Question. Why is
Isaiah so difficult to understand?
Answer. There are
three chief reasons for this: (1) Isaiah wrote in an ancient form of poetry, called
poetic parallelisms (there are about 1,100 parallelisms in Isaiah); (2) he used
hundreds of symbols, which are scattered throughout his writings; and (3)
Isaiah’s book contains many different “speakers,” or individuals who express
words. These speakers include the Lord, Isaiah, God’s covenant people, King Hezekiah,
the wicked, and many others. Some of the speakers are non-human objects, such
as clay, trees, and cities. (Donald W. Parry, Search
Diligently The Words of Isaiah [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center;
Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2023], 197)
Question. What is
presentism and why does it hinder us from understanding Isaiah?
Answer. Presentism
is “the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and
concepts” (Apple Dictionary Version 2.2.1 [143.1]). Our culture is remarkably
different from Isaiah’s. Many of the components that make up our culture—fashion,
dress, social habits, music, arts, languages, dialects, mass media, cuisine,
sports, commercialism, governments, politics, literature, architecture, and
technology—can easily misdirect us or even disconnect us from comprehending
Isaiah’s writings and the words of other Old Testament prophets.
Question. Based on
the concept of presentism, what are some biblical examples of
difficult-to-comprehend passages in Isaiah?
Answer. One example
is located in Isaiah 20: “At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of
Amoz, saying, GO and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy
shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot” (v. 2). Because
of presentism, this passage may seem very strange to us. But other Old
Testament prophets also performed actions that may seem to be peculiar. For example,
Jeremiah made a yoke and placed it around his neck (see Jeremiah 27:2; 28:10);
Ezekiel shaved the hair of his head and his beard, divided it into three parts,
and then struck one-third, burned one-third, and scattered one-third (see
Ezekiel 5); and the prophet Ahijah ripped a new outer garment into twelve
pieces and gave ten pieces to Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 11:29-31). If we depart from
presentism and carefully study each of these passages in terms of their historical
and symbolic context, we can find greater meaning and understanding within
them. (Ibid., 197-98)
