reign of Tiglath-Pileser, whose punishing campaigns into the north have left their mark on Isaianic tradition as we saw, also came to an end. So there were at least two new beginnings to celebrate, and every reason to sing of victory and the end of oppression. On the other hand, the language and imagery of the poem—the legendary “day of Midian”, the transcendent names of the new king, the picture of everlasting peace and justice—might equally suggest that the poem has no connection with any historical