Isaiah 40-66: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture

By Gary V. Smith

The New American Commentary series is an exceptionally acclaimed resource for ministers and Bible students who want to understand and expound the Scriptures. Notable features in each volume include:

• Commentary based on the New International Version (NIV).

• NIV text printed in the body of the commentary.

• Sound scholarly methodology reflecting capable research in the

original languages.

• Interpretation emphasizing the theological unity of each book and Scripture as a whole.

• Readable and applicable exposition.

Gary V. Smith’s second volume on Isaiah looks deeply and in wonder at the God who is both intimate and compassionate (Isaiah 40:28: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak”) and larger than our comprehension of time and space (Isaiah 66:1: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool”).

• Language: English
• Publisher: BH Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781433668616

Gary V. Smith

Gary V. Smith has taught at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Union University. Among his other published works are the two volumes on the book of Isaiah in The New American Commentary series.

Book preview

General Editor

E. RAY CLENDENEN

Associate General Editor, OT

KENNETH A. MATHEWS

Associate General Editor, NT

DAVID S. DOCKERY

Consulting Editors

Old Testament

DUANE A. GARRETT

EUGENE H. MERRILL

LARRY L. WALKER

New Testament

RICHARD R. MELICK, JR.

PAIGE PATTERSON

B. PAUL WOLFE

© Copyright 2009 • B&H Publishing Group

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-8054-0144-8

Dewey Decimal Classification: 224.1

Subject Heading: BIBLE. O.T. ISAIAH

Printed in the United States of America

14 13 12 11 10 09 • 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

SB

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture citations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version©. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB have been taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible© Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by pennission.

Scripture citations marked KJV are from tbe King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture citations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible

.

© The loekman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1968. 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Scripture citations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. copyrighted 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and used by permission.

Scripture citations marked NEB are from the New English Bible. Copyright © The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.

Scripture citations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to

My son and daughter-in-law

Todd and Angela Smith

and our grandchildren

Charles and Bennett

"As a mother comforts her child,

so I will comfort you;

and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.

When you see this, your heart will rejoice

and you will flourish like the grass;

and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants."

(Isa 66:13-14)

Editors' Preface

God's Word does not change. God's world, however, changes in every generation. These changes, in addition to new findings by scholars and a new variety of challenges to the gospel message, call for the church in each generation to interpret and apply God's Word for God's people. Thus, THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY is introduced to bridge the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This new series has been designed primarily to enable pastors, teachers, and students to read the Bible with clarity and proclaim it with power.

In one sense THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY is not new, for it represents the continuation of a heritage rich in biblical and theological exposition. The title of this forty-volume set points to the continuity of this series with an important commentary project published at the end of the nineteenth century called AN AMERICAN COMMENTARY, edited by Alvah Hovey. The older series included, among other significant contributions, the outstanding volume on Matthew by John A. Broadus, from whom the publisher of the new series, Broadman Press, partly derives its name. The former series was authored and edited by scholars committed to the infallibility of Scripture, making it a solid foundation for the present project. In line with this heritage, all NAC authors affirm the divine inspiration, inerrancy, complete truthfulness, and full authority of the Bible. The perspective of the NAC is unapologetically confessional and rooted in the evangelical tradition.

Since a commentary is a fundamental tool for the expositor or teacher who seeks to interpret and apply Scripture in the church or classroom, the NAC focuses on communicating the theological structure and content of each biblical book. The writers seek to illuminate both the historical meaning and contemporary significance of Holy Scripture.

In its attempt to make a unique contribution to the Christian community, the NAC focuses on two concerns. First, the commentary emphasizes how each section of a book fits together so that the reader becomes aware of the theological unity of each book and of Scripture as a whole. The writers, however, remain aware of the Bible's inherently rich variety. Second, the NAC is produced with the conviction that the Bible primarily belongs to the church. We believe that scholarship and the academy provide an indispensable foundation for biblical understanding and the service of Christ, but the editors and authors of this series have attempted to communicate the findings of their research in a manner that will build up the whole body of Christ. Thus, the commentary concentrates on theological exegesis while providing practical, applicable exposition.

THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY'S theological focus enable the reader to see the parts as well as the whole of Scripture. The biblical books vary in content, context, literary type, and style. In addition to this rich variety, the editors and authors recognize that the doctrinal emphasis and use of the biblical books differs in various places, contexts, and cultures among God's people. These factors, as well as other concerns, have led the editors to give freedom to the writers to wrestle with the issues raised by the scholarly community surrounding each book and to determine the appropriate shape and length of the introductory materials. Moreover, each writer has developed the structure of the commentary in a way best suited for expounding the basic structure and the meaning of the biblical books for our day. Generally, discussions relating to contemporary scholarship and technical points of grammar and syntax appear in the footnotes and not in the text of the commentary. This format allows pastors and interested laypersons, scholars and teachers, and serious college and seminary students to profit from the commentary at various levels. This approach has been employed because we believe that all Christians have the privilege and responsibility to read and seek to understand the Bible for themselves.

Consistent with the desire to produce a readable, up-to-date commentary, the editors selected the New International Version as the standard translation for the commentary series. The selection was made primarily because of the NIV's faithfulness to the original languages and its beautiful and readable style. The authors, however, have been given the liberty to differ at places from the NIV as they develop their own translations from the Greek and Hebrew texts.

