'* contains an allusion to Ahaz (died 7 728) aa the reignmg king. The section, like the Book of Amos (Am 98*-"), was provided by an editor (cf . 4* and 3^^), as many think, rather than by Isaiah himself, with a consolatory conclusion. The opening poem (22-*) ,if not, aa some still consider, Isaiah's, was incorporated by an editor. It is also included in the Book of the Twelve (Mic 4*-*; see Micah).

Ch. 5. Of independent origin are w.^-'- ^-s*. ^-30.

Vv.i-'. Theparabolicsongofthevineyard pointing to the coming rejection by Jahwen of unworthy and ungrateful Judah. The song is Isaiah's, but whether composed early or late in his career is disputed.Vv.^-^^ : six, perhaps originally seven, 'Woes' — some of them fragments. These cannot easily be dated, nor are they necessarily all of the same date; they may owe their present arrangement to an editor rather than to Isaiah. Vv.^s-so; the refrain of v.^^ connects this with Q'-IO*, of which poem it probably formed the last strophe.

Ch. 6. Isaiah's own record of his call in the year of Uzziah's death(B.c. 740±) .written perhaps some years later.

7^-8^^. Narratives (m part, and originally perhaps wholly, autobiographical) relating to prophecies delivered during the Syro-Ephraimitish War in B.C. 734, In detail: 71 -18, Isaiah's interview with Ahaz; the sign of Immanuel (7"); v.^fi, perhaps interpolated; 7"-^, somewhat frag-mentary, and probably not the immediate continuation of 71-16; gi-*^ two signs indicating that Syria and Ephraim will perish before Assyria; w.^-*, Judah, not having trusted in Jahweh, will also suffer, and (w.^- 1") so will the nations that oppose Judah; vv.^1-1^, Jahweh the only real and true object of fear; w."-^^, the conclusion — ;his disciples are to preserve and witness to what he has said.

819-9'. In spite of the link between S^" and 8" it is very doubtful whether this section was originally attached to the preceding, which seemed to reach a very definite conclusion m 8'8-i8. If not, its date is very uncertain. It consists of an obscure fragment or fragments (8'^-^) describing a period of great distress, a statement in prose of an imminent change of fortune (90- and a Messianic poem (9^-') celebrating the restoration, triumph, and prosperity of the people under their mighty Prince. Those who deny in loto the existence of Messianic passages in Isaiah's prophecies naturally treat this poem as a later product, some assigning it to about B.C. 500. The positive defence of Isaianic authorship is rendered difficult by its isolation and by the absence (not unnatural in a poem dealing entirely with the ideal future) of direct allusions of Isaiah's age.

98-10* with 525 (26)-3o, A. carefully constructed poem of five strophes of nearly (and perhaps in its original form of exactly) equal length, marked off from one another by the refrain in 912. "• 21 iqi (526). it belongs to Isaiah's early period (about B.C. 735), and deals with the collapse of the Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, before the Assyrians, who, without being named, are vigorously described in b^-^^.

105-27. Assyria will be punished for its pride and mis-understanding of the purpose for which Jahweh used it. Date much disputed; probably only in part the work of Isaiah.

1028-32. A dramatic idyll portraying an (imaginary) Assyrian descent on Jerusalem. The period in Isaiah's lifetime to which it could best be referred is 701.

IQu. 34. Appended to the preceding poem, and pointing out that Assyria will perish ]ust outsicfe the city on which it has descended.

Ch. 11. Messianic prophecies : (a) w.^-^, description of the new prince of the house of JesSe^David) , and of the ideal con-ditions that will exist under his reign; (fa) v.'; (c) w."-", the restoration of Jewish exiles. The last section clearly seems to be post-exilic; for it presupposes the exile on an extensive scale not only of Israelites, which might be ex-plained by the events of b.c. 722, but also of Jews, which can be satisfactorily explained only by the captivity of 597 and 586. The first section must also date from after 586, if the figure of the felled tree in v.i implies that the Davidic monarchy has cesised.

Ch. 12. A psalm of thanksgiving. If most of the psalms in the Psalter (see Psalms) are later in origin than the age of Isaiah, this psalm probably is so likewise.

ISAIAH, BOOK OF

13-23. The 'Book of Oracles' (AV 'Burdens'). The untitled sections, 1424-26 (1428-32) 1712-M ig. 20, which deal with Judah, as contrasted with most of the Oracles, which are against the foreign nations, perhaps formed no part of the original book.

