Here is a complete, source-based answer to both questions.

1. Did Isaiah have brothers?Hebrew Bible
No brother of Isaiah is ever named or mentioned (Isaiah 1–39, 2 Kings 19–20, 2 Chronicles 26–32). His father is Amoz (אָמוֹץ), but no siblings appear.Midrash / Talmud / Classical Rabbinic sources
Yes – the rabbis give Isaiah two or three brothers, all sons of Amoz, and turn Amoz into a prophet or even a brother of King Amaziah of Judah. The main traditions:

Source	Brothers of Isaiah named	Details
Talmud Bavli Megillah 10b	None named, but says “Amoz and Amaziah were brothers” → makes Isaiah a nephew of the king	Most influential tradition.
Midrash Leviticus Rabbah 10:1	Explicitly: Joah, Asaiah, and Amoz were brothers; Amoz was Isaiah’s father	Joah = court official in 2 Kings 18:18; Asaiah = official in 2 Chronicles 34:20.
Yalkut Shimoni on Isaiah §429	Isaiah had brothers Uzziah and Amaziah (confusing the king with the family)	Later conflation.
Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 1:1	No brothers mentioned	Silent on family.

The dominant rabbinic view (followed by Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Radak, etc.) is that Amoz was the brother of King Amaziah → Isaiah was of royal Davidic blood and a cousin/nephew of King Uzziah and Jotham. This explains why Isaiah had such easy access to the palace.2. Names of Isaiah’s sons – Bible vs. extra-biblical sources

Source	Son(s) named	Meaning of the name (symbolic prophecy)	Verse / Reference
Hebrew Bible	1. Shear-Yashub (שְׁאָר יָשׁוּב)	“A remnant shall return”	Isaiah 7:3
	2. Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (מַהֵר שָׁלָל חָשׁ בַּז)	“Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil”	Isaiah 8:1–4
Isaiah’s wife	Called “the prophetess” (הַנְּבִיאָה) – never given a personal name	Isaiah 8:3
Talmud & Midrash	Same two sons only – no additional children ever mentioned.	e.g., Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 10a, Midrash Rabbah, etc.
Targum Jonathan	Same two names, expanded symbolically, but no new sons.	Targum on Isaiah 7:3 & 8:1–4
Church Fathers / Christian tradition	Occasionally allegorise the sons, but never add new ones.	Jerome, Augustine, etc.

No Jewish or Christian source (Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Targums, Midrash, or Church Fathers) ever gives Isaiah a third son or any other children.Summary Table

Category	Biblical Evidence	Extra-biblical Evidence
Brothers of Isaiah	None mentioned	Talmud & Midrash: Joah, Asaiah (and sometimes the king himself); Amoz = brother of Amaziah
Sons of Isaiah	1. Shear-Yashub 2. Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz	Exactly the same two sons; no additional children anywhere

So:

• Brothers → only in rabbinic legend (royal uncles).
• Sons → only the two symbolic-name boys in Isaiah 7–8, universally accepted with no extras in any source.

The Ancient Assyrian Religion (ca. 2500–612 BCE)The religion of the Assyrians (both in the Old, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian periods) was the standard Mesopotamian polytheistic religion, almost identical to the Babylonian one, but with Ashur as the supreme national god instead of Marduk.Core Features and Main Deities

Rank / Role	Deity	Assyrian / Akkadian Name	Main Characteristics & Symbols
National god & supreme king of the pantheon	Ashur	Aššur	Originally the deified city of Assur → later “king of the gods”. No mythology, no wife or children in early periods. Symbol: winged sun-disc.
Divine couple	Ishtar (war & love)	Ištar of Nineveh / Ištar of Arbela	The most popular goddess in Assyria. Fierce war goddess + fertility. Lion, eight-pointed star.
	Mullissu / Ninlil	Mullissu	Wife of Ashur in late Assyrian theology (borrowed from Babylonian Enlil–Ninlil).
Weather & war god	Adad	Adad	Storm god, bull, lightning fork.
Moon god	Sin	Sîn of Harran	Very important in the west (Harran). Crescent moon.
Sun god	Shamash	Šamaš	God of justice and divination. Solar disc.
Wisdom & writing god	Nabu	Nabû	Son of Marduk, hugely popular in late Neo-Assyrian period (Calah/Nimrud was his cult centre). Stylus and tablet.
Underworld gods	Nergal & Ereshkigal	Nergal of Kutha	Nergal especially revered by military kings.
Seven gods who decree fate	Sibitti	Sebettu	Seven warrior gods, often depicted together.

