“Deutero-Isaiah” (Chs. 40-55). 

        Though it is comparatively easy to dissect “Deutero-Isaiah,” after the first few stages it does not often help very much in the understanding of the prophecy. Though these chapters form the closest unity of any prophetic message of comparable length, and contain a clearly marked progression in time, yet the thought does not develop along normal logical lines. We are not dealing with a unitary writing of the modern type, but with a series of prophetic poems, each complete in itself, yet all contributing to the building up of the final picture. This explains why, though “Deutero-Isaiah” contains some of the best-known chapters in the Old Testa­ment, as a whole it is comparatively little known.

        Though we are dealing with written rather than spoken prophecy, and the most sustained poetry in the prophetic books, the manner in which the message was originally received is obviously similar to that in “Proto-Isaiah.” It would seem that the message in its totality only became clear to the prophet himself as he received and recorded it.