Grace Abounds

ISAIAHTHE

SCROLLOF

Originally published as Jesajas Bokrulle (XP Media, SE-136 44 Handen, Sweden; 2014).

Translated from Swedish into English by Julius Buelow.

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ISAIAHTHE

SCROLLOF

ITS UNITY, STRUCTURE, AND MESSAGE

SETH ERLANDSSON

GNORTHWESTERN PUBLISHING HOUSE

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

SETH ERLANDSSON

Contents

Preface .................................................................................... xi

Introduction ............................................................................ 1

Isaiah and the time in which he worked ............................. 1

The Bible critics’ division of the book of Isaiah ................... 4

How has the book of Isaiah supposedly been redacted together? ........................................................... 6

The criteria of the Bible critics ............................................. 7

The historical context and cohesion of the prophecies ........ 10

The book of Isaiah’s own composition .................................. 11

The importance of the authorship question for the interpretation ...................................................... 12

Characteristicly distinctive features of Isaiah .................... 14

CHAPTER 1. The prophet’s preface to his book ...... 19

1:1 The title of the book ........................................................ 19

1:2-9 Israel’s unprecedented rebellion ................................. 20

1:10-17 The people’s hypocrisy ............................................. 20

1:18-20 The Lord’s verdict of acquittal ................................ 20

1:21-25 Jerusalem has become a harlot ............................... 21

1:26-31 Judgment and salvation .......................................... 21

CHAPTERS 2–12. The hardening of the people and the salvation of the remnant ................................... 23

2:1-5 The mountain of the Lord and the salvation of the nations ............................................ 23

2:6-22 The Day of the Lord .................................................. 24

3:1-15 Judah’s and Jerusalem’s wretched condition ........... 25

3:16–4:1 The judgment against “Zion’s Daughters” ............ 26

4:2-6 “The Branch of the Lord” ............................................ 26

5:1-7 The song of the vineyard ............................................. 28

5:8-23 A sixfold woe to the ungodly ...................................... 29

5:24-30 The wrath and punishment of the Lord ................. 30

6:1-13 Isaiah’s commission.................................................... 31

7:1-9 Aram (Syria) and Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom) attack Jerusalem ............................................................. 32

7:10–8:4 The virgin’s son and the prophet’s son .................. 35

8:5-10 Shiloah’s calm waters or gushing floodwaters ......... 38

8:11-22 Fear the Lord alone! ................................................ 39

9:1-7 The Messiah will shine like a great light in the midst of spiritual darkness ................................. 40

9:8–10:4 The Lord’s wrath against Israel ........................... 42

10:5-19 The Lord’s woe to prideful Assyria ......................... 43

10:20-34 A remnant of Israel will turn back and be rescued ................................................................. 43

11:1-9 The Messiah and his kingdom of peace .................... 44

11:10-16 The spread of the messianic kingdom ................... 45

12:1-6 The redeemed sing a song of praise about their salvation ....................................................... 46

CHAPTERS 13–23. Proclamations of judgment against God’s enemies ......................................................... 47

Introduction to 13:1–14:27 .................................................... 47

13:1-22 The judgment against Babylon ............................... 48

14:1,2 The reestablishment of Israel .................................... 50

14:3-21 The rescued remnant’s triumph song over Babylon’s king ......................................................... 51

14:22-27 Assur-Babel will be crushed .................................. 52

14:28-32 The prophecy about the Philistines ...................... 53

15:1–16:14 The prophecy about Moab .................................. 53

17:1-11 The prophecy about Damascus ................................ 54

17:12–18:7 Woe to the people of the world power and to Cush ..................................................................... 54

19:1-25 The prophecy about Egypt ....................................... 5520:1-6 The prophecy concerning help from

Egypt and Cush ............................................................... 5821:1-10 The prophecy about the Chaldeans ......................... 5821:11,12 The prophecy about Edom ..................................... 6121:13-17 The prophecy about Arabia .................................... 6122:1-25 The prophecy about “the Valley of Vision”

(Jerusalem) ...................................................................... 6123:1-18 The prophecy about Tyre ......................................... 63Conclusion of the proclamations of judgment

in chapters 13–23 ............................................................ 65

CHAPTERS 24–27. God’s final judgment and victory ............................................................................... 67

24:1-23 God’s final judgment and his eternal kingdom of glory ............................................................................ 67

25:1-5 A song of praise to the Lord for his victory ............. 7025:6-8 The banquet of the Lord ............................................ 7125:9-12 Zion’s blessedness and Moab’s suffering ................. 7226:1-19 A song of praise concerning the Lord’s salvation .... 7226:20–27:1 In a short time the Lord will defeat

