Isaiah 1:1-20--The Wickedness of Judah

Isaiah 1:1-20
English Standard Version
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.

The Wickedness 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.”

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After a short stay in the New Testament, I want to head back to the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel).  While I may have casually read through portions of most of these books, I've only really studied the book of Daniel in the past and am excited to study these with you.  Isaiah is by far the longest of these books at 66 chapters.  It helps set the tone that the books of prophecy are not all about God's wrath as normally imagine them (though there are points where God speaks about the judgment of His people and the nations they have started to become like), but it is a call for God's people to return to being what God has called them to be and doing what God has called them to do.  It is a loving Father correcting His children who are wayward, and it is a story of hope as the Father plans to send His true Son to fix our brokenness.  Israel and Judah (especially the line of the kings of Judah--the sons of David) were to be like a son to God the Father, but there would be one coming who would be called the Son of David who would truly be the Son of God and Son of Man.

By the time of Isaiah, the wickedness had not only affected the kings and the people, but it had started to affect the priesthood as well (which Isaiah was a part of, as we'll see him ministering in the Temple when he was officially called in Isaiah 6).  The very people that were supposed to protect the people from corruption and teach them about holiness were now themselves corrupt and misusing their positions for their own gain.  The sheep were certainly lost like sheep without a shepherd because all the leaders who were supposed to guide and protect them were leading them in the wrong direction.  It is no wonder why Jesus loved to quote from this book of prophecy, especially when speaking of the religious leaders of His day (many of whom were also of a corrupt priestly class who were fleecing the flock of God and misusing their positions to advance themselves financially and politically).

The first verse of this chapter tells us where we are in the historical timeline.  We're zooming in on the reigns of several kings of Judah:  Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, making Isaiah a contemporary of the Prophet Micah in the southern kingdom and the prophet Hosea in the northern kingdom.

​The LORD describes His broken relationship with His people in no uncertain terms.  He says at least farm animals can be broken and know their master and obey them--the children of Israel are more stubborn and rebellious than an ox or donkey.  They have forsaken the LORD and despised the Holy One of Israel.  These children are utterly estranged from their Father.  The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint.  From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness (nothing good) in it.  Instead, the nation is like a body that has been badly beaten that is fully of bruises, sores, and raw wounds that no one has treated (they are likely to become infected if something isn't done).

It may sound like the LORD's judgment is "kicking them while they are down," but they got themselves beat up by going all the places He told them not to go and doing all the things He told them not to do.  They refused His good Law that would have protected them, and they have refused His gentle correction.  Now it is time for His tough love.  He will punish them with the hopes they will turn back in repentance (though He knows they will not repent and that He will need to exile them just like He did the northern nation of Israel.  Judah learned nothing from them and is following in their footsteps).

The picture of the LORD's people being like a vineyard will be used over and over again in the book of Isaiah.  A vineyard was a treasured possession and something worth protecting and defending.  If you did not put walls up around it to keep the wild animals out, they would come and destroy the fruit and the vines, and bad actors would come in and destroy or steal the harvest.

The LORD compares the people of Judah to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and tells them that they deserve the same end as those wicked cities--they are no better than them.  However, the LORD knows He must leave a remnant for His plans to be fulfilled (for Jesus to come and save not just the people of Isarel and Judah, but the entire world from their sins).  God tells the people of Judah to stop making sacrifices and celebrating the feasts and coming to the Temple if they are going to profane His Name with the way they live.  He will not accept their sacrifices and will not hear their prayers.  He will not listen to them when they cry for mercy because they want the LORD's hand of judgment to be taken away from them (without their repenting first).  He tells them that they need to be washed clean before they be acceptable and pleasing to Him (But how can they be made clean?  Their sins are as scarlet, so how can they be made white as snow to be pleasing and acceptable in His sight?).

The last verses answer that for us.  The LORD Himself will provide the way for them to be changed from the inside out.  We know this to be the gospel of Jesus Christ (and many call the book of Isaiah "The Fifth Gospel," because we see the gospel of Jesus so clearly, even though He isn't directly named).  The people can't fix themselves.  If left to their own, they are without hope.  They need the help of the Good Shepherd who will lay down His life for His sheep.  If they will repent and let God make them clean, they can enjoy all the blessings He has promised to them, but if they refuse and rebel, they will be cut off from the Land and the other blessings that were promised and receive the curses of the Law.  It will be their choice.