Posted on 03/25/2018 12:53:17 PM PDT by pcottraux
By Philip Cottraux
Skeptics who don’t believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God have a few problems, not the least of which is that it successfully prophesies major world events before they took place. And I’m not just talking about end-times prophecies that haven’t occurred yet.
Isaiah and Daniel are the two starkest examples. I’ve already written about Daniel in my previous blog, “The Daniel Lynchpin,” which you can read here. This week I want to talk about Isaiah, why it’s come under fire by Bible critics, and resolve the “multiple authors” controversy.
Isaiah’s prophetic ministry started in around 740 BC, during a dark time in the history of the Jewish people. The Assyrian empire was growing while Egypt was shrinking, with Israel and Judah caught in the middle. The Assyrians were some of the most brutal conquerors in history. They were known to flay their enemies alive and hang the skins on the wall surrounding the capital, Nineveh. The city was also decorated with amputated arms and legs and piles of severed “head pyramids” of their victims. Perhaps worst of all, the Assyrians perfected the art of “assimilation;” forcing out a city’s inhabitants to either be brutally executed or sold into slavery, then occupying their homes for themselves.
This is exactly the fate suffered by the Northern kingdom of Israel. In 722, the Assyrians invaded and conquered the ten tribes of the North, scattering them in exile across the empire. This tragedy is covered in II Kings 17 and II Chronicles 22. With Israel in ruins, the Assyrians now gathered at the border, ready to invade Judah.
The theme of Isaiah is two-fold: forsake idolatry and turn back to worship of the One True God to be saved from Assyria. Isaiah 10:24-25: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
But Isaiah doesn’t stop there. Not only does God promise to spare Jerusalem if they return to Him, He also foretells major world events that took place well after the eighth century BC.
While Jerusalem was spared from Sennacherib, one hundred years later, a new menace would arise to take its place, Babylon. But this time, the results would be very different. Jeremiah’s warnings went unheeded until God removed His protection and Nebuchadnezzar broke the city walls. In 586 BC, Babylon totally destroyed Jerusalem, razing Solomon’s temple to the ground and burning the city. The Jews were taken into captivity that would last seventy years.
However, Babylon itself wouldn’t last. Not long after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, his grandson Belshazzar would oversee its downfall when Babylon was invaded by a new empire, a union between Media and Persia. The Medo-Persians breeched its defensive walls and killed its king, bringing Babylon to ruin. Daniel 5:30-31: In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
The fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians occurred in 539 BC, but was prophesied by Isaiah about 150 years beforehand. Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: (Isaiah 45:1-2). This likely refers to Cyrus II, who lived from 576-530 BC. While Daniel calls the conqueror “Darius the Median,” this could be a misnomer: history doesn’t have record of a king “Darius” during the time of the Babylonian invasion. However, Cyrus the Great did have a military general named Gobryas who oversaw the conquest, so this is probably the “Darius the Median” identified by Daniel.
There’s much controversy over Isaiah specifically naming “Cyrus” years before the man existed, leading to the charge by some critics that this is a later addition by scribes tampering with the text. But even if that is the case, it doesn’t change the point: Isaiah clearly promises that the gates of Babylon will be opened by a king the Lord had anointed to break the kingdom.
Unless the entire chapter is a fabrication.
In “The Daniel Lynchpin,” I mentioned a 19th century textual critic named JG Eichhorn who first proposed that Daniel was a fictional book created during the Maccabean revolt to inspire the Jews into believing that God and destiny was on their side. This was Eichhorn’s way of getting around the fact that Daniel prophesies so many world events, such as the rise and sudden death of Alexander the Great and the Six Syrian wars of chapter 11.
I’ve already written on this extensively, but to sum it up: Eichhorn’s date for Daniel can be dismissed if we find copies of Daniel from before the Maccabean period (137 BC), and sure enough, multiple copies of Daniel from the Dead Sea scrolls date back from thirty to sixty years prior (160-200 BC at the earliest). Furthermore, it’s clear that Daniel was a highly revered prophet among the radical Essenic Jews that formed the Qumranite community, as there are several meticulously copied Daniel scrolls; this would not be the case if he were a fictional character.
But it’s moot anyway, because Eichhorn’s proposal fails spectacularly in another gigantic way; placing Daniel during the Maccabean revolt doesn’t explain how the book prophesies world events that took place after the Maccabean revolt! Daniel doesn’t just predict Alexander the Great and the Six Syrian wars: he also predicts the rise of Rome. The two iron legs from Nebuchadnezzar’s statue represent a world kingdom founded by two brothers (Romulus and Remus), as does the great beast with iron claws emerging from the seas in Daniel 7 (he also predicts the destruction of the second temple at the hands of Emperor Titus in Daniel 9:24-27; this occurred in 70 AD).
Eichhorn was committing the classic fatal error of atheism. He presumed philosophical naturalism (the belief that physical matter is all there is in the universe, rejecting the existence of the supernatural or God), then judged all theology as if naturalism were the truth, dismissing miraculous events as described in the Bible. But he never established why naturalism is the truth. Because inconveniently for the nonbeliever, naturalism has never been proven, and is actually scientifically problematic.
