When seeing becomes hearing: Isaiah 40.1–8 as an exegetical product of Isaiah 6.1–8 and prelude to Isaiah 40–48

Isaiah 40–48 contains what is often referred to as the idol passages of Isaiah. Although scholars recognize this text as a subunit, little effort has been made to identify and analyze its prelude, as distinct from that of the larger unit, Isa. 40–55. Scholars who identify Isa. 40.1–8 as a prelude to Isa. 40–48 have not shown why and how this prelude relates to the textual subunit Isa. 40–48. This essay seeks to address this deficiency by identifying Isa. 40.1–8 as a deliberately aniconic editorial product of Isa. 6.1–8. This scribal intervention achieves the dual objective of connecting the author with the Isaiah tradition and presenting an aniconic idea of Yhwh in view of the contrast that would be made between the deity and the idols of Babylon. Identifying this prelude underlines the character of Isa. 40–48 as deeply anti-idolic.