Religious and cultural message of the book of Isaiah

This is a conference paper offered to a large audince in the Jewish Community of Zagreb on April 6, 1995. The author presents contemporary Jewish and Christian consensus on the Book of Isaiah as embracing the oracles of three different prophets from about 740 BC to about 520 BC. The historical Isaiah, son of Amoz, performed his ministry in Jerusalem from 740 BC to about 700 BC under Davidic kings Ahaz and Hezekiah. He preached justice and peace for ali in the name of God as Israel\u27s Holy One. During last decade of the Babilonian exile (550-540 BC) Deutero-Isaiah was called to console his fellow exiles and to announce a new exodus. Trito-Isaiah was a prophet of returnees who struggled for renewal of their destroyed capltal in 538-520 BC. Ali three of these religious and cultured figures preached God\u27s transcendence, peace with justice for Israel and gentile nations and they emphasized universal touch of Israel\u27s Yahwistic monotheism. Literary form and Jewish background of the four Servant songs in Deutero-lsaiah permit an individual and collective interpretation of this mysterious figure. Rabbi A. Zaoui applies Is 53,7 to Jewish victims of the holocaust in the second world war