Commentary
The Book of the King (1â37)
1. Backdrop To The Ministry Of Isaiah: The Authorâs Preface (1â5)
As the book of Isaiah has come to us, chapters 1â5 form a distinct sectionâlike a âprefaceâ to Isaiahâs collected prophecies. This is apparent for four reasons. (a) The precise dating of chapter 6, contrasts with the undated oracles in 1:2â5:30. Specific events must, of course, have prompted these oracles, but Isaiah did not find it necessary to state them. (b) What we call âchapter 6â, the prophetâs call, is well suited to form chapter 1 of the book, following the âauthorâs prefaceâ (cf. Jer. 1:4â19; Ezek. 1:1â3:27; although, since the call of Amos is not noted until Amos 7:10â17, this is not a decisive factor. (c) Apart from the illustrative reference to the Philistines in 2:6, no foreign nations are namedânot even the threatened super-conqueror of 5:25â30âand this increases the sense that these chapters offer general truths designed to form a backdrop to the âmainâ content of the book. (d) Chapters 1â5 are coherently structured with a progressive message. The unexpected heading at 2:1 indicates a fresh beginning, and the matching passages 2:2â4 and 4:2â6 form a bracket or inclusio (see p. 13) making them a distinct section. In this way 1:2â31 and 5:1â30 are also marked off as separate divisions of the prefatory chapters.
Thus, the âprefaceâ can be summarized as follows. First is the heading (1:1). Then 1:2â31 is roundly condemnatory of what the Lordâs sons have become: rebellious (2), corrupt (4), chastened (5â6), shattered (7â8), religiously unacceptable (10â15) and degenerate (21â23). This is not, however, the whole story: for the Lord has not abandoned (9) and will not abandon (25â28) his people. Nevertheless, the beginning of the preface is effectively a declaration that âYou are not what you ought to have beenâ.
Isaiah 2:2â4:6 opens with a thrilling vision of what Zion was meant to be: a rallying-point for the whole world, the city of universal truth and peace. But of course, to the prophetâs eye, it simply was not so. Far from conforming the world to itself, the Lordâs people had conformed to the nations (2:6â7) and would, with the world, come under ultimate divine judgment (2:12â21) and, nationally, under imminent destabilization (3:1â7). Yet this, too, is not the whole story, for where Jerusalemâs sin is most in evidence, in the actions and attitudes of the daughters of Zion (3:16â4:1), the Lord would some day apply cleansing (4:4) and bring in his new creation (4:5â6). Yet the sad accusation has been substantiated that âYou are not what you were meant to beâ.
Isaiah 5:1â30 can be reviewed as parable (1â7), application (8â12, 18â23) and consequence (13â17, 24â30), with six âwoesâ spelling out the bitter fruit (2, 4, 7) produced by the Lordâs vineyard. Yet the Lord had so spent himself for the good of his vineyard that there was nothing more he could have done (4). This is the heart-stopping truth on which Isaiah ends his preface, the conclusion out of which his prophecy emerges. Note how chapter 5 begins with song (1) and ends with darkness (30), and that between those two points, unlike 1:2â31 and 2:2â4:6, there is no message of hope. For if all has already been done, what more can the Lord do? The theme of chapter 5, therefore, is that âYou are not what you might have been, for a total divine work of grace was your inheritance and you squandered it.â As far as chapter 5 is concerned, darkness has the last word. The shutters have come down on the Lordâs people.
a. Heading (1:1)
On the kings mentioned here, see Introduction, pp. 22â26. Vision ⊠saw (Heb. hÌŁaÌzoÌn ⊠hÌŁaÌzaÌ): these words can refer to âvisionary experienceâ (29:7; 33:20), but both more usually express the heightened âperceptionâ of truth which the Lord granted by special revelation to the prophets (e.g. 2 Chr. 32:32; Amos 1:1; Mic. 1:1). The Isaianic literature, then, is âthe perception of truth which came to Isaiah by divine revelationâ.
b. A comprehensive failure (1:2â31)
In setting the scene for his ministry, Isaiah starts with what must have been obviousâeven if the people will not accept his diagnosis, they cannot quarrel with his facts! Nationally (2â9), foreign invasions (7â8) have left a trail of desolation so that the âbody politicâ (5câ6) is like the victim of a savage mugging. Religiously (10â20), there has been punctilious devotionâsacrifices in abundance (11), temple attendance (12), monthly and weekly observances (13â14), prayers (15)âbut it has not got through to God and has done nothing to rectify the national plight. And socially (21â26), the city life is degenerate and dangerous (21), its leaders corrupt and self seeking (23aâd) and its needy uncared for (23ef).
