Search

This chapter examines the structure of the book of Isaiah. It argues that the parts of the book have been organized into a meaningful whole for the ancient reader. In part, this has been accomplished by means of a narrative structure that runs through the first half of the book (Isa 1–39). This structure recounts the past days of the prophet and culminates with the account of Hezekiah. On the principle that the past portends the future, this account of the past has been made the key to understanding that future as foreseen in the second half of the book (Isa 40–66).

With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, new emphasis has been placed on the extent to which the last stages of the formation of the Hebrew Bible have been preserved in early manuscripts. It is very widely held that such manuscript evidence comes in 1QIsaª XXXII 14. Here, Isa 38:21–22, which commentators suspected were secondary long before the discovery of the scrolls, are written in a secondary hand partly down the margin. This has led to the conclusion that 1QIsaª preserves an earlier unexpanded form of this passage. In this study, I argue that, despite the validity of this approach and attractiveness of this specific case, 1QIsaª XXXII 14 more likely reflects an omission. It will be seen that a redactional analysis of Isa 38, informed by the parallel in 2 Kgs 20, illuminates the text-critical evaluation of 1QIsa&ordf XXXII 14.

Cette etude voit en Es 60 une interpretation d'Es 55,3-5, a la lumiere de la promesse davidique d'un Temple pour le nom de Dieu (II Sam 7,13), une interpretation qui differe sensiblement de la comprehension habituelle d'Es 55.