Isaiah 34 And Its Position In The Prophecy -- By: Edward Joseph Young
Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 27:2 (May 1965)
Article: Isaiah 34 And Its Position In The Prophecy
Author: Edward Joseph Young
WTJ 27:2 (May 65) p. 93
Isaiah 34 And Its Position In The Prophecy
In the structure of Isaiah’s prophecy chapter 34 occupies a pivotal position!1 Gesenius was one of the first to suggest identity of authorship with chapters 13–14.2 Ewald, however, attributed the chapter to the writer of Jeremiah 50–51, 3 and Duhm sought to combine these two views.4 Kissane declares that not even the most conservative critics (and among these he ranks Feldmann and Fischer) will attribute the poem to Isaiah, but he, himself, seems to think that Isaiah may be the author5 and advances some considerations against a postexilic date.6 Torrey makes the chapter the beginning of the
WTJ 27:2 (May 65) p. 94
work of his “second” Isaiah.7 The conservative scholars of the nineteenth century as well as conservative scholars today attribute the authorship of the thirty-fourth chapter to Isaiah himself. What are the reasons for such a position? Is Isaiah the author of chapter 34 or does it come from some time after the exile? .
The Dead Sea Scroll
A new phase in the study of Isaiah 34 has arrived with the discovery of the great Isaiah scroll in Cave I near Khirbet Qumran.8 In this manuscript there is a break between chapters 33 and 34, to which Paul Kahle early called attention. He thought that this supported Torrey’s theory that chapter 34 began the work of the so-called “second” Isaiah.9
In his recent book Brownlee seeks to maintain that the prophecy of Isaiah in its present form is the work of an Isaianic school which produced a two-volume edition of Isaianic material,10 and that the two volumes are remarkably parallel in general outline and structure.11
WTJ 27:2 (May 65) p. 95
Chapters 36�...
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