CHAPTER 3
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
A brief Look at Isaiah
In doing literary analysis we need to understand the background of the book, such as: the author, the addressees, the date, and the purpose. Until about the twelfth century A.D. no one seriously questioned that the prophet Isaiah wrote the entire book that bear his name. [1] However, higher critics in Germany began to challenge its unity of origin (see p. 85). The opinion of these men continued to gain ground until, at length, the view was almost universally accepted that the book had been written by at least two authors, a so-called first Isaiah, who wrote chapters 1–39 and who did his work at the close of the 8th century b.c., and a second Isaiah, or Deutro-Isaiah, who wrote chs. 40–66, toward the close of the Babylonian exile. There are many modifications of the above theory. Some critics assign more than half the book of Isaiah to the Maccabean period, that is, to the 2d century b.c.[2]
Since
the rise of historical criticism in the seventeenth and eighteenth century the
study of Isaiah has been based on the assumption that the distinct part of the
book are to be understood as contemporary with and referring to different
stages of Israel’s history. The stages go from the rise of Assyrians Empire in
the last of half of the eight century BCE to the first century of the Persian
Empire in the sixth and fifth century BCE.[3]
Expository
Bible Commentary asserted that division of Isaiah makes the writer is not only
Isaiah: “everyone knows that the Book of Isaiah breaks into two parts between
chaps, 39, and 40. Part 1 of this Exposition covers chaps, 1-39. Part 2 will
treat of chaps, 40-56. Again, within chaps, 1-39., another division is
apparent. The most of these chapters evidently bear upon events within Isaiah’s
own career, but some imply historical circumstances that did not arise till
long after he had passed away. Of the five books into which I have divided Part
I, the first four contain the prophecies relating to Isaiah’s time (740-701
B.C.), and the fifth the prophecies which refer to later events (chaps. 13-14
23; 24-27; 34; 35).” [4]
According SDA bible
commentary, one of the chief arguments of these critics for a composite
authorship of Isaiah is that chs. 40–66 appear to them to be written, not from
the standpoint of an author living at the close of the 8th century b.c., but from that of one who lived
near the close of the Babylonian captivity. The mention of Cyrus by name (chs.
44:28; 45:1) is regarded by them as conclusive evidence that these chapters
were written during the time of Cyrus, that is, in the second half of the 6th
century b.c. This concept, of
course, is based on the a priori assumption that prophetic foreknowledge is
impossible. [5] This assumption led first
to the division of the book into two parts, chs. 1-39 and 40-66.
In
the late nineteenth century Bernhard Duhm refined this hypothesis of the three
Isaiah, chs.1-39 (first Isaiah), 40-55 (second or Deutero-Isaiah) and 56-66
(Third or Trito-Isaiah), based on the rough movement from threats of Assyrians
and Babylonian invasion to their accomplishment, especially in the sixth
century exile, and to the promises and accomplishment of return and finally of
rebuilding.[6] However, although certain
critics have assigned a considerable portion of the book of Isaiah to the
Maccabean period, there is evidence that at that time the entire book existed
as a single unit. In last two decades there have been attempts, in rhetorical
and redaction-critical studies, to look at the structure of Isaiah in its major
parts as a whole. More recently John D.W. Watts, in his two-volume commentary
on Isaiah, has argued that Isaiah is a unified work, a vision, composed in the
mid-fifth century B.C. [7]
However, according to the
SDA Bible commentary, among many evidences which support the unity of this book
and writer is found in the Qumran manuscript. “The most impressive evidence,
however, that the book of Isaiah was regarded as a single unit centuries before
Christ, comes from ancient Bible manuscripts dating from that period and found
in 1947 in a cave near the Dead Sea. Among these are two scrolls of the book of
Isaiah known as 1QIs and 1QIs. There is no evidence whatever that chs. 1–39
ever existed by themselves as an independent document apart from chs. 40–66;
all evidence is to the contrary. There is every reason to believe that Isaiah
the prophet was the author of the entire book that bears his name.”[8]
Historical Setting
Isaiah was born about 765
B.C. In Isa 1:1 we are told that his father was Amoz, who according to Jewish
tradition was a brother of Amaziah, the father of the king Uzziah of Judah. If
the tradition is correct, Isaiah was a nephew of king Amaziah and a cousin of
king Uzziah. In any event, his entire conduct and bearing lead us to believe
that he was of royal blood. He had ready access to king Ahaz and king Hezekiah
as well as to member of royal court and of the priesthood. He kept in touch
with the political events and was familiar with the name of the palace
officials. The city of Jerusalem appears to have been his home, since he was
well acquainted with its various sections and environs as well as the
characters of its people.[9]
The prophet Isaiah was the
author of the book called by his name. The son of Amoz and a scion of the royal
line, he was called to the prophetic office in his youth, toward the close of
the reign of Uzziah (Azariah, 790–739 b.c.),
during the coregency of Jotham. This would place the call between the years 750
and 739 b.c. His term of ministry
continued for at least 60 years, spanning the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah.[10]
The
kingdom of Judah seems to have been in a more flourishing condition during the
reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, than at any other time after the revolt of the ten
tribes. Jotham maintained the establishments and improvements made by his
father; added to what Uzziah had done in strengthening the frontier places;
conquered the Ammonites, who had revolted, and exacted from them a more stated
and probably a larger tribute. However, at the latter end of his time, the
league between Pekah, king of Israel, and Retsin, king of Syria, was formed
against Judah; and they began to carry their designs into execution.
