Surprisingly, a prophet can be both raised and born, and Isaiah had both advantages. One could argue with equal force that Isaiah is descended from a family of prophets (though his father, the otherwise unknown Amoz, is not to be confused with the prophet Amos). He is thoroughly schooled in the traditional forms and language of prophetic speech. It is an educated speech—intense, vivid, and the finest of classical language.
Isaiah is particularly well acquainted with the prophetic tradition known to his slightly older contemporary, Amos. Four eminent prophets addressed themselves to the people of Israel and Judah: Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah. Strangely, no evidence suggests that any of these prophets knew in person any of the others.
Seemingly, they were apart and alone, yet Isaiah and Amos follow essentially the same lines of thought and differ significantly only in that Amos addressed the northern kingdom (Israel) while Isaiah would emphatically include Judah and Jerusalem. The basic similarities in style and substance strongly suggest the influence, direct or indirect, of one on the other.
Isaiah’s experience bridges the classes and occupations. Whatever his family circumstances, still in his youth he came to know the face of poverty—and the debauchery of the rich. He was at home with the unprotected, the widowed, and orphaned; with the dispossessed, homeless, landless; and with the resourceless victims of the moneyed man’s court.
He was also acquainted with the rapacious authors of the prevailing misery: promulgators of discriminatory laws, venal judges, greedy landgrabbers, fancy women, thieving and carousing men of means, and irresponsible leaders, both civil and religious. In other words, he was intimately aware of the inequities and evils of human society.