Key Differences from Babylonian Religion

Feature	Assyria	Babylonia
Head of the pantheon	Ashur (no genealogy, no parents)	Marduk (Enuma Elish makes him supreme)
Main Ishtar cult centres	Nineveh and Arbela	None as dominant
Importance of Nabu	Extremely high in 8th–7th centuries	Important, but secondary
Theology of kingship	The king is the high priest and vice-regent of Ashur – almost divine himself	King is chosen by Marduk, but less divine aura

Religious Practices

• State cult: The king personally performed rituals in the Ashur temple at Assur (Old/Middle periods) and later in Nineveh.
• Divination was central – every military campaign began with extispicy (reading sheep livers) and celestial omens.
• Holy war ideology: Assyrian kings claimed to fight “with the weapons of Ashur and Ishtar”.
• Akītu (New Year) festival existed, but was less elaborate than Babylon’s.
• Syncretism with conquered peoples: Aramean Hadad, West-Semitic Atargatis, Urartian Haldi, etc., were all incorporated.

Archaeological Evidence

• Ashur temple at Assur (rebuilt by Shalmaneser III, Sennacherib, etc.).
• Ishtar temple at Nineveh (excavated; Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal boast of enriching it).
• Nabu temple at Nimrud/Calakh – Ashurnasirpal II and later kings.
• Thousands of oracle queries and liver omens in Assyrian libraries (especially Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh).

Bottom LineThe ancient Assyrians practised the classic Mesopotamian religion of the 3rd–1st millennia BCE, but they elevated their city-god Ashur to absolute supremacy and gave enormous prominence to Ishtar (especially as war goddess) and Nabu.
It was polytheistic, highly ritualistic, divination-obsessed, and inseparable from the imperial war machine.

Yes – Samaria (the former Kingdom of Israel) and Judea (the former Kingdom of Judah) both came under the same successive empires at roughly the same times, but with different experiences and administrative names.Here is the exact timeline:

Period	Year(s)	What happened to Samaria (north)	What happened to Judea (south)	Both under the same empire?
Neo-Babylonian Empire	604–539 BCE	Already destroyed in 722/721 BCE by Assyria → became the Babylonian province of Samerina (Samaria). Paid taxes to Babylon, some population deported again under Nebuchadnezzar.	Conquered 597 & 587/586 BCE → became the Babylonian province of Yehud. Jerusalem destroyed, elite exiled to Babylon.	Yes – both provinces of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 604 BCE onward.
Persian (Achaemenid) Empire	539–332 BCE	Continued as the Persian province of Samarina / Shomron (governors sometimes mentioned in Persian records and the Bible, e.g., Sanballat under Darius and Artaxerxes).	Became the Persian province of Yehud / Judah (governors: Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, etc.). Jerusalem and Temple rebuilt 520–515 BCE.	Yes – both were neighbouring satrapies (sub-provinces) within the larger satrapy of Eber-Nari (“Beyond the River”).
Hellenistic – Ptolemaic	332–200 BCE	Under Ptolemaic (Egyptian-Greek) control along with Judea.	Under Ptolemaic control (the famous 100-year period before the Seleucids).	Yes
Hellenistic – Seleucid	200–141/129 BCE	Taken by Antiochus III in 200 BCE → Seleucid province of Samaria.	Taken by Antiochus III in 200 BCE → Seleucid province of Judea → Maccabean Revolt starts in Judea, spreads north.	Yes until the Hasmoneans
Hasmonean / Independent	141–63 BCE	Conquered by John Hyrcanus (ca. 129–111 BCE) and forcibly Judaized.	Independent Hasmonean Jewish state.	No longer – Samaria annexed to Judea
Roman	63 BCE onward	Part of the Roman province of Syria, later Judaea/Syria Palaestina.	Same Roman province.	Yes again