Zion’s enemies ................................................................. 7527:2-5 The Lord’s true vineyard ........................................... 7627:6-11 Both prosperity and suffering in the days

to come ............................................................................ 7727:12,13 The promise to the afflicted remnant .................... 80Conclusion to chapters 24–27 ............................................... 80

CHAPTERS 28–33. Five proclamations of woe concerning the Assyrian threat and the alliance with Egypt ................................................................................ 83

28:1-29 The first woe: Judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem ................................................................. 83

29:1-24 The second woe: The siege and

liberation of Jerusalem ................................................... 87

30:1-33 The third woe: The consequence of the alliance

with Egypt ....................................................................... 91

31:1–32:20 The fourth woe: The false and the true help .... 94

33:1-16 The fifth woe: Corruption will be punished

and Jerusalem will be saved .......................................... 98

33:17-24 The Messiah’s glorious kingdom ........................... 101

CHAPTERS 34–35. The eternal misery of God’s enemies and the glory of God’s kingdom ....... 105

34:1-17 The eternal misery of God’s enemies ...................... 105

35:1-10 The glory of God’s kingdom of grace ....................... 107

CHAPTERS 36–39. The culmination of the Assyrian affliction in 701 b.c. and God’s merciful actions towards Zion and its king ............... 111

Excursus: Hezekiah’s time, 715–686 b.c. ............................. 111

36:1-22 Sennacherib’s demand for Jerusalem’s

full surrender .................................................................. 114

37:1-38 The Lord’s miraculous rescue of Jerusalem ........... 117

38:1-22 Hezekiah’s sickness .................................................. 121

39:1-8 The ambassadors from Babylon ................................ 125

Introduction to chapters 40–66. Composition and historical excursus ........................... 129

The composition of Isaiah ..................................................... 129

Illustration ............................................................................ 133

Historical excursus: The Assyrian Empire and

Babylon’s prominent role during Isaiah’s time ............. 134

CHAPTERS 40–48. The salvation from Assyria-Babylon ..................................................................... 139

The Lord’s exaltation and power as the Lord of history (chs. 40–42) ...................................................................... 139

40:1-11 The true message of joy for God’s people ................ 139

40:12-31 Who can be compared to the Lord? ...................... 145

41:1-29 The Lord is the Lord of history ............................... 147

42:1-9 The Lord’s true servant ............................................. 157

42:10-17 The song of praise to the Lord for his salvation ... 159

42:18-25 Israel’s blindness .................................................... 161

The Lord’s exaltation and his ability to save (chs. 43–45) .. 162

43:1-28 The Lord’s salvation is an undeserved gift ............ 162

44:1-23 The Lord’s salvation is completely unique ............. 167

44:24–45:25 The salvation from Babylon through Cyrus as the Lord’s instrument .................................... 170

The Lord’s superiority over Babylon (chs. 46–48)............... 177

46:1-13 Babylon’s powerless gods ......................................... 177

47:1-15 Proud Babylon will fall ............................................ 182

48:1-22 Israel’s unbelief and the gracious call of the Lord ...................................................................... 186

CHAPTERS 49–57. The salvation from sin ................. 193

The salvation is offered to both Israel and the gentile nations (chs. 49–51) ..................................... 193

49:1-13 The true servant’s nature and mission ................... 193

49:14-26 The Lord has not forgotten Zion ........................... 199

50:1-11 Israel’s unbelief and the Messiah’s faithfulness .... 201

51:1-23 The Lord comforts Zion ........................................... 205

The Lord’s arrival in Zion to accomplish his salvation (chs. 52–54) ...................................................................... 211

52:1-12 Zion’s redemption and purification ......................... 211

52:13–53:12 The Messiah’s suffering and his vicarious atonement .................................................. 216

54:1-17 The glory of the true Zion ........................................ 230Receive the forgiveness of sins and true liberation

(chs. 55–57) ...................................................................... 23355:1-13 The Lord’s gracious invitation to all people ........... 23356:1-8 The Lord’s salvation is for all ................................... 23756:9–57:21 Israel’s great apostasy from the Lord............... 239

CHAPTERS 58–66. The old and new Zion ................... 247

The judgment against the old Zion and the eternal glory of the true Zion (chs. 58–60) ........................................... 247

58:1-14 Israel lacks true faith .............................................. 247

59:1-21 The reason for the hardship of the people and the Lord’s judgment of wrath ................................. 250

60:1-22 The Messiah’s arrival in Zion leads to great riches ................................................................. 256

