II. items only of the internal proof that Isaiah was the author of the whole book can here be given. 1. The first chapter is an introduction, not merely to the first part, but to the whole book, and in its closing verses bears a marked resemblance to the last 27 chapters. After its condemnation of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, it promises a future purification and redemption, and ends with declaring that incorrigi ble sinners shall be destroyed. "Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her con verts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together." The last 27 chapters contain three sections, of 9 chapters each, all promising a future salvation, and all ending with declaring the destruction of the wicked. The first section, referring primarily to deliverance from captivity and idol atry, saes: "Go ye forth of Babylon, utter it to the end of the earth, say ye: The Lord bath redeemed his servant Jacob. . . . There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked." The second section, referring especially to a spiritual salvation, says: " Peace, peace to bim that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and will heal him. . . . There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." The third section promises the new heavens and the new earth, which are to continue forever, and intensifies the declaration of destruction to the wicked. And as the introduction, in the first chapter, doses with declaring that the mighty sinner and his work " shall both burn together. and none shall quench them," so the wholebook closes with the dreadful sentence: " Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." 2. Through the book. of Isaiah—the first part and the last—there is a series of prophecies concerning the MeSsiah which demonstrates the unity of the whole. Sonic of these are the following: in chap. ii. the prediction springs at once to the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and men shall learn war no more; in chap. vii. it promises the birth of a virgin's son, who should be named Immanuel, as a sign of the son of Mary; in the ix. it glorifies the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee. of the nations, and proclaims joyful tidings con cerning the child that should be born, one of whose names would be the mighty God, and whose govrament and peace should increase forever; in the xi. it declares that a rod should come forth out of the stem of Jesse, on whom the Spirit of the Lord should rest; in the xxxii. it announces that there should come a man 'as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; in the xxxv. it affirms that the wilderness and the solitary place should he glad, and the ransomed of the Lord return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; and in the last 27 chapters it expands all these promises, beginning with the voice of the forerunner in the wilderness, revealing the glory of the suffering Messiah, and foretelling the new heavens and the new earth.
book contains two prophetical parts with intervening chapters in which history and prophecy are closely combined. Part L contains 35 chapters. Chapter i. is introductory, as has been said, to the -whole book; ii.–iv. announce the Messiah's kingdom and .judgments on transgressors; v. pronounces condemnation on Israel and Judah under the emblem of a cherished vineyard that yields only evil fruit; vi. records the prophet's vision of the glory of the Lord, and foretells a mingling of judg ments and mercy; vii. promises a child, as a sign from the Lord, whose birth would soon be followed by the desolation of the land of the two hostile kings; viii. denounces judgments on Israel and Judah under the emblem of the prophet's son whose name signifies, "Hasten the spoil, rush on the prey;" ix. foretells the birth and the divine nature of the Messiah; x. describes the advancement and defeat of the Assyrians; xi., xii., portray the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom; xiii.–xxiii. contain a series of "burdens," to be borne by Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Damascus and Israel, Ethiopia, Egypt, Assyria and Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia, the desert of the sea, Dumah and Arabia, Jerusalem and Shebna, and Tyre; xxiv.–xxvi. announce judgments and sorrow on account of sin, followed by the blessings and joy of salvation; xxvii. represents the punishment of Assyria and Egypt under the emblems of the leviathan and the dragon of the sea; xxviii.–xxxi. proclaim judgments on Israel and 'Jerusalem mingled with mercies; xxxii. promises the Messiah under various emblems; xxxiii., xxxiv., foretell judgments on the nations, mingled with mercy to the people of God; xxxv. closes the first part with a glorious prediction of the Messiah. Intermediate chapters xxxix.) in which history is combined with prophecies that were fulfilled immediately, except that, in mercy to Hezekiah, the captivity threatened was deferred. Part IL. consisting of 27 chapters, and comprising prophecies concerning the whole work of redemption from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the new creation, is subdivided into three sections of 9 chapters each. Section 1 (chapters in which both the Messiah and Cyrus are promised as deliverers, with the latter, as first to come, emphatically named and described in the central place. Section 2 promising the Messiah alone, assigns his sufferings, death, and consequent glory the central place. Section 3 exhibiting the glory only of the Messiah, gives the central place to Zion as the bride.