Prophetic Discourses. Considered as part of the
literature of Oratory these Prophetic Discourses hold an intermediate
position between the spoken and the written address. What appears as a
discourse in the books of the prophets is probably not the exact report
of a speech, but the substance of a speech, or of several similar
speeches, worked up again into the style of a written address.

/iii. The Great Arraignment./ This discourse of Isaiah takes the
form of a theme (God's arraignment of his people as rebels) treated
in four paragraphs: the prophet's remonstrance--repentance by
oblations--repentance of life--corruption redeemed with judgment.

/iv. The Covenant with Death./ The phrase Covenant with Death in the
title of this discourse of Isaiah has a different meaning from the same
phrase in the title of another discourse (ii). In the latter it meant a
supposed invitation to Death to come as a friend, by those who were 'of
his portion'; in the present case it means an agreement with Death to
pass by the supposed speaker while he visits others.--This discourse
illustrates what is a characteristic feature of Hebrew literature--the
'pendulum structure,' by which the thought alternates in successive
paragraphs between one and the other of two contrasting themes, in this
case between Judgment and Salvation. The prophet is writing for the
southern kingdom of Judah. Commencing with the rival kingdom of northern
Israel he denounces drunken Ephraim, and how its crown of pride shall be
trodden down (Judgment). But (Salvation) there shall be a crown of glory
for the residue. Now he proceeds to Judgment upon Judah: the drunken
rulers who trust to a refuge of lies, which the overflowing scourge
shall sweep away. But there is Salvation for the patient. This comfort
is imparted in agricultural images: the cruel plowing does not go on for
ever, the gentle sowing comes; there are sharp threshing instruments
[for the guilty], the gentle threshing with the rod for the precious
cummin; and even the threshing is not to crush, but to make corn fit for
bread.

/v. The Utter Destruction and the Great Restoration./ A discourse made
by companion pictures linked together by two parallel passages, each a
parenthetic quintet, interrupting the pictorial description, which is
afterwards resumed, with words emphasising the prophecy as a whole:
_Seek ye out of the book of the LORD and read_ [how all these woes shall
come to pass] ... _Strengthen ye