. . . there is no
basis for efforts to attach the thought of Deutero-Isaiah to the spirit of the
age, to the influence of the Babylonian civilization as it developed during the
Persian period, that is, to the influence of Zarathustrian thought; or even to
relate it to intellectual currents which appeared at that time in areas of Hellenistic
culture. The universalism of Deutero-Isaiah is rooted in the universalism of
Israel, which is ancient and prophetic and unrelated to intellectual currents
of the pagan world. The God in whose name Deutero-Isaiah speaks is unknown to
the gentiles. There is no reference in his prophecies to groups in the gentile
world which are spiritually akin to him; and also, there is no polemic
whatsoever against the concepts of pagan faith. (Yehezkel Kaufmann, The
Babylonian Captivity and Deutero-Isaiah [History of the Religion of Israel
Volume IV; New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1970], 99)
