The Limmûdîm in the Book of Isaiah

The term limmûdîm (attested in Isa. 8.16, and then 50.4a, 4c; 54.13) serves as a literary ligature between the messages of the eighth-century prophet in Jerusalem and his descendants who ministered in sixth-century Babylonia. The term further points to the role of the sixth-century prophets as ‘students’ of the eighth-century master whose role was to transform Isaiah’s messages of impending doom that called for repentance into messages of hope at the prospect of redemption. In addition, the limmûdîm within the inter-generational ‘school’ of Isaiah may be viewed as a subset of the larger ‘sons of the prophets’ attested as early as the time of Samuel.