Of Isaiah, "the evangelical prophet," nothing is _known_ beyond what
we are told of him in the Scriptures. Various traditions concerning
him are current among the Jews, such as that his father Amoz was
brother of King Amaziah, and that he himself died a martyr's death,
being sawn asunder by order of Manasseh; but all that is _certain_
is, that he was the son of Amoz; that his prophetic ministry
commenced in the reign of Uzziah, and closed in that of Hezekiah (ch.
i. 1); that his wife was a prophetess (ch. viii. 3), and bare him two
sons (ch. vi. 3; viii. 3); and that he was the author of a portion
of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (2 Chron. xxvi. 22).
His name signifies _The Salvation of the Lord,_ and this--_the
salvation which God works for His people from their sins and
consequent misery_--is the great, though not the exclusive, theme of
his prophecy.
The length of his ministry is variously estimated. The lowest
estimate would make it comprise forty-nine years, from the last year
of Uzziah to the seventeenth of Hezekiah (B.C. 759-710); the highest,
sixty-four years, from the fourth year before Uzziah's death to the
last year of Hezekiah (B.C. 762-698).
In the following Commentary it is assumed that the whole of the
sixty-six chapters of which the Book of Isaiah is composed, were
written by one pen. For clear and conclusive refutations of the
theory of a second Isaiah, see the introductions to the Commentaries
of Alexander, Delitsch, and Kay, and the article ISAIAH in Smith's,
Kitto's, and Fairbairn's _Dictionaries of the Bible._
Appended are Ewald's criticisms on Isaiah's style,[1] and some
admirable observations by Dr. Kay on the _title_ of Isaiah's
prophecy, which readers of it will do to bear in mind throughout.[2]