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Introduction to the Old Testament

J >> John Edgar McFadyen >> Introduction to the Old Testament




This latter prophecy, ix. 2-7, has been denied to Isaiah, but
apparently with insufficient reason. The passage falls very
naturally into its context. The northern districts of Israel (ix. 1)
had been ravaged by Assyria in 734 B.C. (2 Kings xv. 29), and upon
this darkness it is fitting that the great light should shine; and
the yoke to be broken might well be the heavy tribute Judah was now
obliged to pay. There are undoubted difficulties, e.g. the mention
of a Davidic king, ix. 7, after a specific reference to the fortunes
of Israel over which the Davidic king had no jurisdiction; and it is
probable that we do not possess the oracle in its original form or
completeness. But, in any case, the vision of the righteous and
prosperous king ruling over a delivered people fittingly closes this
series of somewhat loosely connected oracles.

The next section, ix. 8-x. 4, forms a very artistic whole,
consisting of four strophes, each of four verses,[1] concluding with
the refrain--

For all this His wrath is not turned,
And His hand is stretched out still.

The poem, which falls about 734, lashes the pride and ambition of
_Israel_ (not Judah) and threatens her people with loss of
territory and population, anarchy and civil war. The passage was
probably originally followed by v. 26-29, which has a similar
refrain, and which, with its vivid description of the terrible
Assyrian army, would form an admirable climax to this poem.
[Footnote 1: Ch. ix. 8 is an introduction and _v_. 13 an
interpolation.]

Chs. x. 5-xii. 6. Assyria, then, is the instrument with which
Jehovah chastises Israel. But because she executes her task in a
spirit of presumption and pride, she in her turn is doomed to
destruction; but the remnant of Jehovah's people will be saved, x.
5-27. The gradual approach of the Assyrians to Jerusalem is then
described in language full of word-play, _vv_, 28-32, which
forcibly reminds us of a very similar passage in Isaiah's
contemporary Micah, i. 10-15. This chapter is probably about twenty
years later than those that immediately precede it. There is an
obvious advance in the prophet's attitude to Assyria, and the boast
in _vv_. 9-11 carries the chapter later than the fall of
Samaria (721) and Carchemish (717). It is even possible that the
description of the Assyrian advance in vv. 28-32 implies
Sennacherib's campaign in Judah in 701.

After the destruction of the enemy before Jerusalem in x. 33, 34
follows an enthusiastic description of the Messianic king--of his
wisdom and justice, and of the universal peace which will extend
even to the animal world, xi. 1-9. It is the counterpart of ix. 2-7,
though here again, and perhaps with more reason, the Isaianic
authorship has been doubted. The peculiar emphasis upon the equipment
with the spirit is hardly, in these ethical relationships, demonstrably
pre-exilic, and the "stem" out of which the shoot is to grow suggests
that the monarchy had fallen, but the word may possibly be used to
indicate its decadent condition. In any case, there seems very little
doubt that the rest of the section, xi. 10-xii. 6, strikingly appropriate
as it is in this place, is post-exilic. It describes how in the Messianic
days just pictured, theexiles of Israel and Judah will be gathered from
the ends of the earth to their own land, where their near neighbours will
all be vanquished, xi. 10-16. Then follows a simple song of gratitude for
the redemption Jehovah has wrought, xii. The presuppositions of the
dispersion here described are not such as fit into Isaiah's time; they
would not even apply to the conditions after the fall of Jerusalem and
the exile of Judah in 586, still less to the fall of Samaria and the
exile of Israel in 72l--the passage must be post-exilic. But though much
later than Isaiah's time it forms a very skilful conclusion to the first
division of his book, and is an admirable counterpart to the gloomy
scenes of ch. i.


