Contents
Preface—Personal Note to the Reader
1. Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the Former Prophets
Concentric Structure of Isaiah within the Latter Prophets
Reading the Book of Isaiah from the Center
Reading the “Wheels within the Wheels” in the Book of Isaiah
Temple in Jerusalem as the Structural Center of the Latter Prophets
2. Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel in Relation to the Former Prophets
Concentric Structure of Jeremiah
Reading the Book of Jeremiah from the Center
Reading the “Wheels within the Wheels” in the Book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah as a Prophet to the Nations
3. From Prophets to Prophetic Books
Code of Handsome Lake—an Illustrative Example
From the Book of Jonah to the Festal Scrolls (Megilloth)
Transformation of Prophecy from Prophetic to Apocalyptic Literature
From Habakkuk to Job—the Prophets and Wisdom
Latter Prophets and the Desecration of the Temple in Daniel
4. Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Prophetic Movement from Moses to Ezekiel and Beyond
Concentric Structure of Ezekiel
Reading the Book of Ezekiel from the Center
Reading the “Wheels within the Wheels” in the Book of Ezekiel
Ezekiel and the Canonical Process in Ancient Israel
5. Book of the Twelve Prophets
Relation of the Book of the Twelve to the Former Prophets
Concentric Structure of the Book of the Twelve
Reading the Individual Books in the Book of the Twelve Prophets
Looking at “Wheels within the Wheels” in the Book of the Twelve
Book of the Twelve Prophets within the Canonical Process
Answers to Concept Checks
BIBAL™ Study Program
Chapter 1: Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Contents
A. Relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the Former Prophets
B. Concentric Structure of Isaiah within the Latter Prophets
C. Reading the Book of Isaiah from the Center
D. Reading the “Wheels within the Wheels” in the Book of Isaiah
E. Temple in Jerusalem as the Structural Center of the Latter Prophets
Objectives
When this lesson is completed, the student should be able to:
¨ Discuss the problem which has led many scholars to divide the book of Isaiah into two or more separate books
¨ Discuss the “Day of Yhwh” as a major theme in the book of Isaiah
¨ Explain the relationship between Isaiah the prophet and King Hezekiah in Jerusalem
¨ Discuss the meaning of the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah
¨ Discuss the role of Israel in relation to other nations in the book of Isaiah
A. Relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the Former Prophets
The book of Isaiah has been a battleground in the field of biblical studies throughout the modern era. Within the main stream of critical biblical scholarship, the book is divided between two or even three different authors—spread out over more than two centuries in time (ca. 750–500 BCE). More conservative scholars assume that the author is the eighth century prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem, in the days of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah (ca. 750–700 BCE), as stated in Isaiah 1:1. It is more important to observe that the book is divided into two main parts separated by a lengthy insertion from 2 Kings 18:13–20:19, which includes all that is said in the Former Prophets about Isaiah.
David Dorsey outlines the book of Isaiah in seven major parts, which may be modified to form a nested menorah pattern, as follows:[1]
Book of Isaiah in a Menorah Pattern Isaiah 1–66
A Isaiah’s memoirs—climaxed by the Day of Yhwh (10:24–12:6) 1–12
B Judah and Israel among the nations 13–27
C Yhwh’s superiority over foreign enemies 28–35
X Isaiah and Hezekiah (= 2 Kings 18:13–20:19) 36–39
C´ Yhwh’s superiority over useless idols 40–48
B´ Israel as Yhwh’s servant among the nations 49–54
A´ Yhwh’s great day of salvation (the “Day of Yhwh”) is coming soon 55–66
2nd Level Menorah: Prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah Isaiah 36:1–39:8
A Arrival of the hostile Assyrian emissary 36:1–22
B Hezekiah’s distress and his appeal to Yhwh for help 37:1–7
C Sennacherib’s blasphemous message to Hezekiah 37:8–13
X Hezekiah’s prayer to Yhwh 37:14–20
C´ Yhwh’s response to Sennacherib’s blasphemous message 37:21–38
B´ Hezekiah’s sickness and his appeal to Yhwh for help 38:1–22
A´ Arrival of the friendly Babylonian emissaries 39:1–8
In this reading, the center of Isaiah is the quotation from 2 Kings 18:13–20:19 (= Isaiah 36–39), with significant adjustments—the most important of which is the omission of 2 Kings 18:14–16). This omission includes correspondence between Hezekiah and Sennacherib king of Assyria, in which Hezekiah plundered the Temple in Jerusalem to pay the tribute demanded by the Assyrian king. As we will see, there is another way to look at the concentric structure of the book of Isaiah, which develops the nested menorah pattern with a somewhat different focus, in 37:21–29, where the prophet Isaiah taunts Sennacherib king of Assyria. At any rate, it is important to note that the structural center of the book of Isaiah points us back to the ending of the Former Prophets and, in particular, to King Hezekiah in his relationship with the prophet Isaiah in Jerusalem, as a prophet to the nations.
