37:6), entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt (Isaiah 30:2-4). This
led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, and at length to
invade the land. Sennacherib (B.C. 701) led a powerful army into Palestine.
Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians (2 Kings
18:14-16). But after a brief interval war broke out again, and again
Sennacherib (q.v.) led an army into Palestine, one detachment of which
threatened Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:2-22; 37:8). Isaiah on that occasion
encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians (37:1-7), whereupon
Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he “spread before
the Lord” (37:14). The judgement of God now fell on the Assyrian host.
“Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the
disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either Southern
Palestine or Egypt.” The remaining years of Hezekiah’s reign were
peaceful (2 Chronicles 32:23, 27-29). Isaiah probably lived to its close, and
possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death
are unknown. There is a tradition that he suffered martyrdom in the
heathen reaction in the time of Manasseh (q.v.).
(2.) One of the heads of the singers in the time of David (1 Chronicles
25:3,15, “Jeshaiah”).
(3.) A Levite (1 Chronicles 26:25). (4.) Ezra 8:7. (5.) Nehemiah 11:7.
- ISAIAH, THE BOOK OF consists of prophecies delivered (Isaiah 1) in
the reign of Uzziah (1-5), (2) of Jotham (6), (3) Ahaz (7-14:28), (4) the
first half of Hezekiah’s reign (14:28-35), (5) the second half of Hezekiah’s
reign (36-66). Thus, counting from the fourth year before Uzziah’s death
(B.C. 762) to the last year of Hezekiah (B.C. 698), Isaiah’s ministry
extended over a period of sixty-four years. He may, however, have
survived Hezekiah, and may have perished in the way indicated above.
The book, as a whole, has been divided into three main parts: (1.) The first
thirty-five chapters, almost wholly prophetic, Israel’s enemy Assyria,
present the Messiah as a mighty Ruler and King. (2.) Four chapters are
historical (36-39), relating to the times of Hezekiah. (3.) Prophetical
(40-66), Israel’s enemy Babylon, describing the Messiah as a suffering
victim, meek and lowly.
The genuineness of the section Isaiah 40-66 has been keenly opposed by
able critics. They assert that it must be the production of a deutero-Isaiah,
who lived toward the close of the Babylonian captivity. This theory was