Zion is dressed in glorious attire as the bride of the Lord (chs. 61:1–63:6) ................................................................ 260

61:1-11 The Messiah’s covenant of grace brings freedom to the captives ................................................................. 260

62:1-12 Zion’s glory as the bride of the Lord ...................... 264

63:1-6 The Lord is the only one who can defeat Zion’s enemies ...................................................... 267

The apostate Israel and the Lord’s true servants (chs. 63:7–66:24) .............................................................. 269

63:7–64:12 The Lord’s overflowing goodness and Israel’s hardening .................................................... 269

65:1-25 The apostate Israel is not his people ...................... 278

66:1-24 The judgment against the apostate Israel and the supernatural birth of the true Israel ............... 285

Literature mentioned in this commentary ................ 295

Preface

The book of Isaiah has been the subject of my particular interest ever since my work with my doctoral thesis during the second half of the 1960s. How did it come about that this fantastic prophet’s book—which when analyzed closely shows itself to be a united composition and well anchored in the time of Isaiah—became so ripped to pieces? Why do peo-ple not view the prophecies in chapters 13–14 and 40–66 in the light of the historical context that Isaiah himself gives, instead of interpreting them against a background of a completely other and later time than the one in which Isaiah and his hearers found themselves? It is hard to get hold of a commentary that really lets Isaiah, “the Lord’s mouth” (1:20; 40:5; 58:14), speak out of the book’s own issues and context.

The interpretation of chapter 41 has played a decisive role in the Bible critics’ deconstruction of the book of Isaiah. The exegetes who do defend the unity of the book of Isaiah do not seem to have realized that. When they accept the interpretation that 41:2 refers to Cyrus, that would mean, according to the text, that even the prophet’s opponents in this trial chap-ter must have experienced Cyrus’ advance in the 540s b.c. Otherwise, they would not have been able to confirm the authenticity of the prophecies. This is why Isaiah cannot be the author of chapters 40–66, say the Bible critics. The lynchpin of the Bible critics’ ripping apart of the book of Isaiah is this interpretation of chapter 41. As long as defenders of the unity of the book of Isaiah do not realize what the interpretation of 41:2 leads to, it will follow that their defense for Isaiah’s authorship will be rebutted.

One can ponder why biblical exegetes continue to cut apart the book of Isaiah into a collection of unrelated segments, when instead of mak-ing the interpretation of the text any easier, this has led to a jumble of interpretations among Bible critics. Roy Melugin writes, “ There is a mind-boggling array of fundamentally different interpretations of the book of Isaiah. There are indeed so many different understandings of Isaiah that a person untrained in biblical studies might well wonder whether they are all interpretations of the same book.”1

Why do people continue treating the book of Isaiah as a disunited hodgepodge when it so clearly appears that the whole book of Isaiah has a

11 R. F. Melugin, “New Visions of Isaiah” (Journal for the Study of OT, 1996), p. 13.

xi

xii THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

united and altogether fantastic composition? I believe that the widespread incorrect interpretation of chapter 41 is a decisive villain in the drama.

Many believe there are scientific reasons for separating a series of prophecies in the book of Isaiah from Isaiah and his time and for interpreting them against the background of historical situations more than 150 years later. This commentary’s walk-through of the entire book of Isaiah will show that there are no scientific reasons at all for ripping apart the book of Isaiah. Already when working with my doctoral thesis on Isaiah chapters 13–14,2 it became clear that the arguments for certain chapters reflecting a later time’s historical, ideo-logical, and linguistic situation were poorly supported, yes, untenable. It became clear, while working with this commentary, what a decisive role the false interpretation of chapter 41 has played in the Bible crit-ics’ interpretation of the book of Isaiah. For this reason, the exposure of this false interpretation has been given a large amount of attention.

Before I take up the task of attempting to present what Isaiah proph-esies in the misery that God’s people had experienced in the later part of the 700s b.c., an introduction is required that touches on how and why people have for so long quieted what “ the Lord’s mouth” says in the sit-uation in which Isaiah found himself. What lies behind the Bible critics’ claims that most of the book of Isaiah came into existence through a long process of revisions and several hundred years after Isaiah’s time? Who was Isaiah, really? What is the historical background for his preaching? How is his book actually composed? How do the different parts connect? Is there a red thread and a context that people cannot disregard if they want to do the prophet justice? What is notable about Isaiah’s manner of speaking and main message? Why does he constantly switch between judgment and salvation, sin and mercy, an apostate Zion and the true Zion, an apostate servant and the true servant?

This commentary has developed and grown during a long time of wandering together with Isaiah. After 50 years together, I am begin-ning to become familiar with him and his message. I cannot get enough of his company. It is deeply tragic that Isaiah’s important book has been so abused.

