Subj : May 9th - Isaiah the Prophet To : All From : rich Date : Sat May 08 2021 10:15:05 From: rich May 9th - Isaiah the Prophet The prophet Isaiah was born about 765 B.C. In the year of King Uzziah's death, 740, he received his prophetic vocation while in th= e Temple of Jerusalem: his mission was to proclaim the fall of Israel and of Judah, the punishment of the nation's infidelity, 6:1-13. Hi= s earliest pronouncements, ch. 1-5, for the most part belong to the following years until the beginning of the reign of Ahaz in 736. Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, tried to persuade the young king of Judah to form an alliance against Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria. Ahaz refused and, when war was declared, appealed to Assyria. =C2 Isaiah tried in vain to discourage a policy so based on human expediency; as the pledge of God's intentions he foretold the mysterious birth of Immanuel and made the first of his messianic prophecies. Most of the oracles contained in ch. 6-12 (the =E2=80=98Book of Immanuel'), belong to this period. The appeal of Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser put Judah under Assyrian protection and hastened the fall of the Northern Kingdom, part of the territory of which was annexed by Assyria in 734; by 721 Samaria itself had fallen. =C2 In Judah, Hezekiah who succeeded Ahaz (716) was a devout man, bent on reform. There was a resumption, however, of political intrigue, this time for Egyptian support against Assyria. Isaiah, true to his principles, pleaded for trust in God, not in a military alliance. In this period just before and after the fall of Samaria, Isaiah delivered most of the oracles of ch. 28-32, and also the oracles against the nations 14:24-23:18. =C2 Hezekiah allowed himself to be drawn into an anti-Assyrian revolt and Sennacherib, in 701, devastated Palestine. The king of Judah resolved to defend=C2 Jerusalem; Isaiah supported his decision, assuring him of God's help, and the capital, in fact, was saved. Th= e details are recorded in ch. 36-39, parallel to 2 K 18-20, and bring the first part of the book to a close. We know nothing of Isaiah's career after 700. According to Jewish tradition he was martyred under Manasseh. =C2 The prominent part played by Isaiah in his country's affairs= made him a national figure, but he was also a poet of genius. Brilliance of style and freshness of imagery make his work pre-eminent in the literature of the Bible; he wrote a concise, majestic and harmonious prose unsurpassed by any of the biblical writers who were to follow him. But his greatness lies above all in the religious order. The vision in the Temple at the time of his vocation, a revelation of the transcendence of God and the unworthiness of man, left a lasting mark on the prophet. His monotheism has a note of exultation in it but also of awe; God is the Holy, the Strong, the Mighty One; the King. Man is a creature defiled by sin for which God demands reparation. For God insists on justice between men and sincerity in divine worship. God looks for faithfulness and Isaiah is the prophet of faith; in times of crisis all he prescribes is trust in God and in no one else; by this alone will salvation be won. He knows clearly how hard the test will be, but his hope is that a =E2=80=98remnant' will be spared, with t= he Messiah for its king. Isaiah is the greatest of the messianic prophets. The Messiah he foretells is a descendant of David who will establish peace and justice on earth and propagate the knowledge of God, 2:1-5; 7:10-17; 9:1-6; 11:1-9; 28:16-17. =C2 A religious genius of this quality inevitably made an impression on his period and secured a following. The prose passages in the third person which conclude the first part of the book, ch. 36-39, are the work of Isaiah's disciples. From time to time the prophet's= spiritual descendants made further additions to his own work and in particular they inserted the oracles against Babylon, ch. 13-14, the apocalypse of ch. 24-27, and the poems of ch. 33-35. =C2 The second part of the book, ch. 40-55, is of a very different kind, and modern criticism does not admit it to be the work of the 8th century prophet. The Biblical Commission, on 28th June 1908, warned Catholic exegetes against this view, opposed as it is to ancient traditional opinion and setting bounds, it might seem, to the free range of prophetic inspiration. The Commission asserted that the arguments so far adduced were not strong enough to dismiss the Isaian authorship of these chapters. It was a cautionary measure, not forbidding further inquiry. Subsequent investigations have now added weight to the earlier arguments, and a growing number of Catholic interpreters now hold that these chapters are a later addition; not merely because the name of Isaiah is never mentioned but because the historical setting itself is about two centuries after his time: Jerusalem has fallen, the nation is in exile in Babylonia, Cyrus the liberator is already on the horizon. The oracles in the first part of the book were for the most part threatening, and alluded constantly to events under Ahaz and Hezekiah; the oracles of the second part are consoling and remote from this historical context. The style is still very fine, but is different, more rhetorical, diffuse, repetitive. The thought has also developed, and is more theologically expressed. Monotheism is not merely affirmed, but expounded; the impotence of the false gods is used as an argument for their insignificance. Emphasis is laid on the fathomless wisdom and providence of God. For the first time religious universalism receives clear expression. =C2 Almighty God could, of course, have conveyed the prophet into the distant future, severing him from his own time, transforming his imagery and cast of thought. This would mean, however, a duplication of the author's personality and a disregard for his contemporaries= =E2=80=94to whom, after all, he was sent=E2=80=94for which the Bible provides no parall= el. It is therefore highly probable that ch. 40-55 are the work of an unnamed writer at the end of the exilic period, a disciple of Isaiah and like him a prophet of the first order. The collection is introduced, ch. 40, by a prefatory poem which epitomises this prophet's mission: 'Be comforted, be comforted, my people',= cf. Si 48:24. The book is known as =E2=80=98the Book of the Consolation of Israel= '. =C2 Embedded in this book are four lyrical passages, the 'Songs of the Servant of Yahweh', 42:1-7; 49:1-9; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12. They depic= t a perfect disciple of Yahweh; he proclaims the true faith and suffers to atone for the sins of his people, but God exalts him in the end. In all of this, the Christian tradition sees a foreshadowing of the true Servant of God, of the life and redeeming death of Jesus. =C2 The last section of the book, ch. 56-66, is composite. Ch. 57 may be pre-exilic but ch. 56, 58, 66 read as if the exiles were home again. Ch. 63-65 are markedly apocalyptic in tone. The ideas and style of ch. 60-62 bring them very close to ch. 40-55, and the whole third section reads very much like a sequel of the second, confirming traditional matter and composed by disciples of the prophet-comforter of the exilic period. This is the final production of the Isaian school extending the ministry of the great prophet of the 8th century. Saint Quote: "There is nothing which edifies others so much as charity and kindness, by which, as by the oil in the lamp, the flame of good example is kept alive" --St. Francis de Sales We read of St. Francis Xavier that his brother Jesuits often visited him, only to enjoy his admirable mildness. (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".=C2 May - Meekness) Bible Quote Tell ye the daughter of Sion: Behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke.=C2 (Matthew 21:5) <><><><> Meditation for troubled times: =C2 =C2 God thought about the universe and brought it into being. His thought brought me into being. I must think God's thought after Him. I must often keep my mind occupied with thoughts about God and meditate on the way He wants me to live. I must train my mind constantly in quiet times of communion with God. It is the work of a lifetime to develop to full stature spiritually. This is what I am on earth for. It gives meaning to my life. =C2 =C2 I pray that I may think God's thoughts after Him. I pray that = I may live as He wants me to live. --From 24 Hours a Day --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .