Isaiah 1-12

In any of our book by book bible studies, we’ve never really attempted any book that had more than 20-something chapters. The longest we’ve done was Joshua maybe. Next in line will be Nehemiah with 13 chapters. Not too long ago, I bought a commentary on Isaiah by Walter Brueggemann. It came in two separate books, one for chapters 1-39, the other covering chapters 40-66. Isaiah has 66 chapters! Printing out the NIV version of Isaiah on paper and then sticking them together like how we do it for our group Bible studies, I began my quest of trying to understand the book I like to call: Jesus’ favorite book! I think it really was His favorite. I think it was in Isaiah in which Jesus must have glimpsed what it meant to be YHWH’s Messiah, and how the kingdom of God will come ‘in that day’. He must have embraced it and seen himself playing the role of the suffering servant as part of YHWH’s unfolding plan of judgment and redemption.

I’ve been going through the first 12 chapters. I’ve never really been familiar with this book. The number of chapters in it has been quite intimidating for me, but nevertheless, this exciting journey has begun for me. The twofold themes of judgment and hope are very strong in the imagination of Isaiah. Well, there are debates about how many authors there were. Brueggemann (along with most scholars) is of the opinion that much of Isaiah did not come from the original prophet himself, that there were at least deutero- and trito-Isaiahs, and that the book has been edited and reshaped through the years leading up to the time of Jesus. But he does make a good point in that the book should be read with consideration given to its final canonical form.

My thoughts after reading the first twelve chapters? Well, YHWH is not someone you want to mess around with! Yes, we’ve come to think of God as merciful, compassionate and good. But reading an Old Testament book like Isaiah reminds me not to take Him for granted, because YHWH, when He is angry, is unstoppable. It makes me wonder if I don’t fear God enough.