Old Testament Survey
Isaiah
Rick Walker
http://Didaskalia.tripod.com
1. Introduction to Isaiah.
A. Isaiah is an eight century prophet, like Amos, Hosea and Micah.
1. Prophetic work took place from 740 B.C.
until 700 B.C., the very time Assyria was attacking and defeating
the Northern Kingdom.
a. Receives his call in
the year King Uzziah died (740 B.C.) (Isa. 6:1-6).
b. Told that he was to
prophesy until the city lies in ruins; i.e., the people will not listen to his message.
c. John 12:37-41
indicates that the one whom Isaiah saw seated on the throne was the Second Person of
the
Godhead.
2 . However, Isaiah was prophesying in the South,
bringing the same charges against Judah that Amos and
Hosea had brought
against Israel.
a. idolatry (Isa.
37:19; 42:17; 45:16; 57:5-7). King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:1-12) even burned his son as an
offering,
encouraged
worship at the high places, placed an Assyrian-type altar in the temple courts, and used
the temple
altar
for divination (2 Kings 16:3, 4, 10-16; 2 Chron. 28:2-4, 23-25) ("Ahaz,"
NBD, 21).
b. empty worship at the
temple, void of a personal relationship with God (Isa. 1:11, 12).
B. Isaiah relates to three historical periods.
Empire Action toward Jews Chapters Key Dates
Assyrian domination attack the North 1-39 745-626 BC
Babylonian domination attack the South 40-55 626-539 BC
Persian domination restoration 56-66 539-332
C. Isaiah's Prophecies
1. Isaiah predicts the future with uncanny
specificity.
a. The period of
Babylonian domination did not begin until 626 B.C., one hundred years after the time of
Isaiah.
In
the time of Isaiah, Babylon was an insignificant kingdom. It is amazing that Isaiah would
be able to foresee
that
the Babylonians would become a strong empire and would attack the South.
b. The period of
Persian domination did not begin until 539 B.C. two hundred years after the time of
Isaiah.
Not
only does Isaiah foresee the rise of the Persians, but he also foresees that the ruler
will be named Cyrus
and
he will issue a decree for the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple
(Isa.
44:28-45:1).
2. Such specificity has caused liberal
scholarship to deny that Isaiah wrote the entire work, but rather there are
at least three
different authors, one living in each of the time periods.
a. It is highly unusual
for a prophet to mention a specific man by name hundreds of years before he is
born.
b. Other issues
involved are stylistic and vocabulary differences in each of the three books.
c. Often referred to as
1, 2 and 3 Isaiah.
3. Conservative scholarship insists that Isaiah
wrote all three works.
a. Stylistic
differences can be explained by the differences of subject matter in each of the three
books and the
maturing
of Isaiah.
b. It should not be
considered impossible for God to reveal the name of a man before he is born. E.g.,
Josiah
(c. 640-609 B.C.) is mentioned by name in the days of Rehoboam (c. 932-913 B.C.)
(1
Kings 13:1-3). (However, there is the question of the dating of 1 Kings).
c. A theme of Isaiah
40-48 is the sovereignty of God which is shown by his ability to foretell the future. Isa.
41:22,
23 is a challenge to the idols to foretell the future so that we may know you are gods.
It would be odd
for a
later writer to insert the name of Cyrus into a prophecy attributed to Isaiah within a
broader context
challenging
the gods to show their deity be foretelling the future.
2. Isaiah Counsels Ahaz and Hezekiah.
A. Ahaz Refuses Isaiah's Counsel during the Syro-Ephraimitic War.
1. Pekah of Israel (c. 732-722 B.C.) and Rezin
of Damascus formed an alliance to ward off Assyrian aggression
(2 Kings 16).
2. They asked Ahaz to join the alliance,
but he refused.
a. Therefore,
they attacked Judah and took thousands of Jews captive.
b. Other nations
also took advantage of the situation and attacked Judah.
1.
Edomites (2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chron. 28:17)
2.
Philistines (2 Chron. 28:18).
c. In 2 Chron.
28:5 this is a judgment upon Ahaz for his wickedness.
