Isaiah's father Amoz is not to be confused with the prophet Amos whose name is spelled differently. We have no information about Isaiah's occupation prior to his becoming a prophet. From his easy access to the king, it is deduced that he belonged to the upper class. He was married to a woman called "the prophetess" (Isa. 8:3) though he never calls himself a prophet. He had two sons who were given symbolic names. He also had disciples (Isa. 8:1-16). He recorded his oracles for a time to come as a witness forever (Isa. 30:8).

From the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah who are named in the heading of the book, we conclude that Isaiah must have prophesied to Judah over a period of about forty years in the last half of the eighth century and into the first of the seventh century. From his concern about Jerusalem, it is conjectured that he was at home there. He chronicled the reigns of the kings Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:22) and Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:32) though we have neither chronicle. He would have been contemporary with Menahem, Pekaiah, Pekah, and Hoshea the last four kings of Israel. He would have seen the fall of Samaria, the exiling of its people, and the resettlement of foreign colonists in Samaria (2 Kings 17:24ff.).

Several of the prophets narrate an experience which set them on the road of prophesying. The verb naba' ("prophesy") means to be called. The book is the vision (hazon) which he saw (hazah). This verb does not mean ordinary physical sight.

The vision of chapter six, dated in the year King Uzziah died which is 736 B.C., is not specifically designated in the text as Isaiah's call. However, despite the number of interpreters who challenge the assumption, it is common to think of it as such.

Isaiah saw the Lord enthroned with his train filling the temple. He was surrounded by the seraphim with their six wings who called, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory" (cf. Num 14:21; Ps. 72:19; Hab. 2:14). There was an earthquake, and smoke filled the house. Earthquakes are not unusual in Old Testament theophanies. "Hosts" in this epithet means "the armies (cf. Exod. 12:41). Hebrew repeats for emphasis (cf. Jer. 7:4; 22:29). One of Isaiah's epithets for the Lord is "the Holy One of Israel" which occurs twelve times in chapters 1-39 and sixteen times in chapters 40-66 but is only six times elsewhere in Scripture. One notices that there is no description of the exact form and appearance of the Lord.

Isaiah, impressed with the belief that one cannot see the Lord and live (cf. Exod. 33:20-23; Judg. 13:22-23), assumed that the vision was his ruin. "Woe ('oy) is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (cf. Isa. 1:2-11); for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

When Isaiah saw the Lord, he saw himself and his lost condition. Compared with the holiness of the Lord, he was a sinful man. Job also, coming to know the ways of the Lord, saw himself and repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6).

The walls about us may appear white, but if one puts a fresh stripe of white paint on them he would find that they are an off-gray. Paul spoke of not knowing anything against himself (1 Cor. 4:4). The Proverbs remind us that the ways of a person are clean in his own eyes (Prov. 16:2; 21:2). One never failed the examination of himself by himself. The Pharisee in Jesus' parable compared himself with the people about him, and came out quite well (Luke 18:9-13). When one does that he always picks out someone he thinks is inferior. Paul speaks of people who compare themselves with one another (2 Cor. 10:12). In our preaching we seem to get people to see us; if we could get them to see God, as Isaiah did, they would see themselves as sinful people who have fallen short of the glory of God. They would take action. One does not have to persuade people to get out of a burning building. The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of "looking unto Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Heb. 12:2).

One of the seraphs touched Isaiah's lips with a coal taken with tongs from the altar and told him that his sin was forgiven. Isaiah then heard the Lord say, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Isaiah responded, "Here am I! Send me." Here is another of the great texts of this chapter, probably preached on more than any other in the book. In the Old Testament many who are called offered excuses: Moses, Barak, Jeremiah, and others. Saul was hiding among the baggage when Israel sought him to be king. Ezekiel was reluctant. How many of the excuses did the Lord accept? None! Isaiah was a volunteer. The Lord needs volunteers. Paul says of himself, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19), and "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:16). He was entrusted with a commission.

