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Books of the Bible |
With very little controversy the entire book can be attributed to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
The time of Isaiah's ministry was from 740 B.C. to about 681 B.C. We can assume the book was written during that time frame - and quite possibly spread out over a considerable period.
As in many O.T. books, Isaiah has both an immediate purpose to the people it was originally given and a later purpose for us today. Much of the early part of the book deals with the threat of destruction if the Israelites don't turn from their sinful ways. The later part of the book reveals blessings that God will give them after they have been properly chastened in exile. For us it reveals both the reality of God's punishment as a caution and the promise that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Prophesies of Condemnation
Prophesies against Judah (1 - 12)
Prophesies against the nations (13 - 23)
Prophesies of the Day of the Lord (24 - 27)
Prophesies of Judgement and Blessing (28 - 35)
Historical Parenthesis - Hezekiah's Salvation, Sickness and Sin (36 - 39)
Prophesies of Comfort
Israel's Deliverance (40 - 48)
Israel's Deliverer (49 - 57)
Israel's Glorious Future (58 - 66)
Isaiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom (Judah) during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Uzziah, Jotham and Hezekiah were essentially good kings who sought to do what the Lord desired. Ahaz was one of the most wicked of all the kings of Judah and it is the idolatry and debauchery that he brought to the country that bring forth some of Isaiah's greatest prophesies of doom.
Isaiah gives us a very broad view of the nature of God. No other book in the Bible reveals so many different aspects of His character. Perhaps as much as anything Isaiah reveals God's long-term plan for humanity and the Nation of Israel. We see the plan of salvation through the shed blood of Christ revealed. We see the punishment that God metes out to those who rebel against his rule. We see how God uses even the unrighteous and ungodly to accomplish His ends.