Isaiah 2:1

ISRAEL OF THE PRESENT TIME IN THE LIGHT OF ITS FINAL GLORY

A.—The Superscription

Isaiah 2:1

1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

The formula “the word which saw,” is found only here. It does not occur again either in Isaiah or in any other prophet. The form of expression הדבר אשׁר, beside this place, is only found in Jeremiah, where, however, it is regularly followed by הָיָה אֶל וגו׳.—Concerning חָזָה in this connection comp. Isaiah 1:1.

The expression “concerning Judah and Jerusalem” connects Isaiah 1:1 with Isaiah 2:1, because it occurs in no other superscription. The likeness that exists between Isaiah 1:1 and Isaiah 2:1 in reference to the first half, is completed by this similarity of sound in the second half, where we would not omit to point out a second time that the difference between Isaiah 2:1 and Isaiah 1:1 in expression quite corresponds to the difference of the position of either chapter. Now as the expression “concerning Judah and Jerusalem,” Isaiah 2:1, helps connect with Isaiah 1:1, so it does in like fashion with the following chapters ii.—v. For, as was remarked Isaiah 1:1, it is a fact not to be overlooked that the expression “Judah and Jerusalem” occurs relatively the oftenest in these chapters. It occurs Isaiah 3:1; Isaiah 3:8, and Isaiah 5:3, whereas in all the rest of the book of Isaiah, it occurs only three times, viz., Isaiah 22:21; Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 44:26.