Isaiah, however, was called to a hopeless task, not to a grand success. People would not understand and would reject his words (Isa. 6:10; cf. Mark 4:12). Ezekiel later was sent whether people would hear or refuse to hear (Ezek. 3:11). Jesus indicted the people of his day, "This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). Isaiah protested, "How long?" At was until an invasion from an unnamed enemy has taken place, cities lie waste, the land is desolate, and people are removed from the land. The imagery is of a fire. If a tenth remains, the wind shifts and it will be burned again leaving only a stump behind. But the holy seed is its stump. Chapter six introduces us to three major ideas of the first part of the book: The impending calamity, the remnant that survives, and the messianic future--the stump (matstsebet).

Israel and Damascus about 735 B.C. chose to rebel against Assyria (2 Kings 16:1ff.). More than a century earlier in 853 a coalition of western kings, one of whom was Ahab, had resisted Shalmaneser III at Qarqar. The confederates now sought alliance with Judah led by its young king Ahaz. At his reluctance, they planned to dethrone him and put an otherwise unknown figure called the son of Tabeel on the throne. The "house of David" and "the throne of David" were in danger. The Chronicler says, "Therefore the Lord his God gave him [Ahaz] into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with great slaughter" (2 Chron. 28:5). At the news of what he was facing, the heart of Ahaz, and that of his people, shook as trees of the forest shake before the wind (Isa. 7:2).

Isaiah was sent with his son "A Remnant Shall Return" (cf. Isa. 1:9; 6:13; 7:21; 10:20-23; 11:1; 27:6; 37:31-32) to meet Ahaz at the water-works of the city (cf. Isa. 36:2) to assure him that he need not fear. Pekah (cf. 2 Kings 15:25) and Rezin were only two smoldering stumps of firebrands. They had about shot their wad. The Lord had decreed that their plans would not stand (Isa. 7:7). But if Ahaz did not have faith he would not endure ('im lo' ta'aminu ki lo' ta'amenu).

Ahaz was offered a sign of anything he wished as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. But he had already made up his mind and pretended that he was too pious to tempt God (cf. Deut. 6:16). "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test" (Isa. 7:12). He deliberately rejected the Lord. Ahaz refused to believe that God was with him and his people in any effective way. He had a plan which was not the Lord's plan (cf. Isa. 30:1). He would trust his worst enemy (Assyria) more than he would trust the Lord.

The prophet then told him that God would give him a sign. A young woman would bear a child; and in the time that took, plus the time required for the child to learn to refuse the evil and choose the good, the danger would be passed. Approximately this same thing is said in chapter eight about the child of Isaiah. He has a child called "The spoil speeds, the prey hastes." By the time the child knows to say, "My father" or my mother," the wealth of Damascus and spoil of Samaria would be carried away before Assyria (Isa. 8:4). Isaiah insisted that the Lord, not Damascus and Israel, is the one Ahaz (and Judah) should really fear (Isa. 8:11-12).

Isaiah warned Ahaz that he was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. He was bringing on himself problems greater than any faced since the kingdom had divided. Four figures are used to describe the problem. The first is described as though it were an infestation of insects but represents the powers of Egypt and Assyria. The second is a figure of a close shave with a razor hired beyond the river, that is, by Assyria. An insult of this sort had been suffered by David's representatives to Ammon (2 Sam. 10:4-5). The third figure is a condition of want in which food of a devastated land is described--a cow and two sheep are kept alive and would supply an abundance. The fourth is of a valuable vineyard grown up and turned to pasture where one needs protection to enter (Isa. 7:13-25).

Ahab hired Tiglath-pileser to invade Damascus and Israel from the rear. He went to Damascus to pay his tribute and saw an altar there he liked which he had copied and put in the temple court in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 16:10-16; 2 Chron. 28:22). Judah became a tributary of Assyria and never escaped from it. Judah had rejected the waters of Shiloah and got the flood waters of the Euphrates reaching to the neck (Isa. 8:6-8). Israel never regained political independence except briefly during the Maccabean period.