131-1413. The fall of Babylon (1319 143- 22). The section contains two poems (132-22 and 14*^-21) in the same rhythm as is used in tne elegies of the Book of Lamentations; be-tween the poems, and at the close of the second, are short prose passages (li^-**- 22f-). The section throughout presup-poses conditions resembling those presupposed in cbs . 40-65, and is.as certainly as that section, to be referred not to Isaiah, but to a writer living after 586, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldseans (cf. 13^^), whose king was kingof Babylon (cf. 14*). To the Assyrians, who play so conspicuoiis a part in Isaiah's prophecies, there is naturally no allusion; for with the fall of Nineveh about b.c. 606 the Assyrians ceased to count, and Babylon, which in Isaiah's time was subject to Assyria, here figures as possessed of world-wide dominion. Again, the Tpoint of the prophecy in 14i'- is to ' be observed: it is restoration from exile; the Exile itself is, for this writer, an existing fact, which of course it was not for Isaiah. From the allusion to the Medes (13^^) only, and not to the Persians or to Cyrus, it has commonly been inferred that this section is somewhat earlier than 40-56, and was written about B.C. 649.

1424-27. A short prophecy, perhaps of the year 701, predicting the overthrow of the Assyrian invaders of Judah. __ 1428-32. Philistia warned: according to the title, delivered in the year that Ahaz died C? B.C. 728). Neither this date nor even the Isaianic authorship of the passage is universally admitted.

Cha. 16. 16. The fate of Moab. The prophecy is provided with an epilogue, 16^8'-, written at a later date (and not claiming to be by the author of the prophecy), explaining that what was predicted long ago will oe fulnlled within three years. 1ji style the prophecy is very generally admitted to be singularly unlike tnatof the better attested prophecies of Isaiah; it is therefore either attributed to an anonymous prophet who was earlier than Isaiah, and, as some thinkj lived in the reign of Jeroboam 11 . , the epilogue in this case bemg regarded as Isaiah's(though it contains nothing very characteristic of Isaiah), or the prophecy as well as the epilogue is assigned to a writer later than Isaiah. Much of the material of 15>-16i2 appears to be worked up from older material, and some of it is in turn used again in Jer

4gS. 29-38.

171-11. The impending fall of Damascus, Syria, and Ephraim (cf, 7-8^^): a prophecy of Isaiah's before the fall of Damascus in b.c. 732.

1712-14. The roar of hostile nations (presumably in the Assyrian army) advancing, which are to be suddenly dis-persed. Date uncertain.

Ch. 18. A difficult prophetic poem containing much that is exceedingly obscure; it is commonly understood to em-body Isaiah's disapproval of accepting proffered Ethiopian assistance; if this be correct, it may be assigned to some time between 704-701.

19^-'^. Jahweh's judgment on Egypt, which will take the form of civil discord (v.^), foreign dominion (v.*), and social distress. Yy}^-^, the conversion of Egypt, which, together with Assyria, will worship Jahweh. Date of both sections much disputed; assigned by some to Isaiah and to the time of the defeat of the Egyptians by Sargon (? V.2) atHaphiain 720. Manyquestion the Isaianic author-ship, especially of w.^^ C^^) -26^ ^nd some see in v.^^ an allusion to the temple of Onias in Heliopolis, built about B.C. 170 (Josephus, BJ, VII. x. 2-4). See Ib-ha-hehes.

Ch. 20. A narrative and prophecy showing how Isaiah insisted that it was folly to trust in the Mizrites and Cushites (Arabians,accordingtosome, butas conmionly interpreted, Egyptians and Ethiopians) . The date in v.^ corresponds to B.C. 711.

21^-1", Avisionof the fall of Babylon (v.^) before Elamites {i.e. Persians) and Medes (v.2). Like 40-55, this prophecy was written between 549, when Cyrus of Persia conquered Media, and 538, when Babylon fell before him.

21"*- and 21'3-'7. Brief and olpscure oracles on (a) Edom; (fa) some nomad tribes of Arabia.

22^-". Isaiah declares to Jerusalem, once (or, as others interpret it, now) given up to tumultuous revels (v.2), that it has committed unpardonable sin iyM) . Assigned by some to B.C. 711, when Sargon's troops were at Ashdod (ch. 20); by others to the time of revelry that followed Sennacherib's retreat in 701.

2216-26. Singular among Isaiah's prophecies in that it is addressed to an individual, namely Shebna.the governor of the palace,who is threatened with disgrace, which in 701 had

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