Ascension of Isaiah


The Ascension of Isaiah is a pseudepigraphical Judeo-Christian text. Scholarly estimates regarding the date of the Ascension of Isaiah range from 70 AD to 175 AD. Many scholars believe it to be a compilation of several texts completed by an unknown Christian scribe who claimed to be the Prophet Isaiah, while an increasing number of scholars in recent years have argued that the work is a unity by a single author that may have utilized multiple sources.
Many scholars have seen some similarities between Gnosticism and the Ascension of Isaiah.
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Dating of the text

It is generally believed that the text is composed of three different sections written at different times, by different authors. The earliest section, regarding chapters 3:13–4:22, was composed at about the end of the first century AD or perhaps early second century and is believed to be a text of Jewish origins which was later on redacted by Christian scribes. The date of the Vision of Isaiah is rather more difficult to determine, but it is no more recent than the third century, since Jerome cites a fragment of the work in some of his writings, but from internal evidence it seems that the text is to be placed before the end of the second century AD. The whole work was on a later date assembled as M.A. Kinibb writes:
It is not known when exactly the three sections of the Ascension were combined. The Greek fragment, the palimpsest giving the text of the fragments of the first Latin translation, and the Ethiopic translation all presuppose the existence of the complete work. But the character of the mistakes in the Greek fragment and the Latin palimpsest suggests that the complete work had already been in existence for some time when these manuscripts were copied. It thus seems likely that the three sections of the Ascension were brought together in the third or fourth century A.D., and this is confirmed by the fact that Jerome seems to have known the complete book. It is possible that there were two stages in the process, first the combination of 3:13-4:22 with the Martyrdom, and second the combination of the enlarged Martyrdom with the Vision.

Knibb thus dates the whole text as being written between AD 150 and 200 but assembled at a later time. Most scholars agree that a mid to early second century date for the principal portion of the document is probable, dateable in its present to the least the early part of the second century.

Content

Structure

The book has three main sections:
  • The first part of the book, generally referred to as the Martyrdom of Isaiah, recounts and expands on the events of 2 Kings chapter 21. Isaiah warns the dying Hezekiah that his heir, Manasseh, will not follow the same path. When Manasseh takes over, and Isaiah's warning proves true, Isaiah and a group of fellow prophets head into the desert, and a demon named Beliar inspires a false prophet named Belkira to accuse Isaiah of treason. The king consequently condemns Isaiah to death, and although Isaiah hides in a tree, he is found, and Belkira leads the execution.
  • *Into the middle of this is a Christian apocalypse called the Testament of Hezekiah, describing a vision of the coming of Jesus, the subsequent corruption of the Christian church, the rule of Beliar, and the second coming. All of this is phrased in such a way that it is clearly a code for the persecution of the Church by Nero and the belief that Nero was an Antichrist.
  • The second part of the book is referred to as the Vision of Isaiah and describes an angel-assisted journey, prior to the events of the first part of the book, by Isaiah through the Seven Heavens. It is written from a Christian perspective, concentrating on Jesus descending through each of the heavens disguising himself as an angel toward earth, his earthly birth, death, his resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus.
The extant complete manuscripts of the Ascension of Isaiah include a brief account of Jesus' nativity, birth, and crucifixion. According to Jonathan Knight, these expanded traditions are found in the Ethiopic translation while the Slavonic and one of the two Latin translations replace them with a short summary of the earthly appearance traditions. Furthermore, he states that the common outlook among scholars is that 11:2-22 was originally in the Ascension of Isaiah and not a later insertion or adulteration.
Elements of the Ascension of Isaiah are paralleled in other Jewish and Christian writings. The method of Isaiah's death is agreed upon by both the Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem Talmud and is probably alluded to by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The demon Beliar appears in quite a number of apocryphal works, including the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Sibylline Oracles. Finally, Isaiah's journey through the Seven Heavens parallels that of Enoch in the Second Book of Enoch, and the Epistula Apostolorum.
The first section of the text also contains hostility toward the Samaritans, an Israelite sect that claim to be Jews left behind during the Babylonian exile disowned by the remainder.

