Andrew T. ABERNETHY. Discovering Isaiah: Content, Interpretation, Reception. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021. pp. x + 197. $24.00 pb. ISBN 978-0-8028-7805-2. Reviewed by Nathan HAYS, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76708.

This volume is a guide to Isaiah with pastors and students as the primary audience (vii). In keeping with the Discovering Biblical Texts series, Abernethy pays attention to the historical and literary features of Isaiah as well as to reception history (especially Christian reception).

Chapters two and three survey pre-modern and modern readings of Isaiah respectively. Abernethy finds value in various interpretive approaches but argues that the theological dimension of Isaiah pushes readers beyond merely historical-critical considerations. Chapter four outlines the history that Isaiah tells. The meta-history is one of judgment and salvation and breaks down into four phases. The first phase, found mostly in Isaiah 1–39, witnesses to God’s judgment through Assyria and Babylon. The second phase, concentrated in Isaiah 40–48, involves Cyrus’s restoration of Jerusalem. In the third phase, centered in Isaiah 49–55, the Servant figure reconstitutes God’s people. The fourth phase, ultimate judgment and salvation, appears throughout Isaiah.

The next five chapters focus on important themes in Isaiah. Each chapter examines the theme in Isaiah itself followed by its role in each of the four phases identified above before concluding with a survey of the theme in reception history. Chapter five (on holiness) emphasizes God’s immanence and transcendence as captured in Isaiah’s phrase “the Holy One of Israel.” Chapter six (on Zion) encourages readers to attend to Zion’s physical and symbolic dimensions. Chapter seven (on the messianic king) highlights the association of kings with justice and argues that Isaiah 7:14, the sign of the young woman bearing a child, had relevance to Isaiah’s original audience even as the sensus plenior points to Jesus. After chapter eight (detailed below), chapter nine (on justice) highlights Isaiah’s critique of injustice and hope for the future. Although the church has fallen short of Isaiah’s vision, Isaiah inspired anti-slavery and civil rights thinkers. The brief final chapter encourages readers to recognize how praise permeates Isaiah and points to a time when all people will worship God.

Chapter eight (on the Suffering Servant) illustrates Abernethy’s approach. The chapter begins by surveying interpretations of the Servant’s identity throughout Isaiah 42–53. Ultimately, Abernethy argues that this question about the ancient referent is not the best question. Instead, the ambiguity and literary context of the Servant Songs push readers to ask, “What does Isaiah 53 envisage?” (p. 121). After closely analyzing the text, Abernathy summarizes the basic message: “God’s Servant will suffer vicariously for the sins of many nations, will bear their iniquity, and will be disfigured and even die, yet God intends for this Servant to be exalted and have a great reward” (p. 141). Abernethy notes similar passages in Isaiah and beyond but ultimately concludes that Isaiah 53 is full of ambiguity. The very openness of the text “seems intentional on God’s part as it prepares for the Person who alone would completely fulfil this passage and bring clarity to what had been ambiguous in the text” (p. 133). Abernethy then unpacks the Suffering Servant in light of the four phases of Isaiah’s story. The work of the Servant in phase three is necessary to complete the restoration initiated in phase two. The followers of the Servant then await phase four. Finally, Abernethy surveys Christian interpretations of the Suffering Servant, noting interpretive connections both to Jesus and to the church.

The volume as a whole offers a fitting short introduction to the book of Isaiah through a Christian lens. The attention to reception history will be new for many readers, and Abernethy shows both its value and limitations. Abernethy largely does not address the poetic character of the book and only provides the briefest overview of the political history standing behind the book.

Moreover, because Abernethy focuses on the phases of history that Isaiah tells, readers may lose sight of the literary unfolding of the book of Isaiah, especially after Isaiah 55. Phases one through three more or less follow the literary order of the book. Phase three, which includes the followers of the Servant, continues through Isaiah 56–66. Yet Isaiah 49–55 remains the focus of the third phase, leaving readers with a relatively fuzzy sense of Isaiah 56–66. The place of the anointed messenger of Isaiah 61, which Abernethy places at the center of the structure of Isaiah 56–66 but largely does not address elsewhere in the book except as an “agent of justice” in chapter nine, remains unclear. Perhaps this confusion owes to the perplexing nature of Isaiah 56–66, but one wonders if the period after the Servant merits its own “phase” in Abernethy’s interpretation. Such limitations are perhaps unavoidable in a short volume and do not detract from its overall usefulness as a guide to those journeying into the book of Isaiah.