Isaiah's God

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. -H.L. Mencken

Anybody looking for biblical evidence to show belief in a single creator god will find the earliest passages in the Book of Isaiah. This page outlines the circumstances by which that proclamation took place. The proper noun "God" is a title reserved for a supernatural deity considered worthy of respect. It is like saying "your highness." It does not confer any other characteristics. That's where it gets interesting.

This page will demonstrate that Isaiah's definition of God was of a personified parochial nature; his god has human characteristics. It is not like the modern Jewish concept of a formless universal God; the only thing it has in common is the name Yahweh. And it doesn't fit anything close to a Christian God or an Islamic God. As far as his definition goes, Isaiah's god might as well be a pagan god.

The original Isaiah dates from 742 to 687 BCE when the Assyrians absorbed the northern kingdom of Israel. Chapters 40-66 were added by unknown authors after the Babylonian exile of 586 BCE. In 539 the Persians under Cyrus conquered the Babylonians. This is when Cyrus sanctioned the rebuilding of the temple. The writer(s) of this period is unknown, but I will use Isaiah for convenience.

Up to the time of their captivity, the Hebrews were henotheists-believing in one tribal god, but not as the only god. (see Evolution of God).The verses below about Cyrus affix the date when Judaism became a monotheistic religion to shortly after 539 BCE. Paradoxically, it was written when the Hebrews were under the subjugation of the Persians. Consistent with his belief, the writer said Yahweh anointed Cyrus.

²Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings under foot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.³He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod.⁴Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He. (Isa. 41:2-4)

²⁸who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose'; saying of Jerusalem. 'She shall be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.'" (Isa. 44:28)

¹Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: (Isa. 45:1)

One God

These verses proclaim a single exclusive God without any other ornaments. Christians don't have a name for God; Jews do. The Hebrew translation for "Lord" is Yahweh. Another is the Hebrew translation for "God" that translates to a universal singularity, eloah. The lack of consistency might be attributed to two different authors.

Universal God

Is there a God besides me?

⁸Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any." (Isa. 44:8)

I am God; there is none else.

²²Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
²³I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (Isa. 45:22-23)

I am God; there is no other.

⁹remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' (Isa. 46-9-10)

I am He, I am the first and I am the last.

¹²"Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am He, I am the first, and I am the last. (Isa. 48:12)

Hebrew God

I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor there be any after me.

¹⁰"You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. (Isa. 43:10)

I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

⁶Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Isa. 44:6)

I am the Lord and besides me there is no God; there is no other.

⁵I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me,⁶that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. (Isa. 45:5-6)

I am Lord; there is no other.

²¹Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.(Isa. 45:21)

God the creator

Isaiah and his contemporaries believed in a flat earth sitting on a foundation, with a sky that stretches over earth like a dome. Pay attention to the last two verses about Yahweh not creating the chaos and Yahweh cutting Rahab in pieces.

Who has measured the waters and marked off the heaven and enclosed the dust of the earth.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? (Isa. 40:12)

Lift up your eyes and see who created these?

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? (Isa. 40:26)

The Lord is the creator of the ends of the earth.

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. (Isa. 40:28)

Who created the heavens and spread forth the earth, and who gives breath to the people.

⁵Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: (Isa. 42:5)

I am the Lord who made all things, who stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth.

²⁴Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth-Who was with me? (Isa. 44:24)

I am the Lord, there is no other, besides me there is no God. I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe; I am the Lord who does all these things.

⁷I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things. (Isa. 45:7)

I the Lord created the heavens and earth.

⁸"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the LORD have created it. (Isa. 45:8)

I made the earth and created man upon it. It was my hands that stretched the heavens and I commanded their host. -The heavens envelope earth and the host are stars.

¹²I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. (Isa. 45:12)

Who's hand laid the foundation of the earth and spread out the heavens.

¹³My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together. (Isa. 48:13)

The Lord your Maker stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.

¹³and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? (Isa. 51:13)

I create new heavens and a new earth.

¹⁷"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.¹⁸But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (Isa. 65:17-18)

My hands have made all these things.

²All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2)

Yahweh did not create the chaos; he formed it to be inhabited. He formed the earth and made it. He established it; he did not create the chaos, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord; there is no other.

¹⁸For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. (Isa. 45:18)

Who cut Rahab in pieces and pierce the dragon.

