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Introduction to the prophet Isaiah

Introduction to the prophet Isaiah. The 23rd book of the Bible, consisting of 66 chapters. The first and longest of the Prophetic Books

The 23rd book of the Bible, consisting of 66 chapters
The first and longest Prophetic Books

The name Isaiah is “Yeshayahu” in Hebrew and means “YHWH is salvation”—or “the Lord saves.”

According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah himself belonged to the royal family; he was a grandson of King Joash, a brother of King Amaziah, and was murdered under King Manasseh.

The Bible tells us (right in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1) that he was a son of Amoz; Amoz is a short form of Amaziah, and thus the prophet Isaiah was presumably a younger brother of King Uzziah (Asarja), and Amaziah was his father.

What else we know about him is that the prophet Isaiah ministered in the Southern Kingdom of Judah between 750 and 680 B.C. under the kings Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh.
Thus, Isaiah was also a contemporary of the prophet Micah, who likewise served in Judah, and Hosea from the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
It was a time when Assyria (modern-day northern Iraq) stood as a great empire at the height of its power and was the dominant force in the Middle East.

Isaiah received his call to be a prophet in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem from God personally, specifically in the year of his brother King Uzziah’s death (Chapter 6).
Isaiah himself married a prophetess (Chapter 8, Verse 3) and gave his sons names that point to the finality of his prophecies.

In our Bibles, Isaiah is the first book among the prophetic books. With its 66 chapters, it is also the longest and most detailed of these books, making Isaiah the first in the line of the “major” prophets.
Apart from all 150 Psalms combined, nowhere else in the Old Testament do we find more references to the coming Messiah.
Nor is any other book referred to as often in the New Testament as Isaiah and the literal fulfillments of his prophecies in Jesus Christ.

The period covered by Isaiah in his prophetic vision extends from his own time and the Aramaic (Syriac)–Israelite war against the Kingdom of Judah, through the dispersion of the people of Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem, and their later return from Babylon and Persia; the first and second coming of our Savior Jesus—including His reign after the end of our present age—all the way to the creation of a new heaven and a new earth at the end of time in the distant future.

In modern biblical criticism, the Book of Isaiah is often divided into three parts, believed to have been written by at least three different authors at different times; yet even their arguments fail to adequately explain the fulfillment of Isaiah’s visions over the centuries.
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran are two copies of the Book of Isaiah from the 2nd century BCE, which already existed in their present form at that time. In my opinion, a division into two main parts therefore makes much more sense:

Outline of the Prophet Isaiah:

Chapters 1 through 39—primarily deal with events that took place during Isaiah’s lifetime, though revelations about Jesus and his ministry can already be found here as well.
Otherwise, they mainly contain warnings and messages of judgment directed at Judah, Israel, and the Gentile nations.
Chapters 35 through 39, in particular, recount the reign of King Hezekiah.

Chapters 40 through 66—as the second part—contain prophecies that extend far beyond Isaiah’s time.
Here we find many messages of comfort and encouragement, as well as the announcement of the salvation of Israel and ultimately the whole world through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Content of the prophet Isaiah:

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