The Book of Isaiah

In short

Isaiah has a spectacular vision, judgment on nations, beautiful psalm-like poetry and even a few stories. But the book is probably best known (to Christians) for its soaring prophecies of the Messiah and the new world.

Why it is important

It is quoted exhaustively in the New Testament and has long been treasured among Jews. It is epic, in every sense of the word.

Main characters

No one in particular. Isaiah’s name is only 16 of the 25,000 words in the book. Hezekiah gets four chapters of adventure out of the 66 in the book.

What is in this book

Full disclosure, I have never read Isaiah all the way through. No excuse, just a failure on my part. I will share what I have read and observed.

There is nearly unanimous consensus that roughly the first half (specifically chapters 1-39) are very different from the second half (chs. 40-66), for a few big reasons:

1. The first half takes place in Isaiah’s lifetime, which is about 60 years surrounding the time of Israel’s captivity.
2. The second half takes place after Judah’s exile is over, about two centuries later!
3. Isaiah’s name is not mentioned after the first half (roughly).

I would assume that the second half is a prophecy (from Isaiah), both in the sense of “message from God” and “vision of the future.” Of course, scholars love to imagine that other writers penned the second half hundreds of years later, but I am (1) really tired of hearing that, and (2) really skeptical of that possibility. I get editing of a book, but we’re talking about adding 27 chapters to the very end. That’s about 70% more content! To me, it’s more plausible that it is all from Isaiah.

Some famous sections of Isaiah

• Chapter 2 – a prophecy of the church/kingdom of the messiah
• Chapter 6 – that CRAZY vision of the LORD and heavenly beings and a throne and yeah
• 7:14 – prophecy of the virgin birth
• Chapter 11 – a shoot from Jesse
• The servant songs (parts of chs. 42, 49, 50 and 52-53)
• And dozens more prophecies of Christ throughout the book

Theology and doctrine

The book of Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament about 66 times, which is second only to Psalms. It is so very messianic through and through.

So, this is too crazy to pass up. 66 quotes. Isaiah has 66 chapters, split 39 (before exile) and 27 (after exile). The Protestant Christian Bible has 66 books, split 39 (Old) and 27 (New).

I really do pass that off as a coincidence, since, for example, the Hebrew “Old Testament” has the same 39 books as only 24. (1 & 2 Kings are one book, that sort of thing.) Our set up of 66 is pretty arbitrary, as are the chapter divisions of Isaiah. Buuuut, it is a pretty neat coincidence.