BOOK OF ISAIAH: INTRODUCTION TO THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

 It is impossible to do full justice to the analysis of such a massive book as Isaiah in a brief posting. Therefore I will only hit some highlights below. Those wishing to delve more deeply into this subject can either consult David Dorsey's complete analysis in his Literary Structure of the Old Testament or obtain my own analysis on request by contacting me at elmerphd21@hotmail.com.

The structure of the book is best described as being composed of ever smaller units, each of which contains three sub-units. And within each of these triads, there is a forward motion in time going from the first to the second to the third. In this sense, it is arranged somewhat like fractals, using a mathematical analogy. Only a few representative examples will be described. 

Chapters 6-8 function as an historical interlude between indictments of Israel for her past sins (chs. 1-5) and a prophecy of the future fate of the nation (chs. 9-12). And within Isaiah 6-8, the subject moves from events in the past to those of the time of writing to the near future.

Similarly, the third major part of the book (chs. 40-66) can be easily subdivided into thirds based on their similar closing statements: 

    There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.  (Isaiah 48:22)

    There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. (Isaiah 57:21)

    ...their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched... (Isaiah 66:24)

It is not hard to see God the Father and Creator as the major emphasis of the first of these three resulting sections, namely Isaiah 40-48. The New American Bible, in fact, treats these chapters as a discrete section with the title “The Lord's Glory.” They highlight the individual attributes and actions of God and all are recapped in Isaiah 48. One can even see a certain pattern with the first four chapters describing a progressively more personal relationship with His chosen people and the next four chapters doing the same with humanity as a whole. The repeated emphasis of the center portion is the refrain “None besides me” (vv. 45:6, 21; 46:9; 47:8), a most appropriate and pithy summary of the otherness of God.

For the Christian, the Servant Songs in Isaiah are a prime focus. All of them are found in chapters 49-57. In the first song, he appears as a prophet to call Israel back to the truth; in the second he is rejected and smitten by the Jews; and in the grand finale his vicarious death and eventual vindication are proclaimed. This section can therefore be said to highlight the second person of the Godhead, Christ.

The acid test of the hypothesis developed so far is, of course, whether there is any emphasis on God's Spirit in Isaiah 58-66. As a matter of fact, (a) almost half of the direct references to God's Spirit in the Book of Isaiah occur in these chapters and (b) of the three instances of the phrase “Holy Spirit” in the whole OT, two of them occur in this portion of Isaiah (63:10,11). In this last major division of the book, even Yahweh's actions are described in terms foreshadowing the New Testament's description of the workings of the Holy Spirit. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. in his volume on OT theology notes the same respective emphasis on the persons of the Trinity in the three sections of Isaiah 40-66, which he calls “as close to being a systematic statement of OT theology as is the book of Romans in the NT.”

Thus, the repeated past-present-future pattern of the whole book is also seen in the order the Trinity was revealed to mankind. God's progressive revelation of His nature to humanity first clearly came to mankind as God the Father and Creator, then as the incarnate God, and finally (as promised in Isaiah 44:3) as God living within His people.