Isaiah’s suit

In a long article on mouth-purification in the ANE and Isaiah, Victor Hurowitz says that Isaiah has presented three, even four, lawsuits in the first six chapters of his prophecy: “The first ‘lawsuit’ is found in Isaiah 1:2—20 . . . The second ‘lawsuit’ is found in 3:1-15, but in this instance the elements characteristic of the rib pattern appear in reverse order from that expected. Vss 1-7 contain threat of punishment, vss 8-9, the testimony, vs 10 offers the defendant a choice between a guilty or not guilty verdict . . . , vs 13-15 are the ‘introduction’ to the lawsuit and the description of the court and the litigants. This unit is enveloped by an inclusio consisting of the words hä^ädon and adönäy YHWH seba^ot. The third ‘lawsuit’ takes on a somewhat irregular form as the vineyard allegory (5 1—7). That it is in fact a disguised lawsuit is indicated by the invitation in vs 3: ‘and now, citizens of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge ( siptû ) between me and my vineyard.’ If chapter 6 is indeed a ‘lawsuit’ . . . chapters 1-6 will then be seen to be structured according to the numerical sequence 3-4, with the significant difference between the third and fourth repetition being that in the fourth ‘lawsuit’ the people are no longer given the opportunity to defend themselves. The position of the ‘Throne Vision’ as the climactic lawsuit in such a chain is obviously a possible counterindication to its being the prophet’s innaugural Vision.”