But I digress. Eichhorn’s presumption that the supernatural doesn’t exist left him at a loss to explain prophesies in Daniel and Isaiah. So he had to come up with naturalistic explanations. And even when his explanations have been disproven by recent discoveries, academia, under the same philosophical bias towards naturalism, refuses to abandon them.
Eichhorn is also responsible for the “multiple authors of Isaiah” theory. Isaiah 45 predicts the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians. So to address that, Eichhorn proposed that it has more than one author. Isaiah 1-39 all consist of a similar pattern: it takes place in a particular time period (pre-Assyrian invasion) and Isaiah references himself several times. Chapter 39 ends with Sennacherib’s forces being smitten by the angel of the Lord just outside the gates of Jerusalem. But the final 27 chapters of Isaiah seem different. They aren’t contained within a story, don’t claim to be written during the reign of any particular king, are much more poetic, and Isaiah doesn’t mention himself. Some scholars have taken this a step further, isolating chapters 40-55 and calling them “Deutero-Isaiah.”
You would think an older copy of Isaiah would settle the matter. And it has.
The most well-preserved Dead Sea scroll has been called the “Great Isaiah scroll,” a near flawless copy of Isaiah found in Cave 1. It is the first of 22 ancient copies of the book discovered near the Dead Sea, from a variety of different time periods. At the very latest, the Great Isaiah scroll is from the late second century BC, maybe even earlier. If Eichhorn’s proposal is true, evidence for it should be found here of all places.
This isn’t just because of the scroll’s age; it’s also because the Essenic scribes were extremely diligent in their copying. They Great Isaiah scroll contains thorough footnotes and commentary from whoever compiled it. These notes are so myopic that they even focus heavily on a slight inconsistency between the account of Hezekiah’s healing in Isaiah 38 and II Kings 20. Yet there is absolutely no mention of multiple authors. Chapter 39 transitions effortlessly into chapter 40; and believe me, had there been any hint of a discrepancy within the text, the Dead Sea copyist would have spotted and wrote extensively on it in the margins.
So we can say with certainty that the no one was aware of a second author for Isaiah as far back as at least the second century BC. And since the Essenes were copying older scrolls, there was clearly no evidence for this going back much further in time.
But just like with Daniel, I have another contribution to the argument that blows Eichhorn’s proposal out of the water. In short, he was assuming that Isaiah 45 was the only reference to the fall of Babylon. But if there’s a prophecy of it in the clearly unified text of Isaiah 1-39, that undeniably was written by Isaiah, his entire premise falls apart. And sure enough, we do have such a direct prediction in the thirteenth chapter: Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it…And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 13:17,19).
Here once again, Isaiah gives an exact prophecy: God will destroy the Babylonians through the hands of the Medo-Persians. And unlike chapter 45, there is no question that this was written 150 or so years beforehand. As I stand back and look at the Bible as a whole, I am in awe of how well it stacks up despite the world of criticism aimed at it over the centuries. No other document from ancient history could endure so much yet still be so immovable. As we honestly assess the evidence, its supernatural nature becomes undeniable. This blog hasn’t even begun to address the Messianic prophesies of the suffering servant and how they are fulfilled by Jesus. Perhaps those who have tried so hard to discredit the book of Isaiah are missing one of its most dire warnings: There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked (Isaiah 48:22).
-“Cruelty: The Instrument of Assyrian Control.” Searchinginhistory.blogspot.com. February 1, 2015. Accessed March 24, 2018. https://searchinginhistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/cruelty-instrument-of-assyrian-control.html
-Foster, Ryan. “A Prophecy About Babylon Confirms the Accuracy of the Bible.” Ucg.org. May 3, 2010. Accessed March 24, 2018. https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/a-prophecy-about-babylon-confirms-the-accuracy-of-the-bible
-Hyndman, Rob J. “What is the Relationship Between King Darius and King Cyrus in the Bible?” bibleq.net. March 17, 2012. Accessed March 24, 2018. http://bibleq.net/answer/5128/
-Price, Randall. Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House Publishers, 1996. Pages 154-157.
I’m a Pentecostal/charismatic who writes a weekly blog every Saturday that focuses on Christian apologetics, history, Bible lessons, you name it. You can find more on the Archives page, or fill in your email in the “subscribe” box to get alerted whenever new posts or up.
Otherwise, you can also be added to the ping list for FR if you’d like to see more!
Thanks for reading and God bless!
Ping...I’m also going to have the next video, “New Testament: Fact or Fiction?” up some time tonight or tomorrow evening. It will mostly focus on the historical evidence for the crucifixion/resurrection of Christ. Very timely, this being Palm Sunday!
3
Uh...disagreed.
.
Thank you.
His reply?
"Praise God! I wish there'd been a thousand of 'em!"
Dear pcottraux,
Thank you so much for your enlightening post! I have read it over carefully and have bookmarked it so I can read it many times, go to the sources, and commit it all to my heart.
