Of the future which shall follow Judah's judg- ment and deliverance Isaiah makes several pi-e- dictions (cf. Kschatoloov of OT, vol. i. T.tOli".). l''irst, as was to be expected, he em])hasi/.e.<' its ethical features. The sinners having been de- stroyed (I^), and Jerusalem purified, the citv shali be a city of righteousness (l'^""), under a rigliieous ruler ('j' ll*"-). But above all J"s own presence and government shall he very manife.st, with ex- ceeding joy and glory. As a result, men shall abandon all their idols (2^ etc.), the worship of which (as we ought to have noted above) had not wholly disappeared from Israel, in spite of the fact that the national religion was that of J". With righteousness shall come peace (2*, if this be Isaiah's, 9' 11'), and with peace the renewed fertility, and the free enjoyment of the fruits of the soil (l'» 4- 30^*). In tluj last of the.se pas.sage9 the promise is given in terms of great lK.'aul v, and suited to the needs of a people whose lielJs had been overrun by war for more years than one, and who have Iwen cooped up by siege. t)ver all a woiiilerful light shall be shed : it ia the symliol of the dispersion of the people's pn.'sent gloom. Moreover, the nations snail wilhngly come to Jeru.siilem to be taught of Israel's (iod and His tornh (2-^-; but see above, § IV., where it is |iointed out that there are .some objections to the authen- ticity of this pa.s.sage). On the Messiah see above, >;<) iV. V. Isaiah's Messiah is a human king, of the stock of David, ami with functions that are political, lioth military' and judicial. He is not the mediator of religious gifts to llis|ieople: forgive- ness, knowledge of C!od, and the like. It is only in this, that ho saves the ]icople of God fnun destruction and reigns over them, that he can l>« regarded as a tyjM} of .lesus Christ.
VII. KKI.KJIOfS KKfllK.MS IN ISAIAIl's TiMK.— It would have Ix-en strange if a prophet s<i practical and statesmanlike, and so intlueiitial wllli th« rulom ol Judah, hod nut left hia mark on legi^la-
t92
ISATAH
tion and ntual. We cannot believe the author of the oracles against images, the sni^it . ,?? organized the city% deliverance from X yria t, have been idle in the Ion" oiiDorhmif „ f •* I ' "
removal of Vil "f.^'^n' given m v.* contains the
llZ\'''''T ''''''"' Nehustun to ''wMeh iV! people burned incense; and in v.^^ the Ra. al h
Hp'/r'f1 "^ ^T'' ««d to theJe«4 in 70 th' HezeT<,ah had already removed the high places
H^^i^^j^iri^iXrt^^'^ttirs!;^:!;;:^
mn .V'''','""f' r "' ""> •^^■■^^'^" serpent and other mages whK-li, because in 705 ff. Isiiah represents
after 701. """'' "'"'' •=''° ""'^ '"-« take'n'^kce In ascribing to Hezekiah the destruction of the h gh , aces, ma?zc06th and 'asherim, it is aUe^ed that he hand intruded into v.^ and the editor of ^.^ have wrongly anticitiated reforms whirl, "■ere not effected till a century later by Jo^ah But wlMle this conclusion is un/oubtc lly^favoi^ed
^^..^v n • r,.re -i»r,: 0,-2. :;'i;
places, which depended on their wnrshin 1,„ * concentrate the p'eople's faUli on tl^ an'^'tifrry n form- teMdes trA"°'-"''-^^'"''P'^d und^L" Jiesdes the Assyrian invasion, devastatin
ISAIAH
chapters are found also in 2 K 18"-'^o>3 «(,»,»
licir text has been somewhat more" fully and
ToT^'^ify'^r''"^ (for details see Uiver,
esneciaflv •«! tT"**' ^'"'■'"^■~}?) ^'an here (ct especially ,i!>). llie passage 2K lSi*-'» i, ,.•„„,
.ng in the Book of Isaiah, a7,d the latter's Psa m i
pto^^aSI^^.^«.--;rib^H^^
u-t^TI-sS-^'^ieh^l^^-^i be the probable course of the Assyrian caim ai.'n Lut fe ade and others have taken them to be variant records of one and the same assault of Sennacherib on Jerusalem, and have d ded T ! ''« f""""-3: 36'-37»« + 37-38, and .3?"'-i" + h^ :^rA,?f/"efi--."-t .in tiiese naJi-'rativel
form.
as it did t,;"-;'.,— ."'""•'''""'"''itsion, aevastating
^'olatint 7L ''"'^'^T"*^,'^"'1 yet incapable of violating Zion, worked mightily to the discredit
hilin^ '"'£'' P''^^'^^. and the proof of Zion's unim e hoine.ss. Ue may also say that though Isaia lis not reported to have condemned the lif^li pfaces •
fptitllntv Sf' J" m' P"""P'« .°f the onenS'-rnd spirituality of J must, according to the religious
abo itTon oTt']:rh''-T'' 'r' log-ally involved the
^th certainty that Isaiah, botlf by his doct fne
wnr 1 ■ a'^ ?"^ *■■"« God, Who could uot be
man IPd^?*^f' *■?' ^"^ "^ ^" image made W man, and in his insistence upon the solitirv
eTrt brwhfch r ''"' "the Raided faHhS energy Dy vhieh he secured this laid thp inrlia
^nomy'airtt""? '"' ''f i^Sisudon o^V^t. assert thnt th ^°''"" °f. J°«iah. We may also Hb^Ii-- . ■ *^^ Measures in this direction which mu tNiaveTer^'f. ""'^^^ ^^'^''■^'^'^ inspiration
VIII. The Historical Chapters 36-39.— These
fl,,. f„ii .■■'■'"^ .-c.icves uiac in tliese narrat ves the following are later insertions, 30'- '• '«=» w to reproach the living God,' »' Wherewith ' have reviled me,' »bc ~..'3o. « "> „ Jle n!. f * ' J the.chronology in 36> and o K^"s.-3 Tee Driver f-3r';ivi=f'^'o?:,T '^^r'- -''"■■• s'nnerrZ'
iT^?^"=hinrt,rias
saiem, vy.>'>'-5. The taunt-song ' aiinears to be source'' " tol'lT'^"^^ '^°i" -"-'iXenden
occasion' (Skinner); but see Che^'^nc '"l^.l^S. « t 36 -?? n, f l"°l''-i 'ly ffo'" tlie same source .is author n? r """^ S'"-'J?« ^^^IS" them to the 36 S7 Tl «". '"'.""'^ °^r t'j« two narratives in rfb. 37. The writing of Hezekiah,' SS'-™ w^s