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djeter
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Reading the Book of Isaiah can be a wonderful exercise in Biblical structure and development. Walter Brueggemann is the best guide one could ever hope for. May I suggest that you read through the overview (see link below) and then come back to it after your first pass through Isaiah.
I have another post following that will deal with just the Suffering Servant sections of Isaiah and how the interpretations of the NT have subtly (or not so subtly, depending on your point of view) influenced its readings. I always need help when I read the Bible and Walter Brueggemann is one I am greatly indebted to.
He begins with a marvelous observation, the sort that is worth the price of admission for the book you bought (In this case his magisterial The Old Testament)
The book of Isaiah is the beginning book of the Latter Prophets. Consequently it stands, in the Hebrew ordering of the books, back-to-back with Kings, the last book of the Former Prophets. That interface, not visible in the conventional ordering of books in the Christian Bible, is fortuitous because the books of Kings and Isaiah are together preoccupied with the destiny of Jerusalem. The books of Kings end with an account of the sorry end of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and the ensuing deportation and exile. The book of Isaiah, in its turn, is a meditation, albeit in complex configuration, about the destiny of Jerusalern into the crises of exile and the promise of Jerusalem out of exile into new well-being.
And this wonderful anecdote for the painting by Rafael:
Perhaps not so well known then as his Madonna’s or his magnificent Vatican frescoes, Raphael Sanzio also executed a stunning fresco of The Prophet Isaiah in Sant’Agostino in Rome in 1511-12. The donor patron of Isaiah was the Head Chancellor of the Papal Court, Johannes Goritz of Luxemburg. Ruffled by what he considered to be an exorbitant price for the painting by Raphael, Goritz solicited Michelangelo for his opinion of its worth. Michelangelo looked at the painting of his chief rival with its powerfully rendered figure of the prophet. Rarely one to acknowledge the genius in others, Michelangelo simply replied, “For that knee alone, it is worth the price.”
More here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/11/01/the-book-of-isaiah-by-walter-brueggemann/
dj
Reading the Book of Isaiah can be a wonderful exercise in Biblical structure and development. Walter Brueggemann is the best guide one could ever hope for. May I suggest that you read through the overview (see link below) and then come back to it after your first pass through Isaiah.
I have another post following that will deal with just the Suffering Servant sections of Isaiah and how the interpretations of the NT have subtly (or not so subtly, depending on your point of view) influenced its readings. I always need help when I read the Bible and Walter Brueggemann is one I am greatly indebted to.
He begins with a marvelous observation, the sort that is worth the price of admission for the book you bought (In this case his magisterial The Old Testament)
The book of Isaiah is the beginning book of the Latter Prophets. Consequently it stands, in the Hebrew ordering of the books, back-to-back with Kings, the last book of the Former Prophets. That interface, not visible in the conventional ordering of books in the Christian Bible, is fortuitous because the books of Kings and Isaiah are together preoccupied with the destiny of Jerusalem. The books of Kings end with an account of the sorry end of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and the ensuing deportation and exile. The book of Isaiah, in its turn, is a meditation, albeit in complex configuration, about the destiny of Jerusalern into the crises of exile and the promise of Jerusalem out of exile into new well-being.
And this wonderful anecdote for the painting by Rafael:
Perhaps not so well known then as his Madonna’s or his magnificent Vatican frescoes, Raphael Sanzio also executed a stunning fresco of The Prophet Isaiah in Sant’Agostino in Rome in 1511-12. The donor patron of Isaiah was the Head Chancellor of the Papal Court, Johannes Goritz of Luxemburg. Ruffled by what he considered to be an exorbitant price for the painting by Raphael, Goritz solicited Michelangelo for his opinion of its worth. Michelangelo looked at the painting of his chief rival with its powerfully rendered figure of the prophet. Rarely one to acknowledge the genius in others, Michelangelo simply replied, “For that knee alone, it is worth the price.”
More here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/11/01/the-book-of-isaiah-by-walter-brueggemann/
dj