Chs. xiii.-xxiii. _Prophecies concerning foreign nations_

Chs. xiii. 1-xiv. 23. The Downfall of Babylon. The oracle concerning
Babylon, the first of the series of oracles concerning foreign nations,
is one of the most magnificent odes in literature. A day of destruction
to be executed by the Medes is coming upon Babylon the proud (xiii.)
and the exiles will return to their own land, xiv. 1-3. The triumph
song that follows discloses a weird scene in the underworld, where the
fallen king of Babylon receives an ironical welcome from the shadow-kings
of the other nations. There can be no doubt that this prophecy is not by
Isaiah. It glows with a passionate hatred of Babylon; but the Babylon
which figured in the days of Isaiah (xxxix.) was only a province of
Assyria, not an independent and oppressive world-power; nor would its
destruction have meant the return of the exiles of northern Israel. The
situation is plainly that of the period during the later exile of
Judah _before_ the capture of Babylon by Cyrus in 538, as the
horrors which the poet anticipated (xiii. 15f.) did not take place.

In the spirit of ch. x., xiv. 24-27 proclaims the invincible triumph
of Jehovah's purpose and the destruction of the Assyrians in the
land of Judah. The assassination of Sargon in 705 B.C. was the cause
of wild rejoicing throughout the western vassal states: the joy of
Philistia is rebuked by the prophet in _vv_. 28-32 with the
warning that worse is yet in store--an allusion, no doubt, to an
expected Assyrian invasion. If this be the theme of the passage,
_v_. 28 can hardly be correct, as Ahaz had died ten or twenty
years before.

Chs. xv., xvi. Oracle concerning Moab. The subscription to this
prophecy, xvi. 13, indicates that we have here an older prophetic
oracle, given "heretofore." Strictly speaking, it is not so much a
prophecy as an elegy over the fate of Moab whose land had been
devastated by an invader from the north. The fugitives, arriving in
Edom, send in vain for help to the people of Judah. Who the invader
was it is hard to say--possibly Jeroboam II of Israel, whose
conquests were extensive (2 Kings xiv. 25; Amos vi. 14). The oracle,
besides being diffuse, is altogether destitute of higher prophetic
thought, and is certainly not Isaiah's, though he adapted it to the
existing situation and foretold a similar and speedy devastation of
Moab, no doubt at the hands of the Assyrians, xvi. 14.

Ch. xvii. I-II. This prophecy concerning Aram and Israel falls, no
doubt, within the period when these two countries were leagued
against Judah, about 735. The doom of Aram is to be utter
destruction; that of Israel, all but utter destruction.

In the next two passages, xvii. 12-14, xviii., Isaiah appears to
return to his favourite theme of the sure destruction of the
Assyrians, though they are not mentioned by name. In xvii. 12-14
their hosts are compared to the noise of many waters, while in
xviii. their doom is announced by the prophet in answer to an
embassy sent by the Ethiopians, who were alarmed at the prospect of
an invasion by the Assyrians, doubtless under Sennacherib.

Ch. xix. Oracle concerning Egypt. For Egypt the prophet announces a
doom of civil war, oppression at the hands of a hard master, and
public and private distress which will issue in despair, _vv_.
1-17. In their terror, however, the Egyptians will cry to Jehovah,
who will reveal Himself to them and be in consequence honoured and
worshipped on Egyptian soil. Then a triple alliance will be formed
between Egypt, Assyria and Israel, and they shall all be Jehovah's
people, _vv_. 18-25.

The dream of such an alliance is very attractive and not too bold for so
original a thinker as Isaiah. But the passage is beset by difficulties.
The attitude to Egypt appears to be much friendlier in _vv_. 18-25
than in _vv_. 1-17; and it seems quite impossible to find within
Isaiah's age a place for five (=several?) Hebrew-speaking cities in
Egypt, _v_. 18, whereas such a reference would excellently fit the
later post-exilic time when there were extensive Jewish colonies in
Egypt. If the city specially mentioned at the end of the verse be, as
it seems to be, either Sun-city (Heliopolis) or Lion-city (Leontopolis)
then it would not be unnatural to find, in the next verse, with its
worship of Jehovah upon Egyptian soil, a reference to the founding of a
temple at Leontopolis by Onias in 160 B.C. In that case, Assyria in
_v_. 23 stands, as occasionally elsewhere, for Syria, from which
Israel had suffered more severely during the second century B.C. than
the earlier Israel from Assyria; and the dream of Palestine, Syria,
and Egypt, united in the worship of the true God, would be just as
striking and generous in the second century as in the eighth. At
first, _v_. 19 seems to tell powerfully in favour of the
Isaianic authorship, as the massebah (pillar) here regarded as
innocent was proscribed a century after Isaiah by the Deuteronomic
law (Deut. xii. 3). But the Egyptian Jews may not have been so
stringent as the Palestinian, or we may even suppose that the
"pillar" has here nothing to do with worship, but stands, for some
other purpose, on the boundary line. There is no adequate reason,
however, why _vv_. 1-17, or at least _vv_. 1-15, should
not be assigned to Isaiah.

