Who was Isaiah in the Bible?
Isaiah, son of Amoz, was a prophet in Judah whose work spanned the reigns of four kings and whose book runs to sixty-six chapters. He is known both for a vision that overwhelmed him and for writing the words a stranger centuries later would be reading on a desert road.
Family and Position
Little is recorded about the man himself, but the small details point to someone close to the centre of national life.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinOf his personal history we know but little. Jewish tradition claims that he was related to King Uzziah. That he must have come from a prominent family may be gathered from the fact that he had ready access into the presence of the kings of Judah, Ahaz and Hezekiah, and probably also the others. That he was married we learn from the book. He had two sons who bore prophetic names. The one was Shear-Jashub (a remnant shall return), prophetically indicating that God would leave a remnant of His people. The second son was Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means "hasting to the spoil, hurrying to the prey," prophetic of the coming and threatening invasion of Assyria.
His own name carries a message too. One writer notes it means "the salvation of Jehovah" — the very thing he was sent to announce.
The Call
Isaiah 6 records how he was commissioned. He saw the Lord on His throne, cried out that he was a man of unclean lips, and only then was sent. What stands out is the order of events.
J. N. DarbyThe effect was subjective, and that was all — the deepest and truest place. But the moment his lips are cleansed by the coal from the altar, and Jehovah says "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us," he offers himself — "Here am I! Send me." This is very beautiful. We are apt to run (I admit the difference of the Gospel) in haste, as soon as we are interested, and then to shrink back before the carelessness or opposition of the world. Here he does not stir till the Lord has fitted him, and calls; then he is His ready servant.
Whom He Saw
The New Testament reaches back to that throne room and names the One seated there.
J. N. DarbyAdonai is used where it is Jehovah, as in Isaiah 6:1: "I saw the Lord" (Adonai) "high and lifted up," and at the end, "Woe is me… for I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Jehovah Sabaoth)… But it is of this passage that John 12 speaks, that the prophet saw Christ's glory, and spoke of Him. It is Adonai, but it is Jehovah.
A Long Life in a Shifting World
Isaiah outlasted several kings, and the timing of his ministry shaped what he wrote.
The Bible TreasuryOf the four greater prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel — the first named is the only one who worked before the ten tribes were carried away… Beginning with the reign of Uzziah, and going on to that of his great-grandson Hezekiah, Isaiah must have worked for half a century or perhaps more, learning, as only one living in those circumstances could, the thoughts and hopes of his countrymen.
That access to the palace mattered in a crisis. When Assyria's army threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah sent his highest officials to the prophet:
William Kelly"And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz" (2 Kings 19). He goes to Jehovah; they are sent to Jehovah's servant. This was right. He looks in prayer to God Himself, and he expects an answer through His servant.
The Evangelical Prophet
Isaiah is often called the evangelical prophet, and the reason lies in the content of the second half of his book.
Dr. Daniel W. PatersonHe brings the word of salvation to God's people, first to show them their true condition before God, and then to show them God's remedy in Christ… by the presentation of Jehovah's servant, in the four servant songs as they are called — Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:4-9; 50:4-9 and 52:13—53:12.
Centuries later an Ethiopian official was reading the last of those songs when Philip met him:
F. B. HoleThe Ethiopian had just reached the middle of Isaiah 53 when Philip spoke to him, and his keen mind was filled with the question which that chapter inevitably raises in the thoughts of every intelligent reader — is the prophet speaking of himself, or of "some other man?" The Ethiopian raised his question; Philip found there his text, and preached to him "JESUS."
His Death
The Bible does not record how Isaiah died. Commentators pass on a tradition, and they differ over how firm it is — one calls it trustworthy, another says only that it may be true.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThere is a trustworthy tradition that he lived during the reign of Manasseh, and also that he suffered martyrdom, because he rebuked the vices and idolatries rampant during the reign of that wicked king. This tradition says that the manner of his death was by being sawn in two. (See Hebrews 11:37, which, if this tradition is true, would apply to Isaiah.)
Summary
- Cleansed — Isaiah did not volunteer until the coal from the altar had touched his lips; he "does not stir till the Lord has fitted him."
- Sent — Only then came "Here am I! Send me," and with it a ministry stretching across half a century and four reigns.
- Seen — The King on the throne in chapter 6 is identified by John 12 as Christ: "It is Adonai, but it is Jehovah."
- Speaking — His message ran from Judah's true condition before God to God's remedy in Christ, gathered in the four servant songs.
- Still speaking — An Ethiopian reading Isaiah 53 asked who the prophet meant, and Philip answered with the name of Jesus.