Responses to Assyrian Claims of Empire in Isaiah 1-39: Types of Reactions and Methods of Transmission

Scholars have long recognized that motifs from Assyrian imperial texts are found in many passages from Isaiah 1-39, and that these passages could not have been written without knowledge of the Assyrian motifs.

But there have been few attempts to systematically identify and analyze these motifs. By examining a series of passages from Isaiah 6-8, 19, 31, 10, and 36-37, we can produce a more precise chronology of the reactions Isaiah evinces to Assyrian claims of empire. Earlier passages include critique of local elites co-opted by Assyria, and of elites who use Assyrian power to bolster their privileged position. Passages that can be ascribed, based on the Assyrian motifs they reference, to later periods in Assyria`s domination of Judah, focus on resisting Assyrian claims of empire by subverting these.

A close examination of several texts, in particular the famous "Woe Assyria" passage in Isaiah 10, strongly suggests that literati in Judah interacted directly with Assyrian texts, perhaps as they were presented orally in Aramaic. This conclusion is reached based on the grouping of motifs in this passage and in specific Assyrian texts. This interaction appears related to the visits of Judean emissaries to Assyrian palaces, as Morrow has noted.

This conclusion has clear implications for the redactional history of much of Isaiah 1-39. Many passages seem to have undergone only very limited redaction between the Assyrian period and their present form.