I dedicate this commentary first and foremost to my wife, my faith-ful and encouraging help during the journey, but also to all who want to walk with Isaiah and partake of his rich teaching.

Västerås, July 2014Seth Erlandsson

12 S. Erlandsson, The Burden of Babylon (Coniectanea Biblica, OT Series 4, Gleerup 1970).

1

Introduction

Isaiah and the time in which he workedIsaiah, in Hebrew Jeshajáhu, means “ the Lord is salvation” or “it

is the Lord who saves.” The prophet’s name summarizes what is the main message in his book. The prophet’s sons have names with a pro-phetic message as well. Isaiah writes, “Look, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are ‘signs’ (Heb. ’othóth) and ‘symbols of what is going to happen’ (Heb. mofethím) in Israel from the Lord of Hosts” (8:18). The Hebrew name for the scroll of Isaiah is Chazòn Jeshajáhu, “Isaiah’s Vision,” or “ That which Isaiah has seen” (1:1). “Has seen” (Heb. chazá) does not just mean that which Isaiah has seen happen during the time in which he worked but also that which the Lord has allowed him to see through supernatural revelation.

There is no doubt that the statement in Isaiah 1:1 refers to the whole book. He is also the only prophet who is associated with this book. Isaiah lived in Jerusalem. He was married and had at least two sons. In 8:3, his wife is called “the prophetess.” Because of a false interpretation of 7:14, a Jewish tradition claims that the prophet was married twice. There is also a Jewish tradition which asserts that Isaiah was of royal ancestry, the cousin of King Uzziah.

According to “Isaiah’s Martyrdom,” a Jewish apocalypse from the second century after Christ, Isaiah was martyred during the time of Manasseh (king from 697–642 b.c.). Among other things, chapter 5 in this book tells the following: Isaiah prophesied before Hezekiah about the fall of his son, Manasseh, and about his own martyrdom. During Manasseh’s persecution, Isaiah and some other prophets drew back to a deserted place near Bethlehem. He was betrayed by a false prophet, captured by Manasseh, and sawed to death with a tree saw. Mishna (Jebamoth 49b; cf. Sanhedrin 103b) says that Manasseh killed him, and Justin Martyr (a.d. 150) accuses the Jews of sawing Isaiah into pieces with a tree saw. If the extra-biblical traditions of Isaiah’s death are reliable, then the prophet died around 680 b.c.

For a long time, it was considered a given that Isaiah was the author of the whole book of Isaiah. The oldest testimony of the scroll of Isaiah exists in Sirach’s book from around 190 b.c. According to Sirach

2 THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

48:24f, Isaiah also prophesied that which is written in chapters 40ff: “By a spirit of might he saw the future, and comforted the mourners of Zion. Unto eternity he declared the things that shall be, and hidden things before they came to pass.” Completely foreign to them is the present-day Bible critical interpretation that, among others, chapters 40–66 would not be Isaiah’s prophecies.

The full transcript of the Isaiah scroll, 1QIsa, which was discovered at Qumran and which is dated at about 100 b.c., clearly testifies that the whole scroll of Isaiah was understood as Isaiah’s words and as a united work. In this manuscript, no marking exists between chapters 39 and 40, which could have indicated that chapter 40ff was under-stood as a later addition. The end of chapter 39 is at the very bottom of a column. But even though only a few more words could fit in that col-umn, chapter 40 continues immediately after on the last row anyway. In fact, in the Dead Sea Museum in Jerusalem, researchers even point out that this manuscript is completely irreconcilable with the modern Bible critical view of the book of Isaiah as an anthology of prophecies from different prophets and separate times.3

The testimony of the New Testament is of particular interest, especially for Christians. The New Testament expressly says that the prophet Isaiah proclaimed both that which is found within chapters 1–39 and that which stands in chapters 40–66. That is very clear from e.g. John 12:38-41 and Romans 9:27-33; 10:16-21. A very substantial amount of citations from and allusions to the book of Isaiah exist in the New Testament, no fewer than 346, according to Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece.

If Isaiah’s time of activity did not have great significance, then his book would not have been introduced with precise statements about when he worked as a prophet in Judah. Isaiah clearly specifies in 1:1 when he delivered his proclamation. It was when the kings Uzziah (792–740), Jotham (750–732), Ahaz (735–715), and Hezekiah (715–686) reigned in Judah. During this time, the Lord Sabaoth revealed to Isaiah what he would speak “concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” In the same year in which Uzziah died (740 b.c.), Isaiah received his call: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted” (6:1). “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom will I send? And who will be our

33 W. Brueggemann claims that “after chapter 39 there is an immense break—literary, historical, and theological—before chapter 40,” An Introduction to the Old Testament (2003), p. 161. This agrees neither with the manuscript’s understanding nor with the real content of the book of Isaiah.