The NAC reflects the vision and leadership of those who provide oversight for Broadman Press, who in 1987 called for a new commentary series that would evidence a commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture and a faithfulness to the classic Christian tradition. While the commentary adopts an American name, it should be noted some writers represent countries outside the United States, giving the commentary an international perspective. The diverse group of writers includes scholars, teachers, and administrators from almost twenty different colleges and seminaries, as well as pastors, missionaries, and a layperson.

The editors and writers hope that THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY will be helpful and instructive for pastors and teachers, scholars and students, for men and women in the churches who study and teach God's Word in various settings. We trust that for editors, authors, and readers alike, the commentary will be used to build up the church, encourage obedience, and bring renewal to God's people. Above all, we pray that the NAC will bring glory and honor to our Lord who has graciously redeemed us and faithfully revealed himself to us in his Holy Word.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

The Editors

Author's Preface

The message of chapters 40-66 is above all else a word of comfort and good news. It offers hope for both the person who is weary because of the trials of life and for the person who may think that God has forgotten about them. These oracles of salvation offer God's strength because God is near to help and able to deliver his people from danger. Although God may seem to be far away at times, he never forgets his children and always is attentive to hear and answer their prayers. He is a God who is powerful because he has a strong arm and can overcome any obstacle. The major political and economic problems of this world amount to nothing in his eyes because he is able to direct the course of history. Thus the challenge is for every believer to gain an authentic understanding of just how great God really is. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who knows the name of every star, the one who controls the rise and fall of nations and their leaders, the compassionate Redeemer of his people, the Holy one, and the King of this universe. Once a person begins to catch Isaiah's vision of God's incomparable power and his wonderful plans for this world, he can begin to rest in the knowledge that God can give each person who trusts in him the ability to overcome every threat and victoriously endure every challenge.

The prophesies in chaps. 40-66 do not predict that there will be no problems; in fact, the lives of the Israelites addressed in these oracles were full of problems. Some fell into sin and worshipped pagan gods, some were rebellious and stubborn so that they did not follow God's directions. Others prayed at pagan high places and offered useless sacrifices that did not honor God. Sin always causes a separation from God and usually results in some much needed divine discipline. But God has revealed in these prophecies the good news that his chosen Servant will bring into existence a new world of justice for all people in every nation and make possible a new covenant relationship with God. This Servant will suffer for the sins of others, bear the guilt for their sins, and take on himself the punishment that these sinners deserved. This Servant will be exalted for his work and will exalt all those who confess their sins and follow the path of the suffering Servant. Another part of this good news is found in a series of salvation proclamations about God's preparation of a glorious city in Zion where he will dwell in all his glory. He will bring all his servants to this wonderful place so that they can glorify God for the rest of eternity. People from all the nations of the earth will flock to Zion to join the millions of others praising God and glorifying his name. This will be a wonderful time when all the people on earth will be holy; there will be no sorrow or shame, and there will be peace in all the earth.

If this sounds like an inviting place to be, then it would be wise to spend some time reading the book of Isaiah to hear about all the details that are explained in these prophecies. These prophetic words were written to inform and to persuade people to join the millions who will be enjoying the most fulfilling experience that will be greater than anything they have ever imagined. Once people understand how great God is and what he plans to do for his people, many will want to confess their sins and be forgiven. Then they can confidently know that they will one day live in that holy city with God because their future destiny is secure.

Although God's marvelous thoughts and ways are far above and beyond any of our thoughts, God has given a glimpse into some of his thoughts in the prophecies in the book of Isaiah. It is a breathtaking story with unbelievably tragic failures by the enemies of God, but it also has a fantastic ending for those who love and serve God. The heights of God's wrath are illustrated as he tramples the wicked in his anger, but his tender love is illustrated by comparing him to a shepherd who gently carries his lambs to safety. These oracles record the preaching of a prophet who might be called an Old Testament evangelist. He gives his audience two choices, either glorify God and enjoy life in his presence forever or reject him and end up in that other terrible place where the fire never goes out and the worm never dies.

In the preface to volume one, which deals with Isaiah 1-39, I compared the writing of this commentary to the challenges of climbing Mount Everest. At that time I thought I knew the terrain of the mountain and many of the dangers of the trek, but as I have climbed to even higher peaks in chaps. 40-66, I realized again just how difficult this journey is. There are so many contradictory opinions on which path to take and so many different interpretations of the evidence within these prophecies that a person sometimes wonders which way to turn. To be safe it is sometimes easier to follow the path of great men who have blazed the trail through Isaiah in the past, but there are from time to time opportunities to blaze some new trails where few have ventured. I have learned much from the mistakes and the wisdom of past travelers through Isaiah, especially the great Dutch commentator J. L. Koole, but I have tried also to lay down some new trails for readers to examine, evaluate, and follow. Some will no doubt be rightly skeptical of these new trails and want to keep to the security of the old paths, but I invite all who read this commentary to expand their imagination about what these prophecies might be saying. I pray that some will offer additional evidence to enhance the perspective of these new paths and that some will correct ideas where mistakes were made so that the truth that God was sharing through this prophet will ultimately cause the light of God's word to shine more brightly to a world that needs to hear some good news for a change.

Although writing a commentary on Isaiah is a great challenge, it is not wisely done alone. The words of explanation are mine, but I gladly acknowledge the contributions of former teachers, fellow faculty members at Union University, and the outstanding commentaries that are available for our generation to study. I thank God for these people and the works that have shaped my approach to the Hebrew text and its interpretation. I also owe a great debt to those at B&H Publishers who have reviewed, edited, and improved the way things are said. I want to express a special word of thanks to E. Ray Clendenen and his staff for their care and faithfulness in publishing this study. I want to thank my wife Susan for her support all these years and for her careful reading of the manuscript to help remove as many errors as possible.

