JUST fifty years ago, the second edition of the late W. Kelly's treatise on the prophecies of Isaiah was issued, containing a new translation prepared by himself and his talented consort. This valuable work being for some considerable time out of print, another edition has now been printed without any substantial change beyond some slight verbal modifications. A brief index has, however, been added to facilitate the reader's reference to some of the author's comments which otherwise might be difficult to locate. The third edition (1916) was a reprint of the second (1897), but in the fourth edition the original matter has been rearranged and re-set.
In his introduction, Mr. Kelly vigorously combats the deadly hostility of modern commentators to "the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet," the phrase used in Luke 3:44As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (Luke 3:4), as a plenarily inspired communication from Jehovah concerning the Messiah, the people of Israel, and the nations of the earth. Owing to the present widespread unbelief in Christendom, the need for such uncompromising protests is after fifty years more insistent than ever.
Both the unity of the Book of Isaiah and of its authorship are discredited and denied by the mass of present-day expositors. But those who seek wisely will find that Christ Himself is the golden thread from which the unified pattern of the prophecies of Isaiah is woven. With regard to their authorship, men of faith will be content to accept without question the testimony of the Lord Himself and His apostles and prophets that Isaiah was the writer of both parts (chaps. 1-39 and 40-66) of the prophecies prefaced by his name.
There are in the New Testament about forty quotations from these prophecies, and more than half of these are there stated to have been spoken or written by Isaiah. The quotations are taken from four chapters in the first volume (6:9, 10; 9:1, 2; 10:22, 23; 11:1, 10) and from five chapters in the second volume (40:3; 42:1; 53:1, 7, 8; 61:1, 2; 65:2). There is therefore ample New Testament authority for believing that Isaiah was the sole author of the collection of prophecies bearing his name. He is twice named by the Lord Himself, Who also read aloud one of the prophecies concerning Himself which was fulfilled in their hearing that day. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all mention Isaiah by name; and Paul in his Epistle to the Romans quotes five passages from Isaiah, each by that name. Modem literary taste and scholarship, however, repudiate these clear testimonies, including that of Him Who is "the Faithful and True Witness," preferring the cloudy creations of their own imaginations.
LONDON, December, 1946 W. J. HOCKING