Isaiah: Four Keys of Interpretation
(A summary prepared by Steven Montgomery of Avraham Gileadi's book, The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with interpretive keys from the Book of Mormon)

Four Keys of Interpretation:

Spirit of Prophecy (see 2 Nephi 25:4)
Letter of Prophecy (see 2 Nephi 25:5)
Searching (see 3 Nephi 23:1)
Types (see 3 Nephi 23:2)

Regarding the "letter of Prophecy," the Jews rely on interpretive devices such as types and shadows, allegorical language, literary patterns, underlying structures, parallelism, double meaning, key words, code names, and many other mechanical tools. Below are some governing structures:

Governing structures:

Near Eastern

Egyptian: Sinuhe Story: Trouble at Home, Exile Abroad, Happy Homecoming

The Monomyth or Hero Journey: Separation, Initiation, Return

Ugaritic

Myth of Baal and Anath:The themes of Apostasy, Judgement, Restoration, Salvation as found in Isaiah parallel the Babylonian themes of Threat, War, Victory and Feast.

One Ugaritic cycle encompasses the whole book of Isaiah:

Apostasy---------- Isaiah 10-34
Judgment--------- Isaiah 10-34
Restoration-------- Isaiah 30-59

Salvation------------Isaiah 60-66

Local Ugaritic themes exist throughout Isaiah. Several examples:

Apostasy	Judgment	Restoration	Salvation
Isaiah 1:20-23	Isaiah 1:24	Isaiah 1: 25-26	Isaiah 1:27
Isaiah 1:28-29	Isaiah 1:30-31	Isaiah 2:2-3	Isaiah 2:4-5
Isaiah 57:11	Isaiah 57:12-13	Isaiah 57:13-14	Isaiah 57:15
Isaiah 57:16-17	Isaiah 57:17	Isaiah 57:18	Isaiah 57:19

Zion Ideology

General: Encompassing the whole book of Isaiah

Destruction or Judgement of the wicked----------Isaiah 1-36
Deliverance or establishment of the righteous-----Isaiah 40-66
At the appearance or ascension to the throne of a righteous Davidic King-----Isaiah 37-39

Local: Every time Isaiah mentions ZION these ideas come together. The Davidic King mostly appears under a pseudonym: Ensign, Staff, Hand, Arm, Righteousness, etc. (Note: Under the Davidic Covenant God pledges to protect the King's people as long as the King remains loyal. Under the Sinaitic Covenant every person has to be loyal to merit protection. The Davidic Covenant follows the pattern of ancient near eastern covenant of grant between a suzerain and vassal king--the suzerain protects the people of the vassal king as long as the vassal king remains loyal, for example, King Hezekiah in Isaiah 37:33-36 and Isaiah 38: 2-6)

Covenantal Malediction and Benediction

Covenantal Malediction-----Isaiah 1-39
Covenantal Benediction-----Isaiah 40-66

Bifid Chiastic Structure (original to Isaiah)
- Ruin and Renascence (Isaiah 1-5; 34-35)
- Disinheritance and Inheritance (Isaiah 32-33; 60-66)

Forms of Speech (small literary patterns)

Lawsuit (Isaiah 1:10-20)	Messenger Speech [Thus says the Lord] (Isaiah 7:3-9; 30:8-17)
Woe Oracle (Isaiah 5:8-24)	Prophetic Lament [How?] (Isaiah 1:21)
Priestly Sermons (Isaiah 8:11-17; 51:1-8)	Parable (Isaiah 5:1-7; 27:2-6)
Song of Salvation (Isaiah 12:1-6; 26:1-6)	Proclamation of Judgement?
Ethical Sermon?	The Parable?
Commission Formula* (Isaiah 6:9)	Proclamation Formula* (Isaiah 28:23; 49:1)
Oath Formula* (Isaiah 14:24; 62:8; 45:23)	Revelation Formula* (Isaiah 7:3; 8:3; 21:16)
Prophetic Call Narrative (Isaiah 6:1-13)	Prophetic Symbolic Actions (Isaiah 20:1-6)
Prophetic Lawsuit (Isaiah 1:2-3, 18-20)	Prophetic Vision (Isaiah 6)
Judgment Oracle* (Isaiah 3:12; 29:13-14)	Recognition Formula* (Isaiah 45:3; 49:23)

Parallelism (the smallest structure)

Synonymous Parallelism
Antithetical Parallelism [contrasts one word or idea with another] (Isaiah 45:7)

Metaphors

Key Words: Individual metaphorical terms such as Sea, River, Razor, Light, Hand, Ensign, Staff, Anger, Litter
Transcendent Drama: Struggle between the Archtyrant and the Davidic King

Hebrew Language--Several Examples:

Seraph: Fiery or Holy Ones
Consummation: Fulness
Mist: Denotes the presence of the Lord
Undone: Struck dumb (As in the Egyptian opening of the mouth ceremony)

Searching (3 Nephi 22:1)

Reading between the lines: Isaiah is not to be fully understood simply by reading the words. We must search them out and make connections, study things out in our minds, and otherwise read between the lines.

?Not found in Gileadi's book, The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with interpretive keys from the Book of Mormon, but he mentions these forms of speech in an article published in the book, Isaiah and the Prophets: Inspired Voices From The Old Testament, by Monte S. Nyman.

*Donald W. Parry, in a review partly laudatory and partly critical of Gileadi's book, mentioned these forms of speech as examples where Gileadi fell short of making a complete list of prophetic speech forms.

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