© David Staume 2008

Isaiah is written in poetry and prose, and often in the first person as God. The author is said to be be Isaiah, but scholars identify three distinct sections with possibly three separate authors. The sermons are also interspersed with editorial comment and historical narrative. Isaiah is regarded by Christians as a prophet – a foreteller of the future.

1-2. Isaiah says that the kingdoms of Israel (to the north) and Judah (to the south) are ‘sinful nations’, the people ‘evildoers’ and ‘full of guilt’. Their sacrifices of animals have become meaningless, their incense horrid, and their festivals have become ‘evil assemblies’. If the people obey God they will prosper, but if they disobey they will be killed. Isaiah likens these kingdoms to harlots who have turned from God to worship idols. Isaiah denounces idol worship and says that men with pride will be humbled by God. ‘Men with pride’ in this context refers to men and women who use their own intelligence and judgment and are not enthralled by the Old Testament God.

3-5. The people of Jerusalem and Judah 'parade their sin like Sodom’ and are bringing disaster on themselves. The women, particularly, are sinful, with their fine linen, headbands, perfume, mirrors, tinkling ornaments, robes, purses and shawls. Isaiah prophesizes that on the last day God will ‘wash away the filth of the women of Zion’. Isaiah’s hatred of women is palpable. He also hates those who drink alcohol, play music at banquets, revelers, nobles, the masses, the rich, and those who consider themselves wise.

6-9. Isaiah has a vision of God seated on his throne, sending an angel to cleanse him of sin. God says that because the people of Jerusalem will not listen to him, they will be invaded by their enemies (the Assyrians). God tells Isaiah not to fear the Assyrians but to fear Him instead. Isaiah says that a child will be born, that the ‘government will be on his shoulders’, and that he will reign on ‘David’s throne’ for ever. Isaiah predicts that when God’s wrath arrives ‘the land will be scorched’, ‘people will be fuel for the fire’, and ‘people will feed on the flesh of their children’. The ‘child will be born’ prophesy is seen by some as a prophesy of the birth of Jesus. Not only is this improbable but the text seems to describe someone who will grow up to lead the government, and Jesus had no involvement in government. Many of the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah describe his revenge fantasies.

10-24. God will punish those who make unjust laws, deprive the poor of rights, prey on widows, and rob orphans. God will send the Assyrians to plunder Israel and ‘trample them underfoot like mud in the streets’, then He will punish the Assyrians for their pride in thinking that they accomplished this by themselves, and not through God’s will. Isaiah says that a descendant of Jesse (David’s father) will rise up and provide wisdom, rally nations, and gather the exiles of Israel. A description of revenge against Babylon. ‘The Lord is mustering an army for war’. ‘Whoever is captured will be thrust through (with the sword)’. ‘Infants will be dashed to pieces … their houses looted, their women raped’. Prophesies of  destruction of a long list of peoples and cities. A prophesy of complete devastation of the Earth and all its inhabitants. Note: not yet fulfilled.

25-37. Praise for God for bringing destruction and punishing the people of the world for their sins. Prophesizing the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. Woe to those who rely on Israel. Prophesies of doom for turning against God, and the destruction of Assyria. Description of God’s wrath: ‘The mountains will be soaked with their blood’ and ‘The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood’. When the Assyrians are besieging Jerusalem, an angel of God goes to the Assyrian camp and kills a hundred and eighty-five thousand men. Isaiah comes across as a tortured and vengeful man who longs for ‘the day of great slaughter’ - Isaiah 30:25.

38-39. Isaiah predicts that King Hezekiah will die. Hezekiah then prays to God, who grants him another fifteen years. The son of the King of Babylon visits Hezekiah bearing gifts; Hezekiah shows him his treasury and armory. Isaiah predicts that the Babylonians will plunder the treasury and armory and that some of Hezekiah’s descendants will become eunuchs in servitude in Babylon. Hezekiah replies: ‘The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for at least there will be peace in my lifetime'. Hezekiah's response to Isaiah's prophesy is bizarre. Maybe he's a glass half-full kind of guy, or perhaps he has no faith in Isaiah's prophesies.

40-49. These chapters consist of praise to God as creator of both ‘prosperity and disaster’, and threats that God will ‘pour out his burning anger’ on those who break his laws. Isaiah makes the first explicit mention of God bringing salvation beyond his ‘chosen people’ to ‘the ends of the earth’, but later in the chapter states that the Gentiles will be ‘servants of Israel’, and that ‘they shall bow down to you with their faces toward the earth, and lick at the dust of your feet’.In Isaiah’s mind, salvation means 'enslavement'.

50-52. More admonishment for sin. Praise for Jerusalem and a prophesy that ‘the uncircumcised will not enter (the city of Jerusalem) again. Another failed prophesy.

53. Portions of this chapter of Isaiah are seen by some as prophesy of the life and death of Jesus, but it is uncertain who Isaiah is talking about. Phrases such as ‘surely he took on our pain’ and he was ‘pierced for our transgressions’ might sound like descriptions of Jesus but Isaiah also says ‘he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance was attractive' and 'he was oppressed and afflicted, but did not open his mouth'. The first is highly unlikely to be Isaiah's description of a Messiah. It sounds more like a description of a leper. The second is not a description of Jesus.

54-66. Isaiah makes an analogy between God the father and Israel the wife. An analogy of food with nourishment from God. Isaiah describes how sin separates us from God, and how God brings retribution to his foes. Isaiah predicts that people will come from all nations to worship the one true God, and any nation that doesn’t will perish. He says that God appointed him to preach, and predicts that Jerusalem will be known by a new name: Hephzibah. Isaiah makes an analogy of God’s day of vengeance with treading a winepress, except that ‘blood will spill, not wine’. Isaiah ends with ‘It shall come to pass that … all people shall worship before me … then go out to look at all the dead bodies of the people who have transgressed (sinned) against me.’ More revenge fantasies and failed prophesies.

Isaiah is a self-appointed mouthpiece for the God of his imagination. His writing reveals his misogyny, racism, and bloody revenge fantasies. Isaiah’s so-called ‘prophesy of Jesus’ is nothing more than wishful thinking. Predicting the downfall of certain peoples and civilizations, and predicting a ‘child will be born to rule’, is predicting the inevitable when no time-frame is given. Isaiah’s prophesy of the destruction of the Earth and all its inhabitants will no doubt be proved correct at some point within the next four billion years or so.

Back to Song of Songs. Forward to Jeremiah.