ישעיהו הנביא

Isaiah the prophet is the prophet of consolation, who saw the destruction from afar yet filled his mouth with a vision of a good end. In the year King Uzziah died he saw God seated on a high and lofty throne, the angels calling 'holy, holy, holy,' and he said 'here I am, send me' (Isaiah 6). From then on he carried the message that was harsh and comforting at once.

His language is the summit of Hebrew prophecy: 'they shall beat their swords into plowshares,' 'and all the nations shall stream to it,' 'comfort, comfort My people.' He rebuked the people for hypocrisy, for oppressing the orphan and the widow, 'learn to do good, seek justice,' yet always sealed with hope, for he saw beyond the destruction to the day when 'nation shall not lift up sword against nation.'

Tradition tells that Isaiah was of royal lineage, close to the house of David, and that at the end of his days he was persecuted by King Manasseh. Even a prophet whose words became the heritage of all humanity paid the price of truth before power.

What do we learn from him? That the prophet's task is not only to rebuke but also to comfort, and to see beyond the darkness to the light. Isaiah teaches that true faith holds both ends: a sharp moral responsibility toward injustice, and a hope that does not despair, for history moves, according to tradition, toward repair and not toward chaos.