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Isaiah
Prophet Isaiah; illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (c. 1904)
Prophet
Born	8th Century B.C. Judah (?)
Died	7th Century B.C.
Honored in	Judaism Roman Catholic Church Eastern Catholic Churches Eastern Orthodox Church Lutheranism Islam[1] Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast	May 9 [2]

Isaiah ( /aɪˈzeɪ.ə/ or UK /aɪˈzaɪ.ə/;^[2] Hebrew: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, Modern Yeshayahu Tiberian Yəšạʻyā́hû ; Greek: Ἠσαΐας, Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation"^[3]) was a prophet who lived in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.^[4][5] Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed (although not the earliest) of the neviim akharonim, the latter prophets.^[6]

Biography[link]

This section improperly uses one or more religious texts as primary sources without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. Please help improve this article by adding references to reliable secondary sources, with multiple points of view.

Russian icon of the Prophet Isaiah, 18th century (iconostasis of Transfiguration Church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia).

Isaiah is not mentioned anywhere outside of the Bible^[7]. It is stated in the first verse of the Book of Isaiah that he prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah (Isaiah 1:1). Uzziah reigned fifty-two years in the middle of the 8th century BC, and Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah's death, probably in the 740s BC. Isaiah lived until the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (who died 698 BC), and may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh. Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for as long as sixty-four years.

Isaiah's wife was called "the prophetess" (Isaiah 8:3), either because she was endowed with the prophetic gift, like Deborah (Judges 4:4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14-20), or simply because she was the wife of "the prophet" (Isaiah 38:1). The second interpretation, that it was simply an honorary title, "Mrs. Prophet" as it were, is likely.^[8] They had two sons, naming one Shear-Jashub, meaning "A remnant shall return"Isaiah 7:3 and the younger, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, meaning, "Spoil quickly, plunder speedily."Isaiah 8:3

In early youth, Isaiah may have been moved by the invasion of Israel by the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-Pileser III (2 Kings 15:19); and again, twenty years later, when he had already entered on his office, by the invasion of Tiglath-Pileser and his career of conquest. Ahaz, king of Judah, at this crisis refused to co-operate with the kings of Israel and Syria in opposition to the Assyrians, and was on that account attacked and defeated by Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel (2 Kings 16:5; 2 Chronicles 28:5–6). Ahaz, thus humbled, sided with Assyria, and sought the aid of Tiglath-Pileser against Israel and Syria. The consequence was that Rezin and Pekah were conquered and many of the people carried captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29, 16:9; 1 Chronicles 5:26).

Isaiah receives his vision of the Lord's house. A stained glass window at St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC

Isaiah, by Michelangelo, (c. 1508-1512, Sistine Chapel ceiling, Vatican City).

Soon after this Shalmaneser V determined wholly to subdue the kingdom of Israel, Samaria was taken and destroyed (722 BC). So long as Ahaz reigned, the kingdom of Judah was unmolested by the Assyrian power; but on his accession to the throne, Hezekiah, who was encouraged to rebel "against the king of Assyria" (2 Kings 18:7), entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt (Isaiah 30:2–4). This led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, and at length to invade the land. Sennacherib (701 BC) led a powerful army into Judah. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:14–16). But after a brief interval war broke out again, and again Sennacherib led an army into Judah, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:2–22; 37:8). Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians (37:1–7), whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he "spread before the LORD" (37:14).

According to the account in Kings (and its derivative account in Chronicles) the judgment of God now fell on the Assyrian army and wiped out 180,000 of its men. "Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either southern Palestine or Egypt."^[9]

The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful (2 Chr 32:23–29). Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or recorded history. There is a tradition (reported in both the Martyrdom of Isaiah and the Lives of the Prophets) that he suffered martyrdom by Manasseh due to pagan reaction.

