Cf. esp. Marti, ‘Dodekapropheton’ (in Kurzer Hdcom., Ttibingen, 1903), p. 27 ff. t On the ‘holy seed’ of 613 see below, p. 696,
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
right way. Procure justice for the orphan, plead the cause of the widow.’ These words surely in- dicate that he does not consider it an impossible ray Peaks that at least some of his hearers may take his words to heart. Otherwise, there would be no meaning in his asserting immediately after- wards (v.’°"-) the possibility of a complete forgive- ness of sin, and in his giving the people the choice between obedience and blessing on the one side and stubbornness and destruction by the sword on the other. Even a man like Ahaz has the words addressed to him (7°), ‘If ye believe not, ye shall not stand,’ in which is implied, on the other hand, ‘Whosoever believeth shall not be put to shame’ (28%). The judgment predicted then is, after all, a purifying one—a smelting process in which Jahweh Himself (1°°*+) purges away all base metal, so that only the pure silver (‘judges as of old and rulers as at the first’) is left, while ‘the rebellious and sinners shall be shattered one and all, and they that forsake Jahweh must perish.’
Like his predecessors, Isaiah thinks of the judg- ment as brought about by the destructive invasion of the then world-powers, Assyria (57%) and Egypt (the latter, however, only in 78 and there coupled with Assyria). A complete devastation and deso- lation of the land is the result (5°! 10 Gif 7188. got. aif.) All the men but a few perish in the conflict, until seven women press their suit upon one man, simply that they may escape the reproach of being unmarried (3% 41; cf. also 5%"), It is a question to what extent Isaiah contemplated the exile of the inhabitants of the land. As in the case of the Northern kingdom (17**), there appears, according to 5! 62% 104 3017, to be in prospect for Judah as well a complete destruction of the people by sword and exile ; and even the tenth, which at first escapes the judgment, is to be sifted once more. On the other hand, in 3!* what is contemplated is the exile only of all the leaders of the people (as in v.24 it is the carrying away to slavery of the aristocratic ladies); among those that are left behind wild anarchy rages, and a war of one against another. The dignity of ruler becomes so cheap that no one cares for it. It is impossible to resist the impression that the prophet here beholds in spirit the conditions which, to a large extent, actually arose in Judah after the first deporta- tion by the Chaldéeans in 597.
But we have still to face the question, Did Isaiah at all times hold fast to these cheerless expecta- tions, or is there not much in favour of the view that all the threatenings referred to belong to his first period (say down to the death of Ahaz), whereas, under the righteous rule of the pious Hezekiah, he changed his tone, and, while still expecting a purifying judgment effected by the Assyrian invasion, felt assured of the deliverance of the city and the State at the moment of extreme peril, his idea being that the cruel sufferings and consequences of the war would suffice to appease the just anger of Jahweh, so that He could once more have compassion on His people before things came to the worst (104)?
The possibility of such change is not to be ab initio called in question. The notion that Assyria in its overweening pride has far exceeded the Divine commission, and thought to destroy Judab instead of merely chastising it, is so marked in Isaiah (and that too, as would appear, pretty early) that it connects itself of necessity with the threat of a thorough chastisement of Assyria. Only the most pitiful hypercriticism can deny to Isaiah such passages as Is 1 Q16ff. 258%. 33. 1424. ]'712ff. 1 g5t., As soon as this is recognized, there is equally little difficulty about accepting the oracle 37°, and in that case the prophecy of Isaiah achieved in the destruction of Sennacherib’s host (37°) as brilliant
RELIGION OF ISRAEL 693
a triumph as can be imagined. Thus was con- firmed what Isaiah, in allusion to the successive actions of the husbandman (284), emphasizes so strongly as a type of the conduct of the Divine wisdom: God’s action is not like the working of a blind fate, but wisely accommodates itself to changing circumstances, times of severe chastise- ment being followed in turn by times of com- passion and sparing grace. Nor is there any contradiction in the fact that, on the approach of the Assyrian peril after the death of Sargon (B.C. 705), Isaiah not. only expressly condemns the arbitrary revolt of Hezekiah and the carnal measures adopted for defence, particularly the alliance with Egypt (29! 30% 311"), but predicts the futility of such enterprises (30° 31°"), the siege and the great anxiety of the city (29!"-), as well as the ravaging of the country (32°). For the inevitable judgment upon the carnally secure and godless (28!%*: 17") does not exclude the deliverance of the humble and penitent (10%), even if this is preceded by a time of sore trouble.
We must still ask, however, whether Isaiah meant thus to recall all his earlier threatenings of a far-reaching judgment, and especially of a deportation of almost the whole nation. In face of Divine utterances like that in 6" (addressed to the prophet on the occasion of his call), such a complete transformation of his expectations as to the future must be pronounced impossible. The original pitiless threatenings of his opening ministry may have, even for himself, receded into the background amidst the excitement of Senna- cherib’s invasion, but he certainly did not on that account lose his conviction that the incidents of the year 701 formed merely an episode in the general plan of Jahweh, and meant nothing more than a postponement of the final judgment. And if the oracle of 22!" should be assigned to the period after the retreat of the Assyrians, the prophet must have returned only too soon to his former extremely gloomy view of the future. What hopes he cherished, nevertheless, of a restoration after the judgment, we shall have to consider elsewhere (see p. 695? f.).