Introduction to Isaiah

First, let’s take a look at the historical background leading up to the time of Isaiah. As you might recall, many years earlier God approached Abram with the deal of a lifetime. This is the Abrahamic Covenant, an unconditional contract between God, Abram and his descendants. It includes the promise of land (Gen. 12:1: 15:18-21), children and that through him, all the world would be blessed by the coming of the Messiah.

Gen. 12:1-3, “Leave your country . . . and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Verse 7, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

First: He would give him a piece of land. Not just a few acres to graze animals or to grow vegetables, but a piece of land that would be able to house a whole nation. And this land would continue to be owned by his descendants. This land is modern-day Israel and is referred to as the Promised Land. The title deed to the land was given to Abraham and his descendants without any conditions.

Second: He would give him descendants as numerous as the “dust of the earth” (Gen. 15:16).   

Third: Not only that, but among your many descendants there will be a special person who will be known as the Messiah.”

Now we move forward to the time of Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. In Exodus 19 Moses came down from Mt. Sinai and explained to the Israelites the terms of another covenant, the Mosaic Covenant. Unlike the Abrahamic Covenant, which was unconditional, the Mosaic Covenant promised blessings only if the Israelites obeyed God.

After wandering in the desert for forty years and before the second generation of Israelites entered the promised land Moses gave them a review of the Law of Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy. Keep in mind that this generation never experienced the pagan worship that their parents saw in Egypt. Imagine if you grew up in a sheltered Christian community, attended Christian schools, were very active in your church and pretty much untouched by the world around you. Then, you are about to be sent off to a secular university. You might need a quick course in religion to prepare yourself for what you are about to experience.

Along with the threat that God would evict them from their land temporarily if their disobedience persisted (Deut. 28:36). And any future kings would have to abide by certain rules. In Deut. 17:16-20 we find that a king wasn’t to acquire a great number of horses (maintaining a large standing army), take on many wives (foreign wives would lead to the worship of pagan gods), or accumulate large amounts of silver and gold (imposing high taxes which would lead to the division of the kingdom). He was also required to write out the Law of Moses and read it throughout his life. The King was to be a student of this covenant so that he doesn’t stray from it.

As for the people themselves, they were to recite twice a day a statement of faith, call the Shema, to remind them not to worship other gods. This is found in Deut. 6:4 it says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one (the only one). Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Verse 7, “Impress them on your children . . . Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” The responsibility is the parents. They can delegate to others the authority to teach their children, but they can’t delegate the responsibility. And parents can’t assume that if they send their children to a Bible study, that they are getting properly trained.

To “love the Lord” was understood to mean to “be loyal to.” In other words, never worship other gods. And these teachings were to be passed down through the generations.

Moses presented this contract or covenant to the Israelites. How did they respond to this offer? Ex. 19:7, “So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set forth before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. “We will do everything the Lord has said.”

After Moses died, Joshua warned the Israelites, (Josh. 23:16), “If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God. . . you will quickly perish from the good las he has given you.” The privilege to live in the promised land was conditioned on their obedience to the Law of Moses. Their ownership was never to be revoked since that was part of the unconditional promise made by God to Abraham. Joshua then challenged the Israelites to make a commitment (Josh 24:15), “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river of the god of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, and they were governed by a series of judges. Then the people demanded that they be led by a king, like other nations had (1 Sam. 8:6-7).

Saul, David and Solomon were the three kings of Israel before the nations split into two countries, Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

Well, how did the Israelites do? How well did they abide by the covenant that they made at Mt. Sinai? As you recall from reading Judges, Kings and Chronicles, Israel didn’t always live in obedience to the Law of Moses.

