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📚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.1:1 Vision here means a revelation from God. Note at Gen 15:1. This revelation came on different occasions over a long period of time and refers to the whole book of Isaiah. We know nothing about Isaiah’s father Amoz. He is not, of course, the prophet Amos.⚜
The corrupt and ruined condition of the Jews
2 📚Hear, O heavens, and give ear 📖,
O earth, for the LORD has spoken:
“I have reared and brought up children,
and 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 consider”.
1:3 Men in rebellion against their Creator, the God of the universe, can be more senseless than ignorant beasts. And the nations of Israel and Judah were no better or wiser than any other (Deut 32:28; Jer 4:22; 8:7). The ox and the donkey are not the most clever of animals but in a very important matter they were wiser than the people of Israel. Those people had a Master but they tried to remove themselves from His love and care.⚜
4 📚Alas, sinful nation,
a people weighed down with
wickedness,
a brood of evildoers,
children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have provoked the Holy
One of Israel to anger,
they have gone away backward.
1:4 This one verse exposes the terrible moral and spiritual condition of Judah and Jerusalem. This was God’s evaluation, not man’s. And it is a picture not merely of Judah but of the world (Ps 14:2-3; Rom 3:9-18). “Holy One of Israel” appears 26 times in Isaiah and only 6 times in the rest of the Old Testament. The book of Isaiah lays special emphasis on God’s holiness. It is in the light of God’s holiness that man’s behavior appears so exceedingly sinful. Note on holiness at Lev 20:7.⚜
5 📚Why should you be struck again?
You revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart is faint.
6 📚From the sole of the foot
even to the head there is
no soundness in it,
but wounds, and bruises,
and putrefying sores.
They have not been closed,
or bound up, or soothed with
ointment.
7 📚Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire.
Strangers devour your land
in your presence,
and it is desolate,
as overthrown by strangers.
8 📚And the daughter of Zion is
left like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
like a besieged city.
1:8 Daughter of Zion means the city and people of Jerusalem. It stood alone in the midst of hostile nations.⚜
9 📚Unless the LORD of hosts 📖 had left
to us a very small remnant,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been like
Gomorrah.
1:5-9 Here are some of the results of their rebellion against God. (The Bible continually points out that sin has fearful consequences – Gen 2:17; Lev 26:14-22; Num 32:23; Ezek 18:20; Rom 1:18; 6:23; Heb 2:2). The prophet (and God is speaking through the prophet) asks the nation why they wish to continue in their sins when the results are so painful. As a body experiences the harmful effects of a disease, so the entire nation has experienced the destructive effects of their rebellion against God. This destruction came about by invasions of foreign armies. Compare 2 Chron 28:5-8; 2 Chron 32:1-2, 9. God often uses the armies of one country to punish another country for their wickedness. See Isa 7:20; 10:5-6; Jer 50:15, 23; 51:1, 20-23; Hab 1:6; Rev 17:16-17.⚜
1:9 Rom 9:29. If God had not been merciful to that rebellious people the city and nation would have been entirely obliterated from the earth as Sodom and Gomorrah had been (Gen 19:23-25).⚜
10 📚Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the law of our God,
1:10 Isaiah speaks to the rulers and people of Judah and Jerusalem as if they were the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah. He considers Jerusalem and Judah as corrupt and worthy of destruction as those destroyed cities.⚜
you people of Gomorrah!
God’s rejection of their kind of religion
11 📚“To what purpose is
the multitude of your sacrifices
to me?” says the LORD.
“I have had enough of the burnt
offerings of rams,
and the fat of fed cattle;
and I do not delight in the
blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of male goats.
12 📚“When you come to appear before me,
who has required this at your hand,
this trampling of my courts?
1:12 True religion is of the heart. Without inner love and reverence for God, going to places of worship is useless and unacceptable to Him.⚜
13 📚Bring no more meaningless offerings!
Your incense is an abomination to me.
The New Moon festivals and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies,
I cannot endure.
Even the solemn meeting is wickedness.
14 📚Your New Moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they are a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
1:13-14 Not only is such worship unacceptable to God it is positively hateful to Him. Men with their vain and hypocritical worship may think they are pleasing God but instead they are provoking Him to disgust and anger. Compare Luke 16:15. Observe in v 13 that the meeting of God’s people for worship may be, in His eyes, evil assemblies.⚜
15 📚And when you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
yes, even though you utter many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood 📖.