Isaiah 45 is one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible. When I was a new Christian, I was Episcopalian because my wife was. As a lay reader I had to read Isaiah 45 as the Old Testament reading one Sunday. At the time I did not understand that Isaiah was was specifically naming the future King Cyrus by name to use him to fulfill His will (”I named you but you do not know me”).
One area of the history of the divided kingdom that has always interested me is what happened to Israelites from the northern kingdom who survived the Assyrian capture and enslavement. Did remnants of them return to Samaria during, and/or after the 70 year captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin to establish the Samaritan worship of God on Mt Gerazim, since Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed? Before 722 and before Babylon captured the southern kingdom, the faithful were able to travel from the northern to the southern kingdom to participate in worship at the temple.
Overall, I’m hazy on what happened to the “lost tribes.”
Thanks again for your interesting post.
I had accepted Deutero-Isaiah and the late authorship of Daniel but I will re-examine those beliefs.
Thank you for this interesting thread.
I had never heard that before and appreciate your diligence in cataloging it all.
You’re welcome!
Boom! Mission accomplished! :)
Don’t agree with the premise theologically, but that is a very enlightened way of looking at it, lol.
Thank you, metmom, and I appreciate the ping to all those other people!
I’ve been blogging like this every week for three years but just recently decided to start sharing them on FR. I’m glad I did because the response has been pretty enthusiastic so far. Connecting with new readers is the most rewarding part!
As for the lost tribes of Israel, believe it or not, I actually have a video for you. I've been teaching a series on the archaeological evidence for the Bible for the past 10 weeks or so and have some of the classes on YouTube. This one was called "The Fall of a Kingdom" and focused on the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions.
It's a bit long (an hour five minutes), so if you want to skip straight to the Assyrian invasion and lost tribes, it starts at about 10:53 and ends at about 21:51.
One: God.
The Northern Kingdom, ruled by the tribe of Ephraim counting from Jeroboam ben Nebat, who had created a man-made religion with the basest kind of non-Levite priests (1 Kings 12:26-13:2) of the lowest class of constituents. The Northern Kingdom rulers continued this wicked idolatry until God dispersed them, but it was just such a priest that the Assyrian king sent back to (wrongly) teach the newly resettled goyim how to "fear the God" assumed to be particular to that geography.
So what that northern locale wound up with was a polytheistic mongrelized religion with a little knowledge of the God Jehovah enough to dread disappointing or disobeying Him by ignoring Him, but just made Him one of a plethora of other "gods" in their superstitious culture. How that got fixed, morphed in place, and remained down to Jesus time is not clear to me. But the woman Jesus met in Samaria at the well (John 4:7-43) was of the Gentile-based religious convincement that they had no need to go to the Jerusalem Temple to worship. And actually, if they had tried to get into the inner Temple area, they would have been killed.
Moreover, after the last OT canonical account of the returnees from exile (Probably Nehemiah), there was a 430-year silence in which there was no Jehovah-sent Prophet/seer.
In that period, the established Jewish religion drifted away so far from a merciful God that they were willing to kill the first true prophet (John Baptist) that did appear, as well as the "Lamb of God" that he pointed out and validated.
The Jews themselves had so twisted the religion that it was no longer useful. But in that state, their stiffness was so extreme that they hated the goyim Samaritans and their mongrelized religion that they considered them dogs, and would travel log circuitous distances just to not even tread on the bounds of the Samaritan provinces. An even the polluted Galilean region, while having recognized synagogues, was beneath the consideration of the supercilious Sanhedrin elites as to marginalized Galileans that came toJerusalem for the scheduled festivals.
It was most certainly _not_ the returned Jewish exiles that taught religion to the goyim now-rooted in the Samaritan provinces. A true Levite, priest, scribe, or elder would not even go near them, in my estimation of what the canonical Scriptures say.
I am not well-versed (pun) in the deuterocanonical books to say if they, in their literal historical accounts, make mention of how the Samaritan religion evolved. But Jesus' account of "the Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:29-37) should give some kind of clue as to whether they were accepted by Jewish culture or not.
Much of what you say is true, but I have to wave a flag at the notion that there were no prophets between Nehemiah and John. In fact, the Gospel of Luke very plainly names four: Elizabeth, Zecharias, Anna and Simeon. Indeed, the reason why there are so many women named Mary (including all four with Jesus at his crucifixion) was because a prophecy cited in the Dead Sea Scrolls said the Messiah would be born to a woman named Mary, so so many Jewish families named their daughter Mary!
If you mean that the prophetic school — one has to acknowledge that Elizabeth and Anna were certainly unique in being women — was ended after Nehemiah, you’ll find in books rejected by Protestants that the prophetic school was NOT ended; the fact that it became very Messiah-focused became an embarrassment to the Jews, but the books were collected as sacred scripture by the Jews in diaspora, the dead sea scrolls, and yet, cited by Jesus.
This “closing” of the prophetic school becomes circular logic: any prophet after Nehemiah is rejected purely on the grounds that the school closed after Nehemiah.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.