Isaiah 24–27: The So-Called Isaiah Apocalypse

Isaiah 24–27 has long been recognized as a self-contained section within the larger book of Isaiah. After introducing and summarizing the content of this section, this chapter explores the numerous features and critical questions raised by this material. The issues include the customary questions of date, structure, and redaction, as well as matters raised by these chapters specifically: the identity of the unnamed city, covenant, resurrection, intertextuality, and their alleged apocalyptic character. Scholarship on all of these questions reveals an exceptionally diverse range of views given that the section comprises only four chapters. While this chapter does not seek to resolve most of these interpretive difficulties, it does argue that the designation of these chapter as the “Isaiah Apocalypse” should be dropped.