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?¹⁰Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that didst make the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? (Isa. 51:9-10)

God has a home in Zion

Zion has no certain etymological meaning. A Christian usage was attached to the SW hill of Jerusalem in the forth century, but we are going to ignore that. Jerusalem in Isaiah's day has no topographical hill called Zion. We are left to draw meaning from the way the word is used. Like the Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus, Yahweh lived on Mount Zion. Zion has a triple meaning.

As a mountain in heaven where Yahweh dwells

⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts. (Isa. 18:7)

And as a mountain in Jerusalem. One source says it's the SE hill in Jerusalem overlooking the Valley of Kidron but it is not convincing. A hill is one thing and a mountain is another.

⁴For thus the LORD said to me, As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called forth against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.⁵Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it. (Isa. 31:4-5)

The name is used for the first time in 2 Samuel referring to Jerusalem as synonymous with "the stronghold of Zion" and "city of David."

⁶And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off"-thinking, "David cannot come in here."
⁷Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. (2 Sam. 5:6-7)

I propose that the portrayal of Zion as a celestial mountain has to do with the fact that heavenly bodies move in an arc pattern across the sky as if going over a mountain. It might be a coincidence, but both Zion and Zodiac begin with Z. In Isaiah's world, Yahweh lives in a world above earth along with the stars and planets as its inhabitants. It is a celestial world with places named after places on earth. The parallelism confuses interpreters. What looks like human history is really celestial mythology.

The mountain of the Lord defines the celestial arc.

³and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:3)

The highest position on the mountain could be either the time of the noonday sun or the time of the summer solstice.

¹³You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; (Isa. 14:13)

The direction from which heavenly bodies rise above earth defines the foundation, or it could be the time of the vernal equinox.

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: 'He who believes will not be in haste.' (Isa. 28:16)

The circle above the earth defines the Zodiac with its twelve constellations oriented in a circular pattern.

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; (Isa. 40:22)

So if Yahweh sits above the earth, his dwelling on Mount Zion is above the earth.

¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. (Isa. 8:18)

Here is a case where we see Mount Zion and Jerusalem treated independently.

²³Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his elders he will manifest his glory. (Isa. 24:23)

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. (Isa. 10:12)

The cloud describes the Milky Way and canopy describes the array of stars overhead.

⁵Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy and a pavilion. (Isa: 4:5)

Yahewh is the Lord of hosts. Hosts is synonymous with the stars.

Yahweh dwells on high.

⁵The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness; (Isa. 33:5)

⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" (Isa. 40:9)

Cherubim refer to four cardinal constellations on the Zodiac.

¹⁶"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isa. 37:16)

The association of Zion with Eden brings to mind that Eden was the former name for Zion.

³For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. (Isa. 51:3)

Zion is referred to as the City of the Lord.

¹⁴The sons of those who oppressed you shall come bending low to you; and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isa. 60:14)

On Yahweh's holy mountain the gods of Fortune and Destiny are there.

¹¹But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny; (Isa. 65:11)

God has Anthropomorphic form

This set defines Yahweh in human form. One could argue that Isaiah is merely talking of Yahweh in metaphoric terms, but it goes beyond that. He treats the metaphors as if they were real objects; Yahweh is an extension of his own body as Yahweh is an extension of his own thoughts. Many of these verses come out of Isaiah's writing as if Yahweh was speaking through him.

Images

Isaiah claims to have seen Yahweh. He was sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; his train filled the temple. The seraphim stood above him, each had six wings. -He didn't see anything real; he translated a celestial image to a symbolic image in his mind.

¹In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
²Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
³And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts! (Isa. 6:1-5)

Isaiah tells us that idols are merely images made by men and profitable for nothing.

⁹All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.
¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing?
¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together. (Isa. 44:9-11)

Now I ask. Wouldn't a physical idol made by men be just as unprofitable as a mental image of an idol?