Isaiah sets this three-part analysis of the contemporary scene as if in a court of law. In verse 2ab the witnesses are called, in verses 2câ23 the charges are laid and in verses 24â30 sentence is pronounced. Behind the observable facts Isaiah discerns the hidden causes: rebellion against the Lord (2d) as the root of national calamity (5); personal guilt vitiating religious practice (15); social degeneration through abandonment of revealed norms of justice and righteousness (21). All this gives colour to a comparison with Sodom (9â10) and builds a case for divine punitive action (5, 20, 24, 28, 29â31), but, typically of Isaiah, there is also a surprise: hope is affirmed. The Lord has not left his people (9); when he acts it will also be to purge and restore (25â26), and the very justice and righteousness they abandoned (21) will be affirmed in a divine work of redemption (27).
i. The national situation (1:2â9). 2a. Isaiah does not explain why the heavens and earth are summoned to hear. The parallel address (10) to the accused suggests that creation is called to court as the perpetual witness of what happens on earth (Ps. 50:4â6) and is therefore able to affirm the truth of the divine accusations. But it may simply be to affirm the dignity of the One who can convene such a court (cf. 1 Chr. 16:31; Ps. 69:34â35) and the awesomeness of the occasion.
2b. But even greater awesomeness is contained in the reason given why creation must pay attention: for the LORD himself has spoken. Here is One whom all creation must obey; it is to him that his people must render account; and in the unique marvel of revelation and inspiration the words of the prophet are âverbally inspiredâ, the very words of the Lord.
3. Israelâs (our) sin is simply unnatural. Look at the instinctive actions of the beasts! The locus of our disloyalty is the mind (know ⊠understand) just as the mind is the focal point of all spirituality (cf. Ps. 119:33â34, 104, 130; Luke 24:27, 32; Rom. 1:28; Eph. 4:17â18, 20â22). While know can extend to include both personal intimacy (Gen. 4:1, NIV âlay withâ) and lifestyle (1 Sam. 2:12), it retains its base-meaning of knowing the truth.
4. Four nouns of privilege: the unique nation; the redeemed people; the âseedâ or brood (the word used for the line of descent from Abraham in 41:8); and children (or the Lordâs âsonsâ). Four descriptions of the lost ideal: sinful, from the participle âgoing on sinningâ, or missing Godâs target; loaded with (possibly âheavy withâ, hinting that the Lord who carried them felt the burden; cf. 46:3â4; Exod. 19:4) guilt, i.e. âiniquityâ (âÄwĂŽn), meaning sin as corruption of character and nature; of evildoers, i.e. the chosen seed has become those who commit evil; and, lastly, given to corruption, âacting corruptlyâ, from Heb. sÌaÌhÌŁat, to spoil, ruin. They have forsaken ⊠spurned ⊠turned their backs: here is the basic principle of spiritual decline, a sustained rejection of the Lord. Maybe we should translate âturned themselves back into aliensâ, i.e. reverting to what they were prior to their redemption. On the Holy One of Israel see Introduction, pp. 28â30. The height of their privilege, to know the Lord in the fullness of his holy nature, became the benchmark of the depth of their fall.
5â8. What is important in these verses is not which historical invasion they reflect. The choice probably lies between the Aram-Ephraim incursion, c. 735 BC (2 Kgs 15:37â16:6; 2 Chr. 28; see Introduction, p. 23; cf. on 7:1â2) or the Assyrian attack in 701 BC (chs. 36â37; 2 Chr. 32; see Introduction, p. 24). The important thing is Isaiahâs view of history as the arena of divine moral judgment. The enemy depredations (7â8) which have left the nation crippled (5â6) from top (head) to toe (foot), inwardly (heart) and outwardly (head ⊠foot), and without remedy (not cleansed ⊠bandaged), were a divine chastisement, with more to come if they persist in rebellion. None of Isaiahâs kings (1:1) was inept. They managed a sound economy and followed clever policies, yet the land was devastated (5câ7), fragile internally (8bc) and threatened externally (8d). The key to national well-being is righteousness, i.e. what is right with God (Prov. 14:34), and in this the prophet records dismal failure.