Introduction 3

messenger?’ Then I said: Here am I, send me!” (6:8 SE). Then Isaiah worked as prophet for a long time, maybe 60 years. In 37:38, namely, it is mentioned that the Assyrian King Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, and that happened in 681 b.c.

During Isaiah’s time, the worldwide Assyrian Empire became very strong and conquered many nations. Israel and Judah as well were threatened by Assyria, which through Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 b.c.) became an Assyrian-Babylonian double monarchy with Babel as the ideological and economic center. “An unavoidable requirement for the great world powers in the East was to have con-trol of the enormously powerful city Babylon. To be able to exercise such a control, Tiglath-Pileser III implemented ‘a political novelty: the personal double monarchy/die persönliche Doppelmonarchie’ (Fischer, Weltgeschichte IV, p. 55). So he assumed the title “king of Babylon,” and as such, also assumed the name Pulu (Pul in 1 Ch 5:26 and 2 Ki 15:19), to express that he was both Assyria’s king and Bab-ylon’s king. In 729 and 728 he personally led the Marduk-procession at the New Year festival in Babylon, and in doing so, his Babylonian empire received its legitimate sanction.”4

After being besieged for three years by Assyrian troops under the leadership of Tiglath-Pileser’s son Shalmanassar V (727–722), Sargon II (722–705) finished the total conquest of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel with the mass deportations that followed. Also the Southern Kingdom, Judah, was threatened with destruction and Isaiah prophesied with his expressive picture language: “ The Lord is now about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River, that is, the king of Assyria in all his glory. It will overflow all its channels, and it will flood all its banks. It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through the land. It will rise up all the way to the neck” (8:7,8). “In that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from the regions beyond the River Euphrates, namely, the king of Assyria. This razor will shave their head and the hair on their legs, and it will also scrape away their beard” (7:20).

Under Sargon’s successor Sennacherib (705–681), these prophe-cies went into fulfillment. Isaiah writes, “Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah [701 b.c.], Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. The king of Assyria sent his herald from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah” (36:1f ). Thus begins the central part of Isaiah, chapters 36–39. Would

44 S. Erlandsson, Jesaja (1983), p. 16f.

4 THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

now even Jerusalem, that city chosen by God, be taken by the Assyr-ian troops? Would its people be deported or killed? Had the time now come when the remaining tenth of God’s people (the Southern King-dom, Judah) would be vanquished? The Lord had indeed said through Isaiah: “When only a tenth is left in it, even that will be laid waste like a terebinth or an oak, which leave a stump when they are cut down” (SE). But the Lord added, “ The holy seed is its stump” (6:13). What does the Lord mean? What “holy seed,” what remnant is in question here? Isaiah had indeed prophesied: “Although your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Complete destruc-tion has been decreed—overwhelming, but righteous” (10:22). How could Jerusalem be rescued in the midst of the people’s great apostasy? That is the big question, and the answer to that question is Isaiah’s chief message. His name already contains the answer: “ The Lord is (our) salvation.”

In a blasphemous way, Sennacherib had denied what the name Jeshajáhu (Isaiah) proclaims, that is, he denied that the Lord is the salvation and put the only true God on the same plane as man-made idols: “Have any of the gods of the nations kept them from being handed over to the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Which of the gods of these countries have delivered their country from my hand? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? ” (36:18-20 SE). But Isaiah had said before: “When the Lord has completed all of his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem, I will bring punishment against the bloated fruit of the willful heart of the king of Assyria and against the glare in his haughty eyes” (10:12). “I will destroy the Assyrian in my land and trample him on my mountains” (14:25). And King Hezekiah prayed: “ Turn your ear toward me, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to all of the words of Sennacherib, who has defied the living God. It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these lands and their territory. They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods at all, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, Lord our God, save us from his power, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you are the Lord, and you alone” (37:17-20).

