Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear friends,

Many hold that Isaiah 59:21 refers to the people at the end of the age.
That is, God addresses the words directly to them. I counter that while God
speaks about the people at the end of the age, the "you" that He addresses
might have been Isaiah. I checked five commentaries, and they all took the
first view.

Isaiah 59:21(NIV) reads: "'As for me, this is my covenant with them,' says
the Lord. 'My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your
mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children
["of your seed"], or from the mouths of their descendants ["of the seed of
your seed"] from this time on and forever,' says the Lord."

My problem with the majority view is that in Hebrew "them" is plural, while
"you" is singular. Also "your mouth" sounds like that of an individual
rather than a nation. The singular "you" has no antecedent like "people" or
"nation." One commentator tries to get around this by making "you" the
Messiah, but will the Messiah have grandchildren? Another critiques my view
by saying that there is no evidence of a hereditary gift of prophecy. There
is no need to assert such a gift, however. We already know that Isaiah's
sons were godly (Isa 8:16). The phrase "My Spirit and my words" could be a
hendiadys referring to the message with its Spirit-given force. The
Spirit-originated words that God put in Isaiah's mouth would not depart
from his mouth, the mouth of his descendants, or the mouth of their
descendants forever. These mouths would not necessarily have to speak a new
word from God. If people merely spoke the prophecy of Isaiah, the promise
could come true. So far the promise has come true; the prophecy of Isaiah
is still on the lips of Israel.

The word "descendants" allows a broad interpretation. It would not be a
great thing for Isaiah's descendants to be alive today, since the nation
has survived. Anyone living almost three thousand years ago who had sons
would be likely to have links by blood to many Israelites living later. So
descendants could ultimately refer to the nation of Israel. God would be
promising that Isaiah would continue to speak His word, as would his sons,
as would their descendants. The prophecies of Isaiah are all-encompassing;
they extend to the new heavens and the new earth. Isaiah is regarded by
many to be the grandest piece of writing in the Bible; some call it the
fifth Gospel. Israel's use of Isaiah's words forever would signal endless
hope for the nation.

If anyone would like to defend one position or the other, I would
appreciate it.

                                                        Thanks,
                                                        Harold