He has hands

²⁵I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. (Isa. 1:25)

¹²They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts; but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. (Isa. 5:12)

²⁵Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. (Isa. 5:25)

¹¹For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: (Isa. 8:11)

¹⁰For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
¹¹And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim; but the LORD will lay low his pride together with the skill of his hands. (Isa. 25:10-11)

¹⁶Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. (Isa. 49:16)

¹Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; (Isa. 59:1)

He whistles

¹⁸In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly which is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria. (Isa. 7:18)

Has lips and a tongue

²⁷Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;(Isa. 30:27)

He breathes

²⁸his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray. (Isa. 30:28)

³³For a burning place has long been prepared; yea, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it. (Isa. 30:33)

He has lips

⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. (Isa. 11:4)

Has a voice and arms

³⁰And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones. (Isa. 30:30)

He has arms and a bosom

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isa. 40:11)

He compares himself to a woman.

¹⁴But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."¹⁵"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isa. 49:14-15)

He has an arm

¹⁰The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Isa. 52:10)

He has a breastplate

¹⁷He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle. (Isa. 59:17)

He has a right hand and arm

⁸The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; (Isa. 62:8)

His garments are stained with blood

³"I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. (Isa. 63:3)

¹²who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, (Isa. 63:12)

Yahweh has seen another god.

⁴From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him. (Isa. 64:4)

He sits on a throne and uses earth for a footstool

¹Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? (Isa. 66:1)

Yahweh commanded all the host of heaven

¹²I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. (Isa. 45:12)

Like a man of war, he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

¹³The LORD goes forth like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his fury; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. (Isa. 42:13)

The Parochial God

Isaiah's god is not a god for all people; he is a tribal god with the objective of advancing his chosen people above all others.

God of Israel

⁶Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten- two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, says the LORD God of Israel. (Isa. 17:6)>

¹⁰O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you. (Isa. 21:10)

¹⁷and the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken." (Isa. 21:17)

¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. (Isa. 24:15)

²³For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. (Isa. 29:23)

¹⁶"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isa. 37:16)

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, (Isa. 37:21)

¹⁷When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. (Isa. 41:17)

³I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. (Isa. 45:3-4)

¹⁵Truly, thou art a God who hides thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. (Isa. 45:15)

¹Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel,
²For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. (Isa. 48:1-2)

¹²For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isa. 52:12)

God's chosen

¹The LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and aliens will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob.
²And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD'S land as male and female slaves; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them. (Isa. 14:1-2)

⁸But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off";¹⁰fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isa. 41:8-10)

²⁰The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, (Isa. 43:20)

¹"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!²Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. (Isa. 44:1-2)

⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. (Isa. 45:4)

⁷Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you." (Isa. 49:7)

⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. (Isa. 65:9)

God's people

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth, and hid you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people.' (Isa. 51:16)

¹³The LORD has taken his place to contend, he stands to judge his people. (Isa. 3:12)

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" says the Lord GOD of hosts. (Isa. 3:15)

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the LORD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. (Isa. 10:24)

¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. (Isa. 40:1)

⁴For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
⁵Now therefore what have I here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says the LORD, and continually all the day my name is despised.
⁶Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I." (Isa. 52:4-6)

The Covenant

³Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. (Isa. 55:3)

²¹"And as for me, this is my covenant with them, say the LORD: my spirit which is upon you, and my word which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children's children, says the LORD, from this time forth and for evermore." (Isa. 59:21)

⁸For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. (Isa. 61:8)

Father of Children

²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. (Isa. 1:2)

¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. (Isa. 8:18)

⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa. 9:6)

¹⁶For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; thou, O LORD, art our Father, (Isa. 63:16)

⁸Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand. (Isa. 64:8)

³The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts. (Isa. 17:3)

¹"Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin; (Isa. 30:1)

¹¹Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands? (Isa. 45:11)

Conclusion

The Book of Isaiah marks a milestone in Jewish history. It was a time when Judaism shed its henotheistic past and became strictly monotheistic. What didn't change is their belief in a sectarian God, the God who would restore Israel to the glory of its Davidic kingdom. Sadly, we are still witnessing that conceit with the rise of Zionism and the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict.

There are reasons why thre is no connection between the definitions of the New Testament God and the Old Testament God. During the first millennium, one of the things that gave a religion its credibility was its age. Early Christians had a Jewish background but the new religion was too different to be accepted within Judaism. Yet they needed the Hebrew Bible to prove Christianity was an old religion; so they tacked it on. Figuratively speaking, the two religions became entwined like a horse with a huge hump on its back.

Related links

Elements of Creation

The Evolution of God

Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel