Isaiah - Introduction

Isaiah is perhaps the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53 contains the clearest prophecy of the suffering messiah dying for our sins and rising again. The whole book is majestic.

There is, however, great controversy over the authorship of the book. Many refer to deutero-Isaiah and even trito-Isaiah. They view the first 35 chapters has being written by the historical Isaiah. Chapters 36-39 are an historical interlude, with the material largely taken from 2 Kings. Then Isaiah 40 onwards is seen as being written after the Babylonian defeat of Judah. So what is the nature of this debate?

Well first let's look at the evidence for the Isaiah authorship of the whole book (which is what I believe to be the case). First and foremost, the book claims to be written by Isaiah, and no-one else. There is literary evidence that it is all the same author. For instance the term "the Holy One of Israel" occurs 12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66. The New Testament refers to the second part of the book being written by Isaiah (eg Matthew 3:3, Luke 3:4, Romans 10:16,20; John 12:38-41).

So why is there a problem? Well it is because the second part is referring, at least to a large extent, to the period of the Babylonian exile and the release from exile, and even , mentions a particular ruler, Cyrus. All this about a hundred and fifty years before it happened. 

The most straightforward answer is that God knows the future. Indeed, this point is made on several occasions in the book itself. Moreover, the prophet foretells the cross several hundred years before it happens.
Isaiah himself was married with two sons. He wrote a biography of King Hezekiah (2 Chron 32:32). Tradition has it that Isaiah was martyred by King Manasseh, being sawn in two (Hebrews 11:37).