Why do scholars believe the book of Isaiah is written by 3 different prophets from 3 different times?

Question

Why do scholars believe th book of Isaiah represents the work of at least 3 different prophets from 3 different times????

Answer 1

There are three different writing styles found in Isaiah. The first and last style differ in the way YHHW is associated with the Messiah and people. The other style could be a reference to a section of Isaiah that appears to be a verbatum rendition of 2Kings and the story of the sun dial of Ahaz.

2 Kings 20:11
And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Isaiah 38:8
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

The stories that are referenced there are the ones that are repeated, and could well be the "third" author, who would also be the one who wrote the book or books of Kings.

In fact, the book of Isaiah describes a team of people who wrote the book of Isaiah, and that team can be discovered in the same story that is referenced by the sun dial of Ahaz. He can be found in the 2Kings version of the story that Isaiah is referencing.

It turns out that it's a key to unlocking the mystery of the prophecy of the Old Testament. All the stories that are taken for "history" are actually prophecy, and referenced by major prophets, such as Isaiah. For example, Elijah and Elisha of 2Kings are also prophecy and not history. Jesus even believed that to be true.

Regards,

Chris

Answer 2

Fragments and pieces of this book in particular was discovered to have been written by more than one at times which do not match. The Book of Isaiah is a compilation of poems composed chiefly by the great prophet, Isaiah, but also by disciples, some of whom came many years after Isaiah.

Most of the writtings do come from Isaiah (1-39) and faithfully reflect the situation in eighth-century Judah. Disciples deeply influenced by the prophet contributed as noted: Apocalypse of Isaiah (Isa 24-27) the oracles against Babylon (Isa 13-14), and probably the poems of Isa 34-35.

The ministry of Isaiah may be divided into three periods, covering the reigns of Jotham (742-735), Ahaz (735-715), and Hezekiah (715-687).

Therefore based on my research and further studies, this question is justified.

Answer 3

I am a Biblical scholar who believes Isaiah was written by Isaiah and nobody else. In the first verse of the book Isaiah, the son of Amoz, is named as the author. There is not even an allusion to another writer. Futhermore, the work has been a single unit since at least 150 b.c.

Answer 4

I have never heard this theory before - and I have read extensively on the authorship of the bible.

Do you have sources for this?

From reading Isaiah, and looking at the linguistic issue (I am a trained linguist, both college and military training) I have to say that the book looks pretty uniform and flows. It has connected ideas and a consistent style. It has more going for it as a single authored book then as a multi-authored.

Answer 5

http://www.picosearch.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl

Basically the major reason is that there are separate styles and content in the writings. There are also distinctly different accounts of towns people and places in it.
At least 3 different J , E, and P.

Whoops, sorry about the link, you need an account for that. Let me try to get you other material.
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/bible/isaiah_eom.htm
http://www.biblicalresources.info/pages/isaiah/mulauthorshp.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Isaiah
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1994/34/
I am sorry that the reaearch materials are not public. the best I can offer are these religious apologetics attempting to refute evedence.

Answer 6

I really don't care what scholars think. Christ read from 2 sections of Isaiah and attributed both readings to the prophet Isaiah. This man's writings over his very long life span are so full of such grandeur that no wonder they think more than one man wrote the book. Christ probably read from both sections to dispute thinking of more than one writer.

Answer 7

Because the state of modern biblical scholarship is just not what it used to be.

The authorship of Isaiah was completely settled over a thousand years ago.

These guys have nothing new on which to base their theories, they just like to hear themselves talk.

Answer 8

Unbelief. They have no proof that it was written by someone other then Isaiah, but in their natural minds, they can't see the work of a Supernatural God.

Answer 9

i'm sure they have done semantic and linguistic analyses and found trends in word usage and sentence construction.

Answer 10

cite your source(s) please. I have not come across this research at all. Thanks.