ISAIAH, ASCENSION OF, an interesting apocryphal book of the Old Testament. Its various constituents—the Martyrdom of Isaiah, the Testament of Hezekiah and the Vision of Isaiah— circulated independently as early as the I st century. The first of these was of Jewish origin, and is of less interest than the other two, which were the work of Christian writers. The Vision of Isaiah is important for the knowledge it affords us of 1st cen tury beliefs in certain circles as to the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Seven Heavens, etc. The long lost Testament of Hezekiah, which is, in the opinion of Charles, to be identified with iii. 13b–iv. 18 of our present work, is unquestionably of great value owing to the insight it gives us into the history of the Christian Church at the close of the 1st century. Its descriptions of the worldliness and lawlessness which prevailed among the elders and pastors, i.e., the bishops and priests, of the widespread covetousness and vainglory as well as the growing heresies among Christians generally, agree with similar accounts in 2 Peter, 2 Timothy and Clement of Rome.
Of the three original sources, (i.) The Martyrdom of Isaiah consists of i. I, 2', 6b-13a, ii. 1-8, IO–iii. 12, V, Ib-14, and is but an
imperfect survival of the original work. (ii.) The Testament of Hezekiah is to be found in iii.I3b-iv.I8, in a mutilated form, without beginning or end. (iii.) The Vision of Isaiah is vi.–xi. 1-4o. Its archetype existed independently in Greek, and differs in many respects from the form in which it was republished by the editor of the entire work. This editor had the three documents men tioned at his disposal; the first was of Jewish, the others of Christian origin; he reduced or enlarged them as it suited his purpose, and put them together as they stand in our text. As regards the dates of the different elements, the Martyrdom be longs to the ist century A.D., the Testament of Hezekiah to the period 88–i oo A.D., the Vision of Isaiah to the close of the st century A.D., but the work as we now have it is probably not earlier than the latter half of the 2nd century.
See R. H. Charles, The Ascension of Isaiah (19oo), in The Apocr. and Pseudepig. of the 0.T., ii. 155-162 (1913), and in the S.P.C.K.
"Translations of Early Documents" (1918). (W. 0. E. 0.)