The Prophecy of Isaiah

by Motyer, Alec

• ISBN13: 9780830815937
• ISBN10: 0830815937
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-10-01
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

Recipient of aChristianity Today1994 Critics Choice Award!Among Old Testament prophetic books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision of God's future restoration of Israel and the world. Now, after over three decades of studying and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a wealth of commentary and perspective on this book. His emphasis is on the grammatical, historical, structural, literary and theological dimensions of the text. Though based on the Hebrew text, his exposition easily accomodates readers without a working knowledge of biblical Hebrew. And he writes with an interest in Isaiah's meaning for Christians today.Along the historical timeline on which the Isaianic prophecies are strung, Motyer finds three central and recurring themes: the messianic hope, the motif of the city and the theology of the Holy One of Israel. Moreover, he argues, the Isaianic literature is organized around three messianic portraits: the King (Isaiah 1-37), the Servant (Isaiah 38-55) and the Anointed Conqueror (Isaiah 56-66).Preachers, teachers and serious Bible students of all types will find this commentary a wise, winsome and welcome guide to the prophecy of Isaiah. It may easily be the best one-volume evangelical commentary on Isaiah available today.

Table of Contents

Author's preface	9	(2)
Select bibliography	11	(1)
Chief abbreviations	12	(1)
Introduction
The Isaianic literature	13	(12)
Isaiah as author	25	(5)
The book of Isaiah	30	(3)
The text of Isaiah	33	(2)
The book of the King (Isaiah 1--37)	35	(252)
The preface. Judah: diagnosis and prognosis (1:1 - 5:30)	40	(34)
The title (1:1)	41	(1)
Sin and experience (1:2-31)	42	(10)
The national situation (1:2-9)	42	(3)
The religious situation (1:10-20)	45	(3)
The social situation (1:21-26)	48	(2)
Explanation: tensions between threat and hope resolved (1:27-31)	50	(2)
Sin and election (2:1 - 4:6)	52	(15)
Superscription (2:1)	52	(1)
The ideal Jerusalem (2:2-4)	53	(1)
The actual Jerusalem (2:5 - 4:1)	54	(10)
The new Jerusalem (4:2-6)	64	(3)
Sin and grace (5:1-30)	67	(7)
The vineyard: a total work, a total loss (5:1-7)	68	(2)
The `stink-fruit': the crop produced, the harvest to come (5:8-30)	70	(4)
The triumph of grace (6:1 - 12:6)	74	(57)
The prologue: reconciliation and commission (6:1-13)	75	(5)
Isaiah's call (6:1-8)	75	(3)
The future revealed in principle (6:9-13)	78	(2)
The King and his people (7:1 - 11:16)	80	(47)
The word to Judah (7:1 - 9:76)	80	(25)
The word to Israel (9:87 - 11:16)	105	(22)
The epilogue: individual and community, salvation, joy and proclamation (12:1-6)	127	(4)
The universal kingdom (13:1 - 27:13)	131	(96)
The first cycle of oracles. The reality of the Lord's promises (13:1 - 20:6)	134	(37)
Babylon: appearance and reality in world history (13:1 - 14:27)	135	(12)
Philistia: the Davidic dynasty and the Davidic promises (14:28-32)	147	(2)
Moab: pride before a fall and the conditions of Gentile hope (15:1 - 16:14)	149	(6)
Damascus and Ephraim: destruction and preservation, the work of humankind and the work of God (17:1 - 18:7)	155	(8)
Egypt: one God, one world, one people (19:1 - 20:6)	163	(8)
The second cycle of oracles. The world in the shadows (21:1 - 23:18)	171	(23)
The Desert by the Sea (Babylon): the fall of the gods (21:1-10)	172	(4)
Silence (Edom): the prolongation of time (21:11-12)	176	(1)
Desert evening (Arabian tribes): needs but no solutions (21:13-17)	177	(2)
The Valley of Vision (Jerusalem): the unforgivable sin (22:1-25)	179	(10)
Tyre: pride and holiness (23:1-18)	189	(5)
The third cycle. Two cities in contrast: endurance through to glory (24:1 - 27:13)	194	(33)
The city of meaninglessness: world history planned around the people of God (24:1-20)	196	(9)
The end of waiting: the King shall reign (24:21-23)	205	(2)
The world rejoicing in salvation: the blessings of Mount Zion (25:1-12)	207	(4)
The strong city: waiting in hope (26:1-21)	211	(9)
The final gathering: the universal Israel (27:1-13)	220	(7)
The Lord of history (28:1 - 37:38)	227	(60)
The one foundation (28:1-29)	228	(8)
Ephraim: an end and a beginning (28:1-6)	229	(1)
No trust, no security (28:7-22)	230	(5)
True discrimination in sowing and reaping (28:23-29)	235	(1)
A problem solved, a problem stated (29:1-14)	236	(4)
Chastisement and deliverance (29:1-8)	237	(1)
Crisis: blindness and illumination (29:9-14)	238	(2)
Spiritual transformation (29:15-24)	240	(4)
The first transformation: the subverting of reason (29:15-16)	241	(1)
The second transformation: coming world renewal (29:17-21)	242	(1)
The third transformation: the changed fortune of Jacob (29:22-24)	243	(1)
Human faithlessness and the faithfulness of God (30:1-33)	244	(9)
Contemporary events: Egypt no help (30:1-7)	245	(2)
Coming events: the refusal of the word, the way of death (30:8-17)	247	(2)