I am dedicating this volume to our son Todd and his family. Every believing parent prays that God will provide healthy and normal children who will grow up to love God and be his servants. One can only thank God for his grace in guiding them through life, for helping them to find a godly partner to marry, and for blessing them with children. My prayer is that my children and grandchildren will know the great joy of being God's servants. May all glory go to God for the great things that he will do.

Gary V. Smith

Union University

Jackson, TN

Abbreviations

Bible Books

Commonly Used Sources

Other Abbreviations

Cf. confer, compare, see

fem. feminine

Hb. Hebrew

lit. literal(ly)

LXX Septuagint

masc. masculine

ms(s) manuscript(s)

pers. person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd)

pl. plural

sg. singular

v(v). verse(s)

Introduction Outline23

Introduction

The Larger Structural Organization of 40-66

Compositional Issues Related to 40-55

Early Perspectives

More Recent Scholarly Approaches

Dramatic

Traditional

Rhetorical

Redactional

Canonical

Conclusion

Some Key Issues in the Debate

Geographical Setting

Genre

Time

Structure

Compositional Issues Related to Chapters 56-66

Are Chapters 56-66 a Separate Book?

Redactional Theories

Sociological Reconstructions

Balancing Continuity and Discontinuity

The Relationship between 40-55 and 56-66

Theology of 40-66

Finding Some Unity within the Diversity God and the Gods

Israel and the Nations

The Created World

Glorify the Holy Redeemer Who Transforms the World

Glorify God, not the Idols

Glorify God for His Transforming Redemption through the Servant

Glorify God in His Transformed Holy Mountain Glorify God or Suffer Destruction

Conclusion

1. Introduction

24As C. R. Seitz has already recognized in his Introduction to Isaiah 40-66, it is quite odd to have another Introduction added in the middle of a commentary on a book of the Bible.¹ Most novels, history books, and textbooks do not have a second introduction inserted about halfway through the book. This is not usually done with other biblical books, so why is it done here? Some might excuse another introduction at this point because most other commentary series have a second introduction before chap. 40 and even a third introduction before chap. 56-66 (they view these as separate books by different authors), but if this material was originally written and canonized as one book, surely the most logical thing to do would be to develop one introduction at the beginning of Isaiah.

In light of this problem, the Introduction that is found here should properly be seen as a continuation or supplement to the introductory material preceding the exegesis of chaps. 1-39.² This continuation of the introductory material will not address the same issues that were discussed in volume 1, but will focus only on the different approaches to interpreting chaps. 40-66, questions about the setting of these chapters, the structure of the material, the theology, and several key interpretive issues that are unique to chaps. 40-66. There are three practical reasons for separating these issues from the initial introduction before chaps. 1-39. First, the length of the book of Isaiah is enormous, and the material varies considerably; thus it is logistically difficult and methodologically problematic to deal with all these issues at one time. Even if all the introductory issues were put in one place, it would be necessary to deal with the various unique issues of these chapters in a separate section of that initial introduction. Second, those who are investigating the book of Isaiah need to know about the different methods of interpreting chaps. 40-66 when they are ready to start studying chap. 40-66. Third, putting these issues here in this volume makes them readily available for consultation by those who are beginning to wrestle with these chapters.³

2. The Larger Structural Organization of 40-66

It is widely believed that the larger structural markers within chaps. 40-66 demonstrate that there is a literary organization of these chapters into two main groups: chaps. 40-55 and chaps. 56-66. Although some believe this grouping25 of chapters begins at chap. 34⁴ and a few others suggest a different ending point other than chap. 55,⁵ most commentators conclude that chap. 40 starts a new section and chap. 55 ends this literary unit. This division of the text is partially based on the fact that the narrative about Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem ends the last section of chap. 1-39. R. Melugin believes this literary unit extends from chap. 40 through 55 because 40:1-11 appears to be a prologue and chap. 55:6-13 is written like an epilogue.⁶ Both passages deal with some of the same motifs, thus creating an inclusio. One of those motifs is the idea that the word of the Lord will stand forever (40:8), which is similar to the conclusion that when God's word goes forth it accomplishes what God desires (55:11). The call to seek God and repent in 55:6-7 is also what one might expect in a concluding chapter that calls people to action or to make a decision to follow God. In addition, chap. 56 appears to introduce a new literary unit with its discussion of the need for the foreigner and eunuch to act justly, hold fast to the covenant, and keep the Sabbath. Since several other literary units end with a hymn (12:1-6; 42:10-13; 44:23), the final hymn in 55:12-13 is an additional sign that chap. 55 functions as a conclusion to the preceding group of chapters. This leaves chaps. 56-66 as the final literary unit in the book of Isaiah. Since these two groups of chapters have many unique problems and commentators interpret them quite differently, they will be discussed separately.

3. Compositional Issues Related to 40-55

26The various methodological approaches to understanding the composition of portions of Isaiah (several sources, a prophetic school, redactional editing, rhetorical argumentation, and canonical formation) were introduced in my introduction to chaps. 1-39,⁷ but there is a need to describe how these approaches uniquely deal with the literature in chaps. 40-55 so that each methodology can be evaluated. The reader needs to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches used by the commentaries they might consult. This survey is not an exhaustive introduction to each methodology but a summary of a few of the key compositional issues that interpreters of chaps. 40-55 have addressed over the years. Primary attention is given to the present state of discussion in more recent commentaries; this is not an historical account of how each approach arose and developed.