In ch. xx. (711 B.C., cf. _v_. 1, capture of Ashdod) Isaiah indicates
in symbolic prophecy--which, however, was not fulfilled--that the people
of Egypt and Ethiopia would be deported by the Assyrians. The prophet's
object was to dissuade the people of Judah from the Egyptian alliance
which they were contemplating.

The theme of xxi. 1-10 is the same as that of xiii., xiv.--the
impending fate of Babylon--and the passages may be almost
contemporary. Warriors of Elam and Media are sent against Babylon,
and the issue is awaited with tremulous excitement, till at last the
watchman proclaims the welcome news, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."
The importance here aligned to Babylon and her fall, the express
mention of Elam and Media, _v_. 2, as her assailants, and the
description of Jehovah's people as "threshed" point unmistakably to
the last years of the exile, after the rise of Cyrus in 549, and
before the fall of Babylon in 538, so that the passage cannot be
from Isaiah. With this seems to go the next little enigmatic oracle
concerning Edom, xxi. 11, 12, whose fate, as affected by the fall of
Babylon, is as yet uncertain. The desert tribes, xxi. 13-17, will
also be affected by the general upheaval and be driven from the
regular caravan routes.

Ch. xxii. is the only chapter in this division (xiii.-xxiii.) which is
not concerned with foreign nations. It probably owes its place here to
its peculiar superscription which conforms to the other superscription
in xiii.-xxiii. In this chapter the prophet laments and very sternly
rebukes the frivolity of the people of Jerusalem--whether shortly before
the invasion of Sennacherib or after his retreat, it is hard to say.
Trusting in their armour and fortifications they give the rein to their
appetites, but he solemnly declares that their sin will be punished with
death.

Unique among the oracles of Isaiah are the two pieces, xxii. 15-18
and 19-25, which deal with persons. Shebna, one of the court
officials and probably a foreigner, is threatened with exile and the
consequent loss of his office: probably he championed the policy of
an Egyptian alliance. His place will be taken, according to Isaiah,
by Eliakim, who, curiously enough, is threatened in his turn.
Probably _vv_. 19-23 are an adaptation of 2 Kings xviii. 18,
where Eliakim is holding an office here held by Shebna, while Shebna
is only a scribe.

A prophetic lament over Tyre (xxiii.) concludes the oracles dealing
with the foreign peoples. The glad ancient merchant city will be
brought to silence, _vv_. 1-14, though after seventy years she
is to be revived, and the proceeds of her traffic are to be enjoyed
by the people of Jerusalem, _vv_. 15-18. There was a siege of
Tyre during Isaiah's time, but it is probably not that which is
celebrated here, as the poem lacks the nobility and grandeur of the
prophet's style. If the oracle is held to imply the conquest of
Tyre, it would require to be brought down to the time of Alexander
the Great; but it may well be only an anticipatory lament and
therefore earlier, contemporary perhaps with a similar oracle of
Ezekiel concerning the siege of Tyre (Ez. xxvi.-xxviii.) Verses 15-18
are clearly dependent on Jeremiah's view of the duration of the
Chaldean oppression (Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10); and the whole chapter
may be exilic.


Chs. xxiv.-xxvii. _Late prophecy concerning the glorious issue of
some world-catastrophe_.