The Bible critics’ division of the book of IsaiahIt isn’t always easy to follow the red thread in the Old Testament

books of prophecy, and this is true of the book of Isaiah as well. Many

Introduction 5

believe that the prophet jumps from one thing to another, and people easily lose track of the train of thought or have a hard time connecting different verses and sayings. Many also believe that several sections of Isaiah must have a much later historical background than the one that was at hand at Isaiah’s time and therefore cannot stem from Isaiah. This, among other things, has led to many Bible critics cutting apart Isaiah into an assortment of freestanding sections, which they have attributed to different authors or sources from separate times. Beyond a division between three prophets, a Proto-Isaiah (chs. 1–39) from around 740–700 b.c., a Deutero-Isaiah (chs. 40–55) from around 545–535 b.c. and a Trito-Isaiah (chs. 56–66) from around 520–500 b.c.,5 it is now nor-mal among Bible critics to cut up the book of Isaiah into no less than 20 prophets or prophet groups from distinctly separate times, all the way down to the 200s b.c.

Proto-Isaiah (chs. 1–39), which earlier was seen as the only authentically Isaian part, is said to contain a group of greater or smaller sections that supposedly come from much later time than Deutero-Isaiah. O. Kaiser, for example, claims that Isaiah 1–39 con-tains more foreign material than genuine.6 H. Wildberger supposes that of the 1,290 verses in Isaiah, only 305 stem completely or partly from Isaiah himself.7 B. S. Childs comments on the situation: “Crit-ical scholarship has atomized the book of Isaiah into a myriad of fragments, sources, and redactions, which were written by different authors at a variety of historical moments.”8

Most of chapters 1–12 is seen to have been written by Isaiah. But even here, many count numerous inauthentic additions, for example: 1:1,27-31; 2:1-5; 3:10,11; 4:2-6; and 11:1–12:6. Wildberger is convinced that chapters 1–12 first existed in its current form around 400 b.c. Within chapters 13–23, genuine sections occur “only sporadically,” claims Wildberger. Only 14:24-27; chapters 17, 18, 20, and 22 are as a

55 It all began when J. C. Döderlein, in 1775, supposed that Isaiah was made up of two different books, chapters 1–39 and chapters 40–66, which stemmed from a first Isaiah and a later, unknown, Isaiah, respectively. Later K. Budde (1891) and B. Duhm (1892) pioneered the thought that Isaiah was made up of the work of three Isaiahs, and this thought came to dominate during the greater part of the 1900s. Still today, this thought is put forth in many textbooks for courses in religion, though it is actually an obsolete view since nowadays Isaiah is broken into even more pieces.

66 Einleitung in das Alte Testament (4 ed. 1978), p. 205.77 “Jesaja 28–39” (Biblischer Kommentar Altes Testament X/3, 1982), p. 1510. Only 2/5ths

of chapters 1–39 have been written by Isaiah, he claims.88 Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979), p. 324.

6 THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

rule considered genuine.9 Chapters 24–27 are usually called “ Isaiah’s Apocalypse.” They have been denied as Isaian for a long time. Wild-berger dates them around 400 b.c. Eissfeldt says: At the earliest, the 300s and probably as late as the 200s b.c. The content of chapters 24–27 is often seen as originating from different times and authors and therefore not a unit. But the interpretation of these chapters greatly differs.10 Of chapters 28–35, everything within chapters 32–35 is seen as spurious (according to Wildberger). Isaiah 32:9-14 could possibly be genuine, Eissfeldt thinks. Most of what is contained in chapters 28–31 is seen as having been written by Isaiah. Finally, chapters 36–39 are claimed not to be from Isaiah and, according to Wildberger, are seen to have been attached to chapters 1–35 only after 400 b.c. Summing up: the material contained in Proto-Isaiah (chs. 1–39) has thus been redacted together long after Deutero-Isaiah (40–55), according to these Bible critics.

Deutero-Isaiah (chs. 40–55) is seen to contain material which, according to most Bible critics, stems from the time of Cyrus, around 545–535 b.c. Consequently, this part of Isaiah will be the oldest. But these chapters are also viewed as a relatively loosely redacted collec-tion of a group of different poems without internal cohesion, 50 pieces according to Eissfeldt, even more according to others.11 Already Duhm (1892) detached from chapters 40–55 the sections 42:1-4(7); 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and 52:13–53:12. He called them “ The Ebed Yahweh Songs.” The author of these was ascribed to postexilic time.

Trito-Isaiah (chs. 56–66) is also not seen as a unit, but as a col-lection of prophecies from different times and environments after 520 b.c. Fohrer talks about 14 independent sections and dates the youngest, 66:5-24, as late as the 200s b.c. He can, however, concede that 63:7–64:11 might be from the 550s b.c.12

How has the book of Isaiah supposedly been redacted together?

