INTRODUCTION Isaiah calls the people “hear” Yahweh’s torah (Isaiah 1:10), and the whole passage is framed by references to Yahweh’s words (vv. 10, 18, 20).  His main indictment against Judah is that they refuse to listen, and He responds by refusing to listen to them (v. 15). THE TEXT “Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: To what purpose  is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? Says the... Read more

“Your land is desolate,” Isaiah says to Judah, “your cities are burned with fire” (1:7).  That means they are under the curses of the covenant, such as those detailed in Leviticus 26:33, which warns about the “desolation” of the land and the wasting of cities. It also means that someone is carrying out herem warfare against Judah.  Prior to Isaiah, the only city spoken of as actually being desolate is Ai, “a heap forever, a desolation to this day” (Joshua... Read more

Isaiah promises that Yahweh will replant Israel with cedar, shittah, myrtle, and “oil trees” (41:19).  It is a promise that the land will again be fertile and be turned from a desert to a grove and a garden.  But “oil tree” is rare, and is used several times in describing the wood of the debir (= Most Holy Place) in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:23, 31-33). Yahweh promises to reforest the land, but He also promises to restore the house... Read more

Isaiah says that Judah’s body politic has been beaten from head to foot (1:5-6).  There is no health in it, only a fourfold wounding – wounds, stripes, fresh/putrefying, sores; there is also a fourfold lack – the wounds are not closed, not bandaged, not softened, no oil. Two of these terms appear in Proverbs 20:30, but the Proverb gives hope that the wounding is disciplinary.  Wounds and stripes cleanse away evil.  Intriguing, the word for “cleanse” in that passage is... Read more

With a couple of slight modifications, I find Eddy Lanz’s structural analysis of Isaiah 1:1-2:2 ( http://www.lanz.li/engot/isaengstructure.pdf ) compelling: A. Vision of Isaiah re Judah and Jerusalem, 1:1 B. People rebel against and forsake Yahweh; therefore, they are beaten up, 1:2-6 C. Zion is left as a hut in a field, 1:7-9 D. Judah’s worship is corrupted by injustice, 1:10-17 E. Come let us reason, 1:18-20 D’. Faithful city a harlot, with no rights for the orphan and widow, 2:21-26... Read more

Sawyer also notes that Christian interpreters often used the gruesome description of the beaten body in Isaiah 1:6 as background and justification for describing the wounds of Christ in detail.  In traditional readings, Isaiah shows that “no part of his precious body was spared,” suggests that the scourging of Jesus began with the feet and moved to the head.  The list of wounds and blemishes is inspiration for artistic representations of the Passion. Theologically, this works.  Isaiah is describing the... Read more

John Sawyer ( The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity ) summarizes the uses that Christians have made of the “ox and ass” of Isaiah 1:3: “Some commentators like Gregory of Nazianzus . . . interpret the ox as a symbol of the Jews and the ass as the gentiles loaded with the sins of idolatry, so that Isaiah’s prophecy implies that all humanity will be free when the Messiah comes.  Others, including Origen and Jerome, found in... Read more

Many if not most commentators on Isaiah suggest that Isaiah 1 is set around the time of the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701, a story detailed in Isaiah 36-39.  I took that position in my sermon notes earlier this week.  Then my colleague, Toby Sumpter, and a ministerial student, CJ Bowen, objected.  Toby asked, Why wouldn’t Isaiah’s book start at the beginning of his ministry, in the days of Uzziah?  Good question.  CJ added, The description of the sick... Read more