This section is very peculiar, obscure, and in the Old Testament
altogether unique. Contemporary historical facts are seen now in the
lurid light of fear, more often in the more brilliant light of
eschatological hopes. In ch. xxiv. a great catastrophe is impending.
The world is weary, and joy has vanished. The city (Jerusalem?) is
desolate. Something has happened to revive Jewish hopes and kindle
high expectations as to the issue of the coming calamity, but in the
immediate future new woes are impending--the earth will reel; on that
day, however, Jehovah will suddenly punish the powers supernatural and
terrestrial, and come down to reign in glory on Mount Zion. Then (xxv.)
follows an enthusiastic song of praise, because a certain strong city
(unnamed) has been laid low. A great banquet is prepared on Zion for
all the sorrow-ridden nations of the world--emblem of their reception
into the Kingdom of God--tears are wiped from every eye, and, with their
reproach removed, the Jews praise their God for the victory. Another
song of praise follows in xxvi. 1-xxvii. 1 for the power with which
Jehovah has defended His own city, and laid her proud rival low. The
wicked will not learn from the divine judgments; but, while they are
destroyed, not only do Jehovah's own people increase, but their dead are
restored to life, to participate in His glorious kingdom; and the dragon
is smitten. Then follows xxvii. 2-6, a song of the vineyard-counterpart
to v. l-7--which praises Jehovah's care for Judah, with whom He is angry
no more. Her rival shall become a desolation, but she herself shall be
forgiven and re-established, if only she remove all signs of heathen
worship, and from the ends of the earth her exiled sons shall gather
to worship at Jerusalem.

The origin of this piece is wrapped in obscurity; and it would seem
that the author, for some reason, deliberately concealed the
historical situation. It is not even certain that the piece is a
unity: the song, e.g., in xxv. 1-5 interrupts the description of
judgment, and the connection is occasionally loose. There is no clue
to what is meant by the strong city which is to be overthrown. It is
plain, however, that the writer lived in Palestine, doubtless in or
near Jerusalem, xxv. 6, 7, at a time when the Jews were scattered
throughout many lands, xxiv. 14-16, xxvii. 12, 13, and when there
were at least three great world powers, xxvii. 1. This could hardly
have been earlier than the end of the Persian period, and probably
the tidings that rang from the isles of the sea, xxiv. 14, 15, were
those of the victorious advance of Alexander the Great. No earlier
date would suit the theological implications of the passage: e.g.
the judgment upon the hosts of heaven, xxiv. 21, 22 (cf. Dan. xi.),
the resurrection from the dead, xxvi. 19, the banquet of the nations
on Zion, xxv. 6. The style of the passage is nearly as peculiar as
its thought, it abounds in assonance and alliteration. It is
assigned by some to the close of the second century B.C.; but, in
any case, it can hardly be earlier than the later half of the fourth
century B.C., and may well express the wild expectations to which
disappointed Jewish hearts were lifted by the conquests of
Alexander.


Chs. xxviii.-xxxiii. _Prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem
_

We now return to the undoubted prophecies of Isaiah. This group
begins with a woe, xxviii. 1-4, pronounced not long before the fall
of Samaria in 721 B.C., ending in two verses, 5, 6, presenting
another outlook, apparently by a later hand. In _vv_. 7-22,
probably about the time of the Egyptian alliance, Judah is also
threatened for the drunkenness of her leaders, and for the false
confidence which leads the people scornfully to close their ears to
prophetic instruction. The interesting little section which follows,
_vv_. 23-29, shows how the farmer adapts his methods to the
particular work he has to do. The connection, however, is anything
but obvious: it may be intended as a reminder to the sceptics of
Judah that the divine penalties, though slow, v. 19, are sure; or it
may be meant to suggest that God's judgments are tempered with
mercy. To the same period belongs the prophecy of the distress that
is to be inflicted on Ariel, i.e. Jerusalem, by "a great multitude
of all the nations," clearly Sennacherib's army, xxix. 1-15; but in
a prophecy, probably much later, which is dramatically appended to
it, a promise of redemption and restoration is held out, xxix. 16-24.

