Isaiah Series

Isaiah

Personal Description

Isaiah was a prophet for King Ahaz right before the Assyrian conflict began. He was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the prophet." However, the exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the genuine prophet Isaiah is complicated.

Born: Kingdom of Judah

Died: 7th century BC

Parents: Amoz

Feast: May 9; Thursday after the Feast of the Transfiguration (Armenian Apostolic Church)

Venerated in: Judaism; Catholicism; Eastern Orthodoxy; Oriental Orthodoxy; Islam

Notable Works: Book of Isaiah

Books: Esaias, Des Propheten Jesaja Weissagungen, The Isaiah Targum

Children: Maher shalal hash bas, Isaiah

Alternate titles: Yesha?yahu

Flourished: c.800 BCE - c.701 BCE ("God Is Salvation"), (flourished 8th century BCE, Jerusalem), prophet after whom the biblical Book of Isaiah is named (only some of the first 39 chapters are attributed to him), a significant contributor to Jewish and Christian traditions. His call to prophecy about 742 BCE coincided with the beginnings of the westward expansion of the Assyrian empire, which threatened Israel and which Isaiah proclaimed to be a warning from God to a godless people.

Isaiah's vision

The earliest recorded event in his life is his call to prophecy, as now found in the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah; this occurred about 742 BCE. The vision (probably in the Jerusalem Temple) that made him a prophet is described in a first-person narrative. According to this account, he "saw" God and was overwhelmed by his contact with the divine glory and holiness. He became agonizingly aware of God's need for a messenger to the people of Israel, and, despite his own sense of inadequacy, he offered himself for God's service: "Here am I! Send me." He was thus commissioned to give voice to the divine word. It was no light undertaking; he was to condemn his own people and watch the nation crumble and perish. As he tells it, he was only too aware that, coming with such a message, he would experience bitter opposition, willful disbelief, and ridicule, to withstand which he would have to be inwardly fortified. All this came to him in the form of a vision and ended as a sudden, firm, and lifelong resolve.

Personal history:

Presumably, Isaiah was already prepared to find meaning in the vision before the arrival of that decisive moment. However, information about that period of his life is inconclusive and consists mainly of inferences drawn from the biblical text. At times the prophet's private life shows through the record as an aspect of his public message. Once, when he confronted a king, he took with him to reinforce his prophetic word, a son with the symbolic name Shear-yashuv ("A Remnant Shall Return"). Again, to memorialize a message, he sired a son of the "prophetess" (his wife) and saddled the child with his message as a name: Maher-shalal-hash-baz ("Speed-spoil-hasten-plunder"), referring to the imminent spoliations by the Assyrians. If the sons had not been wanted as walking witnesses to the prophet's forebodings, posterity would not know of this wife or these sons.

In Isaiah's parental home, it is known only that his father's name was Amoz. Since he often spoke with kings, it is sometimes suggested that Isaiah was an aristocrat, possibly even of royal stock. However, the same reasoning might apply to any number of prophets; from Nathan in David's time onward, prophets had dealings with kings and were, like Isaiah, well informed about public affairs. Moreover, Isaiah's sympathies were forceful with the victimized poor, not with the courtiers and well-to-do. Also, it is sometimes argued that he was of a priestly family. However, his knowledge of cultic matters and the fact that his commissioning seemingly occurred in the Temple in Jerusalem are slender evidence for his priestly descent as against his unreserved condemnation of the priests and their domain: "I am fed up with roasting rams and the grease of fattened beasts," he has God proclaim in a famous passage in the first chapter.

One could argue with equal force that Isaiah is descended from a family of prophets (though his father, the otherwise unknown Amoz, is not to be confused with the prophet Amos). He is thoroughly schooled in the traditional forms and language of prophetic speech. It is an educated speech—intense, vivid, the finest of classical Hebrew. Isaiah is particularly well acquainted with the prophetic tradition known to his slightly older contemporary, Amos. Four eminent Hebrew prophets addressed themselves to the people of Israel and Judah in the latter half of the 8th pre-Christian century: Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah. Strangely, no evidence suggests that any of these knew any of the others in person. Seemingly, they were apart and alone, yet Isaiah and Amos follow essentially the same lines of thought and differ significantly only because Amos had addressed the northern kingdom (Israel). At the same time, Isaiah would emphatically include Judah and Jerusalem. The basic similarities in style and substance strongly suggest influence, direct or indirect, of the one on the other—and both invoke a recognizable Israelite tradition.