Reflections on Isaiah 1

Isaiah 01 (Contemporary English Version)
1. I am Isaiah, the son of Amoz. And this is the message that I was given about Judah and Jerusalem when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah:
   
2. The LORD has said, "Listen, heaven and earth! The children I raised have turned against me.
   
3. Oxen and donkeys know who owns and feeds them, but my people won't ever learn."
   
4. Israel, you are a sinful nation loaded down with guilt. You are wicked and corrupt and have turned from the LORD, the holy God of Israel.
   
5. Why be punished more? Why not give up your sin? Your head is badly bruised, and you are weak all over.
   
6. From your head to your toes there isn't a healthy spot. Bruises, cuts, and open sores go without care or oil to ease the pain.
   
7. Your country lies in ruins; your towns are in ashes. Foreigners and strangers take and destroy your land while you watch.
   
8. Enemies surround Jerusalem, alone like a hut in a vineyard or in a cucumber field.
   
9. Zion would have disappeared like Sodom and Gomorrah, if the LORD All-Powerful had not let a few of its people survive.
   
10. You are no better than the leaders and people of Sodom and Gomorrah! So listen to the LORD God:
    
11. "Your sacrifices mean nothing to me. I am sick of your offerings of rams and choice cattle; I don't like the blood of bulls or lambs or goats.
    
12. "Who asked you to bring all this when you come to worship me? Stay out of my temple!
    
13. Your sacrifices are worthless, and incense is disgusting. I can't stand the evil you do on your New Moon Festivals or on your Sabbaths and other times of worship.
    
14. I hate your New Moon Festivals and all others as well. They are a heavy burden I am tired of carrying.
    
15. "No matter how much you pray, I won't listen. You are too violent.
    
16. Wash yourselves clean! I am disgusted with your filthy deeds. Stop doing wrong
    
17. and learn to live right. See that justice is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need."
    
18. I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over. Your sins are scarlet red, but they will be whiter than snow or wool.
    
19. If you willingly obey me, the best crops in the land will be yours.
    
20. But if you turn against me, your enemies will kill you. I, the LORD, have spoken.
    
21. Jerusalem, you are like an unfaithful wife. Once your judges were honest and your people lived right; now you are a city full of murderers.
    
22. Your silver is fake, and your wine is watered down.
    
23. Your leaders have rejected me to become friends of crooks; your rulers are looking for gifts and bribes. Widows and orphans never get a fair trial.
    
24. I am the LORD All-Powerful, the mighty ruler of Israel, and I make you a promise: You are now my enemy, and I will show my anger by taking revenge on you.
    
25. I will punish you terribly and burn away everything that makes you unfit to worship me.
    
26. Jerusalem, I will choose judges and advisors like those you had before. Your new name will be "Justice and Faithfulness."
    
27. Jerusalem, you will be saved by showing justice; Zion's people who turn to me will be saved by doing right.
    
28. But those rebellious sinners who turn against me, the LORD, will all disappear.
    
29. You will be made ashamed of those groves of trees where you worshiped idols.
    
30. You will be like a grove of trees dying in a drought.
    
31. Your strongest leaders will be like dry wood set on fire by their idols. No one will be able to help, as they all go up in flames.

---

Isaiah's prophetic vision concerned the southern nation of Judah, though the division of Israel into northern and southern kingdoms had not yet occurred. In these opening verses of his book, Isaiah seeks to make plain Judah's sinful condition and need for repentance, while keeping up front God's desire, not to punish, but to restore Judah to His blessings. Those who see in the books of the Old Testament an angry and vengeful God read these books with blinders that see only a portion of the truth. One might be described as angry and vengeful if they deal out pain and destruction with no higher purpose than to get even. But this does not describe God who is the definition of love. Everything He does is motivated by love with a purpose of bringing good to His people.  Not unlike parents who are motivated by love to discipline their children in order to teach them. But no human is capable of love at the level of God's love, nor do they fully understand it. This is one reason God's love is often misunderstood.

Israel was like a recalcitrant child who is disciplined for bad behavior and then returns to that same behavior only to have the discipline repeated. Thus the question in verse 5, "Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling?" Judah's land was desolate, her cities burned, her fields devoured by foreigners, and yet she continued to turn her back on God. Judah had not abandoned her religious activities. They continued with routine regularity, but they had no meaning. Thus the Lord says, "Stop bringing useless offerings. I despise your incense. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies--I cannot stand iniquity with a festival. I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to Me; I am tired of putting up with them." (1:13-14) Iniquity and worship are incompatible. We cannot claim to worship God extolling our love for Him while also practicing iniquity. Love for God requires obedience which does not permit iniquity. If anyone should doubt these truths they should notice what happens when they or someone else practice behavior that is disobedient to God or what happens when a child is disobedient to his parents. They automatically take on an attitude of belligerence toward God or their parents. They don't have to be told that worship and iniquity are incompatible. It plays out in them naturally. It is further belligerence that then causes one to continue their religious activities while practicing iniquity as if they are innocent. This was the situation with Judah as described in this chapter.

One might ask, "Isn't it like an evil king who punishes or kills his subjects for not paying him due respect if God punishes His people for not worshiping Him?" But the question, and the thought that raises it, misses the point. God knows that the people He created are in for worse suffering than the discipline He gives them if He leaves them to their own devises and those of Satan. If they turn to Him and truly worship Him, thus accepting the lifestyle He teaches them, they will have a life of blessing and not of destruction. This is what God desires for all people. This is not like an evil king who wants only to be honored by his subjects.