In xxx., xxxi., also before the invasion of Sennacherib, the prophet
denounces the folly of trusting the impotent aid of Egypt, when
their real strength lay in quietly trusting their God: for Jehovah
will smite the Assyrian with a mysterious blow and defend his dear
Jerusalem. Though such promises undoubtedly fall within the range of
Isaiah's message, the ideas and the general tone of xxx. 18-26 are
sufficient to place that passage almost certainly in the post-exilic
period. Against the background of calamity in the two preceding
chapters, xxxii. 1-8 throws up a picture--whether from Isaiah's or a
later hand--of the Messianic age, when rulers would be just and
character transformed. The imminent desolation of Jerusalem, with
which the women are threatened, is again immediately contrasted with
the fruitfulness and security of the land, when the spirit will be
poured out from on high, xxxii. 9-20.

This group is closed by a song of triumph (xxxiii.) over the
prospective annihilation of the foreign foes who have crushed
Israel, by the glorious God who defends Jerusalem. There is much in
the passage, especially towards the end, _vv_. 19-21, which
looks as if the Assyrians were the enemy, and the prophecy, like
most of those in this group, fell shortly before Sennacherib's
invasion. But, besides lacking the vigour of Isaiah's acknowledged
prophecies, the passage contains ideas which are hardly his: e.g.
the sinners in Zion, _v._ 14, are not to be destroyed but
forgiven, _v_. 24. The allusion to the king in _v_. 17, if
the text is correct, helps us little, as the king may be Jehovah.
There is a growing conviction that the passage is post-exilic, some
scholars even bringing it down to the Maccabean times, about 163
B.C.


Chs. xxxiv., xxxv. _Prophecy concerning the redemption and return
of Israel._

A fitting conclusion to the whole book--ignoring xxxvi.-xxxix.,
which is an historical appendix--is afforded by the picture of the
world-judgment, the redemption of Israel, and the destruction of her
enemies in xxxiv., xxxv. Edom is singled out as the special object
of Jehovah's vengeance, xxxiv. 5-17; and, in contrast to her
desolation, is the blessedness of Israel, returning to her own land
across the blossoming wilderness with exceeding joy. Ch. xxxv., at
any rate, seems to point to the return of the exiles from Babylon,
and ch. xxxiv. may also without violence be fitted into this time.
The Jews never forgot or forgave the Edomites for their cruelty on
the occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem (Lam. iv. 21ff., Ps.
cxxxvii. 7) and the joy of their own redemption would be heightened
by the ruin of Edom (Mal. i. 2-5). If, however, xxxiv. 16 implies,
as we are not bound to believe, a fixed prophetic canon, the
chapters would be very late, falling somewhere within the second
century B.C. More probably they were written, like xiii., xiv.,
towards the end of the exile.


xxxvi.-xxxix. _Historical Appendix_

Separating the earlier from the later of the two great divisions of
the book of Isaiah (i.-xxxv., xl.-lxvi.) stands a purely historical
section, practically identical with and probably borrowed from 2
Kings xviii. l3-xx. 19, which finds its place here, no doubt simply
because of its connection with the prophet Isaiah. It tells the
story of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, his insulting demands,
whether transmitted through the Rabshakeh (xxxvi.) or by letter
(xxxvii.), of Hezekiah's terror and Isaiah's divine word of
reassurance, and of the ultimate departure of the Assyrian army. Ch.
xxxviii. contains Isaiah's prophecy to Hezekiah of his recovery from
sickness, with the king's song of gratitude. This is followed by
another prophecy of the Babylonian exile, occasioned by an embassy
sent to Hezekiah by Merodach Baladan, king of Babylon (xxxix.).