In time God would raise up the Assyrian empire which would threaten Israel and Syria. These two kingdoms tried to persuade King Ahaz of Judah to join them in their effort to push back on Assyria. When Ahaz refused to join them, they (Syria and Israel) invaded Judah, forcing Ahaz (King of Judah) to join their alliance against Assyria. As this alliance made their way south towards Jerusalem, Isaiah assured King Ahaz that the alliance would fail to take Jerusalem. Ahaz refused to trust the advice Isaiah gave him and he sought the help of Assyria to fight against Syria and Israel.

2 Chron. 28:22-23, “In his time of trouble King Ahaz (a contemporary of Isaiah) became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.”

The Assyrians invaded and took Israel captive and were now the dominant power in the area imposing a heavy tribute on Judah.

Hezekiah became the king of Judah after Ahaz and tried to reform the corrupt religious practices. He fortified Jerusalem’s defenses, sought assistance from Egypt and refused to pay tribute to Assyria. This led the Assyrians to make a failed attack on Jerusalem in 701. B.C. Then there is a gap in time between Isa. Chapters 39 and 40 where we see Assyria conquered by the Babylonians who would attack Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and take many in captivity for 70 years. In 539 B.C. King Cyrus would lead the Persians to defeat Babylon and he would allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem where they rebuilt the temple during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Years later the Romans would take charge, and they would destroy the second temple.

The political situation in the middle east during the time of Isaiah seems as complicated as the one we see today.

During these difficult times was when Isaiah appeared on the scene. The first verse of the Book of Isaiah states that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of four kings:

Uzziah (or Azariah) reigned for 52 years from about 788-736 B.C. Isaiah was called to ministry towards the end of Uzziah’s reign in 740 B.C.

Jotham reigned for 16 years from 750- 735 B.C.

Ahaz reigned for 16 years from 731-715 B.C. In 721 B.C. Assyria invaded the northern Kingdom of Israel. During the reign of Ahaz, the kingdom of Judah was untouched by the Assyrian power.

Hezekiah reigned for 29 years from 715-687 B.C. Hezekiah was encouraged to rebel against the king of Assyria and entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt. In 701 B.C. the King of Assyria (Sennacherib) brought a large army into Judea and threatened to conquer Jerusalem. Because Hezekiah humbled himself before God and pleaded for help, it was prophesied that Sennacherib would not enter the city and that, when he went home, he would be killed by his own family. The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful. Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh. In 587 the Babylonians invaded Judah and took many into captivity for seventy years.

Now that we’ve looked at the setting, let’s look at the man himself, Isaiah. Along with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, are frequently referred to as major prophets whereas the shorter prophetic books (Amos, Hosea, Zephaniah, etc.) are written by minor prophets. The word “minor” means lesser in importance, seriousness, or significance. This designation apparently began with Augustine. Yet, 2 Tim. 3:16-17, tells us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

If all Scripture is inspired and is useful so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work, then should some books be designated as minor while others as major? We don’t do that with the epistles. Romans isn’t labeled a major epistle while Jude, Philemon, and those written by Peter and John are not called minor epistles. Why don’t we do away with these designations?

As with several other books of the Bible, there is a controversy as to who wrote the book of Isaiah, or at least who wrote some of it. The traditional view is that one person, Isaiah, wrote this book during the reigns of Jotham and Hezekiah. But some scholars believe that some of the prophetic portions, such as those that refer to the Persian King Cyrus in Isa. 45:1 who lived about 200 years after Isaiah. leading some to believe that this part of the book must have been written much later. These scholars find it difficult to believe that Isaiah could know the future. They have a limited view of what inspiration means. They think that the Bible is inspired only to the degree that a great piece of literature or music is inspired. So prophetic sections of Isaiah must have been written later, after the fact. What was written as prophecy by Isaiah is viewed as history written by a “second Isaiah”.

One of the strongest arguments for accepting Isaiah as the author of the entire book is the fact that Jesus and the apostles refer to him as the author of those prophetic chapters.

