Isaiah,
prophet of the Bible:
1st cousin 89 times removed
Isaiah lived in Jerusalem with his wife and two children.
The prominence of his father is seen in that the prophet is often
called "the son of Amoz" (13 times) and according to the
Babylonian Talmud he was a brother of King Amaziah.
Isaiah
is quoted by Jesus and the disciples more than any other prophet. There
are more than 250 allusions to Isaiah's prophesies. Isaiah prophesied
in Judah from 760 to 713 B.C. It was during his ministry that
the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive by our 87th great-grandfather
Sargon II, King of Assyria and the Assyrians were threatening Judah
also. After the fall Josephus says
that Cyrus the Great (our 82nd great-grandfather)
was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 44:28 45:1,13) to
aid the Jews in returning and rebuilding the temple.
Ezr 1:1-11 confirms this.
What
I especially like about Isaiah is his emphasis on social justice which
certainly inspired Jesus and thus much of our thinking today.
Men must cease to pursue wealth as the main aim in life: "God
will not tolerate the oppression of the weak." Here is a
piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls discussing his thoughts.
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