Isaiah 1

I. INTRODUCTION CHS. 1-5

The relationship of chapters 1-5 to Isaiah’s call in chapter 6 is problematic. Do the first five chapters describe the prophet’s ministry before he received his call-is the order chronological-or do they constitute an introduction to the anthology of prophecies that follow Isaiah’s call-is the order literary? The commentators take both views. My preference is to view these prophecies not necessarily as the first ones Isaiah delivered in his ministry but as those he placed here to form an introduction to his whole book. They present in a succinct way the problems that the rest of the book deals with. They are typical of many of Isaiah’s succeeding prophecies and set forth his major emphases. Isaiah’s call (ch. 6) is the most concise statement of the solution to the Israelites’ problem, and the chapters after that one spell it out in more detail. Probably Isaiah, or whoever arranged these prophecies in their final form, put these prophecies here to set before the reader the situation facing Israel that Isaiah addressed in the rest of the book.

A. Israel’s condition and God’s solution ch. 1

As chapters 1-5 introduce the whole book, so chapter 1 introduces the rest of the introduction to the book (chs. 2-5). It presents the situation in Judah in the second half of the eighth century B.C. and reveals God’s will for His people. This chapter summarizes all of Isaiah’s characteristic and essential teachings. Judgment from the Lord had to come on the people of Judah because they had sinned against Him. This judgment would purify and perfect them because God had a future for them. God’s indictment of His people is similar to a covenant lawsuit (i.e., a rib oracle).

"True prophets are like good doctors: They diagnose the case, prescribe a remedy, and warn the patient what will happen if the prescription is ignored." [Note: Ibid., pp. 13-14.]