3. Ahaz was afraid and called on Assyria
for help.
a. Isaiah
told him to rely on God by remaining neutral; i.e., do not call on the Assyrians for help
(Isa.
7:1-12).
b. However,
Ahaz did not listen to Isaiah and called for the Assyrians to come to his aid.
1.
(2 King 16:7, 8; 2 Chron. 28:21) He sent the silver and gold of the temple to
Tiglath-pileser 3 with his
request
for help.
2.
Tiglath-pileser 3 attacked Damascus in 732 and invaded Israel.
3.
Ahaz met Tiglath-pileser in Damascus and pledged vassalage.
a.
Ahaz had to begin to pay tribute to the Assyrians.
b.
Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah to set up a duplicate of the Damascus altar be set up in
the temple
court
(2 King 16:10).
c.
Ahaz then took the lead in introducing pagan worship in Judah (Shultz, O.T. Speaks, 209).
B. Hezekiah Listens to Isaiah.
1. At the death of Sargon 2 (705 B.C.),
Hezekiah rebelled against his son, Sennacherib with many other cities.
a. Sennacherib attacked
Judah in 701 B.C.
b. After Sennacherib
destroyed forty-eight cities, Hezekiah sent him tribute which he had taken from the
temple
(2 Kings 18:13-15) to buy him off.
c. Sennacherib,
however, attacked Jerusalem anyway.
2. Hezekiah went into the temple to pray where
he received a message from God that he would miraculously
deliver the city
from Sennacherib because he prayed to God (Isa. 37:14, 20, 21; 38:6).
a. In the morning
185,000 Assyrians were dead (Isa. 37:36; 2 Kings 19:32-36).
b. Sennacherib never
returned to Jerusalem.
3. Isaiah Prophesies Fall and Restoration of the Southern Kingdom.
A. Hezekiah came down with an illness to the point of death (38:1).
1. When Hezekiah prayed, God added
fifteen years to his life (38:5).
2. When an envoy came from Babylon to
Hezekiah because they had heard of his recovery, he showed them
the wealth
of his kingdom (39:1, 2).
3. Isaiah told Hezekiah there would come
a day when the Babylonians would overtake Judah and carry it into
captivity (39:5,
7).
B. Isaiah 40-55 is written as if Judah has been carried into captivity.
1. Isa. 40:1f.: Comfort, comfort my people says
God.
2. Isa. 42:22: But this is a people plundered
and looted . . . .
3. Isa. 42:24: Who hand Jacob over to become
loot, and Israel to the plunderers?
4. Isa. 42:24f. For they would not follow his
ways; they did not obey his law. So he poured out on them his
burning anger, the
violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed
them,
but they did not take
it to heart.
C. Isaiah Holds out the Hope of Restoration.
1. In Isaiah 40-66 there are numerous
places where God is called the Redeemer (41:14; 43:14; 44:6; 44:24;
47:4; 48:17;
49:7; 49:26; 54:5, 8; 59:20; 60:16; 63:16). Otherwise, there are only four places in the
Old Testament.
a. (Isa.
43:1) Fear not, for I have redeemed you . . . .
b. It was
not God's intention to destroy, but to discipline.
2. God will forgive Israel's sin (40:2;
43:25; 44:22; 51:21).
3. God will use Cyrus, his anointed to
bring deliverance (Isa. 44:28; 45:1).
4. Babylon will be overthrown by Cyrus
(Isaiah 46, 47; cf. 43:14; 48:14).
5. Israel will be set free and returned
to her land (Isa. 43:1-8, 18-21; 48:20f.; 49:20-26; 52:11f.).
D. Isaiah 46-66 are projected oracles to the returned exiles.
4. The Servant Songs.
A. The restoration of Israel to her homeland was all of one piece with
the spiritual restoration which would take
place under the Messiah. (It is
conceptually the same as the N.T. concept of the resurrection-ascenion
as a single event).
B. Four passages of scripture that have been dubbed the "Servant
Songs" are all found in Deutero-Isaiah.
1. Isa. 42:1-4
Isa. 49:1-6
Isa. 50:4-9
Isa. 52:13-53:12:
contains the clearest indication of Messianic suffering in the OT. Some also in
Zechariah 9-13.