It
was around 750 B.C. when Assyria began to emerge as first of the great world
empire in international politics of the Near East. A notable ruler began to
head the destiny of this nation, a man by name Tiglath-pileser, who reigned,
and reigned very capably as far as he empire building was concerned, from
744-727. When he first appeared on the
scene, Israel and Judah had experienced a resurgence of her one-time greatness,
not so much because of true strength as because of the weakness of the
neighboring nations. [11]
In
745 Tiglath-pileser invaded Babylonia, in 744 he marched against the northeast,
and from 743 to 738 he engaged in tremendous campaigns against the northwest
and west that brought him into conflict with Menahem of Israel and “Azriau from
Iauda” of Judah). Azariah seems to have been the moving spirit in a major
coalition of Western nations aimed at preventing Assyria from gaining control
of the Mediterranean area. In 737 Tiglath-pileser’s campaign was again directed
to the northeast, against the region of Media. But in 736 he was back once more
in the northwest, where he engaged in a desperate five-year struggle to bring
Western Asia completely under his control. In 735 his campaign was directed
against Urartu, in the region of modern Armenia; in 734 he warred against
Philistia, and in 733 and 732 against Damascus. In 731 he was once more in Babylonia,
and in 730, according to the record, he remained at home. But in 729 he was
again in Babylonia, where he “took the hands of Bel” and thereby became king of
Babylon under the reigning title of Pulu . In 727 there was another campaign
against Damascus.[12]
Isaiah
lived in a troubled world. For both Judah and Israel it was an era of peril and
crisis. The people of God had fallen deeply into ways of sin. Under Azariah
(Uzziah) in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel both nations had grown strong and
prosperous. But material prosperity brought spiritual decline. The people forsook
God and His ways of righteousness. Social and moral conditions were much the
same in both nations. Everywhere there was miscarriage of justice, for
magistrates judged for reward and rulers were primarily interested in pleasure
and personal gain. Greed, avarice, and vice were the order of the day. As the
rich became richer the poor became poorer, many sank into the depths of poverty
and were reduced to the status of slaves. The social and moral conditions of
the times are graphically depicted by Isaiah and his contemporaries, Micah,
Amos, and Hosea. Many of the people forsook the worship of Jehovah and followed
the heathen gods. Others clung to the outward forms of religion but knew
nothing of its true meaning and power.
[1]Ronald F. Youngblood, The Book of Isaiah, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books, 1984, 1978) p. 15
[2]Nichol, Francis D, ed., The
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary vol. 4, (Washington, D.C.: Review
and Herald Publishing Association, 1978), 4:246
[3]Peter D. Miscall, Isaiah (Sheffild, England: JSOT Press,1993),
9.
[4]Gaebelin Frank E., Expositor’s Bible Commentary; vol 6, (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 7.
[5]Nichol, Francis D. ed., The
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, (Washington, D.C.: Review and
Herald Publishing Association) 1978.
[6]Peter Miscall D., Isaiah, (Sheffild, England: JSOT Press
1993), 9.
[8]Nichol, Francis D., The
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, (Washington, D.C.: Review and
Herald Publishing Association) 1978.
[9]Ronald F. Youngblood, The Book of Isaiah, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books, 1984, 1978), 10.
[10]Nichol, Francis D., The
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald
Publishing Association) 1978.
[11]Herbert C. Leupold,
Exposition of Isaiah volume I, (Grand rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1971), 12.
[12]Nichol, Francis D., The
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, (Washington, D.C.: Review and
Herald Publishing Association, 1978).
[13]Harry Bultma, Commentary on Isaiah, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Kregel Publications, 1981), 18.
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