Reversed (Chrono-)Logical Sequence in Isaiah 1-39: Some Implications for Theories of Redaction

This article examines a structural phenomenon in Isaiah 1—39 in which different sections of a prophecy are deliberately placed out of order either logically or chronologically. After an initial example from chs. 24—27, chs. 11, 30 and 2 are discussed. In each of these three cases, it is argued that later passages in the respective chapters (11.11-16, 30.27-33 and 2.6-22) describe necessary preconditions for the earlier passages (11.1-9, 30.18-26 and 2.1-5) to come into being—more specifically, YHWH's defeat of the nations must occur before creation is renewed, Israel dwells secure on Zion, and the nations come to worship there. The implications of this analysis for theories of the redaction of these three chapters are then considered, and a tentative conclusion reached that assignation of the various passages of these chapters to different centuries is less likely than hypothesizing a simpler compositional history, in which the different passages making up these chapters were written with each other in mind from the beginning.