ISAIAH, BOOK OF. The book of the prophet Isaiah is one of the most remarkable products of Hebrew pro phetic genius found in the Old Testament. The prophet himself describes in the sixth chapter of the book named after him the powerful religious experience that made him a prophet. The event took place about the year 740 B.C., the year in which " the startling news came of the death of the great King Uzziah who for nearly half a century had brought to Judah strength and in creasing prestige " (C. F. Kent). The prophet went up to the temple at Jerusalem to worship, and there in a wonderful vision felt the presence of Jehovah and realized that he had received a divine alit No doubt he was ready for the call; but when it came it did so with all the force of a new inspiration and revelation. " When Isaiah went forth from the temple, the world was Ocher because a new prophet had entered upon his life-work " (C. F. Kent). So great was the prophet's fame that other authors wrote afterwards in his name. Chapters xl.-lxvi., for instance, of the present book of Isaiah were clearly not by the prophet whose call is described in chap. vi. This portion of the book is now commonly described as II. Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah. Kent thinks that the original prophecies of Isaiah fall naturally into eight or nine divisions. " The general introduction, chapter 1, is followed by a group of social sermons, 2-5, to which also belongs These represent the first period of Isaiah's activity, from 740-735 B.C. The second stage of Isaiah's work, which was in connection with the crisis of 734 B.C.. is recorded in 7 and S. These chapters are
introduced by an account of the prophet's call. in 6, and are supplemented by the messianic prophecies in 12. The next group contains a collection of foreign prophecies, 13-23, of various dates. Some of these are from Isaiah, but the majority are, apparently, _from otherwise unknown later prophets. Chapters are a very late apocalypse, describing Jehovah's final Judg ment of the world. The original sermons in 28-31 were delivered in connection with the crisis of 701 B.C.
Chapters 34, 35 contain another post-exilic apocalypse. The historical chapters, xxxvi., xxxvii., tell of Isaiah's work in the fourth and last great period of his activity, while 3S and 39 record certain events preceding the in vasion of Sennacherib in 701 B.C." A number of critics distinguish a Trito-Isaiah as well as a Deutero-Isaiah. To Trito-Isaiah are assigned chapters lvi.-lxvi., and they are supposed to have been written about 450 B.C. The outlook and environment seem to be quite different from those of Deutero-Isaiah. The surroundings are not Babylonian, but Palestinian. See T. K. Cheyne, Intr. to Book of Isaiah, 1895; G. A. Smith, The Book of Isaiah, 1899; B. Duhm, Das Buck Jesaia, 2nd ed., 1902; K. Marti, Das Bueh Jesaia, 1900; J. Skinner, Isaiah, in the " Cam bridge Bible "; O. C. Whitehouse, Isaiah, in the " Cen tury Bible "; G. H. Box, The Book of Isaiah, 1908; C. Cornill, Intr.; G. H. Box, Intr.; O. C. Whitehouse; C. F. Kent, The Sermons, Epistles, and. Apocalypses of Israel's Prophets, 1910.