Abstract
To write a commentary on the whole of Isaiah in just under 200 pages involves making hard choices about what to include and what to exclude. Jenni Williams succeeds admirably. She does not attempt a verse-by-verse commentary but rather a flowing discussion that works through each paragraph in order to pick out its main contribution to the message of the text in its original context. Although she is clearly familiar with the many points of contention over details, she refers to them only when they have a wider impact.
There are three other short essays which will help give readers initial orientation, the assumption being that they have no prior knowledge. The introduction summarizes a moderate form of critical conclusions about authorship. Here and elsewhere she makes the point that prophecy was given at first for its immediate readership, so that long-term prediction denies the word its power. There is therefore much to be gained for a theological reading in accepting that the book was written by several authors over a long period of time and in seeking to read each passage against its immediate background.
Her conclusion also has a bearing, of course, on a Christian ‘messianic’ interpretation. In the commentary itself there are brief references where appropriate to New Testament use of a passage but no ‘pious reflections’ of a devotional nature. Rather, as her second short essay, following Isaiah 53, explains, it is imperative that the Servant and other messianic passages should first be studied in their historical context, so far as that can be reconstructed, and she admits that sometimes certainty on this is beyond our reach. But Williams then goes on to allow that Scripture may have multiple layers of meaning so that these passages can be brought to bear also by way of idealized role description on the ministry of Jesus. This is not an easy way into a Christian reading but can be rewarding if the interpreter is prepared to think constructively.
The concluding essay at the end of the book grapples with the challenging question of the extent to which Isaiah encourages involvement or passivity in the political realm in its widest extent. In line with Williams’s approach that has already emerged, she sees no conflict between trust in the sovereign Lord and human service in wider society outside a religious or church context.
Williams is an Old Testament specialist who has taught for many years in an Anglican Theological College. Even then she was fully engaged in parish life, and she has recently moved to full time pastoral ministry. It is therefore difficult to think of anyone better suited to relate responsible scholarship on Isaiah to the needs of a thoughtful lay Christian readership. I could well see this volume being of great assistance in Bible discussion groups, for instance. It is warmly to be commended.