Proto-Trinitarianism

Some scholars have noted that the Ascension reflects a proto-Trinitarian perspective, such as when the inhabitants of the sixth heaven sing praises to "the primal Father and his Beloved Christ, and the Holy Spirit". Larry Hurtado writes;
The most extended narrative of heavenly worship is in 9.27–42, however, where a similar triadic view is presented. Having reached the seventh heaven, which is bathed in incomparable light, Isaiah sees innumerable angels and "all the righteous from the time of Adam onwards". Then, after his angel guide explains how the descent of the Beloved One will make it possible for the righteous to receive their robes, crowns, and thrones, Isaiah sees a figure "whose glory surpassed that of all" being worshiped by Adam, Abel, and all the other righteous and angels. Crucially, at this point the angel guide directs Isaiah to "Worship this one," whom the angel identifies as "the Lord of all the praise which you have seen", the Beloved One; Isaiah joins in the worship and sung praise directed to this figure. Then another glorious figure approaches, subsequently identified as "the angel of the Holy Spirit who has spoken in you and also in the other righteous", and Isaiah is likewise told
to join the angels in worshiping this one. Finally, in a carefully prepared climax to this scene, Isaiah sees "the Great Glory", and he relates how "my Lord" and "the angel of the Spirit" both offered worship to this third figure, along with "all the righteous" and the angels.

Theological controversy

The Ascension of Isaiah suggests early Christian belief in subordinationism, similar to that of Origen and, later, Novatian. The text describes the worship of the "Great Glory" by the "Beloved" and the "Angel of the Holy Spirit," implying hierarchy in the ranks of the trinity. Further, it is suggested that the angels escorting Isaiah in his ascension are none other than Jesus and the Angel of the Holy Spirit. By the text labeling Jesus and the Holy Spirit as angelic beings, a Christology and pneumatology are established that distinguish "the LORD" from "my LORD" and the Holy Spirit. This would be cause to label the story as heretical in the Western Orthodox tradition, along with similar theological beliefs, such as Arianism. Nonetheless, early Jewish-Christians, most likely in the Palestinian region, would have found this story influential in understanding theology, pneumatology and Christology, largely due to its referral to the Hebrew scriptures' prophets.

Demons

Theological demons noted in the text are:
  • Belial is the angel of lawlessness and is also identified as Samael and Satan.
  • Samael is identified in the vision that Isaiah experienced, wherein he ascended to the firmament and notes, "there I saw Sammael and his hosts, and there was great fighting therein....as above so on the earth also; for the likeness of that which is in the firmament is here on the earth." Samael is also often identified as Malkira, which are all epithets of the false prophet sent by Belial to accuse Isaiah of treason.

Composition

According to the theory of R. H. Charles, the text incorporates three distinct sections, each once a separate work that is a single compilation here. Of these, one, the first, appears to have been written by a Jewish author, and the other two by Christians. However modern scholarship holds that it was all the work of Christians writers.
According to Charles, The Martyrdom consists of:
E. Norelli suggests on the contrary that the whole text, even if written in different times, is the expression of a docetic Christian prophetic group related with the group attacked by Ignatius of Antioch in his letters to the Smyrnaeans and to the Trallians. According to this scholar chapters 6-11 are older than chapters 1–5, the date of composition is the end of the 1st century AD, and the narrative of Mary's pregnancy is independent from the Gospel of Matthew. Other scholars reject characterizing the Ascension of Isaiah as a docetic text.

Manuscript tradition

The text exists as a whole in three Ge'ez manuscripts of around the 15th-18th centuries, but fragments have also survived in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Old Church Slavonic. All three component texts appear to have been originally in Greek, although it is possible that the "Martyrdom of Isaiah" derives from a Hebrew or Aramaic original. Comparison of the various translations suggests that two different recensions of the Greek original must have existed; one on which the Ethiopic and one of the Latin versions were based, and the other on which the Slavonic and the other Latin version were based. Fragments of both Greek versions have survived. The work's current title is derived from the title used in the Ethiopic manuscripts. In antiquity, Epiphanius also referred to it by this title, as did Jerome.

Textual sources

  • In its complete form Asc. Is. is found only in the Ethiopic Version, and even this needs to be corrected and at times supplemented by other authorities. Of this version there are five MSS, of which one is at the Bodleian, and two inferior ones in the British Museum:
  • * Bodleian Library, MS Aeth. d.13, 15th century, fols. 95-115
  • * British Library, Or. 501, 15the century, fols. 62-69
  • * British Library, Or. 503, 18th century, fols. 57-62
  • * Vatican Library, Eth. 263, 14th-15th century, fols. 85-104
  • * a fragment in an Abba Garima codex. The fragment covers 1.4-2.3, and its text is closely similar to the manuscript of the Vatican Library.
  • The Slavonic Version is extant in a MS at the Library of the Uspenschen Cathedral, Moscow. It belongs to c. AD 1200.
  • There are two Latin Versions:
  • The Greek Versions are likewise twofold:
From the authoritative texts, two recensions may traced to the Greek autograph MS.
  1. The Greek Legend and the Latin fragments support the first recension of the Greek autograph MS.
  2. The Greek Amherst Papyri, the Ethiopic, the Slavonic, and the fuller Latin Version follow the second recension.