This account omits the very important statement in 2 Kings xviii.
14-16 of the heavy tribute paid by Hezekiah to the King of Assyria,
and inserts the psalm of Hezekiah, xxxviii. 9-20, which is no doubt
later than the redaction of the book of Kings as it is not found
there, and is, in all probability, a post-exilic psalm. It is not
certain whether the accounts in xxxvi. 1-xxxvii. 9_a_ and
xxxvii. 9_b_-37 are simply parallel versions of the same
incident, or refer to two different campaigns. In the distinctly
prophetical portion, xxxvii. 22ff, though there is much that recalls
Isaiah, the passage in its present form can hardly be his. Ch.
xxxvii. 26, e.g. would be a pertinent appeal to Israel, but hardly
to Sennacherib; it rests, no doubt, on the later Isaiah (xl. 28,
xlvi. 11). The prophecy of exile to _Babylon_, xxxix. 6, 7, is
not natural at a time when Assyria, not Babylon, was the enemy.
Again, xxxvii. 33, which denies that even an arrow would be shot, is
hardly reconcilable with Isaiah's prophecy of an arduous siege for
the city, xxix. 1-4. Further, the minute prediction that Hezekiah's
life would be prolonged for fifteen years is not in the manner of
Isaiah, nor indeed of any of the great prophets, whose precise
numbers, where they occur, are to be interpreted as round numbers
(e.g. seventy years in Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10); and the story of the
reversal of the shadow on the sun-dial reflects the later conception
of the prophet as a miracle-worker (cf. I Kings xiii. 3-6). The
section, in its present form, must be post-exilic.


CHAPTERS XL.-LV.

With ch. xl. we pass into a different historical and theological
atmosphere from that of the authentic prophecies of Isaiah. The very
first word, "Comfort ye," strikes a new note: in the main, the
message of Isaiah had been one of judgment. Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah are in ruins, xlv. 13. The people are in exile in the land
of the Chaldeans, xlvii. 5, 6, from which they are on the point of
being delivered, xlviii. 20. The time of her sorrow is all but over,
xl. 2; and her redemption is to come through a great warrior who is
twice expressly named as Cyrus, xliv. 28, xlv. 1, and occasionally
alluded to as a figure almost too familiar to need naming, xli. 25,
xlv. 13. He it is who is to overthrow Babylon, xlviii. 14. Such,
then, is the situation: the exile is not predicted, it is
presupposed, and the oppressor is not Assyria, as in Isaiah's time,
but Babylon. Now it is a cardinal, indeed an obvious principle, of
prophecy that the prophet addresses himself, at least primarily, to
the situation of his own time. Prophecy is a moral, not a magical
thing; and nothing would be gained by the delivery of a message over
a century and a half before it was needed, to a people to whom it
was irrelevant and unintelligible.

The literary style of these chapters also differs widely from that
of Isaiah. No doubt there are points of contact, notably in the
fondness for the phrase, "the holy One of Israel"--a favourite
phrase of Isaiah's and rare elsewhere. The influence of Isaiah is
unmistakable, but the differences are no less striking. Isaiah
mounts up on wings as an eagle: the later prophet neither mounts nor
runs, he walks, xl. 31. He has not the older prophet's majesty; he
has a quiet dignity, and his tone is more tender. Nor has he
Isaiah's exuberance and fertility of resource: the same thoughts are
repeated, though with pleasing and ingenious variations, over and
over again. All his characteristic thoughts already appear in the
first two chapters: the certainty and joy of Israel's redemption,
the omnipotence of Jehovah and the absurdity of idolatry, the call
of Cyrus to execute Jehovah's purpose, the ultimate design of that
purpose as the bringing of the whole world, through redeemed Israel,
to a knowledge of the true God.

The theological ideas of the prophecy are different from those of
Isaiah. Unique emphasis is laid on the creative power of Jehovah,
and this thought is applied to the case of forlorn Israel with
overwhelming effect; for it is none other than the eternal and
omnipotent God that is about to reveal Himself as Israel's redeemer,
in fulfilment of ancient words of prophecy, xliv. 7, 8. This very
attitude to prophecy marks the book as late; it would not be
possible in a pre-exilic prophet. But the most original conception
of the book is one which finds no parallel whatever in Isaiah, viz.
the suffering servant of Jehovah. This servant is the exclusive
theme of the four songs, xlii. 1-4, xlix. 1-6, l. 4-9, lii. l3-liii.
12; but more or less he is involved in the whole prophecy. The
function of the servant is to give light to the Gentiles--in other
words, to bring the world to a knowledge of Jehovah (cf. xlii. 1,
xlv. 14).

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