THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
relation to the Babylonian side and corresponds to chap, xxxix. The second of the two series of addresses begins with a command to give comfort as the first closed with encouragement (xxxv. 3 sqq.); the second comes to a close in an opposition of Edom and Zion (lx. 1-lxiii. 6) just as does the first (xxxiii. 13-xxxv. 10). Since in both the general view of the Holy Land and Jerusalem is that of a desolate and depopulated region, to be repeopled by the return of the exiled, doubtless the editor meant to convey the idea that, of both parts, the Isaiah of xxxvi. -xxxix. is the prophetic author. It is therefore unscientific arbitrariness, instead of setting apart chaps, xxviii.-lxvi. and employing chaps, xxviii. -xxxix. as the key to xl.-lxvi., to break off after xxxv. -xxxix. and to imagine oneself in a new region. He who reads xxxv. 3-4 does not stumble at xl. 1; and only he who reads xxviii.xxxix. can understand xlviii. 3-11, and can regard the same prophet as basing a second prediction upon the fulfilment of the first. He can apply xlii. 19 to the downfall of the northern kingdom, and xliii. 8-10 to the deliverance from Sennacherib, and lvi. 9-lvii. 21 to the end of the Isaianic times. Whoever dares to read the six addresses of a nameless prophet in xxviii.-xxxv. beginning with " Woe " and to regard them as Isaianic as a whole and to follow this out in such alleged exilic pieces as xxxiv.xxxv. has no philosophical reason for the timidity with which he refuses to recognize xl.-lxvi. as also Isaianic. A hindrance to this has been the obviousness with which Cyrus is mentioned even by name, and the assurance with which the downfall of Babylon and the freeing of the Israelites is announced, predictions which the modern construction of all elements of the prophetic consciousness on the basis of our knowledge of his times seem to make impossible. But the Servant of Yahweh who is named Righteous is as concretely and definitely indicated as Cyrus and his relations to Babylon and Israel; and the hegemony of the restored Jerusalem and the repopulating of the Holy Land is more definitely portrayed than the downfall of Babylon. And, although the one fits better with Jesus of Nazareth, and the other with the Jerusalem of Herod's time, at least in externals, than with any other prophet or with the Jerusalem of any other time, yet the refusal is made so to relate the connections. If the enthusiastic utterances of a prophet work out into realization 500 years later, why could they not with reference to Cyrus? In fact, the book does not predict a coming victor to bear the name of Cyrus, but says of one who has come that he is the realization of predictions made long before for Jerusalem; the victory and success of Cyrus had been so directly indicated that it was evident that he could use his victory only as Yahweh willed, and the honor was to come not to him, but to Yahweh and his people. Thus Yahweh had laid violent hands upon the prophet when he seized upon the Isaianic period in which to bring before the prophet's vision this picture of the future. Isaiah realized that the present conqueror had been predicted long before as called from the East to carry out Yahweh's purposes of punishment, but
that he had been driven back when in wilfulness he had attempted to go farther than Yahweh's purposes had carried. Why, then, should he not foresee a second conqueror, coming from the East and more completely realizing God's designs, who, by the very misfortunes which he brought, should create the desire in the heathen world for Yahweh, the only healing God, who is to be found in the midst of his people (xlv. 14-25) ? And why should he not foresee the prophet who should so complete the work of renovation as to bring about the regeneration of the community? And to what prophet could such a vision so appropriately have come as to Isaiah, a man who, in the midst of the most untoward circumstances, could see around him the promise of a brilliant and righteous future?
If this be true, a new exposition of chaps, xl.lxvi. is required (the view-point of which was indicated in the Lutherische Zeitschrift, 1876) 3. Author- ancj a new investigation of the frame-
SthlPtf ^1 " WOrk- But i4 wU1 n0t d° t0 resolve the
isaianic7 secti°n mto a threefold arrangement, each part having nine chapters. As the first part is introduced by xl. 1-11, the second part is prefaced by xlviii. 16-22. The more naturally the investigation proceeds, the surer does it become that xl.-lxvi. does not as such proceed from Isaiah, but that it arranges and works over older prophecies. The tendency of modern criticism is to distinguish the " Servant of Yahweh section " and a " Tjrito-Isaiah," and, indeed, as many Isaiahs as differences in style suggest; yet by retaining for them the name Isaiah this criticism follows a correct instinct. The editor urges chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. upon the reader as the key to the meaning of both xl.-lxvi. and xxviii.-xxxv., and as the vindication of these parts as Isaianic in substance.
It appears from the book of Isaiah that at least
from the thirteenth year of Hezekiah till after the
. . campaign of Sennacherib the prophet
' t^aia v° winded a weighty and acknowledged of xxviii - authority with king, court, and priests, xxxv. that he made predictions which were observably realized, that he assured the continuance of Jerusalem and Judah beyond the period of Assyrian stress and storm, while Assyria was to become a possession of Babylon; but besides this, it is clear that Hezekiah's resolution to withstand the Assyrian demands rested upon Isaiah's warnings and promises, and that the prophet was the responsible guarantor of a seemingly impossible fortunate issue. Indeed, xxxvii. 26 indicates a prediction by Isaiah of the Assyrian victories before Sennacherib's appearance. Upon the verification of this word of Yahweh as the Lord of the world was built the assurance that in the very moment when Assyrian victories were made the basis of belief that Yahweh was overcome the impotence of the Assyrian against him would be made manifest, and this dispensation would reveal decisively Yahweh's relation to Jerusalem and to the Davidic house. In view of this, the six woes which appear indissolubly woven together in chaps, xxviii.xxxv. impress one as rendering exactly the historical position of the Isaiah of chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. and