Table of Contents
Isaiah: the book, the prophet and his message
Chapter I. The book and the text
§ 1. Name and position in the canon
§ 2. Structure and content of the book
a) The separation of chapters 40-66
b) Isaiah I (Chapters 1-39)
§ 3. The hebrew text and the versions
a) Concerning the masoretic text
b) Concerning the Septugint
c) Other versions: α) concerning the Targum, β) concerning the Peshitta, γ) concerning the Vulgate
d) Closing remarks concerning the purpose and task of textual criticism
§ 4. The Isaiah manuscripts from the Dead Sea
§ 5. Concerning the section “Text” in this commentary
Chapter II. The formation of Isaiah I (Chaps. 1-39)
§ 1. Concerning the History of scholarly study
a) Cornill
b) Duhm
c) Marti
d) Budde
e) S. Mowinckel
f)
g)
h) J. Vermeylen, Du prohète Isaïe à l'apocalyptique. Isaïe I–XXV, miroir d'un demi-millénaire d'expérience religieuse en Israël
i) Comparison with more recent commentaries
k) the expansion of the original material
l) booklet of Micah
§ 2. Concerning the problem of the written fixation of the words of Isaiah
§ 3. The scope of the original material from Isaiah and its arrangement
a)
b)
c)
d)
§ 4. The growth of the original material
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g) Latest notations?
Chapter III. Isaiah: the prophet and his roots in the religious traditions of his people
§ 1. The temporal-historical setting of Isaiah's activity
a) The chronological and geographical setting
b) The phases of Isaiah's activity
§ 2. The sociological position of Isaiah
a) Origin and place within society
b) Isaiah, prophet or seer?
§ 3. The prophetic claims of Isaiah
§ 4. Isaiah's roots within ancient israelite faith traditions and within faith traditions uniquely connected to Jerusalem
a) The problem of the exodus- and covenant tradition
b) The reception of the Zion tradition
c) The reception of the ideology of kingship
d) The ancient israelite background of Isaiah's concept of God
e) The day of Yahweh, holy war, and theophany
§ 5. The chokma (wisdom) background of Isaiah's proclamation
a) Fichtner's thesis
b) Wisdom terminology in Isaiah
c) Wisdom forms
d) The transmission-historical problem of the woe-oracle
e) Wisdom influence concerning the hope for a Messiah
f) The counsel of Yahweh
g) The human being as one who is opposite Yahweh
h) Closing comments concerning the wisdom theme in Isaiah's proclamation
§ 6. Prophet and tradition. Summary
Chapter IV. Isaiah's theology
§ 1. God and the Gods
a) Yahweh, the God of Israel
b) Polemic against idols and critique of the cult
c) The Holy one of Israel
d) The Lord
e) Yahweh of hosts
f) The King
§ 2. The prophetic task
a) The call to repent
b) The function of the woe-oracles
c) The problem of the hardening
§ 3. Israel, the people of God
§ 4. Yahweh's representative
§ 5. Yahweh, Lord of the Nations of the world
§ 6. The relationship of Israel to God. The faith
§ 7. The problem of eschatology
Chapter V. The theology of the post-isaianic materials
§ 1. The word of judgment
a) Disaster for Israel and the Nations
b) Yahweh, the Lord of History
c) The judgment against the Nations
d) Judgment and guilt
§ 2. The word of salvation
a) The new function of the prophecies against the Nations
b) Salvation for Israel
c) The turning point of the times
d) The “material” goods that come with salvation
e) Return of the people of God, the mercy of God, forgiveness for guilt
f) Zion as the location of salvation
g) The David tradition
h) The royal reign of God
§ 3. Closing observations: the book and the prophet
Chapter VI. Language and forms of speech for Isaiah and his "successors"
§ 1. Concerning meter
a) Metrically arranged and prosodic form in the material transmitted from Isaiah and from after Isaiah's time
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
§ 2. The types of material Isaiah uses
§ 3. Citations as a stylistic technique
§ 4. Forms of prophetic speech used by Isaiah
§ 5. Genres in the post-isaianic material
d) Conclusion. […] Even though this commentary has been completed, it still remains for the scholarly community to inform the reader about the great variety of forms that are used in both the authentic and secondary portions of the book of Isaiah and — especially then — to characterize, on the basis of such, the rich diversity of ways witness is given to the faith. But beyond that, it will be necessary to demonstrate that all the forms are merely vessels to deliver the words that each had to deliver and that the many different types of utterances still have their own hidden unity in the way they give witness to the seriousnes of judgment and to the faithfulness of the Holy One of Israel.