(1) Early Perspectives

The high regard that later Hebrew authors had for the prophecies within the book of Isaiah is evidenced by the frequent allusions to what the prophet said. For example, (a) the phrase I am, and there is no God besides me in Zeph 2:15 seems to be based on the common use of this phrase in Isaiah (45:5, 6, 18, 21; 47:8); (b) Mal 3:1 picks up the idea of one who will come to clear a way before the Lord from Isa 40:3 and develops this idea even further; (c) Jer 31:35 refers to God stirring up the sea and making its waves roar, similar to Isa 51:15; and (d) there are several allusions in Nahum that seem to come from Isaiah 40-66.⁸ None of these authors indicate that they are quoting from the book of Isaiah and some modern scholars have questioned who is quoting whom.⁹Nevertheless, when one looks at the number of times later prophets allude to or quote from the book of Isaiah, it is clear that these messages had a powerful impact on the theological thinking of later biblical and nonbiblical writers.

The value and high esteem for the book of Isaiah is very evident from the number of manuscripts that were found in the caves in the general vicinity of the Dead Sea.¹⁰ These excavations resulted in the discovery of numerous Isaiah scrolls (probably 21) and many small fragments that contain only a27 few words or verses from Isaiah. These are among the more important longer documents:¹¹

1QIsa, known as the Great Isaiah Scroll, dates to around 200-150 BC. It contains most of the 66 chapters in Isaiah.

1QIsb contains portions of 7:22-66:24 (though many chapters are only partially preserved) that comes from the Herodian period. Within chaps. 40-66 it specifically includes 40:2-3; 41:3-23; 43:1-13, 23-27; 44:21-28; 45:1-13; 46:3-13; 47:1-14; 48:17-22; 49:1-15; 50:7-11; 51:1-10; 52:7-15; 53:1-12; 55:2-13; 56:1-12; 57:1-4, 17-21; 58:1-14; 59:1-8, 20-21; 60:1-22; 61:1-11; 63:1-19; 64:1, 6-8; 65:17-25; 66:1-24.

4QIsb includes chaps. 1-3, 5, 9, 11-13, 17-22, 24, 26, 35-37; plus within chaps. 40-66 it contains 40:1-4, 22-26; 41:8-11; 42:2-7, 9-12; 43:12-15; 44:19-28; 45:20-25; 46:1-3; 48:6-8; 49:21-23; 51:1-2, 14-16; 52:2, 7; 53:11-12; 61:1-3; 64:5-65:1; 66:24. It can be dated around 35 BC.

4QIsc is an Herodian text that has some Paleo-Hebrew script (for the name of God) and includes chaps. 9-12, 14, 22-26, 28, 30, 33, and specifically 44:3-7, 23; 45:1-4, 6-8; 46:8-13; 48:10-15, 17-19; 49:22; 51:8-16; 52:10-15; 53:1-3, 6-8; 54:3-5, 7-17; 55:1-7; 66:20-24.

4QIsd includes portions from chaps. 45:20; 46:10-13; 47:1-6, 8-9; 48:8-22; 49:1-15; 52:4-7; 53:8-12; 54:1-11; 57:9-58:3, 5-7.

In addition to these early biblical manuscripts, numerous nonbiblical documents that describe the life, culture, and beliefs of the Qumran community contain quotations of verses from Isaiah 40-66 to justify their theology and their way of life. For example, within the Sectarian Laws in 4Q265, fragment 1, is the statement, it is written in the b[ook,] of Isaiah the prophet... shout you who have not been in labor, for the children of your desolation will be more from Isa 54:1-2.¹² The Damascus Document, column 6, claims that the rod in Num 21:18 refers to the interpreter of the law and it justifies this interpretation by stating that Isaiah said, 'he brings out a tool for his work'¹³ from Isa 54:16. 4Q176 tanḥumîm quotes from 40:1-5; 41:8-9; 43:1-6; 49:7, 13-17; 51:22-23; 52:1-3; and 54:4-10.28 These few examples show how highly these people regarded the writing of the prophet Isaiah, but they do not provide much information about key issues related to the actual composition of the book of Isaiah.

Josephus (around AD 75) speaks about the writing of the prophecies in the book of Isaiah. After he describes Isaiah's interaction with Hezekiah about Sennacherib's failed attack (chaps. 36-37 and 38-39), he indicates that Isaiah out of the assurance that he had never written what was false, wrote down all his prophecies and left them behind him in books.¹⁴ This statement affirms his beliefs about the authorship and the authority of the messages within the book of Isaiah. It does not describe how many books Isaiah wrote, what the title of each book was, what topics were covered in each of them; and it says nothing specific about the manner in which he composed these books.

