May 25
Reading: Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
5 Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
7 Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
18 Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21 How the faithful city has become a whore,
she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
24 Therefore the Lord declares,
the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
and avenge myself on my foes.
25 I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired;
and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31 And the strong shall become tinder,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with none to quench them.
For most people, the most difficult part of the Bible to read is the prophets. There are 16 prophets who wrote books in the Old Testament, four major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and 12 minor prophets. Lamentations is an addendum onto Jeremiah by Jeremiah.
One reason that the prophets can be hard to read is that the writing is so different. There really is nothing like them in the entire world. The tradition of Hebrew prophetic writing is unique. Most of the writing is poetic discourse, that is conversation in the form of poetry. The conversation is, at times, between God and His prophet, at other times between the prophet and the people, and sometimes between God and the people through the prophet.
The prophets serve as covenant prosecutors. Like in a court of law, the prophets point back to the Law of the Lord, they describe God’s promises and expectations. Then they accuse the people of breaking that covenant, those laws. The prophets provide exhibits and evidence that show how God’s people have broken His laws. And then they explain what the consequences are going to be for these offenses. Judgment is coming.
But there is one extra thing that the prophets do that is not prosecutorial. The prophets explain that God, in the future, is going to rescue His people from their own failures and punishments. God will send His Messiah to save His people. He will give them new life and a new covenant and a new world. The prophets serve as the pathway from Torah to Messiah.
The first verse of Isaiah tells us that he was a prophet during the reigns of four of the kings of Judah, the southern kingdom after Israel split in half during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Isaiah wrote his prophesy about 700 years before Jesus.
Isaiah 1:2-4 introduces the three major words in the sin vocabulary of the Old Testament: rebellion, iniquity (violation of God’s commandments), and corruption. The people of Israel in Isaiah’s day have problems, so much that in verse 10 God describes them as Sodom and Gomorrah. He is sick of their fake worship. (vss. 11-15)
Therefore, God is pleading with His people to return to Him. What would this look like? Isaiah describes repentance for us in verses 16-20. After again describing Jerusalem as wayward, God promises that He will Himself bring redemption to His people. God will do for them what they cannot do for themselves. This is the promise of Isaiah.
How do Isaiah’s accusations and warnings in this chapter apply to you?