There are few stories in Scripture whose details are more debated than this one. Yet, were it not for a few terms it would be straightforward enough. The first word is the word "sign." Since the time of Tertullian, it has been argued that a sign must be a miraculous event; however, though sometimes "sign" is a miraculous event, the claim that it always is will not stand investigation of use in the Old Testament or even in Isaiah. In Exod. 3:12, a sign to Moses was that he would bring Israel to Sinai. Isaiah and his family are signs and portents (Isa. 8:18).

I would propose that the most persuasive approach to the word "sign" is found in Isaiah 37:30 where a sign promised to Hezekiah is a span of time. "This year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same, then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit." In other words the crisis spoken of will be passed in three years. Isaiah is saying to Ahaz that in the nine months it takes a child to be born, plus the time needed for a child to refuse the evil and to choose the good, the danger from Damascus and Israel will be over. Ahaz need not hire Assyria to fight his battles.

The next word is "`almah," a feminine form which occurs in seven O.T. passages (Gen. 24:43; Exod. 2:8; Ps. 68:26; Prov. 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Isa. 7:14), describing women like Rebecca (Gen. 24:43), and Moses' sister, Miriam (Exod. 1:8). The basic root means, "to be mature." It occurs twice in a masculine form, once describing David (1 Sam. 17:56), and once the boy chasing David's arrows (1 Sam. 20:22), neither of which cases is describing sexual experience or lack of it. In English, the masculine and feminine forms would be comparable to lad and lassie or boy and girl. The legal term used in Hebrew for virgin is betulah. The Septuagint used parthenos in Isa. 7:14, and is followed by Matthew 1:23; but neither the Greek nor English versions translate 'almah as "virgin" in all its occurrences.

I caution you against building an argument on the definite article. The rule for using the definite article is not the same in Hebrew as in English. The Hebrew writer uses it for an object or person he has in mind which has not been previously mentioned. For example, Noah sends "the raven" from the ark (Gen. 8:7) and "the dove" from it (Gen. 8:8). Your English translation may not have a definite article in Isa. 7:14, but the Hebrew and Greek texts do.

The rub of this word comes when Matthew, following the Septuagint, cites the passage using parthenos (Matt. 1:23). But then Matthew used a type of interpretation that can be called "typical" in which O.T. passages have a meaning not obvious in the Old Testament itself. Examples are, "Rachel weeping for her children" which in Jeremiah is speaking of people in the Exile (Matt. 2:18; Jer. 31:35), and "Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Matt. 2:15: Hos. 11:1; Exod. 4:22) which in Exodus is describing Israel's exodus from Egypt but in Matthew is speaking of Jesus' coming out of Egypt. I would propose that Isaiah 7:14 is being cited in the same sort of way. There was no virgin birth in Isaiah's time. History has only one. But the words of Isaiah, describing a span of time, can be used typically just as is true of the other two cases just cited. The Gospel of John points out to us that, in the case of Caiaphas, "that one man should die for the people" (John 11:50-52; 18:14), prophetic words can have a meaning of which the prophet is not conscious at the time of the utterance.

The meaning of names is important in Isaiah. His own name means "the Lord saves," a declaration made in Isa. 45:17. Isaiah's first son is "A Remnant Shall Return" and the second one is "The spoil speeds, the prey hastes." So the name given by the mother to the child of Isaiah's passage is to be Immanuel ("God with us"). There is no question that Matthew is using this name to declare the incarnation. However, the idea of God being with people in the Old Testament does not always imply an incarnation. God promises Moses, when calling him to deliver Israel from Egypt, "I will be with you (`imak; cf. Exod. 3:12). In Numbers 14:9, it is said "the Lord is with us" only here the preposition 'et is used rather than 'im. Then we have "The Lord of hosts is with us" (Ps. 46:7, 11[8, 12]). The idea of the Lord being with Israel is common in the Old Testament (Josh. 1:5; Ps. 23:4; Isa. 8:10; cf. Amos 5:14).