In Christianity[link]

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395), believed that the Prophet Esaias (Isaiah) "knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel." Jerome (c. 342–420) also lauds the Prophet Esias, saying, "He was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events."^[10]

In Islam[link]

Although Isaiah is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an or in the authenticated sayings of Prophet Muhammed, some Muslim sources have accepted him as a prophet.^[11] Some Muslim scholars, such as Ibn Kathir and Kisa'i, reproduced Jewish traditions, transmitted through early Jewish converts to Islam, regarding Isaiah. Such Old Testament stories, which are not confirmed by the Quran or prophetic hadeeth, are referred to as Isra'iliyyah, and are not considered strong enough to be used as evidence in Islamic law. Isaiah is mentioned as a prophet in Ibn kathir's Stories of the Prophets and the modern writers Muhammad Asad and Abdullah Yusuf Ali^[12] accepted Isaiah as a true Hebrew prophet, who preached to the Israelites following the death of King David. Isaiah is well known in Muslim exegesis and literature, notably for his predictions of the coming of Jesus and Muhammad.^[13] Isaiah's narrative in Muslim literature can roughly be divided into three sections. The first part establishes Isaiah as a prophet of Israel during the reign of Hezekiah; the second part focuses on Isaiah's actions during the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib; and the third part is primarily focused upon Isaiah warning the people of coming doom.^[14]

Muslim exegesis preserves a tradition, which parallels that of the Hebrew Bible, which states that Hezekiah was the king that ruled over Jerusalem during Isaiah's time. Hezekiah obeyed and gave an ear to what Isaiah advised him but, nonetheless, this was a turbulent time for Israel.^[15] Tradition, however, maintains that Hezekiah was a righteous man and that the turbulence increased after Hezekiah's death. After the death of the king, Isaiah told the people to not forsake God and he warned Israel that the people must cease from their persistent sin and acts of disobedience. Muslim tradition maintains that the unrighteous people of Israel were angered and sought to kill Isaiah.^[15] In a death which resembles that attributed to Isaiah in Lives of the Prophets, Muslim exegesis recounts that Isaiah was martyred by Israelites by being sawed in half.^[15]

Rabbinic literature[link]

According to the Rabbinic literature, Isaiah was a descendant of the imperial house of Judah and Tamar (Sotah 10b). He was the son of Amoz (not to be confused with Prophet Amos), who was the brother of King Amaziah of Juda. (Talmud tractate Megillah 15a).^[16]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Church, Brooke Peters (1953). The Private Lives of the Prophets and the Times in Which They Lived. New York: Rinehart. 
• Cohon, Beryl D. (1939). The Prophets: Their Personalities and Teachings. New York: Scribner. 
• Herbert, Arthur Sumner (1975). The book of the prophet Isaiah : Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08624-8. 
• Herbert, Arthur Sumner (1975). The book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapters 40-66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20721-5. 
• Kraeling, Emil G. (1969). The Prophets. Chicago: Rand McNally. 
• Miscall, Peter D. (1993). Isaiah. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press. ISBN 1-85075-435-7. 
• Quinn-Miscall, Peter D. (2001). Reading Isaiah : poetry and vision. Louisville: Westminster Press. ISBN 0-664-22369-9. 
• Phillips, J.B. (1963). Four Prophets, Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, Micha: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew. New York: Macmillan. 
• Sawyer, John F.A. (1996). The fifth gospel : Isaiah in the history of Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-44007-6. 
• Scott, R.B.Y. (1968). The Relevance of the Prophets. Macmillan: London. 
• Smith, J.M. Powis (1941). The Prophets and Their Times. Chicago: University of Chicago. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Isaiah

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Isaiah

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Isaiah

• Sermons on Isaiah
• From Faith to Faith, Chapter IV - Prophecy (A study of Isaiah of Jerusalem)
• Isaiah (Isaias) at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Avraham Gileadi's new translation and commentary on Isaiah
• Prophet Isaiah Orthodox icon and synaxarion

This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.

