In the first of these divisions the prophet aims to assure the Jews in exile of the certainty of res toration. Chapter xl opens with an exhortation to the people to be of good cheer, for the Great and Divine Deliverer is about to come. The way should be prepared for him. Nothing can hinder him, because no creature can compare with him, nor can any human conception express him (xl 1-26) ; hence Jacob is to take courage (27-31). Jacob is Jehovah's favored servant ; therefore for his benefit Jehovah stirred up the "righteous man from the east" (Cyrus) (xli:1-9) ; the servant of Jehovah should fear no ill ; Jehovah who protects him knows the end from the beginning ( to-29). Jehovah's servant, the Israel of xli :8 is a com plex and ideal personality whose head (the Mes siah) is at times so prominently before the mind of the prophet that he is spoken of exclusively as "The Servant," whereas at other times, what is said of the servant can only refer to the Israel of God, the people of whom the Messiah is the Head and representative. In chapter xlii :I-I2, the Mes siah as the Servant of Jehovah is looked to as, about to accomplish a double work; i. e. (t) that of enlightening the world and leading it to the true knowledge of God, and (2) that of redeem ing Israel, his people, and restoring it to its glory. The mention of Israel leads the prophet to fall back on the more general meaning of the term servant, and, speaking of Israel as the servant, to account for the woes of the Babylonian captivity as caused by the spiritual blindness and deafness of this servant (xlii :13-25). From these woes, how ever, Jehovah was determined to redeem the peo ple and to enlarge it by the adoption into its fold of the nations of the earth (xliii-xliv :5). In xliv 6 ; xlv :25, the greatness and power of Jehovah once more come into the foreground of the prophet's thought. Chapters xlvi and xlvii are occupied with the impending fall of Babylon, the former chapter containing a derisive picture of the down fall of its idols and the latter of the city itself. Chapter xlviii is a recapitulation of the thoughts of chapters xl-xlvii, closing with a triumphant call by the prophet in the name of Jehovah unto his servant Israel to come out of Babylon.
The second section of this great prophecy (xlix lix) may be entitled the Servant of Jehovah. The precedingsection had been designed to produce the conviction of the certainty of the restoration. In this one the conviction is assumed to have been formed in the hearts of the people and they are urged to fit themselves for their privileges and en joy them when they came. The section opens with a dramatic introduction of the Servant of Jehovah and his double work. In chapter I the servant himself declares the character of his work and the difficulties in his way. In chapters li and Iii to lv, verse 12, the prophet reverts to the thought of the return. and is filled with the joy of triumph as he realizes the certainty of the event. Chapters hi :13; Iiii:12, once more present the Servant of Jehovah, but now as the ideal leader, who through humiliation, suffering, and death, not for his own sins but for those of others, is lifted to a higher pedestal of honor and joy. This prophecy has rightly been viewed as fulfilled exhaustively only in the career of Jesus Christ, the true and ideal Servant of Jehovah. In liv-lvi:8 further prom ises of restoration are addressed to the people. In lvi :9-1viii the prophet reproves Israel and calls for reformation. This is followed by repentance and the people are represented as confessing their sins in chapter lix.
The third and last section of the prophecy (lx lxvi) depicts in glowing colors the Future Glory of the Restored Israel. The darkness of the past is in chapter lx represented as dispelled and the "light" of Zion has dawned upon her. This is followed by an enumeration of Jehovah's favors to the redeemed Zion (lxi, lxii). In chapter lxiii Is rael's triumph over her enemies is foreshadowed first in a dramatic dialogue between the prophet and Jehovah as a victor returning from the con quest of Edom, and afterwards in songs of thanks giving and praise for the conquest of Israel's ene mies. In chapter lxv the new relation of God to his people is assured and a new era of prosperity is foreshadowed; and in lxvi the view of the res toration of the temple-service leads to the ap preciation of the greatness and majesty of Je hovah, who transcends all earthly temples, and is above visible service. The whole prophecy then closes with a contrasted portraiture of the glory of Zion and the judgment to be visited upon her enemies.
(2) Integrity of the Book of Isaiah. The question of the integrity of Isaiah was first raised by Koppe in his German translation of Lowth's Isaiah (pub. 1778). Until this time the title given to the whole collection in chapter i was tacitly accepted as a certificate of the fact that Isaiah, the Son of Amoz, had written the whole book. Koppe denied the validity of this position, and was quick ly answered by Kocher (1786). From this be ginning the controversy has been carried on in volving more and more of the book in its suc cessive stages. At the present day three general views may be distinguished. First, that of those who believe in the unity of the book. Second, that of those who divide it into three parts, as cribing each to one general author; i. e., (t) chapters i-xxxv by Isaiah, the son of Amoz; (2) chapters xxxvi-xxxix reproduced from 2 Kings; (3) chapters xl-lxvi by Deutero-Isaiah, called also the "Great Unknown prophet of the Exile." Third, that of those who find in parts i and iii a multiplicity of authors. The majority of scholars for the present occupies the second of these posi tions. The reasons for the unity of the book may be given 2.S follows: First View for Unity of Isaiah.
(a) Isaiah's name is attached to the whole col lection (i :t), "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jeru salem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Heze kiah kings of Judah." It is here clearly stated that Isaiah was the author of the following pro phecies,uttered duringthe reign of four successive kings. This inscription is of great importance, even if it originated not from Isaiah, but from a later compiler. If we adopt the latest date at which this compilation could have been made, we must fix it at the time of its reception into the canon in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Con sequently the compiler could not be separated by many years from the Deutero-Isaiah who is said to have prophesied just before Babylon was con quered, or who, according to most critics, wrote even after the fall of Babylon. It is not credible that a compiler living so near the times of the author, should have erroneously ascribed these prophecies to Isaiah, who lived so much earlier, especially if we bear in mind that this so-called Deutero-Isaiali must have been a very remarkable person in an age so devoid of the prophetic spirit as that in which he is said to have lived.