Bottom line

• Babylonian period (604–539 BCE) → Yes, both Samaria and Judea were Babylonian provinces.
• Persian period (539–332 BCE) → Yes, both were Persian provinces (Samarina and Yehud) side by side.
• After Alexander (Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods) → they stayed under the same ruler until the Hasmonean conquest united them.

So for almost the entire 6th–4th centuries BCE (the exact period of the Babylonian Exile and Persian restoration), Samaria and Judea were sister provinces under the same Babylonian and then Persian empires.

No – Samaria (Shomron / Σαμάρεια) was never a Phoenician city.It was built from the ground up as the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel (the ten-tribe kingdom) and remained an Israelite / Samaritan / Jewish / Hellenistic / Roman city throughout antiquity.Here is the clear evidence:

Period	Who founded / controlled Samaria	Ethnicity / Culture	Key proof
ca. 880–870 BCE	King Omri of Israel (northern Hebrew kingdom)	Israelite (Hebrew)	1 Kings 16:24 – “Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria.” Omri was king of Israel, not Phoenicia.
9th–8th century BCE	Capital of the Kingdom of Israel (kings Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Jeroboam II, etc.)	Israelite	Assyrian inscriptions (Sargon II, 722 BCE) call it “Samaria, the city of the house of Omri” and treat it as the capital of Israel, not Phoenicia.
722/721 BCE	Conquered and repopulated by Assyria	Assyrian settlers + remaining Israelites	Assyrian records (see previous answer) – they deport Israelites and import Babylonians, Cutheans, etc. → origin of the later Samaritans.
Persian–Hellenistic	Capital of the province of Samerina / Samaria	Mixed Israelite-Samaritan + Greek overlay	Becomes a Macedonian colony under Alexander / Perdiccas; later rebuilt by Pompey and Herod the Great as Sebaste (Greek Σεβαστή).
Roman–Byzantine	Renamed Sebaste by Herod in honor of Augustus	Hellenistic-Roman	Herod builds a huge Augusteum temple there – still excavated today.

Why the confusion sometimes arises

• Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel, a Phoenician princess from Tyre (1 Kings 16:31), brought strong Phoenician cultural influence (Baal worship, ivory palaces described as “ivory house of Ahab” that look very Phoenician).
• Archaeologists have found Phoenician-style ivories, architecture, and pottery in 9th-century Samaria.
• The later Samaritans (who made Samaria their religious centre) were sometimes lumped together with “Phoenicians” by Greek and Roman writers because both were non-Judahite northern groups.

But influence ≠ ownership or identity.
Tyre and Sidon (the real Phoenician cities) were 100–150 km north on the coast and always remained separate political entities.Bottom lineSamaria was founded by an Israelite king as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, conquered by Assyria, repopulated, and later Hellenised/Romanised.
It was never a Phoenician city politically, ethnically, or in origin.

Here is the direct, hard archaeological and textual proof for both events – these are not just biblical claims; they are confirmed by the royal inscriptions of the conquerors themselves.1. Assyria Conquers the Northern Kingdom of Israel (722/721 BCE)The Assyrian king Sargon II personally boasts of the conquest on multiple monuments.

