The Parenthetic Preface A notable feature of the prophetic style is what may be termed the Parenthetic Preface: that is, the tendency to place what is prefatory in character, not before, but after, or in the middle of that which it prefaces. The most interesting example is II. iii. The prophecy is as a whole a highly realistic vision of peoples combining against Judah but brought to confusion. The vision is interrupted in the middle by the Divine commission to the prophet, commanding him to lay before the panic-stricken of Judah a Divine 'law and testimony' to which they should seek instead of consulting familiar spirits and wizards. The interest of this example is that this parenthetic commission is itself interrupted in the middle by the prophet's acceptance of it: he and his children [to whom he has given significant names, Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz] are living signs in Israel. This preface within a preface makes the whole prophecy suggestive of an algebraic expression with double brackets: Proud foes [A word (Prophet accepts) for the timid] overthrown Similar examples occur often. It is significant that the original call of Isaiah to his ministry is placed at the end of Book I. In the second Vision of Zion Redeemed the soliloquy of Jehovah's Servant on his mission occurs between his ministry to Israel and his ministry to the Nations. In V. i the course of the prophecy is interrupted by answers to those who attack the whole ministry of Isaiah: there is a similar interruption to the series of visions of Amos (chapter vii. 10). The prophecy against trust in Egypt (V. iii) is interrupted by an oracle against Egypt. The companion pictures of destruction and restoration which make up V. vii are each interrupted by prefatory verses emphasising the importance of the prophecy. In the third Vision of Zion Redeemed the song of the Watchmen begins before the announcement of the singers: The voice of thy Watchmen, etc. And in the fifth Vision (pages 178, 179) Zion is heard issuing its invitation before the words of God which proclaim Zion a witness to the Nations. There is an extension of the same principle when we find passages conveying realistically a supernatural vision before we have the words that introduce the idea of a seer in the position to behold the vision. The effect is not unlike that of classical poetry which made it a law to plunge in medias res, and leave the commencement of the story to be afterwards brought out indirectly. The prophecies of the Watchman are a clear example (see IV. x): another is the Doom of Ethiopia (IV. vii). Verse and Prose in Prophetic Literature As I have departed from the usually accepted notions of verse and prose in prophetic writings, I desire to make clear the principle on which I have acted.* * On the whole subject compare the Ecclesiasticus volume, pages vii-xi; and my Literary Study of the Bible, pages 112-124. |