The Book Around Immanuel: Style and Structure in Isaiah 2-12

In this excellent book, Rev. Dr. Andrew Bartelt (professor of Old Testament exegesis at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) presents us with his modified and updated doctoral dissertation that he prepared under David Noel Freedman at the University of Michigan. Bartelt outlines the purpose of his study when he writes, "This study is borne by the confluence of two streams of recent research: the study of Hebrew poetry, especially studies of poetic stylistics, and the type of literary investigation that has come to be called rhetorical criticism." This book is therefore a painstakingly researched study of Isaiah's poetry in the "Book of Immanuel", or Isaiah 2-12. Bartelt's work is highly technical; it deals with the Hebrew text and not with the history of interpretation or present day applications. Nothing is transliterated. Bartelt actually counts the syllables of every single line of poetry as a means of tracking its brilliant literary structure. He also pays close attention to stress count, verb/subject order, and word count. As a guide to Isaiah's rhetorical style, poetic devices, and authorial intent, this study is unsurpassed. I recommend it for any seminary or graduate course one might take on Isaiah. It could also be helpful to the pastor preparing a careful Bible study on this marvelous book.