ISAIAH - BEFORE WE BEGIN! Pt.2

Cast your minds back, if you can, to May of this year.

Taylor Swift’s latest album was dominating the charts.

Man United beat Man City in the FA Cup Final.

(Then) Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced a general election.

You might also, back in May, have been following our bible reading plan as we worked our way through the Psalms.

If that was you, and/or if you’ve been reading the weekly reflections, you may recall the theme of messianic Psalms and a blog post about differing views of Biblical interpretation, described using a scale of ‘High-Low’ views of scripture. We considered what impact these different views might have on our understanding of certain parts of the Bible.

There are crossovers between the context of this question in reading the Psalms and Isaiah. These are the two most quoted Old Testament books in our New Testament literature – which means that we don’t just approach them in their own context, but often through the lens of the Gospels or other New Testament writings.

Both the Psalms and Isaiah have been used as examples of ‘Messianic Prophecies’, writings which seem to predict the life and nature of Jesus, long before his coming.

In a reflection I wrote back in May (https://www.resoundbristol.co.uk/blog/psalms8), I describe our treatment of these Messianic Psalms like this:

‘If we approach these texts with a higher view of scripture, one is more likely to accept that these Psalms, though written well before the time of Christ, are prophetic and speak specifically about Jesus, his character and what he will do.

Slightly below that viewpoint on the ‘higher/lower’ scale might be the view that these Psalms foreshadow Jesus. They are indications and prompts towards the Messiah more than direct allusions. Further still across that spectrum would be a position which holds that these Psalms were inspiring to those around the time of Jesus and they found depth in them as they applied them to their own experiences. Perhaps the end of the scale on this particular matter would be a view that these Psalms are simply not written with Jesus in mind, even if they are written about a Messiah. That Jesus comes as the Messiah years later is just the progression of history, but these Psalms were written for their own time and in the mindset of that time.’

This week, in preparation for reading Isaiah, we are going to think about the theological context of the book. This is shaped by the historical and literary context discussed in last week’s post (catch up here). One of things that can be understood in looking at the structure of Isaiah, as well as the specific aspects of the history into which this was written, is that Isaiah is addressing an issue of it’s day (or days).

‘But Mike’, you might be saying, ‘Isn’t Isaiah a prophetic book? Doesn’t that mean it’s talking about the future?’

Well… This becomes a crucial point of understanding in the midst of all of these other conversations.

What exactly is ‘prophetic literature’ in the Bible and how do we make sense of it?

One simple answer is to say that it is the writing that is ascribed to, or named after, a prophet. These Prophetic books are most commonly named after people (Jeremiah, Ezekiel etc). In our Christian framework of the Biblical texts, we separate them into ‘Major’ Prophets and ‘Minor’ Prophets, based solely on the word count of the texts, rather than the significance of their message.

So, to get a sense of what purpose prophetic literature serves, we need to know what a Prophet’s role was.

Rather than try to define the role of a ‘Biblical’ prophet myself, I’ve got perspectives from people much smarter and better informed than me!

Walter Brueggemann (Old Testament Scholar) describes prophets as "poets" and "imaginative voices" who challenge the status quo by offering a vision of God’s alternative reality. ‘Prophets disrupt complacency and injustice, and they call people to return to God’s covenantal faithfulness’. For Brueggemann, Prophets are "truth-tellers" who critique societal power structures and advocate for the oppressed.

Abraham Heschel (Jewish theologian) defines prophets as individuals deeply sensitive to God’s pathos, who express God’s concerns and emotions. They are driven by a profound sense of the divine and human suffering. Prophets are the moral conscience of society, crying out against injustice, idolatry, and moral corruption.

Rudolf Bultmann (New Testament theologian) emphasizes the eschatological role of prophets, viewing them as proclaimers of God’s impending intervention in history. For Bultmann, prophecy is about the imminent coming of God’s kingdom. Prophets are those who interpret the signs of the times and announce the nearness of God’s ultimate purpose, often pointing toward a future fulfillment.

It is with Bultmann’s understanding that we see the first glimpse of the idea of a Prophet foretelling events. Each of these, however, seem to be connected by a concern for the events of the present, the injustices facing people and a desire for God’s will to be proclaimed and followed. Any foretelling was focussed on the immediate future, for example to anticipate consequences of certain actions.

This sense of the role of a Prophet, then, can be recognised as we read through Isaiah. some of Isaiah’s central theological themes appear to be similar to those of other Prophets:

An affirmation of God’s holiness and sovereignty

A warning to those who turn away from God

A hope for the future

Though typical of our biblical Prophets, these things were framed in the context of their time. The people of Israel were facing a crisis in the threat of impending attack by the Assyrians, and part of Isaiah’s writing is an explanation for why this might be happening - the attack is the judgement of God on Israel for their sin, social injustice and idolatry.

As explored last week, it is thought that chunks of Isaiah were set in a different era – the end of the Babylonian exile. We then see the theological themes shift to speak into that context. For instance, these parts of Isaiah speak to the promise of deliverance and restoration. This was a message that needed to be heard for those exiled away from Jerusalem. God wasn’t done with either Their people or Their promised land.

There are some, predominantly Evangelical Protestant scholars, who emphasise the role of a Prophet as one who predicts, or at least pre-empts, the distant future. This idea is more common among those with a ‘high’ view of the bible, or believe in an equivalent model of biblical inspiration (holding the view that the Bible was either dictated by God to the writers, or that God’s guidance was heavily influential in the writing of these texts).

It is understandable that if you hold such views, God would know what is to come in the future and so could write about the time of Jesus during the time of Isaiah, many centuries before.

These are ideas that we can revisit along the way, but for now we can summarise where we’ve got.

For a majority, the role of a Prophet, as we find them in our Bibles, was about being a form of mouth-piece of God, speaking to the people of their time and offering explanation, warnings and encouragement. Isaiah is a good example of these central Prophetic duties.

When we encounter the passages which appear to us as being messianic prophecies (we’ll get to the idea of the ‘Suffering Servant’ in due course), our understanding will be shaped by how we approach the bible in general.

 For some, Isaiah (or whoever wrote it) would not have intended to describe something that could be speaking of a Messiah, but was again just writing in the context of the time. We should, in light of this, consider what Isaiah’s author/s might have intended originally.

For others, Isaiah might not have known it, but God could have been inspiring writing which both speaks into it’s own context, but also looks forward to Jesus. With this in mind, we can explore those passages which have been understood as messianic prophecies and see what they could tell us about the Messianic hope.

There are others who would argue that Isaiah, as a Prophet, knowingly foretold of the Messiah. This is slightly harder to line up with the text itself, but I’ll leave you to be the judge of that as you read through.

 There is much theological richness in the book of Isaiah! I really can’t wait to get stuck in and keep doing these weekly reflections, exploring what we read in more detail and with some of the insights of people who have spent their lives looking into texts like Isaiah.

So if you weren’t already persuaded to read along with us, hopefully these ‘Before We Begin’ posts have convinced you to join us as we journey into one of the more fascinating books of the Bible!