In terms of the canonical structure of the Latter Prophets, the destruction of the Temple falls between the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The description of the destruction of the Temple in the time of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, which appears in 2 Kings 24–25, is placed in the center of the larger literary unit of Jeremiah plus Ezekiel (in Jeremiah 52). The book of Isaiah represents a parallel situation in that the two halves of the book, which are complementary in nature, are joined with an earlier section taken from the book of 2 Kings.
Only two of the prophets that have books named after them among the Latter Prophets appear in the Former Prophets as well—Isaiah and Jonah (see 2 Kings 14:25). Though the reasons for including each of these two prophets within the Former Prophets are quite different, in each case that decision was a canonical one, in the sense that it was determined by the very concept of “canonical Scripture” in ancient Israel. In short, the prophets Isaiah and Jonah function as literary bridges to connect the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets in the literary structure of the Tanakh. Jonah marks the third part in a sequence of three stages in the narrative about prophecy, in which the prophet is in conflict with the royal establishment, as outlined in Yhwh’s revelation on Mount Horeb in 1 Kings 19:15–17. The story moves from Elijah to Elisha to Jonah, who is presented in Jewish legend as one of “the many thousands of disciples whom Elisha gathered about him during the sixty years and more of his activity.”[2] The prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, is presented in relation to King Hezekiah where the prophet and the king work in tandem, with each recognizing the authority of the other.
The relationship between the king and the prophet is also a major theme in the Former Prophets. Of the so-called “good” kings of Judah in the Former Prophets, four are explicitly linked with prophets: David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah. These four function as a literary frame around the figure of J(eh)oash, who is linked with the priest Jehoiada and the religious reform in Jerusalem after the apostasy of Athaliah (2 Kings 11–12). The relationship between these five kings and different prophets (or a priest in the case of Joash) may be diagrammed as follows:
King/Prophet Activity in regards the Temple Biblical Texts
David / Nathan Building of the Temple planned 2 Sam 7, 12 & 1 Kings 1
Jehoshaphat / Micaiah & Elisha Nothing recorded 1 Kgs 22:7 & 2 Kings 3:11
J(eh)oash / Jehoiada (priest) Temple repaired 2 Kings 12:4–16
Hezekiah / Isaiah Temple plundered & repaired 2 Kings 18–20 (cf. 2 Chr 29)
Josiah / Huldah Temple repaired 2 Kings 22–23
This structure begins and ends with an instructive example of what we call the “Samuel compromise” in the pairing of a “good” king and a prophet of Yhwh who shares authority in ruling the people of Israel. The prophet Nathan appears three times in the narrative of the Former Prophets (2 Samuel 7, 12 and 1 Kings 1)—at pivotal moments in the career of King David (see The Former Prophets: BIBAL Study Program 2, p. 62). Though the prophetess Huldah appears only once (2 Kings 22:14–20), she plays a central role within the canonical process, when she validates the scroll of the Torah found in the Temple during Josiah’s reform (see The Former Prophets, p. 105).
After the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, there is a progression in the way in which the “good kings” in the Former Prophets are related to the Temple and to recognized prophets of Yhwh. On two occasions, Jehoshaphat of Judah asks the question: “Is there no prophet of Yhwh here, through whom we may inquire of Yhwh?”—once to Ahab (1 Kings 22:7), king of Israel, and later to Ahab’s son and successor Jehoram (2 Kings 3:11). In the first instance, the prophet Micaiah is summoned, and in the second it is the prophet Elisha. The issue in each case is the relationship between the king and the prophet in the divided monarchy.
