The Heavenly Counsellor in Isaiah xl 13-14

One of the most rewarding of recent approaches to the study of Deutero-Isaiah has been the attempt to understand his teaching against the background of his ministry to the second generation of Jewish exiles in Babylonia. Two factors have been taken into account: the nature of the Israelite religious tradition which the exiles had inherited from the past, and the actual circumstances of their life in Babylonia, where they were subject to the cultural and religious pressures of their environment. Each of these may be expected to have exercised some influence on the teaching of Deutero-Isaiah. Dr Whybray's study of this one short passage has been made in order to explore the relationships between the two factors. The passage, which has long been the subject of vigorous controversy, admirably raises the question of the sources of Deutero-Isaiah's theology. This detailed study, which employs as far as possible all the techniques of modern critical investigation, is an attempt to shed some light on the interpretation of Deutero-Isaiah as a whole.