Immanuel is addressed in Isaiah as though a contemporary figure in Isa. 8:8. In Isaiah 8:10, the idea, though not in a name, is expressed. Theophoric names (where the deity is said to do something) like Samuel, Zedekiah, and Joshua do not imply the possessor is divine. Modern persons are named Immanuel or Manuel. A sealing found in Palestine has the name "The Lord is with me" comparable to "Ithbaal" ("Baal is with him"; 1 Kings 16:31). The Elephantine Papyri of the fifth century B.C. have a person named "The Lord is with us," as does a list of names found at Horvat 'Uza, a place in Israel's Negeb.

In addition to Isa. 7:14, Isaiah uses the image of the woman in labor (Isa. 13:8; 21:3; 23:4; 26:12-18; 53:11; 54:1). Childbirth as an image is in Isa. 37:3 where Hezekiah says of the predicament he is in, "Children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth." In a pre-caesarian day, only death can be the outcome.

Assyria invaded and destroyed Damascus in Ahaz's day; Israel was partially dismembered. Portions were made into Assyrian provinces of Gilead, Dor, and Megiddo. Isaiah 9:1ff. describes Zebulun and Naphtali as suffering oppression.

Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah about 715 B.C. There are no direct allusions in the book of Isaiah to Hezekiah's reforms. He is evaluated by the writer of the book of Kings as incomparable: "there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him" (2 Kings 18:5).

By 712 B.C. the Philistine area was seething with revolt and hoped that Hezekiah would join them. The commander-in-chief of Sargon of Assyria came to Ashdod to put down the revolt. Though nudity was considered scandalous in Israel (Gen. 9:20-24; 2 Sam. 6:20), Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord to go naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent to Egypt and Ethiopia of their fate if Assyria captured them. Assyrian art depicts nude captives of war being carried off from sites. One assumes that Isaiah's behavior was effective. Apparently, no reprisals were taken on Hezekiah at this time when the revolt was stamped out.

This is the one place in ancient literature where the name of Sargon was known to exist until in 1843 Emil Botta discovered the lost palace of Sargon at Khorsabad, north of Nineveh. Sargon moved from being an unknown to being one of the best known of the Assyrian rulers. Included in the texts of his palace were two records of the Ashdod campaign (ANET3, 287a). In excavations at Ashdod in 1963, three portions of an Assyrian stele, assumed to have been set up on this occasion, were found.

Isaiah's oracles are not dated; it is impossible to know when many of them were spoken. One is not to suppose that they are chronologically arranged. Isaiah found the steward (soken) Shebna overseeing the preparation of a rock cut tomb for himself. [Abishag is sokenet to David (1 Kings 1:2, 4)]. Shebna is said to be "over the house" (Isa. 22:15) which is something like the prime minister of Judah (cf. 2 Kings 18:18, 26, 37; Isa. 36:22). The cause of Shebna's failings is not detailed, but we assume that Shebna was responsible for Hezekiah's anti-Assyrian policy of depending on Egypt for support. Isaiah mentions Shebna's chariots (Isa. 22:18); chariots are what Judah hoped to get from Egypt. Isaiah threatened that Shebna would be removed from his post. He would not need the tomb; he would be cast into a foreign land and would die. Eliakim would take his place to be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Eliakim would have the key of the house David with authority to shut and none can open (cf. Rev. 3:7). Using another metaphor, Eliakim would be a peg, and they would hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, but ultimately he would be removed.

By the time of Sennacherib's invasion this exchange seems to have taken place, for Eliakim is "over the house," and Shebna is merely secretary (soper; Isa. 36:3, 22; 37:2).

A rock cut tomb of this period has been found in the Silwan village opposite Jerusalem which belonged to an official "Over the House" (IEJ 3 (1963):131-152). The name of the owner has been effaced; a conjecture thinks it could be Shebna; but there can be no certainty. Also a sealing has been found which belonged to an official of this position.