The New Testament writers frequently quote verses from the book of Isaiah and some of these are connected directly to the prophet Isaiah. The following quotes have an introduction that attributes the quoted material to Isaiah:

Some of the introductions to these quotations merely claim that the man Isaiah said what is quoted (Rom 10:20-21; 15:12), although Luke 3:4 refers to what is written in the book of the words of Isaiah. These quotations indicate that at that time early Christians viewed these words as the authoritative words spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Of course, there are numerous other quotations from the book of Isaiah that are found in the New Testament that do not specifically mention that they are quotations from the prophet Isaiah or from the book of Isaiah.¹⁵

Many early Christian writings quote or allude to the book of Isaiah to justify some conclusion. The General Epistle of Barnabas was written shortly after the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in AD 70. It admonishes Gentile Christians not to be led astray by those who were teaching that Christians must follow the Old Testament laws. It claims that even the ancient Hebrews perceived these physical requirements (circumcision, sacrifices, food laws, etc.) were really meant to be spiritual ways to mortify the passions of the flesh and to encourage 29 the sanctification of the body.¹⁶ In making his case, this author repeatedly refers to passages throughout Isaiah, quoting extensive portions to prove his point.¹⁷ There is no question about the authority, unity, or practical wisdom of Isaiah's writings. This was the general attitude toward the book of Isaiah throughout the Early Church period. It does not matter if one looks at the allegorical use of Isaiah in Irenaeus's (AD 130-200) Demonstrations of Apostolic Preaching or the nonallegorical study of Isaiah by Theodoret of Cyrus (AD 393-460);¹⁸ all were focused on explaining what the text meant and how it related to their own Christian faith.

In Baba Bathra 15a the Talmud expresses the opinion that Hezekiah and his company wrote Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes, but it is hard to know what it meant by the statement that they wrote these books. Certainly one would not expect them to claim that Hezekiah's scribes were inspired prophets or that they wrote what the text attributes to Solomon and Isaiah. This idea may have originated from Prov 25:1, where it says that the men of Hezekiah copied or compiled the proverbs of Solomon. Of course the historical basis and the veracity of this opinion is unknown, so it is difficult to judge its historical value. Many years later the great Jewish exegete Ibn Ezra (AD 1092-1167) refers to the heretical views of Moses ben Samuel Ibn Geketilla who questioned if Isaiah wrote the second half of the book of Isaiah, but it does not appear that Ibn Ezra followed this opinion.¹⁹ In spite of a few questions like these, up until the rise of the critical approaches in the eighteenth century, most people thought that Isaiah was the one who wrote down his prophecies, so there was little talk about the place, the time, or the actual process of composition.

The great reformer J. Calvin notes that 40:1 introduces a new subject that relates to a future time (the time of the captivity in Babylon, the deliverance, and the reign of Christ) after the death of the prophet. When he came to chap. 56 apparently he did not see a major break in the flow of thought between chaps. 55 and 56. He rejected the allegorical method of exegesis that was so popular in his day because he believed that an historical approach that was built on a30 good understanding of the grammar would provide the best understanding of the original author's meaning.²⁰

(2) More Recent Scholarly Approaches

Critical questions about the composition of the book of Isaiah began in earnest when J. C. Döderlein published a Latin translation of Isaiah with notes in 1775.²¹ He concluded that the prophet Isaiah did not write chaps. 40-66; instead, an exilic prophet who knew about Cyrus and the fall of Babylon wrote them. J. G. Eichhorn thought that the oracles in Isaiah were in chronological order and that later exilic and postexilic oracles were added to this collection as appendices. He identified these later writings based on messages that indicate a Babylonian setting and different Hebrew forms of expression. He noted that Isaiah's oracles were focused on moral themes, while later writings refer to the exile, the coming of Cyrus, and the fall of Babylon.²²

M. A. Sweeney has traced the development of these critical views that led to B. Duhm's commentary. Based on five principles, W. Gesenius's 1821 commentary on Isaiah attributed the second half of the book of Isaiah to an exilic author he calls Pseudo-Jesaia who lived in Babylon.²³ F. Hitzig's 1833 commentary on Isaiah attributed chaps. 40-66 to an author who wrote at the conclusion of the exile,²⁴ while H. G. A. Ewald's 1840 book on the prophets claims that a whole series of oracles (chaps. 13-14; 21; 40-48; 49-66) were added to the writings of Isaiah by a less-gifted anonymous writer sometime after the fall of Babylon.²⁵ A. Dillmann's 1890 commentary on Isaiah hailed Isaiah as a great hero of the faith who proclaimed God's majesty. He breaks the31 oracles within Isaiah into a series of collections (1-12; 13-23; 24-27; 28-33) but assigned most of chaps. 40-66 to an anonymous exilic prophet who depended on the vocabulary of 1-39 when he wrote just before the fall of Babylon. Chapters 63-66 were a later appendix that describes the postexilic return of the people to their land.²⁶ Because of these developments before the time of Duhm, Sweeney concludes that Duhm's 1892 epic work on Isaiah was based on a fairly firm consensus of critical scholarship at that time.

Duhm not only argued that parts of Isaiah were composed at a later time; he separated chaps. 56-66 from 40-55 and attributed 56-66 to a Third-Isaiah figure in the postexilic era of Ezra and Nehemiah, long after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. He thought that a prophet in Lebanon wrote chaps. 40-55 around 540 BC while another prophet composed chaps. 56-66 in Jerusalem during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (450 BC). Duhm concluded that later insertions were added to these writings all the way down to the Hasmonean period (first century BC).²⁷ He did not think that the servant poems fit into the contexts where they were placed; therefore, he attributed the servant passages to a different author living around 500-450 BC. Although each present-day scholar has his own unique variation of these issues, Duhm's basic approach to chaps. 40-66 is still being followed in many critical commentaries today.

