The Sin of Isaiah 48 and Sole Authorship
Critical
scholarship has had a long history of uneasiness with prophecy. In fact, most critical scholars
outright reject it. Particularly
their party line in the Old Testament is that the books were written later than
tradition says, by someone other than who is traditional thought or attested
too, and that all seemingly prophetic items were included after the events took
place. These ‘retrospective
prophecies’ (which are no prophecies at all) in scholarly opinion were written
so that Israel as a people and nation could make sense of what God had done
with it particularly in the Exile.

Conservative
scholars traditionally push back on the tripartite division of Isaiah by citing
Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah 2:1, and Isaiah 13:1, all being introductions to sections of
the book proclaiming Isaiah to be the author of the text being read. Other reasons include: the prolific
quoting of Isaiah in the New Testament is always accredited to one author,
including quotes by Jesus, Old Testament writers also quote from various parts
of Isaiah, and the manuscripts of Isaiah, and particularly the scrolls from
Qumran, have always been circulated as a whole, not to mention the fact that
the early church fathers unanimously assert the sole authorship of Isaiah.
To
add to the traditional case in support of Isaiah son of Amoz (Isaiah 1:1) being
the sole author of Isaiah I want to point out a passage in Isaiah that struck
me as I was listening to the book straight through (something I highly suggest
you do in your Bible study) on a long drive. The passage that struck me is Isaiah 48:1-22 and
particularly Isaiah 48:3-5 (Isaiah 41:25-29 shares a similar sentiment). Here is what it says:
The
former things I declared of old;
They
went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
Then
suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
Because
I know that you are obstinate,
and you neck is an iron sinew and your forehead
brass,
I declared them to you from of old,
before
they came to pass I announced them to you,
Lest
you should say, ‘My idol did them,
My
carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
All
of chapter Isaiah 48:1-22 is proclaiming God to the prime mover, the one who
moves and determines all of history, the one that should be trusted for
direction in life, and the only one that should receive glory. In Isaiah 48:3-5 God gives us just a
glimpse of why He gives us prophecy at all; because we are hard-headed and He
wants us to see that He is in charge and respond in submission and worship when
His words come to pass. God
accomplishes this by revealing what He will do before He does it so that when
it happens our faith is built up in God.
In
short, to reject Isaiah son of Amoz’s own attestation of the authorship of
Isaiah, especially because one cannot accept the prophetic passages in Isaiah,
is to bow down to the idol of man’s reason and fall into the same trap as the
people of Israel at the height of their pride in human ability. Isaiah living well before the exile was
able to prophecy about things before the exile, during the exile, and after because
God had revealed them for the purpose of moving Israel to worship Him. To reject the prophetic nature of
Isaiah by claiming his prophecies were retrospective redactions is to reject part
of the central message of Isaiah (and to be in a delusion –see Isaiah 41:29!) and
to remain under the condemnation that Isaiah warns of.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
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