Source	Date	Exact quote (from the inscriptions)	Where you can see it today
Great Display Inscription (Khorsabad / Dur-Sharrukin, Sargon’s palace)	716–705 BCE	“I besieged and conquered Samaria, carried off as spoil 27,290 inhabitants of it… The town I rebuilt better than it was before and settled therein people from countries which I myself had conquered.”	Louvre Museum (Paris)
Nimrud Prism (clay prism of Sargon II)	ca. 717 BCE	“The inhabitants of Samaria, who agreed… to not do service and not to bring tribute [to me] and who did battle, I fought against them… I led away as prisoners 27,290 people who lived therein.”	British Museum & Iraq Museum
Annals of Sargon II (various fragments)	722–705 BCE	Same numbers and details repeated.	Multiple museums
Babylonian Chronicle (ABC 1)	Later copy	Confirms “In the [x] year of [Sargon] the city of Samaria was captured.”	British Museum

• The biblical number of deportees (2 Kings 17) is rounded, but the Assyrian number 27,290 is precise and repeated on several independent monuments.
• Archaeology: Samaria’s destruction layer (Stratum VI) shows massive burning and abandonment exactly in 722/721 BCE.

Result: The northern ten tribes (Kingdom of Israel) cease to exist as a state. Population deported and replaced → the origin of the “Ten Lost Tribes.”2. Babylon Conquers the Kingdom of Judah (597 & 587/586 BCE)Nebuchadnezzar II left multiple inscriptions and administrative tablets boasting about it.

Source	Date	Exact quote / content	Location today
Nebuchadnezzar II’s Court Chronicle (Babylonian Chronicle ABC 5)	597–595 BCE	“In the seventh year [597 BCE], in the month of Kislev, the king of Akkad [Nebuchadnezzar]… besieged the city of Judah (Yaḫudu). On the second day of the month of Adar he seized the city and captured the king [Jehoiachin]. He appointed there a king of his own choice [Zedekiah], received its heavy tribute and sent (them) to Babylon.”	British Museum
Jehoiachin Ration Tablets (from Babylon itself)	595–570 BCE	Babylonian administrative tablets list rations given to “Ya’u-kīnu, king of the land of Yahudu” (Jehoiachin) and his five sons while in exile in Babylon. Exact quote: “10 sila of oil to Yaukin, king of Judah…”	Pergamon Museum (Berlin) & others
Nebuchadnezzar II’s East India House Inscription	ca. 590 BCE	“I made the city of Jerusalem kneel… I took heavy tribute from the land of Hatti [Syria-Palestine].”	British Museum
Lachish Letters (ostraca found at Lachish, Judah)	589–586 BCE	Hebrew letters written by Judahite soldiers during the Babylonian siege: “We are watching for the fire-signals of Lachish… we can no longer see Azekah” → exactly matches Jeremiah 34:7 and the Babylonian siege.	Israel Museum & British Museum
Jerusalem destruction layer (City of David, Mount Zion excavations)	586 BCE	Thick burn layer with arrowheads (Scythian/Babylonian type) and collapsed buildings dated precisely to 586 BCE.	Archaeological sites in Jerusalem

Summary – Undeniable Proof

Event	Who recorded it (non-biblical)	Exact artifacts still existing today
Assyria conquers Israel (722/721 BCE)	Sargon II himself on palace walls & prisms	Khorsabad inscriptions, Nimrud Prism
Babylon conquers Judah (597 & 586 BCE)	Nebuchadnezzar II’s chronicles & ration tablets	Babylonian Chronicle ABC 5, Jehoiachin ration tablets, Lachish ostraca

These are primary sources from the conquerors – not later historians or the Bible. The events are among the best-documented in ancient Near Eastern history.