Coming events: the waiting God, the sure glory (30:18-26)	249	(2)
Contemporary events: Assyria no threat (30:27-33)	251	(2)
Deliverance and renewal (31:1 - 32:20)	253	(9)
Prologue: disaster and deliverance (31:1-5)	254	(1)
The work of transformation (31:6 - 32:18)	255	(6)
Epilogue: humiliation and blessedness (32:19-20)	261	(1)
Victory, proclamation and pilgrimage (33:1 - 35:10)	262	(14)
Ultimate realities: salvation and wrath (33:1-12)	262	(3)
The first universal proclamation: the new Zion, its people and its king (33:13-24)	265	(3)
The second universal proclamation: the final overthrow (34:1-17)	268	(4)
Coming home to Zion (35:1-10)	272	(4)
The rock of history (36:1 - 37:38)	276	(11)
The first Assyrian embassy (36:1 - 37:7)	276	(4)
The second Assyrian embassy (37:8-35)	280	(4)
The finale: Assyrian overthrow (37:36-38)	284	(3)
The book of the Servant (Isaiah 38 - 55)	287	(172)
Historical prologue: Hezekiah's fatal choice (38:1 - 39:8)	290	(8)
Hezekiah's illness (38:1-8)	291	(1)
Hezekiah's psalm: a meditation on death and life (38:9-20)	292	(3)
Hezekiah's healing (38:21-22)	295	(1)
The moment of decision (39:1-8)	295	(3)
The consolation of the world (40:1 - 42:17)	298	(28)
The consolation of Zion (40:1 - 41:20)	298	(16)
Three voices of consolation (40:1-11)	299	(3)
The incomparable God of Israel: the Creator (40:12-31)	302	(6)
The incomparable God of Israel: the world ruler (41:1-7)	308	(3)
Three pictures of consolation (41:8-20)	311	(3)
The consolation of the Gentiles (41:21 - 42:17)	314	(12)
A court scene: the idol-gods are exposed and the plight of the world becomes apparent (41:21-29)	315	(3)
Remedy: the servant as the Lord's answer to the world's plight (42:1-9)	318	(5)
The new song: the world's joy in the Lord's victory (42:10-17)	323	(3)
The redemption of Israel (42:18 - 44:23)	326	(26)
Release from bondage (42:18 - 43:21)	326	(12)
Israel, the blind servant (42:18-25)	326	(4)
Disaster reversed: Israel redeemed (43:1-7)	330	(3)
The certainty of what the Lord has promised (43:8-13)	333	(2)
Redemption from Babylon: a new exodus (43:14-21)	335	(3)
Forgiveness of sins (43:22 - 44:23)	338	(14)
Sin exposed (43:22-24)	338	(2)
The past forgotten, the future blessed (43:25 - 44:5)	340	(3)
The certainty of the Lord's promise (44:6-20)	343	(6)
The blessedness of Israel in the redeeming Lord (44:21-23)	349	(3)
The great deliverance (44:24 - 48:22)	352	(31)
The task of Cyrus (44:24 - 45:8)	353	(7)
Cyrus, the Lord's shepherd: Zion rebuilt (44:24-28)	353	(3)
Cyrus, the Lord's anointed: interlocking purposes (45:1-8)	356	(4)
Impermissible questions: the sovereign Lord (45:9-13)	360	(2)
The potter and the parent (45:9-11)	361	(1)
Divine acts beyond question (45:12-13)	362	(1)
A world plan, a central people (45:14-25)	362	(5)
Gentile submission, Israel's glory (45:14-17)	363	(1)
Gentile salvation, Israel's glory (45:18-25)	364	(3)
Rebellious people: the inflexible Lord (46:1-13)	367	(4)
The triumph of Cyrus (47:1 - 48:22)	371	(12)
Pride before a fall: the doom of Babylon (47:1-15)	371	(4)
A problem solved, a problem raised (48:1-22)	375	(8)
The greater deliverance (49:1 - 55:13)	383	(76)
The Servant's double task: Israel and the world (49:1-6)	383	(6)
Divine confirmation: the Servant's success (49:7-13)	389	(3)
The many and the one: unresponsiveness and response (49:14 - 50:11)	392	(10)
Salvation in prospect and reality (51:1 - 52:12)	402	(20)
Commands to listen, promises of salvation (51:1-8)	403	(4)
Appeal and reassurance (51:9-16)	407	(6)
Commands to respond: the experience of salvation (51:17 - 52:12)	413	(9)
The arm of the Lord: the triumph of the Servant (52:13 - 55:13)	422	(37)
Witnesses, divine and human, to the sin-bearing, dying, living and victorious Servant (52:13 - 53:12)	423	(20)
Good news for the whole world: universal proclamation and invitation, `Come, for all things are now ready' (54:1 - 55:13)	443	(16)
The book of the Anointed Conqueror (Isaiah 56 - 66)	459
The ideal and the actual: the needs and sins of the Lord's people (56:1 - 59:13)	463
World people, Sabbath people, praying people (56:1-8)	463
Two parties: problem and solution (56:9 - 57:21)	467
Sin exposed and confessed (58:1 - 59:13)	478
The coming of the Anointed Conqueror (59:14 - 63:6)	489
Situation and reaction: divine commitment to salvation and vengeance (59:14-20)	490
The covenant mediator (59:21)	492
The coming glory: the Lord's city, the universal city and the consummation of the Abrahamic blessing (60:1-22)	493
Transforming power, present and future (61:1-9)	499
The commitment of the Anointed One and the oath of the Lord (61:10 - 62:12)	504
The day of vengeance and the victory of the Anointed Conqueror (63:1-6)	509
Prayer and response: steps to the new heaven and new earth (63:7 - 66:24)	512
The prayer of a remembrancer (63:7 - 64:12)	512
The foundation of intercession: the mind of God regarding his people (63:7-14)	512
Confession and intercession (63:15 - 64:12)	515
Sure promises: the final reckoning and the new Jerusalem (65:1 - 66:24)	522