For openers, let’s look at what modern scholars say about the authorship of the book of Isaiah. Here is the opening quotation from Wikipedia.
The Book of Isaiah (Hebrew: ספר ישעיהו, [ˈsɛ.fɛr jə.ʃaʕ.ˈjaː.hu]) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament.[1] It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BCE prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is extensive evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later.[2] Johann Christoph Döderlein suggested in 1775 that the book contained the works of two prophets separated by more than a century,[3] and Bernhard Duhm originated the view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles:[4][5] Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1–39), containing the words of the 8th-century prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66), composed after the return from Exile.[6] Isaiah 1–33 promises judgment and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34–66 presume that judgment has been pronounced and restoration follows soon.[7] While virtually no scholars today attribute the entire book, or even most of it, to one person,[4] the book’s essential unity has become a focus in more recent research.[8]
I personally cling to the belief that the superscription at the beginning is true for the entire book for a lot of reasons. Let’s look at the last sentence of the quotation above for starters. Since articles in Wikipedia can be edited by anyone it is hard to know who wrote that last sentence nor what pains they might have taken to make sure their statement is correct. However, I seriously doubt they actually polled all Bible scholars in the world to make sure virtually none supported my view. To be honest, I did not take a poll either to see if anyone believes as I do.
I also find the last phrase of the last sentence interesting. The author of that sentence acknowledges the essential unity of the book. That fact alone suggests, but does not guarantee, a single author. I have often heard it said of the entire Bible that it is a collection of 66 books written by over 40 different authors, through a period of a couple of thousand years and yet, in spite of being about a controversial subject, the entire collection has an essential unity.
I often return to Jesus’ statements about the Bible to get His take on how much reverence I should give to what is written there. His comments recorded in the Gospels include at least 11 quotes from Isaiah and those quotes include verses from all three sections described by “modern scholarship”. He only quoted two other books more frequently.
From Matthew 5: 18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”, Jesus seems to believe that all words from scripture deserve the utmost reverence.
In John 17:17 Jesus is quoted in His prayer for all believers as saying “Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.” If God’s word is really truth and, as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”, How could God allow a liar or even two liars add to what Isaiah already wrote?
When I first heard the multiple authors theory back when I was new in the faith I wondered if it was because some “scholars” had a hard time believing that God could tell Isaiah Cyrus’ name a hundred years before he was even born. I personally have no problem believing that since God, through Zechariah, told us 500 years ahead of time what Jesus’ name would be.
In Zechariah 6:9-11, God tells Zechariah to make a crown and put it on the head of the high priest, Joshua, son of Jozadak. Then in verse 12 He says, “Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord.’” The name Branch is a messianic term that comes from Isaiah 11:1, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” Since the high priest, Joshua cannot be the messiah it is apparent that this passage is a prophecy of the coming messiah.
Most of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. Most of the New Testament was originally written in Greek. What we read now had to be translated into English. Names, however, are not usually translated (that would be giving us the English meaning of the name) but they are transliterated. In transliteration you take letter by letter each original language letter and replace it with the target language letter that most sounds like the original. That way a native speaker of the target language would probably pronounce the name much like the way a native speaker of the original language would have pronounced it. Transliteration, at its best, is really only an approximation.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The people who wrote it were probably native Aramaic speakers so when they were writing they transliterated names from Aramaic to Greek. For our English language New Testament, names are again transliterated from Greek to English. There is also a possibility that Jesus name had been transliterated from Hebrew to Aramaic when his parents named Him as an infant.
The name Jesus in the New Testament is the same name as Joshua in the Old Testament. “Joshua” was transliterated once from Hebrew to English where “Jesus” was transliterated at least twice and maybe three times.
The last sentence of the Wikipedia quote mentions research. I don’t know for sure what Bible scholars do for research but I assume they do things like reading other scholars’ books and articles, reading the book or books of the Bible they are researching, studying the oldest manuscripts they can find, comparing different manuscript copies, and trying to learn as much as they can about the nuances of the original language as it may have been used at the time the book or books were originally written. When it comes to questions of authorship, there is no proof one way or the other. The scholars doing the research can only point to things like apparent changes in language usage or writing style and then speculate about what those changes might mean.
Quoting again from the Wikipedia page, here is what was cited as reasons for their conclusion that the book had more than one author.
- Historical situation: Chapters 40–55 presuppose that Jerusalem has already been destroyed (they are not framed as prophecy) and the Babylonian exile is already in effect – they speak from a present in which the Exile is about to end. Chapters 56–66 assume an even later situation, in which the people are already returned to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple is already under way.[24]
- Anonymity: Isaiah’s name suddenly stops being used after chapter 39.[25]
- Style: There is a sudden change in style and theology after chapter 40; numerous key words and phrases found in one section are not found in the other.[26]
While I can see how these details might help one to think it was written by multiple authors, that is not the only conclusion one could draw.
In regards to the “Historical situation” section, this may just be a different use of what is called prophetic perfect tense. Below is a quotation from Wikipedia on prophetic perfect tense.
The prophetic perfect tense is a literary technique used in the Bible that describes future events that are so certain to happen that they are referred to in the past tense as if they had already happened.[1]
Isaiah could very well have been inspired to write whole sections of his book that way.
As for the other two bullet points, “Anonymity” and “Style”, I will address together. According to what I have read God might speak to his prophets in several ways. In Numbers 12:1-8, God said He might speak to other prophets in dreams or visions but He spoke to Moses face to face. In 1 Kings 19:12 we are told He spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper (another translation called it a “still, small voice”). I believe what we are seeing here is that God is speaking through Isaiah in a couple of different ways. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah seem to be based on visions Isaiah had and his experiences trying to relate those visions to others. The remaining chapters seem to me to be more like God is speaking through Isaiah in what modern authors call a “stream of consciousness” in language similar to the prophetic perfect tense. Since the experience of receiving and relating a vision would probably be vastly different from receiving and writing down a “stream of consciousness” from God, I would expect the key words and phrases used to also be different.
I also have a problem with believing someone pretending to be Isaiah adding to his book. That person would be a liar. Here are some verses that give us an indication of God’s view of lies and liars.
Titus 1:1-2 1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
1 Samuel 15:29 “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”
Numbers 22:19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not
a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does
he promise and not fulfill?
Ezekiel 13:6 Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.
Hebrews 6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
Psalm 120:2 Save me, Lord,
from
lying lips
and
from deceitful tongues.
Proverbs 12:22 The Lord
detests lying lips,
but
he delights in people who are trustworthy.
Ezekiel 13:17 “Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them.”
The second and third sections (chapters 40-66) contain at least 81 prophecies of the coming Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is impossible for any human being working alone to write that much about someone who would not be born for several hundred years and get it all right without God speaking to that person. Considering God’s apparent view of lies and liars, I can’t see God using a liar to add valid prophecies to Isaiah’s book when He already had Isaiah’s attention.
In the end we get to choose for ourselves what we are going to believe. Do you really believe that God wants to speak to us through someone pretending to be someone else? I totally reject that notion.