Who was Isaiah in the Bible?

The opening verse of this great book gives us information concerning the prophet Isaiah and the period covered by his official ministry. "The Vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." Of 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 which 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.

The name Isaiah means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation." He has well been called the evangelical prophet. There are more direct quotations as well as indirect allusions to this great book in the New Testament than from any other prophetic book. Josephus relates that Cyrus, the Persian king, was greatly moved by the reading of the book of Isaiah, one of the evidences, that Isaiah was not compiled after the exile. In the passage where Josephus speaks of the edict issued by Cyrus permitting the Jews to return, he says: "This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet has said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision,'My will is that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back My people to their own land, and build My temple.' This was foretold by Isaiah 140 years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition came upon him to fulfill what was so written." The early church held Isaiah in great esteem and recognized its great message. When Augustine had been converted he asked Ambrose which book he would advise him to study first. Ambrose told him, "The prophecies of Isaiah." All the great men of God, the instruments of the Spirit of God like Luther, Calvin, Knox and others acknowledged the greatness of this book and its message.

According to chapter 1:1 the Prophet Isaiah (Meaning, Jehovah is Salvation) was the son of Amoz, who according to an old Jewish tradition was the brother of King Amaziah. In any case Isaiah had a fairly free entry to the King's court in Jerusalem (Is. 7:3; 38:1; 39:3). Isaiah was married and had two sons by the names of Shear-jashub (Hebr. "A remnant shall return", Is. 7:3) and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Hebr. "Swift for spoil, hasty for prey", Is. 8:3).

Isaiah's prophetic service covered the reigns of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Uzziah's autocracy started around the year 767 BC and Hezekiah died around 697 BC. The prophet's service fell into this time. According to Jewish tradition Isaiah shall have been persecuted by the impious king Manasseh (son of king Hezekiah) and sawn asunder in a hollow trunk (compare with Heb. 11:37).

Nothing more is known of the ancestors of Isaiah than that he was the son of Amoz. He prophesied in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, all kings of Judah. From the closing years of Uzziah to the death of Hezekiah would be from about B.C. 765 to 700, embracing a period of 65 years. The first verse says that the vision was concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Had due attention been paid to this, it would have prevented many things being ascribed in the headings of the chapters to the church, and the prophecy would have been the better understood. In few words the prophecy may be said to treat of the failures of the nation of Judah and the judgements upon it. Assyria is used as God's rod to punish them, and is then destroyed. Judgements are pronounced against the nations around the promised land that had been enemies to God's people. The Messiah is prophesied of and His rejection, and universal blessing is spoken of.

Of his personal history we know but little. His father's name we learn was Amoz, but of what tribe he formed a member we are ignorant. That Isaiah was married and had two children he has informed us; and the great lesson which he learnt as to the uncleanness of his nature he has recorded for our instruction; but the date of his birth and the year of his death are facts shrouded in the darkness of the past. For three years, in obedience to God's word, he walked naked and barefoot (Isa. 20), and at times during his ministry in Judah he saw visions and burdens. Outside of Judah we never meet with him. This need not surprise us, for during a part of his prophetic labours Hosea was witnessing for God in Israel. Against individuals he rarely speaks. Ahaz the king, and Shebna the scribe, and Hezekiah, after his failure, are of this the only examples that we have. Long as is his book, (being exceeded in quantity only by Genesis, Jeremiah, perhaps Ezekiel, and of course the Psalms) we have not all that he wrote, as 2 Chronicles 26:22, bears witness; but doubtless we have all that it pleased God should survive to our day. Of dates we have but few, so different from the habit of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the death of Uzziah (Isa. 6) and of Ahaz (Isa. 14:28), the invasion of Judah by Pekah and Rezin (Isa. 7), and subsequently by Sennacherib (Isa. 36), and the capture of Ashdod by Tartan, sent thither by Sargon king of Assyria (Isa. 20), are all that the prophet has noticed.

