The Prophecy of Isaiah in Handel's Messiah

Reprinted from the Golden Gate Circle Newsletter
by Dave Holt

     David Kantor's presentation of November 20th took us into those areas of Urantia Book history that UB readers may not have visited in a while. In establishing the Jewish context in which Jesus lived his life on Urantia, David used material including Paper 97, Evolution of the God Concept Among the Hebrews.

     By coincidence I had been exploring the topic of Handel's Messiah, an oratorio of 1742 with a libretto by Charles Jennens, an Anglican, that borrowed extensively from these same Old Testament books of the Prophets. I featured an article about Handel's writing of Messiah in a recent bulletin. As you know, Handel's masterwork is a regular part of our holiday music experience, and many attend the sing-along Messiah performances staged around the world during this season. In light of how popular and moving this profound piece of music is, let us delve into its composition a little further.

     Messiah takes its text from the Psalms and the New Testament as well. But of the 73 Bible verses used to create the text of Handel's Messiah, 43 come from the Old Testament. And 22 of those are from the prophet Isaiah.

     Isaiah 40:4-5 appears in the Overture of Messiah. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

     Perhaps the most famous of all, a passage that many audiences have stood and sung along with comes from the Final Chorus of Part One. Its source is Isaiah 9:6. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Second Isaiah steps forward to declare in verse 60:3, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

     The Urantia Book praises the writings of the two Isaiahs: "No prophet or religious teacher from Machiventa to the time of Jesus attained the high concept of God that Isaiah the second proclaimed during these days of the captivity." (UB p. 1068, 97:7.5) "Speaking to the fear-ridden and soul-hungry Hebrews, this prophet said: 'Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you,'" a passage that is also sung in one of the Airs of Part One of Messiah. (UB p. 1066, 97:5.3)

     The idea that there were two Isaiahs, put forth by modern scholars, is still controversial. Religious conservatives dismiss it as a "fashionable," and "humanistic" interpretation. Some Christian thinkers hold to the idea that Isaiah Ben Amoz, son of Amoz, wrote the entire book (Christian Courier and Koinonia House have posted the evidence in favor of the one Isaiah on their web sites). To declare that there are two (or some say three) authors of this prophetic book calls a fundamental premise into question, the inerrancy of the Bible. The Urantia Book comes out in favor of the two authors theory:

"The Jewish priesthood made liberal use of these writings subsequent to the captivity, but they were greatly hindered in their influence over their fellow captives by the presence of a young and indomitable prophet, Isaiah the second, who was a full convert to the elder Isaiah's God of justice, love, righteousness, and mercy. He also believed with Jeremiah that Yahweh had become the God of all nations. He preached these theories of the nature of God with such telling effect that he made converts equally among the Jews and their captors. And this young preacher left on record his teachings, which the hostile and unforgiving priests sought to divorce from all association with him, although sheer respect for their beauty and grandeur led to their incorporation among the writings of the earlier Isaiah. And thus may be found the writings of this second Isaiah in the book of that name, embracing chapters forty to fifty-five inclusive." (UB p. 1068, 97:7.4)

     The librettist Charles Jennens created the text to challenge the Deists of his day. Famous Deists of the time were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Voltaire. Deism was a popular intellectual movement that rejected the idea of divine intervention in human events.

     Jennens's mission in the Messiah was to defend the incarnation and "the bestowal of a divine son" as we UB readers would describe it. Of course, the descendants of Isaiah's people rejected Jennens's Church of England premise also, while they awaited the coming of the Messiah.