YHW (יהו) at Elephantine was unambiguously treated as a full god / deity – never as a human patriarch or ancestor.Here is the concrete evidence from the ~200 Aramaic papyri and ostraca (5th century BCE):

Evidence	Exact wording / context (TAD = Cowley/Porten editions)	What it proves
Temple of YHW	“the temple of YHW the God who is in Elephantine the fortress” (TAD A4.7:25–26, A4.8:24)	They had a real temple (בית יהו) with altars, sacrifices, and priests – exactly like temples for other gods (Eshem-Bethel, Anath-Bethel).
Sacrifices and offerings to YHW	“meal-offering, incense, and burnt-offering … to YHW the God” (TAD C3.15:127–128)	Standard cultic offerings performed only for deities.
Oaths sworn “by YHW”	“I swear by YHW the God” (dozens of legal contracts, e.g., TAD B2.2:3–4, B3.12:2)	Swearing by a god is the normal ancient Near-Eastern practice; you never swear by a human ancestor.
Priests of YHW	Letters addressed to “Jedoniah and his colleagues the priests who are in Elephantine” who serve YHW	Full-time professional priesthood, again only for gods.
YHW appears in theophoric personal names	e.g., יהוּנָתָן (Yahunathan), נַתַן־יָהוּ (Nathanyahu), מַעַזְיָהוּ (Maʿaziyahu)	Exactly the same pattern as names with Baal, Bethel, or Egyptian gods.
Syncretism with other deities	They also worshipped Anath-Yahu (ענתיהו) and Eshem-Bethel alongside YHW; one oath is “by YHW and by the temple of Khnum” (TAD B7.3)	Shows YHW was one god among several in a polytheistic or henotheistic system.
No genealogical or patriarchal language	Nowhere in the archive is YHW called “our father,” “our ancestor,” or linked to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or any patriarch.	Complete absence of any ancestor-veneration language.

Bottom line

• God: 100 % of the evidence (temple, sacrifices, priests, oaths, theophoric names, syncretism).
• Patriarch or human ancestor: 0 % – not a single text even hints at that.

The Elephantine community treated YHW exactly the same way they treated other gods (Khnum, Bethel, Anath, Herem-Bethel) – as a full deity who had a house, received offerings, and could be sworn by. The idea that he was a deified ancestor has been suggested by a few fringe scholars but is rejected by the overwhelming majority of specialists (Porten, van der Toorn, Granerød, etc.) because it simply does not fit the primary sources.

1. Did the Elephantine Jews ("Yehudim" / Yəhūdāyē) Refer to Themselves as "YHW Himself" Instead of "Tribe of Judah"?No – this is not possible or supported by the evidence. The Elephantine papyri show that "Yəhūdāyē" (יהודאי, the Aramaic plural for "Judeans") is unambiguously an ethnic/geographic self-designation meaning "people from the province/land of Yehud" (Judah), not a reference to the deity YHW (יהו, a hypocoristic form of YHWH). They are two separate terms in the documents, used in distinct contexts.Key Evidence from the Papyri

• Yəhūdāyē as ethnic label: Appears ~50+ times as a self-reference for the community, always meaning "the Judeans" (e.g., "We, the Judean garrison in the fortress of Yeb" in TAD A4.7 and B3.3). This is tied to their origin from the Persian province of Yehud (Judah), not to the god. They call themselves "nobles of the Judeans" (šrwy yḥwdyʾ) when petitioning officials in Jerusalem.
• YHW as deity: Used exclusively for the god (e.g., "temple of YHW" in TAD A4.7; "offerings to YHW" in TAD C3.15). It never appears in self-referential phrases. The community even swears oaths "by YHW" separately from naming themselves.
• No overlap or ambiguity: Scholars like Bezalel Porten (in Archives from Elephantine, 1968) and Ada Yardeni (TAD editions) confirm the distinction. The papyri treat YHW as their patron deity (alongside others like Anat-Yahu), while Yəhūdāyē is purely about their identity as migrants from Judah/Yehud. If it meant "YHW-ites" or "YHW himself," we'd expect theological phrasing, but it's always practical (e.g., military unit or citizens).

This mirrors how other ancient groups named themselves after places (e.g., "Tyrians" for people from Tyre). No fringe theories in mainstream scholarship suggest a deific self-reference – it's a clear geographic-ethnic term.2. Is There Concrete Evidence of "Judea" (Yehud / Judah) Being Named Pre-Elephantine?Yes – abundant concrete evidence exists for the name "Yehudah" (Judah) and its territory centuries before the Elephantine papyri (ca. 495–399 BCE). The name originates as the biblical tribe of Judah (from Genesis onward, traditionally 2nd millennium BCE but redacted later), evolves into the Kingdom of Judah by the 10th–9th centuries BCE, and is attested in non-biblical inscriptions from the 8th century BCE onward. "Yehud" specifically appears as the Persian province name by the late 6th century BCE.Timeline of Pre-Elephantine EvidenceHere's a table of the key archaeological and textual proofs, all predating Elephantine:

Date (BCE)	Source / Artifact	What It Says	Significance
ca. 1000–900 (Iron Age I–IIA)	Biblical texts (e.g., Genesis 29:35, 49:8–12; Judges 1)	"Yehudah" (יהודה) as the name of Jacob's son and his tribe/territory.	Earliest literary attestation (though the texts were compiled later); etymologically from Hebrew root Y-D-H ("to praise/thank," per Leah's exclamation at birth).
ca. 850–800	Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone, discovered 1868)	"Omri [king of] Israel... [built] houses of David... and Judah (yhdh) he made desolate."	Extra-biblical confirmation of "Judah" (yhdh) as a kingdom alongside Israel; from Moabite king Mesha.
ca. 835–796	Tel Dan Stele (Aramaic inscription, discovered 1993)	"House of David" (byt dwd) + implied "Judah" as the southern entity defeated by Aram-Damascus.	Aramaic reference to the "House of David" ruling Judah; proves Judah as a named polity by mid-9th century BCE.
ca. 800–750	Kuntillet Ajrud ostraca (Sinai Peninsula inscriptions)	"Yahweh of Teman [south/Judah] and his Asherah."	Links YHWH worship to "Teman" (southern region = Judah); shows Judah's religious-geographic identity.
ca. 701	Sennacherib's Annals (Assyrian palace reliefs/prisms, discovered 1830)	"I laid siege to 46 of [Hezekiah's] strong cities... [in the district of] Hatti [Syria-Palestine]... 200,150 people of their land [Judah]."	Assyrian king Sennacherib names "Judah" (Ya-ú-du) as a kingdom he conquered; lists cities like Jerusalem.
ca. 597	Babylonian Chronicle (neo-Babylonian tablet, BM 21946)	Nebuchadnezzar II conquers "the city of Judah" (ša Ḫu-du) and exiles King Jehoiachin.	Documents the fall of the Kingdom of Judah; "Ḫu-du" = Yehud.
ca. 539–515	Cyrus Cylinder (and related Persian edicts)	Refers to restoring "Yehud" (יהוד) as a province after Babylonian exile.	Persian imperial records name Yehud as the post-exilic province (pre-Elephantine by ~100 years).
ca. 520–500	Yehud coins (silver drachmae from Jerusalem mint)	Inscribed "Yehud" (יהוד) in paleo-Hebrew script.	Earliest numismatic evidence of the province name; minted under Persian governors like Zerubbabel.

Summary of the Evidence

• Pre-8th century: Primarily biblical (tribal name), but archaeology (e.g., Judahite settlements in the Hebron hills) supports an early tribal entity.
• 8th–6th centuries: Overwhelming extra-biblical inscriptions from enemies (Moab, Aram, Assyria, Babylon) confirm Judah/Yehud as a named kingdom and later province.
• Why so concrete? These are royal inscriptions, steles, annals, and coins – not just texts, but durable artifacts cross-verified by multiple cultures (Moabite, Aramaic, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian).

Scholars (e.g., Lester Grabbe in Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah, 2004; and the Haaretz archaeology summary) agree: The name predates Elephantine by 300–500+ years, evolving from tribal (Yehudah) to kingdom (Judah) to province (Yehud). The Elephantine Jews' use of "Yəhūdāyē" explicitly references this pre-existing province, not a novel self-naming.If you meant a specific fringe theory or context for the "YHW himself" idea, feel free to clarify!