![\"Koene](\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/09\/Koene-pic.png\")
<\/a>messianic kingship highlights a historical trajectory represented in the two readings\u2014that of the Isaian Servant Messiah.\u00a0 This diverged from and contrasted with the previous dominant trajectory within Second Temple Jewish messianism of diversified expectation which posited two messiahs\u2014one kingly and one priestly.<\/p>\nAt least three factors produced the single Davidic messianic expectation during the Roman-Herodian period (75 B.C.-68 A.D.).\u00a0 The first is the expectation of a Davidic warrior king, found in such documents as the War Rule (4Q285), Psalms of Solomon, the Son of God fragment (4Q246), and the Book of Isaiah.\u00a0 The second is the expectation of a Davidic Servant Messiah, as portrayed in the Book of Isaiah.\u00a0 Aspects of this Servant Messiah are reflected in the Messianic Apocalypse<\/em> (4Q521), 11QMelch (11Q13), the New Testament, and perhaps early traditions in the formation of the Book of the<\/em> Similitudes<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A third factor are the social\/political features of the Hasmonean royalty despoiling the Davidic throne (104-76 B.C.) combined with the Roman conquest of Pompey (63 B.C.) and its desecration of the Holy of Holies.\u00a0 These factors that produced the single Davidic messianic expectation also overlap and may relate to each other.\u00a0 They further galvanized and strengthened anticipation of a great Davidic messiah king.<\/p>\n A modern exegetical issue relevant to interpretation of Isaiah is authorship.\u00a0 Much of good, contemporary scholarship assumes at least deutero- or trito-Isaian authorship.\u00a0 However, several notable scholars opt for a single Isaian authorship.\u00a0 Reasons for this, that at least engage serious thought and reflection on the matter, are the following.\u00a0 First, in the first century A.D., the tradition of belief in single authorship of Isaiah had long been established.\u00a0 The Book of Sirach, written in the early second century B.C., attests to this belief.\u00a0 Sirach 48:22-25 consists of contents that reflect a unified continuum throughout the two most distinct movements of the Isaian narrative (Isa 1-39 and Isa 40-66).<\/p>\n Second, the Qumran Scroll of the entire Book of Isaiah, sometimes known as the St. Mark\u2019s Isaiah Scroll, dates to about 125 B.C.\u00a0 The Scroll reflects no break or indentation between chapters 39 and 40, and the manuscript is a copy as well.\u00a0 Taking the evidence of Sirach and the Isaian Scroll together, we may assert that in the third century B.C. a single Isaian authorship tradition was well established, and that the Book of Isaiah existed at that time in the same form as we have today.<\/p>\n Third, the first century presented no other name but Isaiah, son of Amoz, attached to this book.\u00a0 Moreover, although Isa 40-66\u2014so delineated by modern convention\u2014was one of the most common prophetic pieces appropriated and interpreted in the first century, no \u201csecond\u201d or \u201cthird\u201d Isaiah was ever identified.<\/p>\n Notwithstanding, apart from various contemporary views on Isaian authorship, first century interpreters, such as the Evangelists, viewed Isaiah as a unified prophetic piece.\u00a0 They understood key passages throughout it\u2014such as on the Servant and the Davidic Messiah\u2014as related to each other and inspired by the same prophetic Spirit.\u00a0 This unitive Isaian perspective helps us to clarify the New Testament depiction of Jesus\u2019 messianic identity with greater precision and depth.\u00a0 (Some of the reflections in this post I also have presented in my dissertation, The Septuagintal Isaian Use of Nomos in the Lukan Presentation Narrative<\/em>, published by ProQuest.)<\/p>\n Mark Koehne<\/strong> teaches moral theology for Saint Joseph’s College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two of today\u2019s readings underscore Jesus\u2019 identity as the Servant Messiah depicted by Isaiah.\u00a0 The first reading, Isaiah 50:5-9a, and the Gospel reading, Mark 8:27-35 on Peter\u2019s confession of faith, allude to the narratively unified corpus of Isaian passages on … Continue reading