Isaiah Chapter One: A Charge, a Comparison, and a Conclusion
Chapters 1-5 of Isaiah serve as an introduction to the message of the whole book. If you can grasp the message of these chapters, you will have a good idea of what the message of Isaiah is all about. (Spoiler, judgment and hope.) If 1-5 is the introduction, then chapter one is an introduction to an introduction.
The chapter begins with a charge against Israel (vv. 1-9), continues with a comparison of the reality of Isaiah’s day with what God desires for His people (vv. 10-20), and concludes with God’s response to the condition He finds His people in (vv. 21-31).
The Charge: Israel in rebellion is stupid, evil, sick, and broken.
Isaiah begins his book with the standard prophetic announcement: it is a prophetic word from the prophet to God’s people in the timeframe of certain kings’ rules. He then tells us the words he has heard from God. God calls on creation to come and witness His people being put on trial. He reflects on who they have become:
They are His children, His chosen people, but they have rebelled against Him.
They are stupid. More dumb and senseless than dumb oxen and jackasses. Even animals know their master, but Israel has failed to acknowledge their Maker and Redeemer.
They are evil. They are sinners who have turned their back on God and abandoned His ways.
It makes no sense for them to rebel, because they suffer for it. They thought their ways and ideas and plans would be better than God’s, but they have only ended up in a broken place. They are a vision of a sick, infected, disgusting body. Open and untreated wounds cover them. This symbolic, spiritual picture is matched by their reality. Their cities burn and invading armies have their way in the land.
If God did not preserve a remnant of people, the whole nation would be devastated, lost, and done.
However, lest you think that Israel’s evil is that they have lost their religious traditions, God continues.
The sacrifices and the temple ceremony have continued unabated! The people keep coming to God with their offerings. God calls them vain offerings, though. No degree of outward devotion, or empty piety will cover rebellious living. God can no longer bear their offerings. He can’t abide their prayers. He won’t listen. Their religious devotion is not reflected in the justice of their lives. They need to learn again to do good. They need to find justice for the poor and disadvantaged.
Instead of ceremony and religious symbolism, Israel needs to learn to listen to God. They need to obey His voice. They need to turn away from their rebellion.
They won’t, though. The prophetic message, used again and again in scripture is used here as well. Israel’s rebellion in equivalent to spiritual adultery. Jerusalem has become a whore. God is going to bring punishment. He will be avenged. The language here feels like masterful wordplay:
“I will get satisfaction from my enemies. I will be avenged on my foes.”
God will use people who are not His to punish His people. His enemies will be used to judge the enemies that are His people.
However, this judgement will also serve as purification. The rebellion will be burned away and things will be restored back to how they should be. Judgment and hope.
The chapter begins with a charge against Israel (vv. 1-9), continues with a comparison of the reality of Isaiah’s day with what God desires for His people (vv. 10-20), and concludes with God’s response to the condition He finds His people in (vv. 21-31).
The Charge: Israel in rebellion is stupid, evil, sick, and broken.
Isaiah begins his book with the standard prophetic announcement: it is a prophetic word from the prophet to God’s people in the timeframe of certain kings’ rules. He then tells us the words he has heard from God. God calls on creation to come and witness His people being put on trial. He reflects on who they have become:
They are His children, His chosen people, but they have rebelled against Him.
They are stupid. More dumb and senseless than dumb oxen and jackasses. Even animals know their master, but Israel has failed to acknowledge their Maker and Redeemer.
They are evil. They are sinners who have turned their back on God and abandoned His ways.
It makes no sense for them to rebel, because they suffer for it. They thought their ways and ideas and plans would be better than God’s, but they have only ended up in a broken place. They are a vision of a sick, infected, disgusting body. Open and untreated wounds cover them. This symbolic, spiritual picture is matched by their reality. Their cities burn and invading armies have their way in the land.
If God did not preserve a remnant of people, the whole nation would be devastated, lost, and done.
However, lest you think that Israel’s evil is that they have lost their religious traditions, God continues.
The sacrifices and the temple ceremony have continued unabated! The people keep coming to God with their offerings. God calls them vain offerings, though. No degree of outward devotion, or empty piety will cover rebellious living. God can no longer bear their offerings. He can’t abide their prayers. He won’t listen. Their religious devotion is not reflected in the justice of their lives. They need to learn again to do good. They need to find justice for the poor and disadvantaged.
Instead of ceremony and religious symbolism, Israel needs to learn to listen to God. They need to obey His voice. They need to turn away from their rebellion.
They won’t, though. The prophetic message, used again and again in scripture is used here as well. Israel’s rebellion in equivalent to spiritual adultery. Jerusalem has become a whore. God is going to bring punishment. He will be avenged. The language here feels like masterful wordplay:
“I will get satisfaction from my enemies. I will be avenged on my foes.”
God will use people who are not His to punish His people. His enemies will be used to judge the enemies that are His people.
However, this judgement will also serve as purification. The rebellion will be burned away and things will be restored back to how they should be. Judgment and hope.
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