The Heavenly Counsellor in Isaiah xl 13-14
A Study of the Sources of the Theology of Deutero-Isaiah

This detailed study is an attempt to shed some light on the interpretation of Deutero-Isaiah as a whole.

R. N. Whybray (Author)

9780521096270, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 January 2009

100 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.6 cm, 0.14 kg

One of the most rewarding of recent approaches to the study of Deutero-Isaiah has been the attempt to understand his teaching against the background of his ministry to the second generation of Jewish exiles in Babylonia. Two factors have been taken into account: the nature of the Israelite religious tradition which the exiles had inherited from the past, and the actual circumstances of their life in Babylonia, where they were subject to the cultural and religious pressures of their environment. Each of these may be expected to have exercised some influence on the teaching of Deutero-Isaiah. Dr Whybray's study of this one short passage has been made in order to explore the relationships between the two factors. The passage, which has long been the subject of vigorous controversy, admirably raises the question of the sources of Deutero-Isaiah's theology. This detailed study, which employs as far as possible all the techniques of modern critical investigation, is an attempt to shed some light on the interpretation of Deutero-Isaiah as a whole.

1. The context
2. Detailed interpretation
3. Literary characteristics
4. Israelite kings and their councils
5. The origin of the divine council
6. The assembly of the gods in Canaan
7. The council of Yahweh in Israel
8. Yahweh and his advisers
9. The office of counsellor
10. The divine counsellor in Babylonian myth
11. Summary and conclusions.

Subject Areas: Religion: general [HRA]