S. R. Driver presents this theory in what might be called its classical form in 1897. His approach is based on the analogy of prophecy, which states that most prophets lived in the era that they describe and preach to the people in that setting. Prophets do not abandon their historical setting but speak about it and to it. He believes there is no prophecy of an exile in chaps. 40-66; it is presupposed as a thing of the past. Thus the future predictions are about the release from exile. He contends that it is completely contrary to the nature of prophecy for a prophet to speak to a future people and abandon his contemporaries.²⁸ This is not a complete denial of prophetic ability but a limitation of it to a very narrow period of time. He provided three arguments to support his understanding of 40-66.

The internal evidence shows that Jerusalem is ruined and deserted (44:26b; 58:12; 61:4; 63:18; 64:10), the Hebrew people are suffering under the Chaldeans (42:22, 25; 47:6; 52:5), and a return from exile is very imminent (40:2; 46:13; 48:20). Thus in these chapters the prophet was speaking to those people who were living in the Babylonian exile.32

The literary style and subject matter of chaps. 40-66 is different from 1-39. Driver presents a list of words that appear only (or primarily) in chaps. 40-66 and a few stylistic characteristics (e.g. the duplication of words). These factors support his conclusion that the author of chaps. 1-39 did not write 40-66.

The theology of chaps. 40-66 presents a distinctive emphasis by a different prophet. For example, chaps. 1-39 describe God's majesty, while 40-66 emphasize his infinitude.²⁹

Since the time of Driver several criticisms of this approach have appeared, and less value is now given to small stylistic changes or the introduction of a new topic (point 2). Although most would find some changes in the theology of chap. 40-66, much more attention is being given to the common theological themes that can be traced throughout all sections of the book (point 3). Thus the historical evidence for a change in the location and setting of the prophet and his audience in chaps. 40-55 and 56-66 seems to be the lasting legacy of this approach (point 1). Although some still find much to be valued in this traditional critical method of analyzing Isaiah based on the analogy of prophecy, new ways of understanding chaps. 40-55 have developed in the intervening years. So a brief survey of some of the main alternative methodologies will help inform the reader about the nature of the present debate concerning the composition of chaps. 40-55.

Dramatic

The two-volume commentary on the whole book of Isaiah by J. D. W. Watts³⁰ and Klaus Baltzer's one-volume commentary on chaps. 40-55 employ a dramatic interpretation of the book of Isaiah; thus, they have a focus that is quite different from the assumptions and methodologies of S. R. Driver. Watts takes a reader-oriented approach to understanding the messages in Isaiah. He identifies 12 long acts within the vision of Isaiah (acts VII-XII are found in chaps. 40-66),³¹ with several scenes within each act, and a few episodes within each scene. Watts attempts to assign each verse of the text to a speaker in the drama (God, the heavens, the earth, a herald, a messenger, a chorus, Cyrus, Darius, or Tattenai). He dates the completion of the book to 435 BC and the authorship to one of the persecuted people mentioned in 66:3-5.³² This unknown author identified with the historical prophet Isaiah (chaps. 1-39), with the suffering of the persecuted servant of the Lord (chaps. 42-53), and with the final group of servants in 54:17; 65:9-16, so he used older traditions about these people from earlier times to present this grand vision of God's strategy for the world. Watts does not employ the common critical concepts of33 a first, second, and third Isaiah, but deals with the whole book more as a grand unified vision. This vision for Zion and the rest of the world addresses the people of Jerusalem who were struggling with the influence of syncretistic tendencies and the fragmentation of their community into separate parties (people of the land, exiles, priests, the governor). Watts attempts to correlate each chapter with some historical period, but this leads to some very unusual conclusions. For example, the servant in chap. 42 is actually the Persian king Cyrus, the servant in chaps. 49, 52-53 refers to the Persian king Darius, the servant in chap. 50 is Zerubbabel, and the Anointed One in 61:1-3 is the Persian king Artaxerxes.³³ This unified conception of the book as one unified vision is very helpful because it tends to reduce the excessive fragmentation of the diverse messages in the book of Isaiah by connecting them with a central idea: God's strategy for establishing his plans for the world. Nevertheless, his classification of these speeches as a series of dramas and his identification of the characters who speak within these dramas are very suspect. In addition, few would accept his identification of certain acts or speeches with the specific historical periods he identifies, nor would they identify the persecuted servant with the historical figures he proposes. There is very little indication that chaps. 40-66 are describing a drama that was presented by a cast of characters.

The work of K. Baltzer is based on the traditional critical conclusion that the book of Isaiah should be divided into three unique sections, though he believes that the emphasis on Zion/Jerusalem acts as a unifying factor that draws these three unique parts together.³⁴ Baltzer recognizes the possibility of later redactional additions to the text, but he believes they were relatively minor.³⁵ He identifies various form-critical genres but is much more interested in how these shorter messages were put together into the larger literary units and how they function within the drama. The fundamental thesis of the commentary is that DtIs's work is a liturgical drama³⁶ that was performed with people acting in multiple scenes with an audience listening in a worship setting. Baltzer points to similar ancient dramas in the Babylonian New Years (akitu) festival, the coronation of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom ruler Sesostris I (1972-1928 BC), and the drama of a struggle between the gods Horus and Seth (713-698 BC).³⁷Baltzer admits that the drama in Isaiah is strikingly different from the Attic texts,³⁸ but he is still able to infer several actors plus a chorus who performed34 this play at the seven-day pilgrimage festival of Passover on the southeast slope of Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah (450-400 BC).³⁹ This drama had six acts (chap. 40 was the prologue and 55 was the epilogue), with three scenes per act, and each act ended with a hymn (except one, 53:12). The dramatic action includes processions of people (45:14-17), throne scenes (44:24-45:25), law-court scenes (41:1-5a; 21-29), a battle scene (43:11-16; 51:9-11), an artisan scene (44:9-20), a marriage scene (54:14-17), and musical acts with dance, mime, and singing.⁴⁰ Some acts take place on earth, others in the underworld, and several happen in heaven. Baltzer does view chaps. 40-55 as a homogeneous literary unit; that is, it is one unified drama. Baltzer connects the Servant of God with Moses because the Servant and Moses both functioned as teachers appointed to bring out the people, were sent by God, and were put in a grave (Deut 34; Isa 53). But one wonders about his conclusion. Did Moses bring justice to the nations (42:1-4)? Was he beaten and killed by persecutors (53:1-9)? Did he pay the penalty for other people's sins (53:4-9)? Was he a covenant to the nations (49:6)?