9. But for the Lordâs people there is another factor, the surprising element of hope. Merit says one thing; mercy says another. As far as desert is concerned the Lord must either apologize to Sodom or visit judgment on Israel! But he is the Lord Almighty, literally âthe LORD of [who is] hostsââwhere the plural indicates that in himself he is and has every potentiality and power. Consequently he is sovereign to act in whatever way accords with his nature. The same Lord (2) who judges also acts in forbearing preservation (9). Because of the Lordâs love, we are not terminated, for his compassions do not fail (Lam. 3:22). Thus Isaiah rounds off the section.
ii. The religious situation (1:10â20). Isaiah turns now to the religious life of the nation. The placing of this topic between his review of national fortunes (2â9) and social conditions (21â23) is significant. The kernel of every national problem is how people relate to God. They cannot be right anywhere if they are wrong here. Religion determines everything.
But the people were extremely religious: they expended time on monthly, weekly and other observances (13); the financial cost of sacrifices and offerings (11) was considerable. It would be strange if they did not ask why, since they did so much for him, the Lord seemed to be doing nothing for them. But that is just the point: their religion was âwhat we do for Godâ and not âhow we enter into the grace he offers to usâ.
These verses have been the centre of a difference of opinion. Some note how in verse 11 the Lord denies the significance of sacrifices, in verse 12 their divine authorization, and in verse 13 issues commands to end them. On this view, Isaiah is calling for âmorality without religionâ, an ethically focused walk with God devoid of ritual observance. But it can be questioned whether this understanding is true to Isaiah. Is it likely that he was so revolutionary as to repudiate the tradition in which he had been nurtured and which he would have traced back to Moses? Such a conclusion would require more than the âsay soâ of a brief passage like this! Furthermore, if the passage repudiates temple rites, then it repudiates equally the Sabbath (13) and prayer (15)! Rather, Isaiah invites us to recall that in the Mosaic system redeeming grace (Exod. 6:6â7; 12:13), the gift of the law (Exod. 20) and the forms of religious observance (Exod. 25âLev. 27) followed one another in that order as parts of a single whole. The law was given so that those who had already been redeemed by the blood of the lamb would know how their Redeemer (Exod. 20:2) wished them to live. The sacrifices were provided to cover lapses in obedience (cf. 1 John 1:7). But as Isaiah looked around he saw people long on religion and short on morality. They were as morally negligent as Sodom (10), their offerings were meaningless (13; lit. âa gift of nothingâ) because the Lord cannot bear wickedness coupled with religious punctiliousness. The hands they raised in prayer were blood-stained from wrongdoing (15). Like all the prophets Isaiah operated squarely within the Mosaic revelation, and his charge in this passage is that his contemporaries had put asunder what the Lord, through Moses, had joined together, namely, the means of grace (the sacrifices) and the obedient life which they were intended to sustain. The actâthe ritual, divorced from its source in a heart grateful for redemption, and from its function in the obedient lifeâwas meaningless and abhorrent to the Lord (13).
10. Like all the prophets Isaiah held that he was the mouthpiece of the Lord, the channel of the divine word. Law means âteachingâ, the imparting of truth, within which, of course, there is a place for authoritative direction, command and prohibition. But the Lordâs law first of all is the loving instruction that a caring father gives a loved child (cf. Prov. 4:1â2). Apart from mercy they would have been judged like Sodom and Gomorrah (9), but it surely is mercy, for they are like Sodom and Gomorrah in fact.
11. The standing error of the ritualist is that if all depends on performing the ceremonial act, then the more you do it the better. Says is a continuous tense: âkeeps sayingââas something he presses home upon us. Apart from Psalm 12:6 only Isaiah (1:18; 33:10; 40:1, 25; 41:21; 66:9) uses this verbal form referring to divine speech. To the Lord the ritual act means nothing (11ab), adds nothing (11cd) and does nothing (11ef). No pleasure: 53:10 uses the same verb (âit was the LORDâs willâ) of a mighty sacrifice which delighted him.
12. Appear before me (or âmeet with meâ) may also be translated âsee my faceâ, depending what vowels we supply to the consonants of the Hebrew text. The two ideas taken together express the reality and wonder of true worship (cf. e.g. Exod. 23:15, 17). Trampling: a religion of ritual is only the noise of feet on a pavement.
13â15. The denunciation continues. Become a burden (14): i.e. the rituals are not themselves a burden, for the Lord commanded them to start with. It is not the use but the abuse of divine ordinances that vexes him. This is true even of prayer (15), for we can âpray on Sunday and prey on our neighbours for the rest of the weekâ. Hide my eyes: the opposite of the shining face of approval and blessing (Num. 6:25; Ps. 4:6). What makes prayer unavailing is unrepented personal...