Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah

The lengthy annals of our religious histories are rife with prophets, men who were said to speak "the word of God." Some were kings; some of them led their people through times of strife, hardship, and war. Others may have lived through quieter times and led more peaceful lives, but they all sought to convey moral and spiritual messages to their contemporaries.

Of course, this all happened a very long time ago. Some prophets of antiquity left us with little more than their names and perhaps a few fragmented writings, and it is entirely possible that there were even more prophets of whom we have never heard. But of those prophets of whom we do have a good deal of knowledge, Isaiah was one of the foremost. His writings can be found in the Hebrew Bible as well as the Christian Bible and of all the writings collectively known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Scroll of Isaiah was the only one that was complete. It would also seem that he was the most popular prophet of the Second Temple Period.

There is no way to know the exact dates of Isaiah's birth and death but we can certainly narrow it down and say that he mostly lived during the eighth century B.C. We do know that he enjoyed a particularly lengthy career, one that spanned the reigns of four consecutive kings. He prophesied during the times of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. It is generally thought that he started his career sometime during or around the 740s B.C., which means that he may have been an active and influential prophet for forty years or more.

Isaiah lived during a somewhat turbulent period of Hebrew history, a time when the land was divided into separate kingdoms. He lived in what was known as the kingdom of Judah, with the kingdom of Israel as an occasionally hostile neighbor to the north. Isaiah is considered to have been perhaps the most political of all the prophets. Because of his easy access to the palace and royal family it is quite likely that Isaiah was an important member of Jerusalem aristocracy and by all accounts Isaiah could frequently be found advising rulers and dabbling in affairs of state.

Despite his probable status as a privileged nobleman, Isaiah championed the cause of the more unfortunate members of society. He did not approve of the foul treatment the common folk often received and he warned the aristocracy that God could not accept or appreciate worship from people who treated others with cruelty and injustice.

Parts of the Book of Isaiah are rather full of doom and gloom as the prophet warns the people of Judah that despite their covenant with God, they are not infallible. If the people break the covenant by displaying cruelty, practicing idolatry, or worshiping other gods, then it can no longer protect them.

This is related to another of Isaiah's themes: that Yahweh is God of all the earth, not just the Hebrew people. Monotheism was still a fairly new concept and different groups of people often thought that when their nations went to war, their respective gods fought also. To Isaiah, however, Yahweh decides all outcomes. If the Hebrews were to suffer defeat it was because God willed it, perhaps as punishment for their behavior.

Isaiah prophesied numerous things that eventually came to pass. He wrote that Babylon's gates would open for Cyrus and that Babylon would be permanently overthrown. But what might be his most important prophesies are the poems known as the "Songs of the Suffering Servant." Isaiah prophesied about an unnamed "servant of Yahweh" who would be called by God to lead men and bring God's justice to the world, but this servant is abused, sacrifices himself, and is ultimately rewarded. In traditional Jewish canon this is usually seen as a metaphorical reference to the Hebrew people as a whole. Christians view it as pertaining to Jesus Christ in particular. Either way, Isaiah's prophecies are powerful stuff for either faith.