Williamson, `Pre-Exilic Isaiah'
9
Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall'.
25
Excavations on the
western hill of ancient Jerusalem have unearthed extensive remains of a substantial
wall which cut through modest eighth-century houses, and this has been securely
associated with Hezekiah's defensive measures at this time.
26
Given the extent of
the later Babylonian destruction of the city, it seems unlikely that this point of detail
would have been known to a post-exilic writer.
27
The particular significance of this
note, brief though it is, is that, unlike the previous examples we have considered, it
comes within a purported saying of Isaiah himself.
28
This conclusion, which personally I find convincing, can be got round in one of
two ways. First, many commentators hold that verses 8b-11, or alternatively 9b-lla,
are a later addition to their present context.
29
The issue is complicated, and no
discussion here would settle it to everyone's satisfaction; stout defenders of the
passage's unity can equally easily be cited.
30
But this whole line of attack is not
25
Strangely, Wildberger, Jesaja 13-27, 823 (ET, Isaiah 13-27, 369), asserts that `
hmwjh rxbl
hardly means
Òstrengthen the wall,Ó but rather Òmake it hard to get by.Ó' Although the pi`el of
rxb
occurs
nowhere else, other forms of the verb are used a number of times with `city' or `wall' with the
meaning `fortify' (see especially 2:15 for a close Isaianic parallel), so that Wildberger's objection and
his alternative exegesis seem perverse.
26
N. Avigad, `Excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, 1970 (Second
Preliminary Report)', IEJ 20 (1970) 129-40. ?+ more recent?
27
In addition verse 9b, `you collected the waters of the lower pool', is usually associated with the
construction of Hezekiah's tunnel. While this is reasonable, it is clear from other sources (e.g. 2
Chron. 32:30) that independent knowledge of this survived into the post-exilic period. In terms of
the minimalist method being pursued here, this example should therefore be discounted, even
though it is entirely reasonable in fact to see this as a further contemporary note.
28
J.T. Willis, `Historical Issues in Isaiah 22,15-25', Biblica 74 (1993) 60-70, has sought to reach a similar
conclusion with regard to the second half of the chapter as well. While plausible in their own terms,
his arguments do not, however, meet the criteria adopted for the present discussion.
29
For full documentation, see F.J. Gon alves, L'expZdition de SennachZrib en Palestine dans la
littZrature hZbra·que ancienne (Ebib, ns 7; Paris: Gabalda, 1986) 236-37.
30
E.g. B.S. Childs, Isaiah and the Assyrian Crisis (SBT, ns 3; London: SCM Press, 1967) 22-27;
Wildberger, Jesaja 13-27, 809-11 (ET, Isaiah 13-27, 353-56); J.A. Emerton, `Notes on the Text and
Translation of Isaiah xxii 8-11 and lxv 5', VT 30 (1980) 437-51; Gon alves, L'expZdition de SennachZrib,
235-40; M.A. Sweeney, Isaiah 1-39, with an Introduction to Prophetic Literature (FOTL 16; Grand Rapids: