Isaiah Footnotes

¹  More on the millennium later; see this commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25.

²  For a good overview of the Assyrian threat, see Pfeiffer, Old Testament History, 331–36; also Bright, A History of Israel, 269–88.

³  Martin Luther offered one hundred gold coins to anyone who could show that almah ever referred to a married woman. In characteristic humorous fashion, Luther also added that only the Lord knew where he’d get the one hundred gold pieces if someone could meet his challenge (Saemmtliche Schriften, 20:2093)!

⁴  Assuming el, eloah, and elohim are all forms of the same root and taking yhwh as a proper noun, not a word for deity.

⁵  Rezin was king of Aram, Israel’s enemy. See commentary on Isaiah 7.

⁶  See commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25.

⁷  For an excellent overview of the history of Assyria’s fall at the hands of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, see Pfeiffer, Old Testament History, 341–43.

⁸  Motyer also has a good extended discussion on Isaiah’s use of mythology (Prophecy of Isaiah, 408–10).

⁹  The history of science is full of “Eureka!” moments in which flashes of insight popped into the scientist’s mind and greatly advanced research and knowledge. The word eureka itself means, “I have found it!” and was spoken by Archimedes when he discovered the concept of specific gravity. Newton’s apple falling and giving him insights on gravity and Alexander Fleming’s “chance” discovery of penicillin in 1928 serve as other examples. Here I am contending that, based on Isaiah 28:26-29, God secretly teaches the scientist the right way.