rnished little
to inspire the disappointed and persecuted Jews. Their eyes were still
blinded by the brilliant hopes that had stirred them at the time when the
temple was rebuilt. The quenching of these hopes had left them in deeper
darkness than before. There seemed no rift in the clouds that overshadowed
them. Even their priestly rulers were selfish and inconsiderate. For the
faithful few who rose above the discouragements and obstacles that
confronted them, however, this period of deepest gloom was lighted by a
faith that shines through and glorifies most of the later books of the Old
Testament. From the psalms and prophecies of the period it is evident that
there were a few who in the midst of these discouraging circumstances
found peace and joy. As they meditated upon the experiences of their race,
and read and pondered the writings of the earlier prophets, they began to
appreciate not only the real significance of their past history but the
meaning of the present affliction. The chief spokesman of these immortal
heroes of the faith was the prophetic author of Isaiah 40-66.

III. Evidences That Isaiah 40-66 were Written in Palestine. Only
recently have careful students of Isaiah 40-66 begun to realize that the
point of view in all of these chapters is not distant Babylon but
Jerusalem. The repeated references in chapter 56 and following to
conditions in Jerusalem have led all to recognize their Palestinian
origin. The evidence, however, regarding chapters 40-55 is almost equally
convincing. The vocabulary and literary figures employed throughout are
those peculiar to the agricultural life of Palestine and not to the
commercial civilization of Babylon. The problems also are those of the
Judean community. The class to whom the prophet addresses his messages is
evidently the same as that to which Haggai and Zechariah speak. Jerusalem,
not a Jewish colony in Babylon, is the constant object of the prophet's
appeal. Babylon is only one of the distant lands of the dispersion. It is
from Jerusalem that the prophet ever views the world. Thus in 43:5,6 he
declares in the name of Jehovah:

Fear not, for I am with thee.
From the east I will bring thine offspring,
And from the west I will gather them;
I will say to the north, Give up!
And to the south, Withhold not!
Bring my sons from afar,
And my daughters from the ends of the earth.

Interpreted in the light of their true geographical setting, these
Prophecies gain at on