ISAIAH, one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, lived during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezokiah (Is. i. 1 ; vii. 1; xiv. 23; xxii.; xxxvisxxxviii.), and was contemporary with the prophets Amos, Hosea, Joel, and Micah. Wo possess no particulars in tho Ohl Testament respecting the place of his birth or his history ; but we learn from the inscriptiou of the book that ho was the sou of Amos, who was, according to one Jewish tradition, the brother of Amaziah, king of Judah ; but according to another was considered to be the same person as the prophet Amos. The latter tradition is evidently wrong; since the namo of the prophet is Dwy, while the namo of the father of Isaiah is re x. It is probable, from the 6th chapter of the book, that Isaiah entered upon his prophetical office in the last year of the reign of king Uzziab, B.C. 759. He continued to prophesy at least till the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, n.e. 713 (2 Kings, xix. 2-7; Is. xxxvi.-xxxviii.), a period of forty-six years. According to au ancient Jewish tradition, which is also given in the apocryphal book of the 'Ascension of Isaiah,' he was put to death during the reign of the cruel Manasseh (2 Kings, xxi. 16); who is said by Josephus (' Antiq.,' x. 3, § 1) to have slaiu all the prophets in Jerusalem. Manasseh commenced his reign ac. 697; and Isaiah must therefore have continued to prophesy for sixty-two years at least, if this tradition be correct. Isaiah had a greater influence in public sake than any other prophet, except Elijah and Elisha. He appear° to have been the intimate friend of Ilezekiah; and it was principally owing to his advice and firmness that the army of Scnnacherib was defeated.
The prophecies of Isaiah consist of sixty-aix chapters, all of which were considered, till within the last fifty years, to have been composed by the prophet himself. But it is the common opinion of the critics in Germany usually called Rationalists, that the book of Isaiah is a collection of prophecies delivered by different persons, which were collected and arranged in their present form during the Babylonian exile. The whole of the latter part of the book, from ch. xL to ch. lxvi., is supposed to have been written at Babylon during the exile, and a considerable part of the first thirty-nine chapters is attributed to other authors) than Isaiah. Some critics have called the book a
"poetical anthology." This opinion wu first maintained by Koppe, and has been supported by Ddderlcin, J esti, Eichhorn, Bauer, Paulus, Itosenuifiller, Bertholdt, lie Wette, Augusti, and at great length by Oesenius in his translation of Isaiah, Leip., 1821-29. The best argu ments in defence of the common opinion are given by Jahn in his 'Introduction to the Bible,' by Professor Lee in his 'Sermons and Dissertations on the Study of the Scriptures; and by Ilengstenberg in Lis' Christologie des alten Testaments,' Berl., 1829 35.
If wo admit Isaiah to have been the author of the book which bears his name, it is nearly certain that the prophecies are not arranged at present in the order in which they were delivered. The sixth chapter apparently contains an account of the inauguration of the prophet in his sacred office, and appears to have been the first prophecy that was published by him. The twenty-second chapter consists of two separate parts which have no connection with each other, and were probably published at different times ; the former half of the chapter (1.14) containing a prediction of the invasion of the Medea and Persians, while the latter half gives an account of the disgrace of a courtier of the name of Shabna during the reign of Hezekiab. It is therefore difficult to give any connected accouut of the contents of the book; but the following arrangement, taken from Gesenius, is perhaps the hest upon the whole.
The first part (L-xii.) principally consists of prophecies relating immediately to the Jewish people ; the second part (xiii.-xxiii.) contains predictions against the Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Egyptians, and other foreign nations; the third part (xxiv. xxxv.), with an historical appendix (xxxvi-xxxviii), containing an account of the invasion of Sennacherib, coutains prophecies of the invasion of Judaea by the Babylonians, of the destruction of Jerusalem, the captivity of the people, and their final restoration to their native country; the fourth part (x1.-lxvi.) principally refers to the restoration of the church ; it contains many prophecies respecting the deliverance of the Jews from captivity, the destruction of idols, the spread of the true religion over the earth, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the coming of the Messiah.