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2 - The Book of Isaiah in the Neo-Assyrian Period

from Part I - The Book of Isaiah Through History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Michael J. Chan
Edited by
Christopher B. Hays
Christopher B. Hays
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
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Summary

In “The Book of Isaiah in the Neo-Assyrian Period,” Michael Chan offers an overview of the centuries of Assyrian dominance in the Levant. He takes five exegetical case studies that demonstrate the historical and literary impact of that Mesopotamian power on Isaiah and his successors in the eighth and seventh centuries bce. In particular, he observes how Assyrian imperial propaganda was subverted by the prophets in various ways.

Keywords

MesopotamiahistorypowerimperialismZionSyro-Ephraimitic CrisisEgyptJosiahSennacherib
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah , pp. 13 - 32
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Aster, Shawn Zelig. Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1–39: Responses to Assyrian Ideology. ANEM 19. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2017.Google Scholar
Ben-Zvi, Ehud. “Who Wrote the Speech of the Rab-Shakeh and When.” JBL 109 (1990): 79–92.Google Scholar
Beuken, Wim. “‘Lebanon with Its Majesty Shall Fall. A Shoot Shall Come Forth from the Stump of Jesse’ (Isa 10:34–11:1): Interfacing the Story of Assyria and the Image of Israel’s Future in Isa 10–11.” In Postma, F., Spronk, K., and Talstra, E., eds., The New Things: Eschatology in Old Testament Prophecy (Festschrift for Henk Leene). Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit, 2002, 17–34.Google Scholar
Chan, Michael J. “Rhetorical Reversal and Usurpation: Isaiah 10:5–34 and the Use of Neo-Assyrian Royal Idiom in the Construction of an Anti-Assyrian Theology.” JBL 128:4 (2009): 717–33.Google Scholar
Cohen, Chaim. “Neo-Assyrian Elements in the First Speech of the Biblical Rab-Shaqe.” IOS 9 (1979): 32–48.Google Scholar
De Jong, Matthijs J. Isaiah Among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo Assyrian Prophecies. VTSup 117. Leiden: Brill, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubovský, Peter. “Tiglath-pileser III’s Campaigns in 734–732 BC: Historical Background of Isa 7; 2 Kgs 15–16 and 2 Chr 27–28.” Biblica 87 (2006): 153–70.Google Scholar
Irvine, Stuart A. Isaiah, Ahaz, and the Syro-Ephraimitic Crisis. SBLDS 123. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 1990.Google Scholar
Kahn, Dan’el. Sennacherib’s Campaign against Judah: A Source Analysis of Isaiah 36–37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machinist, Peter. “Assyria and Its Image in the First Isaiah,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 103 (1983): 719–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machinist, Peter. “Ah Assyria … (Isaiah 10:5ff) Isaiah’s Assyrian Polemic Revisited,” in Not Only History: Proceedings of the Conference Held in Honor of Mario Liverani, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Sciences of Antiquity, April 20–21, 2009, ed. Gilda Bartoloni and Maria Giovanna Biga in collaboration with Armando Bramanti. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016, 183–218.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. J. M. First Isaiah. Hermeneia. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, Irene J. “Art in Empire: The Royal Image and the Visual Dimensions of Assyrian Ideology.” In On Art in the Ancient Near East. 2 vols., Vol. 1. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Leiden: Brill, 2010, 3–70.Google Scholar
Young, Robb A. Hezekiah in History and Tradition. Leiden: Brill, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YoungerJr., Lawson. “Assyria’s Expansion West of the Euphrates (ca. 870–701 BCE).” In Farber, Zev I. and Wright, Jacob L., eds., Archaeology and History of Eighth-Century Judah. ANEM 23. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2018, 17–34.Google Scholar
YoungerJr., Lawson. “Assyrian Involvement in the Southern Levant at the End of the Eighth Century B.C.E.,” In Vaughn, Andrew G. and Killebrew, Ann E., eds., Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003, 235–63.Google Scholar

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