A major criticism of Watts and Baltzer is that the speeches by Isaiah lack theatrical directions or named actors, so the basic methodology is primarily a series of imaginative recreations of what might have happened if this was used as a drama. The whole underpinning of this hypothesis about the existence of ancient dramas is rather precarious, for the Babylonian New Year festival was not a drama conducted in public before an audience; it was a private royal ritual of the king. Although rituals have people acting in certain predictable ways, it is a gross misrepresentation to describe the coronation of a king as a drama. One of the positive aspects of this approach is that it enables these authors to view chaps. 40-55 as a unified whole.

Traditional

J. N. Oswalt's two commentaries on Isaiah do not follow the traditional critical division of Isaiah into three separate authors (stylistic and theological difference are not that great), and a strong part of his logic is his rejection of the critical conclusion that predictive prophecy is impossible.⁴¹ Although many critical scholars would object to Oswalt's characterization of their perspective and say that they do believe in certain types of prophecy, it is true that most critical works follow the understanding of prophecy that prophets primarily gave speeches to and about the people in their own setting. Oswalt does allow for some editorial work by Isaiah or one of his followers to arrange and add transitional statements when producing the final form of his book.⁴² Oswalt agrees with critical interpretations when he interprets the setting of the audience in chaps. 40-55 to be in exile and the setting35 of the audience in chaps. 56-66 to be in the postexilic period. Oswalt rejects redactional theories and only mentions in passing form-critical observations about the genre of various oracles.

Oswalt finds very few historical references in chaps. 40-66, a view that is somewhat similar to B. S. Childs's perspective that the historical setting of chaps. 40-66 was consciously suppressed. Oswalt strongly supports those studies that point to a theological unity to Isaiah (Brueggemann, Childs, Clements, Rendtorff),⁴³ though he recognizes that these authors do not think theological unity implies authorial unity. Oswalt maintains that the theology of 40-66 teaches that God knows and plans the future; therefore, these prophecies must be the supernatural revelation of what God plans to do in the future and not a discussion of what God was doing at the present time around 540 BC.⁴⁴Oswalt finds servanthood at the center of Isaiah's theology, and he believes the "fundamental point that chs. 40-55 addresses is the possibility of restoration... First, ability: can God restore? Second, intention: does he want to restore?"⁴⁵ Finally, it is noteworthy that Oswalt views many of the short hymnic passages within chaps. 40-55 as introductions to a new section rather than the conclusion to the preceding messages (42:10-13; 44:23, etc.).⁴⁶

When one comes to chaps. 56-66, Oswalt rejects P. Hanson's sociological analysis suggesting that these chapters describe a conflict between two priestly groups. Instead, these chapters explain the necessity of living righteously, the key mark of a servant of God. Chs. 56-66 are a synthesis of what seems to be the conflicting points of view in chaps. 7-39 and 40-55.⁴⁷ The first section (chaps. 7-39) calls people to righteous living or else God will judge them, while the second (40-55) emphasizes God's grace that his chosen people can freely receive. Oswalt believes these opposing emphases are synthesized in chaps. 56-66.

J. A. Motyer's one-volume work on Isaiah defends the unity of Isaiah and the Isaianic authorship of the whole. Isaiah provided the unifying influence from the beginning of the production of this book rather than a group of later disciples at the end of the process. His aim is to explain the meaning of the text, so he places a good deal of emphasis on rhetorical factors that emphasize five unifying motifs in Isaiah. These are (a) the messianic hope; (b) the city; (c) the Holy One of Israel; (d) history and faith; and (e) literary and structural features.⁴⁸ Motyer views all the messages in Isaiah as the written condensations of what the prophet preached, but he does not believe that the variations in style are so diverse that they require one to assume a different person wrote36 each different type of oracle. The structure he finds is based on a concentrated 'structurist' study which reveals several extended doublets.⁴⁹ He also finds the arch/trajectory structure (chiastic structure) and the use of the inclusio to mark the beginning and end of speeches. At times this leads to some unusual structural divisions of the text, plus some chiastic organizational features that appear somewhat forced.⁵⁰ His explanations of verses and words are rather brief with relatively little discussion of contrary points of view. He finds no evidence of a Babylonian background in chaps. 40-55, so he opts for a Palestinian setting for it and for chaps. 56-66.⁵¹ Although chaps. 46-47 are about Babylon, he does not believe their setting is Babylonian because the suffering of God's people in these chapters does not conform to what happened in the Babylonian exile. The reportage in these chapters is filled with stereotypical phrases that do not sound like eyewitness reporting.⁵² He does not interact much with form-critical or redactional theories. Motyer believes chaps. 56-66 condemn preexilic Canaanite cults (not a postexilic problem), and he does not accept P. Hanson's sociological analysis of these conflicts as being a struggle for power between two different priestly groups.