Isaiah Mustafa
Isaiah Mustafa, July 16, 2010
Born	Isaiah Mustafa (1974-02-11) February 11, 1974 (age 38) Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Alma mater	Arizona State University
Occupation	Sportsman, actor
Years active	1997–2000 (sports) 2006–present (acting / media)

Isaiah Mustafa (born February 11, 1974)^[1] is an American actor^[2] and former NFL practice squad wide receiver.^[3] Mustafa is widely known as the main character for a series of Old Spice TV commercials, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

Early life[link]

Mustafa was born in Portland, Oregon, the youngest of seven children of Shahidah Mustafa-Davis and Wali John Mustafa, who owned and ran a limousine service in Laguna Hills, California in the early 1980s.^[4] He and his family are Muslim.^[4] Mustafa studied history at Arizona State^[5] and, in 2000, owned a restaurant called Jo Jo's Barbecue on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles^[6] that is now closed.^[7]

Football career[link]

Mustafa played basketball and ran track at Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, California.^[3] He did not play high school football, but he tried out for Moorpark College's football team hoping for an athletic scholarship;^[7] he became a free safety, later becoming a wide receiver, and eventually earned a football scholarship.^[7][3]

After transferring to Arizona State University on a football scholarship in 1995, Mustafa was a starting wide receiver for the Arizona State Sun Devils but had an unspecified "confrontation" with a coach and was benched his senior year.^[3] Mustafa played during the 1997 Rose Bowl between the then-undefeated Sun Devils (led by Mustafa's friend Jake Plummer)^[5] and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Although Mustafa expected to become a high school teacher after graduation, a sports agent suggested that he try out for NFL teams. The Tennessee Oilers signed him to the practice squad, then sent him to NFL Europe's Barcelona Dragons in 1998.^[3] After a season on the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns' practice squads in 1999, he attended the Seattle Seahawks' training camp in 2000.^[6][8]

Acting career[link]

After the Seahawks, Mustafa pursued an acting career, playing small character roles on various television programs. He gained sudden fame in February 2010 as the result of the popular The Man Your Man Could Smell Like advertising campaign for Old Spice, which featured his monologues.^{[5][9][10][11]} Mustafa's first commercial in the series was directed by Tom Kuntz.

Subsequently, a three-day session created a series of humorous, personalized YouTube videos, with Mustafa reprising the character from the original Old Spice commercial. These were directed at members of the public and celebrities, who had asked him questions on websites such as reddit, Facebook and Twitter.^[12][13]

On July 26, 2011, Old Spice launched a new campaign on YouTube featuring a challenge between Isaiah Mustafa and Fabio entitled Mano a Mano in el Baño. Mustafa said he wasn't worried, even though Fabio has been "the epitome of the sex symbol as a pitchman." Mustafa emerged as the winner.^[14]

Mustafa signed a talent deal with NBC and appeared in the film Horrible Bosses.^[15][16] He hosted the TBS special Funniest Commercials of the Year for both 2010 and 2011.^[17] He has also appeared as a guest panelist on the popular late-night talk show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.^[18]

Personal life[link]

Mustafa is a comic book fan (with Spider-Man and Batman among his favorites), which has related to key events in his life. His knowledge of Doctor Doom's first name incidentally helped him win $47,000 on The Weakest Link for a question on the first name of Doctor Frankenstein; the money helped him pursue his post-restaurateur goal of becoming an actor.^[7] Mustafa named his daughter in reference to the Batman character Harley Quinn. He has expressed interest in playing comic book superhero Luke Cage^[19] and appeared as Cage in a Marvel Comics web short styled after his Old Spice commercials.^[20] He is also a fan of the animated series The Venture Bros.

In the realm of sports, Mustafa remains an avid fan of the Arizona State Sun Devils and expressed his support for the Vancouver Canucks NHL team during their 2010–2011 playoff run. He continues to support his hometown Portland Trail Blazers, as is evidenced in the photograph of him at the top of the page.

Mustafa is also a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, rushing while attending Arizona State University.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Isaiah Mustafa at the Internet Movie Database
• Isaiah Mustafa on Twitter