Looking into the backgrounds of individuals called to serve as prophets, what seems surprising is that they don't seem to follow a pattern. They include farmers, herdsmen and others with more high profile assignments. At least one, Moses, started life as a foundling, then became a part of Pharaoh's Court, then served under his father-in-law as a herdsman.
Isaiah had the important job advising King Hezekiah on how to avoid conquest and capture by the Assyrians and other ambitious neighbors. In that capacity, one would assume his advice had to be quick, easy to follow and understand and given with confidence and conviction. Anything less would make for a short career as a royal adviser.
But the world of prophets can be far removed from advising kings. A prophet's view, we are told, may take in the past, present and future - all at the same time. This, in turn, may make it more difficult for the listener/reader to see things as the prophet might, especially if the message dates back centuries. Hence the proliferation of churches, all with different convictions.
Isaiah's prophetic writings would have had to be very different from anything he wrote for the King, and his references do take in all of time, not just his own. His use of figures of speech is extensive. Christians and Jews cannot even agree when or even if he prophesied regarding the future Messiah. His prophecies are concerned with big events, some so far in the future as to make one wonder how his contemporaries would have made use of them.
But we retain his words today. Some have even been set to music. It's sometimes laborious to know with clarity the subject of short passages, even different parts of the same sentence. Nevertheless, we see him as the most important of all the Old Testament prophets.
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