PROOFS THAT THE LAST 27 CHAPTERS 'WERE WRITTEN BY IsAtmr.—I. There is evidence that several of the prophets who wrote before the Jewish captivity were familiar with this part of Isaiah, alluded to it and quoted it. While the full force of this evidence can be felt only. after a careful comparison of many passages in the original language, part of it can be at once appreciated. Isaiah lii. 1, 7 says. "There shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace;" and Nahum, who wrote about 660 B.C., says: " Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. 0 Judah, the wicked shall no more pass through thee." Isaiah xlvii. 8 says to Babylon: "Thou that art given to pleas ures, that dwellcst carelessly; that sagest in thine heart, I • am, and none else beside me;" and Zephaniah, about 625 applies the same language to Nineveh: "This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, 1 am, and there is none beside me.". An examination of the contexts will show, it is believed, that Isaiah is the earlier writer from whom the others quote. Consequently it is plain that the latter part of his prophecy existed long before the captivity. The book of Ezra and the second book of Chronicles give the decree of Cyrus liberating the Jews, in which lie says: "All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me, and he bath charged me to MIMI hint a house in Jerusalem." On the supposition that Daniel and other Jews had at Babylon the book of Isaiah containing these last chapters, the action of Cyrus, on being made acquainted with their declarations concerning himself, was simply that which an intelligent 'and upright man would naturally feel stirred up to perform. But on the supposition that the book contained only the first 39 chapters, then for the great historical facts of the return of the Jews to their own land, of the grant to them of royal treasures for rebuilding their temple, and of the conqueror's official acknowledgment of obligation to God, whom he had not known, no sufficient reason is assigned. 3. The book of Isaiah as it stands in the Hebrew canon has 66 chapters. If it had, at first, con tamed only 39, an addition of 27 chapters of any sort, and especially of the 27 now form ing the latter part, could not have been made to it, at any subsequent time, without some record, or proof, or intimation remaining concerning the agent, author, process, or time.
But in this case nothing of the kind has ever been seen or heard of. 4. The book of Ecclesiasticus, written in Hebrew after 300 B.C., in eulogizing the succession of Scripture characters, speaks of Isaiah as "the prophet who was great and faithful in his vision; in his time the sun went backward, and he lengthened the king's life. Ile saw by an excellent spirit what should come to pass at the last, and he comforted them that mourned in Zion. He showed what should come to pass forever, and secret things ere ever they came." This description, affirming Isaiah's prophetical eminence in 'Heze kial's time, speaks chiefly of things contained in the last 27 chapters, and links them firmly with the first part, characterizing the xl. and lxi. when it says: "he comforted ' them that mourned in Zion ;" the xlii. when it speaks of "showing secret things ere ever i they came;" and the close of the book, when it points to things that " should come to pass forever." This short passage, therefore, shows that the writer of Eeclesiasticus had I the book of Isaiah in its integrity as we have it now. 5. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, made about 250 B.C., the book of Isaiah consists of 66 chapters. At that time, therefore, the whole book must have been in circulation as it is now. 6. • When the Savior went into the synagogue at Nazareth there was delivered to him " the book of the prophet Esaias," and, having opened it, he found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he bath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." This passage is part of the lxi. chapter. When the treasurer of Candace was returning from Jerusalem he read in his chariot Esaias the prophet ; and the passage that he asked Philip to expound—" He was led as it sheep to the slaughtcr"—is in the liii. chapter. Paul, iu Romans, affirms "Esaias saith, ` Lord, who bath believed our report?' " This also is part of the liii. chapter._ Again he declares: " Fssias is very bold, and said', 'I was found of them that sought me not. . . . All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.' " This is in the he. chapter. From the New Testament, therefore, it is plain that the book of halalt at the time of Christ contained these 27 chapters as it contains them now.