Luke–Acts account for 28% of the New Testament writings, the largest contribution attributed to any single author. This author is not explicitly named in either volume. According to Church tradition, dating from the second century, the author was the “Luke”, who was named as a companion of the apostle Paul in three of the letters attributed to Paul himself. That would fit the use of “we” in certain sections of Acts. The author was an admirer of Paul, an educated man of means, probably urban, who respected manual work, although not a worker himself. This work of Acts used many Greek words that are not found in the other Greek New Testament writings, since he had a more literate Greek style.
the author
Yahweh causes the death of many in Jerusalem (Lam 2:21-2:21)
Shin
“The young
With the old
Are lying
On the ground
In the streets.
My young women
With my young men
Have fallen
By the sword.
In the day
Of your anger,
You have killed them,
Slaughtering
Without mercy.”
Suddenly, the author switches to the first person singular as Jerusalem itself laments the death of its people. Both the young and the old people were lying in the streets dead. Both the young men and the young women were killed by the sword. Now this author, speaking as Jerusalem, blames all of this on Yahweh. He claimed with a very strong accusation that on the day of his anger, Yahweh killed and slaughtered the people of Jerusalem without mercy. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Shin. Each verse after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this acrostic poem.
The Greek introduction
“It happened
After the captivity
Of Israel,
After the destruction
Of Jerusalem
The prophet Jeremiah
Cried.
He offered
This lamentation
Over Jerusalem.”
Most of the conjecture about the author of this book comes from this introductory title to the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible. It clearly states that this work takes place after the captivity of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem. It explicitly says that Jeremiah was the one crying as he offered this lamentation over Jerusalem. Although this introduction was not in the original Hebrew text, the Greek translators believed that Jeremiah was the author. However, the style is not like Jeremiah. The style is a Hebrew acrostic poem that has each verse starts with a different sequential consonant of the 22 letter Hebrew alphabet. There were other acrostic works, especially the psalms, with the most prominent being Psalm 119.
Cyrus the Anointed Messiah Christ (Isa 45:1-45:1)
“Thus says Yahweh
To his anointed,
To Cyrus.
I have grasped his right hand,
To subdue nations before him,
To strip kings of their robes,
To open doors before him.
The gates shall not be closed.”
Second Isaiah calls Cyrus the anointed one, in Hebrew the Messiah, or in Greek the Christ. This is the only reference of an anointed person or a messiah who was not an Israelite. Cyrus, the King of Persia from 559-530 BCE, more than two centuries after the lifetime of Isaiah, was really a favorite of both Yahweh and the author of Second Isaiah. Cyrus the Great created the largest empire in the world with present day Iran the last vestige of that empire as he took over many countries. Second Isaiah continually insisted that Yahweh was behind Cyrus as he is clearly the anointed one of Yahweh. Yahweh has grasped his right hand, so that he could subdue various nations. Yahweh would help Cyrus strip kings of their robes. He would open doors for him, since no gates would be closed to Cyrus.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 