The New Testament quotes Isaiah by name more than all the other prophetic authors combined. In John 12:37-41, John quotes from both the “first” part of Isaiah and the “second” part of Isaiah – the parts supposedly written by two or more different Isaiahs – and John specifically tells us it was the same Isaiah. However, the New Testament indicates that there was only one author of Isaiah.

They use terms like “Deutero-Isaiah” and “Trito-Isaiah” or the “Isaianic School.” Sometimes more than one author is supposed for the book of Isaiah because of changes of style and tone, and sometimes as a denial of Isaiah as predictive prophecy. Many modern scholars think that there was more than one author to the book of Isaiah. During the span of Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet, the southern kingdom of Judah was faced with repeated threats from the larger surrounding nations. The superpower of Assyria was about to overwhelm the kingdom of Israel.

As Isaiah’s ministry began, there was a national crisis in the northern kingdom of Israel. In the time of Isaiah, Israel was a little nation often caught in the middle of the wars between three superpowers: Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. The kingdom of Judah – the two southern tribes – had some 11 kings before Isaiah’s ministry, some good and some bad. Up until the time of Isaiah, the kingdom of Israel – the northern ten tribes – had some 18 kings, all of them bad and rebellious against the LORD. Israel had a civil war and remained divided into two nations, Israel (to the north) and Judah (to the south) up until the time of Isaiah. Then, for about 120 years, three kings reigned over all Israel: Saul, David, and Solomon. These were spiritual, military, and political leaders whom God raised up as the occasion demanded. For their first 400 years in Canaan, judges ruled Israel. By this time, Israel had been in the Promised Land for almost 700 years. By the time of Isaiah, the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, and Amos had already completed their ministry. Isaiah was a contemporary of the prophets Hosea and Micah. This period of Israel’s history is told in 2 Kings 15 through 21 and 2 Chronicles 26 through 33. After Israel’s fall to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., Isaiah continued to prophesy to Judah.

For about 20 years, he spoke to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The vision of Isaiah: This book contains the prophecies of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, who ministered from about 740 to 680 B.C. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.Ī. (1) Introduction: The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz.

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