Matt. 12:17-18 quotes Isa. 42:1; Matt. 3:3 quotes Isa. 40:3; Luke 3:4 quotes Isa. Isa 40:3-5; Acts 8:28 refers to Isa. 53:7-8. Rom. 20:20 quotes Isa. 65:1; and John 12:38-41 quotes Isa. 53:1. 

The sin that led to the Babylonian captivity was idolatry. If part of this book was written after their captivity, why is idolatry mentioned throughout the book when idolatry was not practiced by those who returned from Babylon?

I think that those who don’t believe that God could provide a prophetic message to his people have a diminished view of God and divine inspiration. Micah 5:2 gives Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. Surely Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, wasn’t written after the birth of Jesus.

Isaiah’s ministry ran from the time of Judah's King Uzziah (740 B.C.), through the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, to the end of King Hezekiah's rule in 687 B.C. His contemporaries included Amos and Hosea, who ministered to the northern Kingdom of Israel, and Micah who ministered in Judah.

Isaiah wasn’t on the government payroll; he wasn’t in an official position such as Religious Advisor to the King. Rather, he was part of an informal circle of trusted advisors who had access to those in power. Many leaders reach out to respected experts in the private sector for guidance. These are people who have easy access to the corridors of power whose advice is given in private.

The Bible records that he was married, though his wife’s name isn’t given. We’ll just refer to her as Mrs. Isaiah. She may have been the more reserved personality who kept a low-profile taking care of their two sons.

Isaiah’s writing is referenced more than 35 times in the New Testament, and he is the most quoted Old Testament writer in the Gospel accounts. And why wouldn’t he be? Apparently, those who know ancient Hebrew say that he was very well educated, and his writings were on the par with Shakespeare. In fact, he has been referred to as the Shakespeare of the Old Testament. I wonder what Shakespeare would have thought. “Nah, he’s not anywhere near as good a writer as I am.”

Besides writing his own book, he wrote a biography of Uzziah, King of Judah. After Uzziah became powerful, his pride led him to his downfall (2 Chron. 26:16 and 22). This book has been lost to history. But if you happen to come across a copy, it might be worth a fortune. And if someone tries to sell you a copy on Amazon, beware, it is probably a hoax.

Isaiah’s writings are appreciated even to this day. Isaiah 2:4 adorns the wall across the street from the United Nations in New York, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” For many years this quote was posted without attribution, perhaps out of fear of offending the Communist and Muslim delegations who wouldn’t want a passage from the Hebrew Bible in so prominent a place.

When eloquent words weren’t enough to get Isaiah’s message across, he acted out his prophecies. Isaiah, at one point during his ministry, was commanded to preach “going around stripped and barefooted” to illustrate how the Israelites would be taken prisoner by the Babylonians.

With a ministry lasting over 40 years, Isaiah touched on a wide range of subjects. The first 39 chapters consist of short-term prophecies. The second part, chapters 40-55, contain medium-term prophecies concerning the end of the Babylonian exile in about 539 B.C. The third part, chapters 56-66, deals with the long term, including the second coming of the Messiah and his millennial reign.

The opening chapters focus on the fact that God’s people had forsaken him. They observed rituals while violating ethics. Its rulers were dishonest, greedy and indifferent to the needs of the poor. He writes about the coming of the Messiah, both first and second. And a time of universal peace.

Isaiah gave prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah including being born of a virgin, of the lineage of David and even of his unremarkable appearance. It even refers to his rejection by the people, his trial as a criminal, his torture, death and burial.

There is one passage that is widely misused by prosperity preachers. It is Isa. 53:4-5 says, “He was pierced through for our transgressions. . . by His scourging we are healed.” This doesn’t mean physical healing is promised. The context, mentioning our transgressions and iniquities, tells us that the healing is spiritual, not physical. Both Paul and Timothy had medical issues. Our present bodies are said to be perishable and weak (1 Cor. 15:42-44) and are decaying (2 Cor. 4:16).

Do we have enough background to begin reading the book itself?