Any serious study of the scriptures must take into account the Book of Isaiah; and any serious study of the Book of Isaiah must take into account its literary features that are there in evidence. Those literary elements reveal an entirely different paradigm of what Isaiah's message is all about than the one that has come down to us from past tradition. Besides Isaiah's Seven-Part Structure, other holistic structures, layered one on top of another, reveal the inner workings of Isaiah's writings and establish important prophetic concepts all their own. An entire series of interconnected events as well as a network of linking terms and ideas richly reward one's inquiry.
As all new paradigms seem threatening and meet with opposition from those who have a vested interest in maintaining the old, so it is the case here. Anyone deeply investigating the Book of Isaiah in the light of its many literary features will incur the same response. As "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," however, and as "discretion is the better part of valor," the real challenge is to learn the prophet's message before attempting to convert souls to Isaiah. It takes several years of diligent effort to assimilate a paradigm so all-embracing and comprehensive as Isaiah's and at the same time to reconcile it with the current state of political and ecclesiastical affairs.
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