Isaiah : Christian Community Bible

Introduction to Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah and his disciples is the most important of the prophetic books. Jesus and his apostles will often quote it.

Isaiah was a distinguished man. This young man, of noble birth “had seen Yahweh” (chapter 6) and never ceased to speak in the name of God present in Israel, but whom Israel did not know.

What do we find in the following poems?

• Echoes of days of anguish. Judah, quite small, is squeezed in between two great nations, Ashur (Assyria) and Egypt, and the politicians wonder which of the two they must allow to swallow them up. Isaiah responds: “Seek first the kingdom of God and see to it that you practice justice among yourselves. God will make you stronger than the powerful.”
• A persevering struggle to arouse faith in those deprived of vision. The externals of religion abound, but there is very little sense of responsibility, not much love for God, and little concern about doing his will. Isaiah will repeat: “Believe in him, he is among you, and if you do not become strong by relying on him, he will crush you.”
• God’s promises to David’s descendants. Whether the rulers are good like Hezekiah or estranged like Ahaz, they are mediocre men not to be trusted with such great promises. Yet, in the darkest hours, Isaiah will declare that the Lord has chosen Jerusalem and David, his king. From David’s line, Christ, the king of Peace, will be born.

The poems of the Servant of Yahweh are in chapters 40-55. Four parts of these poems have attracted most attention: 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12. They are not detached sections drowned in a body foreign to them. They are highlights of a vision or of a meditation which develops the mystery of God’s relationship with his people throughout the book. The Servant of God is Israel, without doubt, but it is a very poor servant of God: for the most part a people “incapable of seeing and understanding”. Nevertheless there are among them genuine, faithful believers, true disciples; God has “opened their ears”, enabling them to grasp what he wants them to understand. From among them God chooses his servants, the prophets who are in the vanguard and whose example will benefit the rest. Again and again the prophet spoke of the Servant; at first this term was certainly applicable to all Israel but in the end the prophet is taken over by this image and lets it embody the portrait of Christ the Redeemer.

The poems in chapters 56–66 have a metrical arrangement, with the announcement of the new Zion at the center:

56:1-8	The people of God welcome everyone	66:18-24
56:9-58	Reproaches, warnings and promises	65 and 66:1-17
59:1-4	Confession of sins	63:7–64:11
59:15-20	God’s vengeance	63:1-6
60	The new Jerusalem	62
61	The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

NOTE: excerpted from the introductory material for this book.