JACKSON, Tenn. — Jan. 6, 2010 — A new commentary on Isaiah by 51社区 Christian studies professor Gary Smith is now available.
Published by B&H Academic, Smith鈥檚 commentary on chapters 40-66 of the book of Isaiah is part of 鈥淭he New American Commentary鈥� series. It follows the first commentary Smith wrote on Isaiah chapters 1-39, released in 2007.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a shift that takes place,鈥� Smith said about the first 39 chapters and the final 27 chapters. 鈥淭he first 39 chapters tend to be about people, kings and their problems.鈥�
For example, chapters 6-12 deal with Ahaz and his failure to trust God, and following chapters deal with Hezekiah鈥檚 war with Sennacherib and Isaiah鈥檚 encouragement for Hezekiah to trust God to deliver him. The first part of the book is tied to historical events pretty closely, Smith said.
鈥淲hen you get to chapter 40, there are no kings mentioned and it鈥檚 difficult to identify the historical events,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淢oderates and liberals think there鈥檚 a second Isaiah and a third Isaiah, and they put the second Isaiah in the exile and third Isaiah in the post-exilic period. As I studied it, I began to notice there were some historical events referred to.鈥�
As he studied the book, Smith discovered several pre-exilic references, and concluded that the last half of the book was written before the exile, just like the first half.
鈥淭he common conservative interpretation is that Isaiah is looking into the future and prophesying a message of hope to the people while they are in exile,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淚 came to the conclusion that he鈥檚 actually preaching to pre-exilic people, and it鈥檚 a message of hope to Hezekiah and the people before the exile. In a sense, the whole issue of 鈥榃ho wrote it?鈥� becomes a moot issue then. Because it was pre-exilic, it鈥檚 obviously Isaiah.鈥�
Smith said one of the themes in the second part of Isaiah is God鈥檚 sovereignty, and how he鈥檚 more powerful than any of the nations. That鈥檚 the basis of the message of hope Isaiah preaches to Hezekiah 鈥� that the nations attacking Israel, in God鈥檚 eyes, are nothing. Another theme is the powerlessness of the gods in the ancient Near Eastern world.
Smith has previously written commentaries on the minor prophets of Amos, Hosea and Micah, as well as 鈥淎n Introduction to the Hebrew Prophets: The Prophets and Preachers.鈥� He has also worked as a translator on four Bible translation teams.
The commentary is available for purchase .