(See also Supplement)
Isaiah 1:1-31. Israel's Sin, Its Sore Punishment, False and True Divine Service. The chapter is not a unity. The main part of it (Isaiah 1:2-17) represents perhaps two addresses (Isaiah 1:2-9; Isaiah 1:10-17), but they connect well, and probably belong to the same date. The description of Judah's condition suits the invasion of Sennacherib (701 B.C.) better than that of Syria and Ephraim (735- 4 B.C.). The state of the people is wretched in the extreme, the land is ravaged, the cities burned, Jerusalem alone uncaptured. This agrees with the events of 701, when Sennacherib took all the fenced cities of Judah save Jerusalem, and shut up Hezekiah in his capital like a bird in his cage. On the other sections, see below.