Holman Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah

Trent Butler, Trent C. Butler, Max Anders

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9780805494730
• eBook ISBN: 9781433674327
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

One in a series of twenty Old Testament verse-by-verse commentary books edited by Max Anders. Includes discussion starters, teaching plan, and more. Great for lay teachers and pastors alike.

Isaiah 1

Restoration Through Repentance

I. INTRODUCTION

Country Club Conversion

II. COMMENTARY

A verse-by-verse explanation of the chapter.

III. CONCLUSION

A Trip to Court

An overview of the principles and applications from the chapter.

IV. LIFE APPLICATION

The Realistic Road to Repentance

Melding the chapter to life.

V. PRAYER

Tying the chapter to life with God.

VI. DEEPER DISCOVERIES

Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.

VII. TEACHING OUTLINE

Suggested step-by-step group study of the chapter.

VIII. ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

Zeroing the chapter in on daily life.

“The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves
as the sole cause of all our adversities.”

Sophocles

The Heavenly Father asks a rebellious people why they do not turn to him even after experiencing his discipline for their sin. He wants justice, not mere religious behavior.

Restoration Through
Repentance

I. INTRODUCTION

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Country Club Conversion

Evelyn Christenson tells of the woman she took to lunch at the country club. Since the woman's husband owned most of the club's stock, she got her choice of tables and the best of service at the club. So they chose a secluded corner table where they could talk. What did two women talk about in a secluded corner of the town's fanciest restaurant? Evelyn told the woman how she was a sinner and needed to repent. After much discussion, they left the restaurant and went to the woman's Cadillac. There the woman confessed her sins, asked Jesus to forgive her sins, and gave her heart to Christ.

How, you may ask, could you possibly lead a leading socialite to Christ in a country club? Evelyn thought she knew the answer. She had eight prayer warriors chosen to pray for her as she witnessed. She found the rest of the story on Thursday morning when the woman who helped clean her house appeared for work. Mary had one question for Evelyn: “What happened on Tuesday afternoon?”

“Why do you ask?” Evelyn inquired.

“Because on Sunday the Lord told me to quit eating and drinking and start praying. He did not let me eat again until Tuesday afternoon. Then he said, ‘It's okay now. You may eat.’ I prayed for you Sunday through Tuesday. What happened Tuesday?”

Evelyn hugged the woman as she shared the conversion story. People could repent and find God's salvation because God's people were praying (Christenson, pp. 16-17).

Isaiah knew this was God's way. He went to Israel's social headquarters and called the entire nation to repentance and obedience. He showed them exactly what kind of life they would live after they repented.

Doom dominates the content of Isaiah 1-12. This we expected from the prophet's commission to harden the hearts and blind the eyes of his people (ch. 6). The order and structure of the twelve chapters, however, show that disaster was not the last word. Light shone through the darkness. Rays of hope brightened the stage at the climax of the section (Isa. 9:2–7; 10:1–11:16), bringing forth the great hymn of thanksgiving in chapter 12. In spite of all the dark moments, the theme of the opening section of Isaiah is restoration for a repentant remnant.

II. COMMENTARY

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Restoration Through Repentance

MAIN IDEA: A sinful people who have rebelled against God and suffered his punishment for their sins must demonstrate repentance in moral actions, not in religious rituals.

Calling the Confused to Court (1:1–3)

Summons to witness (about 740 B.C.)¹

SUPPORTING IDEA: Sinners who continue in their rebellion eventually get to the point where they do not recognize their Heavenly Father when he speaks to them.

1:1. A preface (v. 1) describes Isaiah's words as based on visions. This preface shows the dating for the prophet's ministry from about 740 B.C. to 690 B.C. The time of Isaiah's ministry can be dated by reference to the four kings of Judah mentioned in verse 1. A vision (Hb. chazon) represented an experience in which God revealed his will and his future plans (Hos. 12:10). Such an experience could occur while awake (Ezek. 12:27) or during sleep (Mic. 3:6). A vision was not the same as a dream.

God's judgment brought a period of time without visions (1 Sam. 3:1; Lam. 2:9; Mic. 3:6). Both true and false prophets (Jer. 14:14; Ezek. 13:16) claimed to have such visions, but historical fulfillment was the final test showing which prophet was authentic (Deut. 18:22; Jer. 28:9). The true prophets often had disciples like Isaiah's who collected their prophecies and placed them in a book (Hab. 2:2). Even the record of a king could be included in a prophet's vision (2 Chr. 32:32). The entire book was then labeled a vision or revelation of God through the prophet's entire ministry (Nah. 1).