Some time, near the end of the eighth century (2 Kings 20:1-21; 2 Chron. 32:24-26), Hezekiah experienced a desperate illness. Isaiah was sent to him to call on him to set his house in order for he would die. Hezekiah in humility turned his face to the wall and prayed intently to the Lord. Before Isaiah had left the house, he was sent back to inform Hezekiah that his prayer had been heard, that God would add fifteen years to his life, and that God would defend the city from the Assyrians. Isaiah offered him a sign that it would happen, the backing up ten steps on the shadow on the dial of Ahaz (Isa. 38:1ff. This is one of the two stories of interference with time in the Old Testament. The other is Joshua's long day (Josh. 10:11-14). Hezekiah set forth a psalm of praise for his deliverance (Isa. 38:10-20).

Isaiah's charge, "Set your house in order" is a challenging text for many an audience. None of us know what a day may bring forth. Automobile accidents, airplane crashes, terrorist attacks, and heart attacks all remind us that "now" is the time of action.

Hezekiah's prayer is one of the most graphic examples we have of heard and answered prayer. The prayer of a righteous man avails much in its working. The Lord's people need to pray. The episode also reminds us that a prophecy is conditional. It is not a decree of fate. With change of behavior of one threatened, the Lord can change his threatened action (Jer. 18).

We know from secular sources that Merodach-baladan from the Babylonian area was a thorn in the side of Assyrian kings from Tiglath-pileser III to Sennacherib. He sent messengers to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery from illness (Isa. 39:1-8; 2 Kings 20:12-19). 2 Chronicles 32:3 suggests they came to inquire about the sign, the interruption of time, that had taken place during Hezekiah's illness. Josephus (Antiquities 10.1.1 [30] suggests (on what evidence we do not know) that they came to enlist Hezekiah as "ally and friend," no doubt in a revolt against Assyria. When Hezekiah had shown them all his treasures, Isaiah took a dim view of the reception they had received; and instead of the Babylonians being a help, he threatened that all would be carried to Babylon. The threat is like that earlier given Ahaz with Assyria (Isa. 7:17ff.); Isaiah was opposed to all foreign alliances. This is the one prediction of the Babylonian captivity by Isaiah though there are echoes in the oracles against Babylon. Hezekiah, caught in the act, could only express gratitude that the threat would not come to reality in his time.

I once heard a very impressive sermon by J. Harold Thomas at the dedication of a church building which took as its text, "What have they seen in your house?" Thomas spoke of the impressiveness of the physical facilities--the auditorium, the class rooms, the nursery, the fellowship hall, and the offices--but then asked about the spiritual conditions, opportunities, and implications. Physical facilities are only of value as they offer spiritual opportunity. This thought could be concerning a home as well as for a church building.

The unfortunate international policies Hezekiah was following came to a tragic head in 701 B.C., the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign (Isa. 36:1). Again the Philistine territory was in revolt against Assyria. Hezekiah refused to pay his tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 18:7). The Assyrian governor of Philistia was deposed and was imprisoned in Jerusalem. Sennacherib invaded taking all the important cities except Lachish and Jerusalem. At Lachish, excavations have uncovered the siege ramp built by the Assyrians to take the fortress. We have both the biblical account of the campaign and Sennacherib's own account. The British Museum has thirteen life-size wall plaques from Nineveh depicting the siege and the spoil of Lachish being carried before Sennacherib. There are at least three copies of Sennecharib's account of the campaign as he claims he took forty-six of Hezekiah's fortified cities and many unwalled villages while shutting him up like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem.

