Isaiah (The Old Testament Library | OTL)
Overview
In this important addition to the Old Testament Library, renowned scholar Brevard S. Childs writes on the Old Testament’s most important theological book. He furnishes a fresh translation from the Hebrew and discusses questions of text, philology, historical background, and literary architecture, and then proceeds with a critically informed, theological interpretation of the text.
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Top Highlights
“Woe is me; I am lost!’ He is awestruck, not because he is only a mortal before the infinite, but because he is a sinful human being, sharing the impurity of an entire nation. In the presence of the Holy One of Israel, he perceives his true state. The explicit juxtaposition of the prophet’s own sinfulness with that of his people indicates that the focus was not just on the individual; rather, Isaiah shares the selfsame sickness as all of his people, both lost and corrupt.” (Pages 55–56)
“The reference to ‘double for all her sins’ is not to suggest that Israel received more punishment than deserved, but rather the author makes use of a legal image already found in Ex. 22:3(4), which requires a guilty one to restore double for a crime.” (Page 297)
“What Isaiah envisioned was not a return to a mythical age of primordial innocence, but the sovereign execution of a new act of creation in which the righteous will of God is embraced and the whole earth now reflects a reverent devotion ‘as water covers the sea.’” (Page 104)
“The sign of Immanuel, in striking contrast from the simply constructed sign oracle in 8:1–4, now has a double edge. For those of unbelief—Ahaz and his people—the sign is one of destruction (v. 17), but for those of belief, the sign of Immanuel is a pledge of God’s continuing presence in salvation (v. 16).” (Pages 67–68)
“The Unity of the Book of Isaiah’) R. Clements outlined his understanding of the unity of Isaiah in terms of a redactional process in which at least four distinct layers can be identified: an eighth-century (preexilic), a seventh-century (‘Josianic’), an exilic, and a postexilic redaction.” (Page 2)
- Title: Isaiah: A Commentary
- Author: Brevard Childs
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Series: The Old Testament Library
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Print Publication Date: 2000
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 555
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. Isaiah › Commentaries; Bible. O.T. Isaiah. English. 2000
- ISBNs: 9780664221430, 0664221432
- Resource ID: LLS:OTL23IS
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:33:26Z
Reviews
103 ratings
Jisung Lee
7/25/2023
Richard C. Hammond, Jr.
1/5/2023
jcpetit@shaw.ca
11/11/2021
Forrest Cole
11/9/2021
Logosed
7/10/2020
This commentary by Brevard S. Childs on Isaiah, despite being a relatively small volume, is detailed and thorough and offers one a great deal to think about. Every sentence carries weight and authority. Childs knows his subject and offers sane dialogue with the main academic positions, crisp argumentation, and helpful analyses of structural units. (I seldom found myself disagreeing with his choice of units.) Childs respects the text's integrity but unlike some scholars who tend to underplay critical questions, Childs' 'canonical' approach is sophisticated, revealing as it does that he is aware of what issues there are and why these issues exist. Childs strives to understand earlier units of the material in Isaiah *and* the rationale of the text in its final form. His thoughts are never conventional, always interesting and often persuasive. In his discussion on Is 7.14 he argues that neither 'virgin' (KJV) nor 'young woman' (NRSV) accurately translates the Hebrew, the former being too 'narrow' in scope and the later 'too broad' (66). If I one were to offer a criticism of the work, it would be that Childs is not always easy to follow. I think that he often assumes (incorrectly) that his readers know as much as he does about the subject he is discussing. That is a mistake. For example, on page 47 his thoughts lack clarity and the problem is not helped by the fact that paragraph three contains two serious typing errors (v.13 should be 1.3 and v.3 should be v.13; also on page 48 '17' should be 13). I gain the impression from reading the commentary that Childs is mostly writing for fellow academics, although others are invited to listen in as well. Perhaps there is a touch of scholarly hubris at play here. In comparison with other commentaries on Isaiah, I personally regard this work as second only to Brueggemann's commentary, which wrestles at greater length with the meaning of the text itself (as opposed to the scholarly debate around the text). Brueggemann is also more helpful for preachers.Phil Niebergall
1/10/2020
Kevin Bratcher
6/12/2018
Andy Gray
1/27/2019
René Dlouhý
1/3/2019
JR
7/18/2018