Bible critics believe in a very long redaction process that was con-cluded many hundred years after Isaiah’s time. There is no agreement over how this redaction happened; or when, where, and how different

99 See O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament (1974), p. 312ff.10 See G. Fohrer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament (12th ed. 1979), p. 403ff.11 John Goldingay terms the unknown author of Isaiah 40–66, “him or her,” “the poet,”

see “Isaiah” (New International Biblical Commentary, 2001), p. 222ff.12 See Fohrer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, p. 422ff.

Introduction 7

sections were added or reinterpreted. Roy Melugin deserves to be quoted again: “ There is a mind-boggling array of fundamentally dif-ferent interpretations of the book of Isaiah. There are indeed so many different understandings of Isaiah that a person untrained in biblical studies might well wonder whether they are all interpretations of the same book.”13

Williamson argues that an early document of Isaiah became the subject for redactional activity during Josiah’s reign and up until the exile. The result of this revision was then published by an exilic prophet, called “Deutero-Isaiah,” who reshaped earlier texts to express his own thoughts.14 Isaiah’s authorship, therefore, has consequently almost entirely disappeared even when dealing with “Proto-Isaiah.” Even Duhm seems conservative in comparison with Williamson when it comes to chapters 1–39.15

Childs understands Isaiah as a unit, but not as the work of a single author. He thinks that Isaiah must be interpreted both as a single book and as a product of a long redactional process, which could have gone on for 400 years or more.16 Lessing rightly criticizes the specu-lations about a long and complicated process of redaction before the book reached its final form. He comments on how backwards it has become when dealing with the authorship of the book: “Redaction- driven scholars place the originating and organizing mind at the end of a long editing process, rather than at the beginning with the prophet’s actual ministry.”17

The criteria of the Bible criticsOne can ponder how the criteria of biblical criticism are settled

when the text is split up into an infinite amount of fragments, marked off and dated differently from exegete to exegete.18 Let’s take a look at some of the dominating criteria.

The ideohistorical criterion is the most common, that is, the view one has of Israel’s ideohistorical development decides from what epoch a text originates. It is incredible that this criterion is allowed to play such a big role when the opinions about Israel’s ideohistorical develop-

13 Melugin, New Visions of Isaiah, p. 13.14 H. G. M. Williamson, The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiah’s Role in Composition

and Redaction (1994), pp. 94,240,241.15 This is pointed out by R. Reed Lessing in his commentary, Isaiah 40–55 (2011), p. 26.16 B. S. Childs, Isaiah (2001), pp. 3,4.17 Lessing, p. 28.18 See, for example, Erlandsson, The Burden of Babylon, p. 43ff.

7

8 THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

ment are extremely subjective and divided. Every time an idea cannot be shown with certainty to be from a specific time, this criterion is dubious and easily leads to a circular argumentation. When someone claims that a particular section is not genuine because it does not contain typical Isaian ideas, then he has let a limited amount of texts decide what should be seen as Isaian ideas. But these texts have in turn been separated from the rest of the book of Isaiah because they have been seen to contain Isaian ideas!

In an arbitrary way, critics proceed from a presupposition that some thoughts could not have existed in Isaiah’s time and furthermore, that Isaiah only put forth such thoughts that were present in his envi-ronment or could have come to him in a natural way. Supernatural revelation, which Isaiah says he had received as the Lord’s spokesman (“mouth”), is in principle ruled out beforehand. Several examples: When Isaiah talks about the coming blessing through the Messiah, even for the Gentiles, Eissfeldt decides without proof: “Such an idea can hardly be earlier than the postexilic period.”19 To be able to defend Isaiah 9:1-6 (Masoretic text, MT) as Isaian, Albrecht Alt gives this text a non-messianic interpretation, Fohrer stresses.20 According to him, an eschatological-messianic text cannot originate from Isaiah; it must be postexilic. Fohrer also supposes that Isaiah 11:1-9 bears a postexilic impress since, according to him, it is “a young thought” when in verse 2 it says that “ The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him” (the Messiah).21 Other thoughts which, for example, Eissfeldt determines as late is the thought about “the powers in the heavens above” (Isa 24:21 NIV) and “the resurrection of the dead” (Isa 26:19). The critics often proceed from the presupposition that Isaiah could not have prophesied both doom and salvation, in other words, both law and gospel. For this reason the statements of salvation, without proof, are viewed as later additions, as reworkings of Isaiah’s proclamations of judgment by later prophets.

The historical criteria can often be very helpful. Isaiah himself is careful to refer to the historical context. But the problem here is that critics often almost casually read a certain historical situation into the text, even though the text does not give any clear reference

19 Eissfeldt, The Old Testament, p. 23020 Fohrer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, p. 406. Cf. the interpretation of 9:6 in the

Swedish Bibel 2000: “ The prophet is either talking about the birth of an heir of the throne or a king’s accession to the throne” (my translation from the Swedish).

21 Fohrer, ibidem.

Introduction 9

to the situation in question. In this way, for example, Johannes Lind-blom argues that chapter 23 reflects events in northern Palestine in 332 b.c. and consequently dates the text to that time.22 Duhm, in his extremely influential commentary on Isaiah, dates chapters 19:16-25 to 160s b.c., because he claims that the text presupposes events that happened during the time of the Maccabees. That chap-ters 13:2–14:23, like 21:1-10, are dated to the 550s or 540s is caused first and foremost by the opinion that these texts presuppose the Neo-Babylonian era. Consequently, the different dates critics give to separate sections often come from the fact that they attribute the texts to different historical events.23

To avoid a subjective use of this criterion, it is necessary to leave guesses about the text’s historical background behind and keep oneself limited to that which is clearly deduced from the text. First, when the text itself has been allowed to speak is the time to set its facts in rela-tion to possible historical situations. When different theories of a text’s historical background became so primary relative to the text itself that the text is changed to agree with the theory, interpreters usually forget that they are no longer talking about the text at hand. Instead, they present a reconstruction that only exists in their own heads.

When an exegete claims that the prophecies about Cyrus in 41:25-29; 44:28–45:13; 46:11-13; and 48:14-21 must stem from Cyrus’ time in the 540s, he works from the presupposition that a prophet can only prophesy the kind of things a man could predict in a normal, natural way. Therefore, he reasons, the prophet must have heard of Cyrus’ advances, his taking of the Mede’s capital Ekbatana in 553 b.c., and his conquest of the Lydian capital Sardes in 546 b.c. Otherwise, the prophet would not have been able to prophesy about Cyrus’ subsequent victories over the Chaldeans, he argues. With that type of thinking, one destroys the point of the prophet’s proclamation, namely, that the Lord is unique and can prophesy the kind of things that no man or idol is able to prophesy (Isa 42:8,9; 46:10). In the year 701 b.c. the people could verify, Isaiah says, that his earlier prophecies about the great affliction through Assyria and Jerusalem’s miraculous rescue, which is now found in the first part of the book, really were fulfilled.

22 J. Lindblom, “Der Ausspruch über Tyrus in Jes. 23,” Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute 4 (1965), p. 58.

23 See Fohrer, p. 404f concerning the different dates given to sections within chapters 24–27. Concerning interpretations of sections within chapters 40–66, which presup-pose a different historical situation than the one which Isaiah gives as the historical background, see e.g. the commentary to chapter 41:1-20.

10 THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH

For that reason, they should also believe that the prophecies about the salvation from Babylon through Cyrus and the salvation from sins through the Lord’s true servant also will be fulfilled. To declare actual prophecies about Cyrus and the Messiah as impossible cannot be done on the basis of scientific data. It can only be done on the basis of a rationalistic philosophy.

Furthermore, it is a misunderstanding that a severe plundering of Judah and an extensive deportation of the population did not occur before that which happened in connection with Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean Empire. Chapters 40ff, without a doubt, take their start-ing point from a plundering and exile that has already occurred, but that had happened in 701 b.c., and chapters 36–39 give the historical background to chapters 40ff. (see also 1:7-9 in Isaiah’s preface to his book). Bible interpreters have much too quickly interpreted chapters 40ff in the light of the final years of the Neo-Babylonian era and the homecoming thereafter. Texts like chapters 13, 14, 21, 23, 24–27, and 40–48 are easily understood against the background of Isaiah’s own time. Concerning the devastating interpretation of chapter 41:1-20, see the commentary on that section.

The linguistic criteria should be able to lead to safer results, but nevertheless, critics come to completely contradictory conclusions even when they use this criterion. Often a subjective selection of words is made to prove that the text is late or early. Concerning Isaiah’s usage of the language, see below under the subtitle Characteristically dis-tinctive features of Isaiah.

The historical context and cohesion of the propheciesWhat is the historical background for the many prophecies in the

book of Isaiah? What do the prophecies point to, contemporary events or future ones, and in that case, which part of the future? How do these different statements hang together? What is the message? These are the questions I will attempt to answer in this commentary. I am pur-posefully writing Isaiah’s book, because that is how the whole scroll of Isaiah presents itself.

The questions about the background, cohesion, the red thread, and the correct understanding of the prophetic message are many. Even experienced readers of the Bible could wonder what the prophet actually means when he often abruptly switches between judgment and salvation, a dark future and a bright future, blessings and curses. In this commentary I will try to concentrate on the red thread and how the statements hang together. As for verses and