Seal the Instruction Among My Disciples

Willem A. M. Beuken

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200376-8

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Willem A. M. Beuken

Seal the Instruction Among My Disciples

Collected Essays on the Book of Isaiah

Edited by Matthew B. Quintana

2026. 800 pages.

forthcoming in May 2026

Forschungen zum Alten Testament (FAT)

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200376-8

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Summary

This landmark collection of forty essays presents Willem A. M. Beuken's contributions to Isaiah scholarship across several decades. These studies employ diverse methods to analyze various aspects of the book of Isaiah, integrating synchronic and diachronic approaches while illuminating key developments in Isaiah research over the last half-century.

This volume brings together forty essays by Willem A. M. Beuken spanning more than four decades of scholarship on the book of Isaiah. Interacting widely with the best of both classic and contemporary scholarship and employing a diverse range of methodological approaches, Beuken's studies feature close readings of specific texts, analyses of important themes and topics, and treatments of smaller literary units within the book of Isaiah. Individually and collectively, they illuminate the prophetic text's literary and theological presentation and illustrate the integration of synchronic and diachronic perspectives. Six of the included essays were translated into English for the first time from Dutch or German originals, and the collection is rounded off with a brand-new essay composed expressly for this volume, in which the author reflects on his decades-long journey with the book of Isaiah as well as the manifold encounters and influences that shaped his research on this prophetic book. As a supplement to his monumental, multi-volume commentary projects in German (Isa 1-39) and Dutch (Isa 40-66), this collection of essays sheds light on the development of Beuken's innovative approach to interpreting the book of Isaiah and also presents a framework for his research on the book as a whole. Overall, the volume provides a valuable window into the rapid and exciting progression of Isaiah research during the last half-century, particularly in relation to the shift toward unified or holistic readings of the prophetic books in their final form, the influx of literary approaches to biblical texts, and the increased attention to the phenomenon of intertextuality.

Table of contents:

Editor's Introduction: »Bind Up the Testimony, Seal the Instruction Among My Disciples« (Isaiah 8:16)
I. Unity and Themes in Reading the Book of Isaiah
1. Bridging the Gorge Between Isaiah's Two Main Parts: Isaiah 36-39 and the Unity of the Book of Isaiah
2. The Dramatic Frame of Isaiah 1-12 and the Unity of the Book of Isaiah
3. YHWH's Sovereign Rule and His Adoration on Mount Zion: A Comparison of Poetic Visions in Isaiah 24-27, 52, and 66
4. Major Interchanges in the Book of Isaiah Subordinate to Its Umbrella Theme: YHWH's Sovereign Rule on Mount Zion (Isaiah 12-13, 27-28, 39-40, 55-56)
II. Studies in the First Part of the Book of Isaiah
5. The Literary Emergence of Zion as a City in the Book of Isaiah's First Opening (Isaiah 1:1-2:5)
6. The Manifestation of YHWH and the Commission of Isaiah: Reading Isaiah 6 Against the Background of Isaiah 1
7. The Eschatological Emergence of the Shoot of Jesse? The Temporal Sequence and Function of Isaiah 11 in Light of Isaiah 10:5-34
8. A Song of Gratitude and a Song of Malicious Delight: Is Their Consonance Unseemly? The Coherence of Isaiah 13-14 with Isaiah 11-12 and 1-2
9. Must Philistia Carry on Wailing? The Enduring Message of a Prophetic Oracle Addressed to a Hostile Nation (Isaiah 14:28-32)
10. From Damascus to Mount Zion: A Journey Through the Land of the Harvester (Isaiah 17-18)
11. Obdurate Shortsightedness in the Valley of Vision: How Atonement of Iniquity Is Forfeited (Isaiah 22:1-14)
12. Spacing a Prophetic Vision: A Spatial Analysis of Isaiah 24-27
13. The Prophet Leads the Readers into Praise: Reading Isaiah 25:1-10 Against the Background of Isaiah 12 and 24:14-23
14. »Your Dead Shall Live« (Isaiah 26:19): Childlike Reason or Mature Faith?
15. Shifting Settings in (Post)Exilic Prayer from the Hebrew to the Old Greek Text of Isaiah 26
16. Is It Only Schismatics That Drink Heavily? Reading Isaiah 28 Beyond the Synchronic Versus Diachronic Controversy
17. Perversion Reverted: Reading Isaiah 29:15-24 Against the Background of Isaiah 28-32 and 10:5-34
18. What Does the Vision Hold: Teachers or One Teacher? Punning Repetition in Isaiah 30:20
19. A Prophetic Oracle Transmitted in Two Successive Paradigms: The Literary Unity of Isaiah 30
20. Women and the Spirit, the Ox and the Donkey: The First Binders of the Booklet of Isaiah 28-32
21. Woe to the Powers in Israel Vying to Replace YHWH's Rule! Reading Isaiah 28-31 Against the Background of Isaiah 24-27
22. Isaiah 33 as a »Mirror Text« in the Book of Isaiah
23. Lament in Isaianic Context: The Prospective and Retrospective Functions of Isaiah 34
24. The King, the City, and the Covenant: Portraits of Hezekiah and Zion in Isaiah 36-39
III. Studies in the Second Part of the Book of Isaiah
25. Mišpāṭ: The First Servant Song and Its Context (Isaiah 42:1-4)
26. The Confession of God's Exclusivity by All Humanity: A Reappraisal of Isaiah 45:18-25
27. The Servant's Vain Effort: The Function of the Second Servant Song in Its Context (Isaiah 49:1-6)
28. Isaiah 50:10-11 as a Cultic Paraenesis of the Third Servant Song (Isaiah 50:4-9)
29. Ancestress, Wife, and City: Isaiah 54 and the Multiple Identities of the Addressee
30. Revisiting the Reinterpretation of David in Isaiah 55:3-5
31. Prophecy and Scriptural Reuse in Trito-Isaiah
32. The Main Theme of Trito-Isaiah: »The Servants of YHWH«
33. The Isaianic Legacy of Trito-Isaiah? Isaiah 56:9-57:13 as an Example
34. Servant and Herald of Good Tidings: Isaiah 61 as an Interpretation of Isaiah 40-55
35. Questioning a Warrior: Otherness as Literary Strategy in Isaiah 63:1-6
36. Does God Practice Mindfulness? A Reassessment of Isaiah 63:11-14
37. »Abraham Does Not Know Us« (Isaiah 63:16): The Foundation of Israel's Trust During the Exile
38. Does Trito-Isaiah Reject the Temple? An Intertextual Inquiry into Isaiah 66:1-6
39. Trito-Isaiah and the Closure of the Book of Isaiah: The Concluding Function of Isaiah 65-66
IV. Retrospective
40. Encounters and Influences: Reflections on More Than Four Decades in Isaiah Scholarship
Appendix: Willem A. M. Beuken's Publications on the Book of Isaiah

Authors/Editors

Willem A. M. Beuken Born 1931; 1967 ThD, Universiteit Utrecht; 1967-85 Professor of Old Testament, Katholieke Theologische Hogeschool Amsterdam; 1985-89 Professor of Old Testament, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen; 1989-96 Professor of Old Testament, KU Leuven; since 1996 Professor Emeritus, KU Leuven.

Matthew B. Quintana Born 1997; 2019 BA, Multnomah University; 2022 MDiv, Multnomah Biblical Seminary; PhD student in Old Testament, McMaster Divinity College.

https://orcid.org/0009000919690690