1:2–3. The message of Isaiah begins by calling the universe to the jury box to hear God's accusation. The charge is blunt: God's people are dumber than beasts of burden, who at least know the hand that feeds them. God's people don't even know their Heavenly Father. Israel shared this concept of God as Father with her neighbors, who used it literally in fertility worship (Jer. 2:27). So Israel used the concept cautiously. Isaiah described God as a Father who was concerned for his children (Deut. 1:31; Hos. 11:1), whom he educates in vain (Prov. 3:12). Deuteronomy 32 says God is Father because he is Creator (vv. 5-6) and uses “Father” in the context of the birth of the nation (Deut. 32:18; cp. Exod. 4:22–24). In Deuteronomy as in Isaiah the emphasis lies on unfaithful, rebellious children (Deut. 32:5,19-21; cp. Jer. 3:4,19; Mal. 1:6).

Lamenting the Lost (1:4–9)

Woe oracle (701 B.C.)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God punishes his disobedient people not as an independent judge but as a caring Father seeking to bring them back to him.

1:4. Not a stern, impassive judge, but a mourning father brought the accusation against the defendant Israel. The accusation is loaded with theological words. Sinful (Hb. chote') refers to breaking a personal relationship, not just a single law (Gen. 50:17). Guilt (Hb. ‘won) is a lifestyle bent out of shape, crooked (Isa. 30:13). Evildoers are wicked in the most general and encompassing sense. Corruption (Hb. mere'im) is a military term referring to destruction which eliminates the possibility for human well-being. Such action showed that the people had forsaken and spurned God.

The sad truth was that the people were unaware of the consequences of their actions and attitudes. They thought they continued to be the people of God. The prophet had to reveal the reality to them. The personal relationship of mutual love and trust similar to that between parent and child had disappeared.

God is here called the Holy One of Israel, a favorite expression of Isaiah (otherwise the phrase appears only in 2 Kgs. 19:22; Pss. 71:22; 78:41; 89:19; Jer. 50:29; 51:5). Isaiah's call (ch. 6) gave a new intensity of meaning to this descriptive title of God, who is totally pure. Mankind's sinfulness stood in stark contrast to the purity of God.

1:5–9. God used rhetorical questions as he tried to argue sense into Israel's head, describing the nation's desperate condition after the invasion of Sennacherib of Assyria. The nation was almost destroyed. But they would not let someone bandage their wounds and apply soothing oil. In more literal terms, the country had become a stretch of uninhabited desolation, the cities burned with fire. Foreign soldiers had reaped and burned the fields, stripping away the nation's food supply. The people—now described as the Father's Daughter—no longer had housing. It was as if God's people had to spend their entire life in the watchman's tower overlooking the devastated vineyards. Only God's grace in leaving a few survivors as a remnant had allowed them to escape the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, the two immoral cities that God had destroyed in Abraham's time when he could not find ten righteous people (Gen. 18-19). God had diagnosed Israel's pains, but Israel would not return to him for healing. (For daughter of Zion, see “Deeper Discoveries,” chs. 9-11; for survivors/remnant, see “Deeper Discoveries,” chs. 2-4.)

Reviving the Religious (1:10–17)

Courtroom accusation, based on prophetic instruction (about 740 or 715 B.C.)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God calls his people to show repentance through acts of justice and morality, not through acts of religious ritual.

1:10. On a national holiday the prophet saw the herds of animals being brought for sacrifice. He then stood up in his role as teacher. He identified the congregation with the ancient people from Sodom and Gomorrah. His listeners stood in stunned silence. Were they really Sodomites?

1:11. The prophet followed with a question that seemed to be out of place in the setting of a religious ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• Holman Old Testament Commentary Contributors
• Holman New Testament Commentary Contributors
• Holman Old Testament Commentary
• Bible versions & Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Isaiah 1
• Isaiah 2–4
• Isaiah 5
• Isaiah 6–8
• Isaiah 9–11
• Isaiah 12
• Isaiah 13–14
• Isaiah 15–17
• Isaiah 18–20
• Isaiah 21–23
• Isaiah 24–27
• Isaiah 28–33
• Isaiah 34–35
• Isaiah 36–39
• Isaiah 40–41
• Isaiah 42–44
• Isaiah 45–46
• Isaiah 47–49
• Isaiah 50–51
• Isaiah 52–53
• Isaiah 54–55
• Isaiah 56–57
• Isaiah 58–59
• Isaiah 60–61
• Isaiah 62–64
• Isaiah 65–66
• Glossary
• Bibliography