Neither of these studies makes much use of critical methodologies, but a more informed use of form-critical results in the past fifty years would have enabled them to advance their understanding of the implications of the prophetic use of various literary forms to express these messages of hope and condemnation. Although Motyer's briefness is a refreshing change from the long-winded discussion in some commentaries, his interaction with problems and even his own explanation of the text is sometimes so brief that one does not always know why he came to certain conclusions. Oswalt presents a number of variant textual readings and a fuller explanation of the text, but his discussion sometime gets bogged down defending theological issues. Both present viable traditional understandings of the message of the book of Isaiah that need to be heard.

Rhetorical

J. Muilenburg's rhetorical approach to chaps. 40-66 recognizes the existence of a Second and Third Isaiah, but his main focus is turned away from issues of redactional additions to observing the style and the rhetorical beauty of the poetry, as well as the unity that can be found within these speeches.⁵³ He disagrees with form-critical tendencies to break these chapters 37up into innumerable small oracles based on the use of different genres. He rejects H. Gressmann's identification of 49 independent poems in chaps. 40-66 and J. Begrich's discovery of 70 poems; instead, Muilenburg puts different poems together based on catchwords and other rhetorical mechanisms that point to the unity of longer speeches. Among the rhetorical features he identifies are the repeated use of hymns, poetic parallelism, assonance, the use of behold (hēn), interrogatives, a dialogical style, the use of quotations, exclamations, imperatives, and the repetition of key words (like fear not or I am the Lord).⁵⁴ Muilenburg found several triadic organizations of material and ends up dividing chaps. 40-48 into fifteen units, 49-55 into seven units, and 56-66 into thirteen units.⁵⁵ Although Muilenburg's work began to turn the tide against the excessive division of the text of Isaiah by form critics, some would suggest that he could have found much greater unity by joining many of his small units into larger segments. When Muilenburg turned to study chaps. 56-66 he found much less evidence of coherence.⁵⁶

Muilenburg placed Second Isaiah in Babylon because he thought the prophet had firsthand knowledge of conditions in Babylon (44:24-25; 47:12-13) and that his writings have some affinities with Babylonian literature.⁵⁷ He believes this prophet was one of the greatest prophets because of his unusual skill in writing and his presentation of his material in a dramatic and emotional manner. Finally, Muilenburg claims that the thought of Second Isaiah is eschatological, and the primary matrix of all the poems is eschatological.⁵⁸ This sharply distinguishes his interpretation from other critical studies that claim that many of these poems were addressed to the exilic situation in Babylon. Thus he believes that the themes of redemption, creation, and history should be understood primarily in light of God's great plan to redeem his people so that they can live in his new creation in the age to come. This is the new event that the prophet announces (it is not Cyrus's defeat of Babylon); God will one day come in all his glory to transform nature, establish justice, and bring people from many nations into his kingdom. This eschatological perspective is an important insight that has a major impact on how one conceives of the role of the prophet (a prophet did not always address the immediate situation of the people he was speaking to), the setting of the prophet (eschatological prophecies often do not help locate the setting of the prophet), and the theology of his message (the new things he predicted are about eschatological, not present exilic, events).38

G. T. Polan uses a similar rhetorical methodology in his detailed interpretation of chaps. 56-59.⁵⁹ A somewhat similar approach was employed by P. D. Quinn-Miscal who treats the whole book of Isaiah as a literary unit, although he is less historical in his analysis and does not present a verse-by-verse commentary on each chapter⁶⁰ Miscal understands Isaiah to be a grand poetic vision, so his goal is to uncover the richness of themes that were imaginatively presented in intricate and complex poetic discourse. Y. Gitay's persuasive approach to rhetorical arguments provides another way of using rhetoric to analyze the logic of the speeches in chaps. 40-48.⁶¹

Redactional

Those who propose one or more redactions of chaps. 40-55 naturally raise serious questions about the unity of these prophetic messages because in each new redactional process different people from different eras were addressing new issues and inserting their new ideas into the text. For example, H. J. Hermission suggested that the complex development of chaps. 40-55 involved (a) an original collection of oracles written sometime around 539 BC that included the servant poems, (b) a qarob (near) layer of texts that were inconsistent with these earlier oracles because they stressed the nearness of God (46:8, 12-13; 48:17-19; 51:1-2, 4-8; 54:11-17), and (c) an anti-idolatry redaction (44:9-20; 46:5-7).⁶² R. G. Kratz argues for as many as five redactional layers, including (a) the early foundation layer (much of 40-48) from sometime near the beginning of Cyrus's reign; (b) the Zion expansion, which is primarily in chaps. 49-54, developed near the end of Cyrus's reign; (c) the Cyrus supplement from the time of Darius I; (d) an idol layer in chaps. 40-46 from the end of Darius's reign; (e) a servant-Israel redaction from the fifth century; and (f) other later small additions.⁶³ This is initially based on two presentations of Cyrus (first, as the one who defeats Babylon and second, as a light to the nation). J. van Oorschot's redactional study identifies a basic layer of texts with judgment speeches, plus