Isaiah 1:1 - Exposition

The vision (comp. Obadiah 1:1 ; Nahum 1:1 ). The term is probably used in a collective sense, but is also intended to suggest the intrinsic unity of the entire body of prophecies put forth by Isaiah. As prophets were originally called "seers" ( 1 Samuel 9:9 ), so prophecy was called "vision;" and this latter use continued long after the other. Isaiah the son of Amoz (comp. Isaiah 2:1 ; Isaiah 13:1 ; Isaiah 37:2 ; etc.; 2 Kings 20:1 ; 2 Chronicles 32:32 ). The signification of the name Isaiah is "the salvation of Jehovah." The name Amen ( Amots ) is not to be confused with Amos ( 'Amos ), who seems to have been a contemporary ( Amos 1:1 ). Concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The prophecies of Isaiah concern primarily the kingdom of Judah, not that of Israel. They embrace a vast variety of nations and countries (see especially Isaiah 13:1-22 ; 15-21; Isaiah 23:1-18 ; Isaiah 47:1-15 .); but these nations and countries are spoken of "only because of the relation in which they stand to Judah and Jerusalem" (Kay), or at any rate to the people of God, symbolized under those names. Jerusalem occupies a prominent place in the prophecies (see Isaiah 1:8 , Isaiah 1:21 ; Isaiah 3:16-26 ; Isaiah 4:3-6 ; Isaiah 29:1-8 ; Isaiah 31:4-9 , etc .). In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah (or Azariah, as he is sometimes called) reigned fifty-two years—probably from B.C. 811 to B.C. 759; Jotham sixteen years—from B.C. 759 to B.C. 743; Ahaz also sixteen years—from B.C. 743 to B.C. 727; and Hezekiah twenty-nine years—from B.C. 727 to B.C. 698. Isaiah probably prophesied only in the later years of Uzziah, say from B.C. 760; but as he certainly continued his prophetical career tin Sennacherib's invasion of Judaea ( Isaiah 37:5 ), which was not earlier than B.C. 705, he must have exercised the prophet's office for at least fifty-six years. The lowest possible estimate of the duration of his ministry is forty-seven years—from the last year of Uzziah, B.C. 759, to the fourteenth of Hezekiah ( Isaiah 38:5 ). The highest known to us is sixty-four years—from the fourth year before Uzziah's death to the last year of Hezekiah.