According to the book of Kings, Hezekiah paid the demanded tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16), but the king of Assyria was not satisfied. The Rabshakeh, accompanied by two other officials, came to Jerusalem to demand its surrender. While parleying with Hezekiah's officials at the same place Isaiah had met Ahaz thirty years before (Isa. 7:3), the Rabshakeh characterized their preparations of defense as mere words. He refused to use Aramaic as the Judean official requested him to do (Isa. 36:11-13). If they hoped to get help from Egypt, Egypt was a broken reed which would pierce the hand that leaned on it. He suggested that the Lord, instead of being pleased with Hezekiah's religious reforms, was offended by them. He offered to furnish 2,000 horses for a mock battle if the Judeans thought they could defeat even one Assyrian captain, not to mention the whole army. He claimed a divine commission from the Lord to destroy the land (Isa. 36:1-10). He suggests that Hezekiah is misleading the people. Exile is not such a bad fate after all. He contrasted exilic lands with conditions in a besieged city (Isa. 36:12; 37:7-9). Other gods have not been able to deliver their people.

When Isaiah was consulted, he assured the officials of Hezekiah that the Assyrians would withdraw.

Sennacherib moved up from Lachish to Libnah which is nearer Jerusalem. He heard of plans of Tirhakah of Ethiopia of offering Hezekiah relief.

Without the oracle being dated, it is conjectured that Isaiah's valley of vision oracle fits in at this period. With the tribute paid, with promise of aid from Egypt, or with the temporary withdrawal of Assyria, the city has gone wild in a celebration (Isa 22:1ff.). If you had experienced the end of World War II, you would have seen such a day. Everyone was in the streets celebrating; everyone had let his hair down, sailors were grabbing every unaccompanied woman and kissing her, cars with loud speakers were playing "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Isaiah saw the end less than honorable and said, "Look away from me, let me weep bitter tears, do not labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people" (v. 4). The valleys were full of chariots and horsemen stood at the gates. The people had looked after the stored weapons (v. 8). They had broken down houses to repair breaches in the walls, they had looked after the water supply; but they had not looked to him who did it or planned it long ago--that is to God. In a day that God called for weeping and wearing of sackcloth, there was celebration with people saying, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Isaiah assures them that their iniquity will not be forgiven them until they die (Isa 22:14).

The Rabshakeh returned to Sennacherib and found him fighting against Libnah (Isa. 37:8) which is twelve miles nearer Jerusalem. Sennacherib sent messengers back to Hezekiah again insisting that they should not let their God deceive them. The god of none of the nations had been able to deliver them. Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and took the letter to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. He prayed confessing that the Lord alone is God, and he asked God to save from the hand of the Assyrians. Isaiah sent to Hezekiah assuring him that God would put a hook in the nose of the Assyrian and turn him back. Within three seasons the danger would be passed. The Lord would defend the city for the sake of David.

The angel of the Lord smote the Assyrian army and 185 thousand died. Sennacherib had to withdraw and never returned. Twenty years later (681 B.C.) in Nineveh two of his sons murdered him.

Unlike his predecessor Ahaz, Hezekiah trusted the Lord and was marvelously vindicated. "No one will be disappointed who puts his trust in him" (Isa. 28:10; cf. 54:4). Though it is not certain that Isaiah intended his words for this particular event, Isaiah's description well fits the crisis, "At evening time, behold terror! / Before morning, they are no more! / This is the portion of those who despoil us, / and the lot of those who plunder us" (Isa. 17:14). Byron in his poem described this calamity: "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. / His cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold . . . . The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."

The clash with Assyria is the chief theme of the first part of the book of Isaiah. It is the culmination of the warnings given by Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah.

The Old Testament does not trace the career of Isaiah beyond Sennacherib's invasion. Hezekiah died in 687 B.C. and his son Manasseh came to the throne at the age of twelve to undo most of the reforms Hezekiah had carried through. He is said to have filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, conjecturally the blood of those who opposed his policies.

In legend, Isaiah was among the martyrs of this period, sawn in two with a wood saw (Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 5:1-10). The Epistle to the Hebrews lists as sufferers among the faithful those "sawn in two" (Heb. 11:37). The tradition was known to Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, and also known in the Talmud.

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