The situation is similar in regards to Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, but with an added dimension in that Hezekiah is related to canonical activity in Jerusalem. Proverbs 25:1 states: “These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.” This is a reference to canonical activity in Jerusalem, which was underway in the second half of the eighth century BCE. Religious leaders in the days of Josiah (and on into the Babylonian Exile) took that process much further. Deuteronomy was the structural center around which the Torah, the Prophets and the “Hagiographa” were arranged in an official canon of sacred Scripture in ancient Israel, which eventually became the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) as we now know it.
In the matter of the renewal of the Davidic monarchy under J(eh)oash and the repair of the Temple, no prophet is mentioned. Instead it is the priest Jehoiada, who is said to have repaired the Temple in Jerusalem. After him, Hezekiah went further with a religious reform (2 Kings 18:4–6), in which he is said to have “kept the commandments which Yhwh commanded Moses” (v 6). Josiah completed the process in his subsequent repair of the Temple, which resulted in the finding of a copy of the “book of the Law of Moses” (the Torah). The Torah was the basis for a great renewal of the covenant culminating in a celebration of Passover unlike anything “since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah” (2 Kings 23:22).
Concept Check #1
In what ways do King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah illustrate what we have called the “Samuel compromise”?
Check your answer at the back of this book.
B. Concentric Structure of Isaiah within the Latter Prophets
The prophets Jonah and Isaiah tie the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets together in a number of ways. The sequence of “prophets like Moses” is introduced in 1 Kings 19 on Mount Horeb and moves from the prophet Elijah to Elisha to Jonah (2 Kings 14:25). A bit later in time (2 Kings 18–20), the relation between Isaiah and Hezekiah is presented as a paradigmatic example of the “Samuel compromise.”
The structure of the Latter Prophets as a whole may be outlined in the following nested menorah pattern:
Menorah Pattern: Latter Prophets IsaiahàMalachi
A Isaiah’s memoirs—climaxed by the Day of Yhwh Isaiah 1–12
B Judah and Israel among the nations Isaiah 13–33
C Judgment on nations & return of the redeemed to Zion Isaiah 34–35
X From Jonah & Isaiah to Jeremiah and Ezekiel Isaiah 36àHab
C´ Day of Yhwh against Judah and the nations Zephaniah 1–3
B´ Rebuilding the Temple & restoration of Jerusalem Haggai 1:1–Zech 8:23
A´ Day of Yhwh for Israel—disputation on God’s justice Zech. 9:1–Malachi 4:6
2nd Level: From Former Prophets to Latter Prophets Isaiah 36àHabakkuk
A Isaiah & Hezekiah: God’s “vengeance” against Assyria Isaiah 36–39
B Israel as Yhwh’s servant among the nations Isaiah 40–55
C Yhwh’s great day of salvation is coming soon Isaiah 56–66
X Jeremiah–Ezekiel: destruction of Jerusalem JeremiahàEzekiel
C´ Declaration of Yhwh’s love for Israel Hosea
B´ Divine Warrior (“enemy from north”) with Israel & nations Joel–Obadiah
A´ Jonah & Nineveh: God’s “vengeance” against Assyria Jonah–Habakkuk
3rd Level: Fall of Jerusalem—Israel and the Nations Jeremiah–Ezekiel
A Jerusalem judged—restoration promised in new covenant Jer 1:1–25:13
B Jeremiah and fall of Jerusalem; return of exiles; flight to Egypt 25:14–45:5
C Jeremiah and the nations—oracles against foreign nations 46:1–51:64
X Destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple 52:1–34
C´ God’s glory departs from Jerusalem—Israel and nations Ezek 1:1–32:32
B´ Ezekiel and the fall of Jerusalem—Israel among the nations 33:1–39:29
A´ Jerusalem restored—vision of the last days: God’s glory returns 40:1–48:35
4th Level: Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple Jeremiah 52