Isaiah (salvation of the Lord). This is the grandest, sublimest, and most comprehensive of the prophetical books; and because of its fulness of subjects and wide sweep of the prophetic future, occupying itself with the whole scene of God's purposes respecting Israel and the nations, is first in order in all Hebrew and English Bibles. If Isaiah lived to the close of Hezekiah's reign, then he must have worn the prophetic mantle for a period of at least sixty years, dating his introduction to the prophetic office from the last year of Uzziah's reign (Isa. 6). Being a Judah-prophet, and standing in high repute in the royal court, these magnificent prophecies were mainly uttered in Jerusalem. Jewish tradition asserts that the aged prophet, then about ninety years old, was "sawn asunder" during the reign of Manasseh, and that to protract his sufferings a wooden instrument was used for the cruel purpose. Many suppose that Heb. 11:37, "sawn asunder," refers to the barbarous martyrdom of our prophet. Isaiah too being their favourite prophet must have a royal parentage; so they tell us that Amoz the father of the prophet was a brother of king Amaziah. These traditions are not supported by a particle of evidence. We do not say they are false, neither can we affirm their truth.

Isaiah must have lived to a very old age, for it is quite certain that for fully seventy years he exercised his God-given office. Two hundred and forty years before Isaiah the kingdom of Israel had been divided, after Solomon's apostasy. The glory had departed from both the kingdom of Israel or Samaria (also called Ephraim), and the kingdom of Judah. Both had been greatly affected by civil wars and conflicts with other nations. The kingdom of Israel sunk deeper and deeper, ruled over by a number of depraved kings, who plunged the people into the grossest idolatries with the accompanying immoralities, so that God's righteous judgment fell upon it first. During the prophetic ministry of our prophet the judgment fell on the ten tribe kingdom of Israel. About the year 736 B.C., Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian king, had killed Rezin, the king of Damascus, with whom Pekah the king of Samaria had made an alliance. Tiglath-Pileser then invaded the northern kingdom of Israel, took many cities in Gilead and Galilee and carried the inhabitants into his own country. (See 2 Kings 16:5-9; Amos 1:5, etc.) This was the first captivity of Israel. The rest of the inhabitants of Samaria, the kingdom of the ten tribes, were carried away by the successor of Tiglath-Pileser, that is Shalamaneser. (Read about this in 2 Kings 17:3-18, 1 Chronicles 5:26, and Hosea 8:16). Now, Isaiah's home was in Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom of Judah, and he witnessed from there the calamity which had come upon the ten tribes.

Isaiah began his ministry under the reign of Uzziah. He was a good king, a worshipper of the Lord, yet he did not remove the places of idolatrous worship. He had a sad end (2 Kings 15:1-5). He is also called Azariah. Chapter 6 in Isaiah tells us that he had his great vision in the year when this king died of leprosy. The son of Uzziah, Jotham, reigned in his stead. He did not trouble himself about the high places and the idolatrous groves, and the condition of the nation was that of corruption (2 Kings 15:32-26). He built cities, castles and towns; he prepared for war in time of peace. The ancient Assyria had seen its end with Sardanapulus and in its place arose the two kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia. Babylonia soon took the lead and Assyria was joined to the Chaldean monarchy. The dissolution of the great Assyrian monarchy took place during the reign of Jotham, yet we have not evidence that Isaiah uttered a definite prophecy during the reign of Jotham. He probably did, but we cannot locate it in the book.

The word translated "prophet" in the O.T. (<span style="font-family: 'Hebraica'">aybin:</span>) is derived from "bubbling or pouring forth," alluding to God's action in inspiring him; "Seer" (<span style="font-family: 'Hebraica'">ha&lt;ro or az&lt;jo</span>) points to the vision which distinguished such. Its scriptural meaning transcends the classical usage as the living and true God rises above the demons, who acted behind the idols that were adored by the heathen and interpreted by their prophets.

The title is, "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah" (ver. 1). This gives unity to the entire collection, as distinguished from particular dates, as in Isa. 6:1; Isa. 7:1; Isa. 14:28; Isa. 20:1. In strict accordance with all, the first chapter then has a more general character than any other in the book. It most pathetically accuses the people and the capital and the sanctuary of the grossest ingratitude.

The first verse shows that Isaiah's ministry was in the southern kingdom and extended into four reigns. Three of the kings mentioned did mainly what was right, one especially so, and only one — Ahaz — turned aside and did evil. Yet the prophet's opening words reveal a sad state of departure and rebellion among the people. There was not only this, but, as verse 3 states, complete insensibility and indifference. They did not display the instinctive knowledge found in an ox or a donkey. Hence the terrible indictment of verse 4. They were sinful and marked by iniquity, evil-doing, corruption, alienation; and all this was while God-fearing kings were on the throne. It illumines what is said in 2 Chronicles 27, the end of verse 2.