2. These are hotly debated passages: do they
speak of the coming Messiah, or some other individual?
a. Many Jewish writings
take the passages to be a reference to the coming Messiah ("Servant of the
Lord,"
New
Bible Dictionary, 1093). It may be inferred, though not conclusively, that the Servant
Songs were
viewed
as Messianic in the pre-Christian era (Sirach 48:10:ff.) (Kittel, "mesites,"
TDOT, 4:616).
b. The function of the
Servant has striking parallels to the description of the Davidic king described in Isaiah
11
and 55:3-5 (Hill, Survey of Old Testament, 325).
c. The N.T. gives
numerous indications that Jesus is the Servant (cf. New Bible Dictionary, 1093). E.g.,
Luke
22:36, 37 Jesus refers to himself specifically as the fulfillment of Isa. 53:12, "and
he was numbered
with
the transgressors."
C. Isa. 42:1-4 The Role of a Prophet.
1. Functions in the role of a prophet as
one who brings forth justice (mishpat) (Isa. 42:1, 2, 4)
(mishpat;
Strong's, 4941).
a. Judgment here
means not a judicial function, but "a law, or the right way of doing things"
(Anchor
Bible, loc. cit.). Mishpat is closely related to the idea of sedeqa (TWOT, 949).
b. The Servants
methodology will not be through coercion (42:2).
1.
Jesus established righteousness upon the earth, but he never compelled anyone to be his
follower.
2.
When his enemies tried to kill him, he never resorted to force to make them do right.
a.
Once he withdrew to another region (Matt. 12:14, 15).
b.
On another occasion, he went to the cross, though he could have called angels to enforce
that which
was
right (Matt. 26:53).
c.
He refused to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans (Lk. 9:54).
2. The Spirit of the Lord would help him
accomplish this task (Isa. 42:1).
D. Isa. 49:1-6 Restorer of Jews and Gentiles.
1. He would retore Jacob.
a. Important in context
of Isaiah speaking to Jews in exile.
b. Restoring Jacob was
too small of a work for the Servant - he would also restore Gentiles (49:6).
2. Servant would also be a witness to the
"ends of the earth" (Gentiles) (49:6).
a. Luke 2:32 (Simeon in
the temple)
b. Acts 1:8 "to
the ends of the earth."
c. Acts 13:46, 47;
Direct quote of Isa. 49:6 shows that the church shares in the Servanthood.
E. Isaiah 50:4-9.
F. Isa. 52:13-53:12 The Suffering of the Servant. Most
significant Song. The servant suffers, but not in vain.
1. (Isa. 53:3b) Man of sorrows and
aquainted with grief.
a. Jesus laments
over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 13:34).
b. Garden of
Gethesemane (Matt. 36:38).
2. (Isa. 53:2) The Servant is
"unattractive in the sense that he has no political power or wealth to attract men to
himself.
3. (Isa. 53:3) The Servant is despised
and rejected by men.
a. At Nazareth
they sought to throw him off a cliff.
b. The Pharisees
sought his death.
c. The crowd
cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him."
4. (Isa. 53:1) Men will not believe that
he is God's anointed.Supporting evidence for Jesus as the Messiah is
found in the very
fact that people did not believe he was the Messiah. This is part of Paul's response to
the
question of how
he could have confidence in Jesus as the Messiah when in fact the Jewish nation rejected
him (Rom. 10:16,
17).
5. Atones for Sins (Isa. 53:4, 5) Servant
is considered by others to be punished for his own sins, but he was
stricken for the
sins of others (53:5, 6).
a. (Isa. 53:5; 1
Pet. 2:23-25; Heb. 12:24) Pierced for the transgressions of others
b. (52:15) Atones
for the sins of many nations.
c. (53:11) Bears
the iniquities of men.
d. (Isa. 53:5) By
his wounds we are healed. Jesus did many healing miracles, which have an eschatological
function.
Healing is a function of atonement.
6. (Isa. 53:7) Silent before his
oppressors (Matt. 26:62).
7. (Isa. 53:9, 10) Buried honorably with
the rich (Matt. 27:57).