1:15 God will not answer the prayers of those living in sin and rebellion against Him. Such people may have the forms of worship and make many prayers, but God turns away from such (Isa 59:1-2; Ps 66:18; John 9:31; Jam 4:3). We should not expect God to answer our prayers if we do not love Him, obey Him, and serve Him, and if we want answers only for selfish reasons.⚜
16 📚“Wash yourselves!
Make yourselves clean 📖!
Put away the evil of your actions
from before my eyes!
Cease 📖 to do evil!
17 📚Learn to do good 📖!
Seek justice,
relieve the oppressed!
Show justice to the fatherless,
plead for the widow 📖!
1:11-17 This is a very important passage on worship, showing what is acceptable to God and what is not. See also Ps 50:7-23; Jer 7:1-11; John 4:21-24; Jam 1:26-27. If there is no humility, no obedience to God, no sincerity, no right motives, no purity of heart, no ongoing spiritual life, then worship is an empty and vain thing and God will not accept it.⚜
God’s invitation, promise and warning
18 📚“Come now,
and let us reason together”, says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.
1:18 See Isa 43:26; Lam 3:40; Hag 1:5, 7. God is a God of reason and He has made man with a mind and ability to reason. He wants men to stop and think about Him, about themselves, about their course in life, especially about any argument that is going on between themselves and Him. God’s desire is for peace and harmony. He wants the dispute that is brought on by sin to be settled. He longs to forgive, restore and bless a repenting people (Ezek 18:30-32).⚜
19 📚If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good of the land.
1:16-19 In spite of their detestable spiritual and moral condition there was hope for forgiveness and blessings – if they would repent. This hope is held out everywhere in the Bible (Isa 55:7; 2 Chron 7:14; Ezek 18:27-28, 32; Luke 24:45-47; Acts 2:38-39).⚜
20 📚But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it”.
1:19-20 The contrast in these verses is seen everywhere in the Bible – Lev 26:3-35; Deut 28:1-68; 30:15-20; Isa 66:24. Obedience to God’s word brings great blessing. Continual rebellion brings death, destruction and eternal condemnation.⚜
God’s judgment on Jerusalem, His promise of a new day
21 📚How the faithful city has become a prostitute 📖!
It was full of justice;
righteousness once lodged in it,
but now murderers 📖!
22 📚Your silver has become dross,
your wine mixed with water.
1:22 Because the hearts of the people had become corrupted everything else had become corrupted.⚜
23 📚Your rulers 📖 are rebellious,
and companions of thieves.
Each one loves bribes 📖,
and chases after rewards.
They do not show justice to the fatherless.
The cause of the widow 📖 does not come before them.
24 📚Therefore the Lord,
the LORD of hosts,
the mighty One of Israel, says,
“Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries,
and avenge myself on my enemies.
1:24 Leaders and people who behave as those described in the preceding verses are God’s enemies and He knows how to deal with them (Deut 32:40-41).⚜
25 📚And I will turn my hand against you,
and thoroughly purge 📖 away your dross,
and take away all your alloy.
26 📚And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counsellors as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called,
The City of Righteousness,
The Faithful City 📖”.
1:26 He means judges who would guide and lead as Samuel, for example, did.⚜
27 📚“Zion will be redeemed with justice,
and her repentant 📖 ones with righteousness.
28 📚And the destruction of the transgressors
and of the sinners will be together,
and those who forsake
the LORD will be consumed.
29 📚For you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks
which you have desired,
and you will be disgraced because of
the gardens that you have chosen.
1:29 This refers to places of idolatry and, possibly, sexual immorality (Isa 65:3).⚜
30 📚For you will be like an oak
whose leaf fades away,
and like a garden that has no water.
31 📚And the strong will be like tinder,
and his handiwork like a spark;
and they will both burn together,
and no one will quench them”.
1:25-31 All these verses are spoken concerning the city of Jerusalem. In spite of the corruption of its inhabitants God continued to have a high and holy purpose toward the city. He was determined to purge it and to restore justice and righteousness to it. This would mean suffering to the city and destruction to the rebellious.⚜