Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 1:4-9
The Majority Are Like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:4).
Isaiah now describes the condition of Judah, which would include refugees from Israel. This can be analysed as follows:
a Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly, they have forsaken Yahweh, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have estranged themselves, backwards (Isaiah 1:4).
b Why will you still be stricken, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, only wounds, and bruises, and festering sores (Isaiah 1:5 a).
c They have not been closed, nor bound up, nor mollified with oil (Isaiah 1:6 b).
c Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, and as for your land, strangers devour it in your presence (Isaiah 1:7 a).
b And it is desolate as overthrown by strangers, and the daughter, Zion, is left, like a booth in the wilderness, like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city (Isaiah 1:7).
a Unless Yahweh of hosts had left to us a very small group of survivors, we would have been as Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:9).
In ‘a' the sinful state of Judah is described, and in the parallel what the final result has been for them. In ‘b' they are asked why they allow themselves to be so stricken, and in the parallel their desolation as a result is outlined. In ‘c' their sores and wounds are seen as unbandaged and untreated, and in the parallel their resulting continual state of devastation is described.
‘Ah, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A seed of evildoers,
Children who deal corruptly.
They have forsaken Yahweh,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have estranged themselves,
Backwards.'
In this construction we have four parallel statements followed by another four parallel statements, emphasising both aspects of his words. ‘Sinful, iniquitous, evildoers, corrupt', followed by ‘have forsaken, have despised, have estranged themselves, (have gone) backwards. It sums up their seemingly hopeless situation.
Indeed these next few verses are all preparing the way for what is to come. In them Isaiah is declaring Yahweh's verdict on what remains of Israel after the destruction of Samaria, and how, as a result of the vision of the glory and holiness of Yahweh (Isaiah 6:1), the sinfulness of the people has been brought home to him. It is a declaration of how Isaiah now sees them as a result of the experience of that vision.
They are no longer a ‘holy nation' (Exodus 19:6), no longer His true people, but a ‘sinning nation' who constantly ‘fall short' (chata') of God's standard as revealed in His Instruction (the Torah, the Law, the first five books of the Bible), they are a people burdened down with (literally ‘heavy with') their ‘wickedness', that is, with their corrupted and sinful character and natures. They no longer behave as the seed of Abraham (Psalms 105:6) but rather as the seed of their fathers who were evildoers, and it is as their fathers' children that they deal ‘corruptly', as those who are similarly ‘marred and ruined' (shachath).
This manifests itself in their attitudes, lifestyle and behaviour. ‘They have forsaken Yahweh', that is as the One Who was their Overlord with sole rights to their obedience. Other gods and other things have been allowed a place in their lives and thoughts, and His ways are being ignored and set aside. His ways are seen as being too demanding.
‘They have despised the Holy One of Israel.' They had uniquely had the privilege of knowing God as the Holy One, as the One ‘set apart' and lifted high, as unique and majestic both essentially and morally, revealed at Mount Sinai and through His Torah (the first five books of the Bible). He is the glorious One, ‘set apart' in their worship as unique by the holiest of angelic beings as being alone worthy of worship (Isaiah 6:1). He is the uplifted One, high and lofty, Who inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). And His presence and intense purity is such that when revealed it makes men deeply aware of their own total sinfulness and unworthiness (Isaiah 6:5; Job 42:5), with the result that they cringe in His presence.
But although they had been privileged to be chosen as His own people, and had behind them all this background, they had not ‘seen' Him, indeed they had failed to such an extent that they had shown rather that they despised Him by their attitude both to Him and to His Instruction (Law). They had closed their eyes to Him and did not go in awe of Him. This was their condemnation.
They, in fact, would not have seen it in that way. They probably considered that they observed all necessary ritual requirements. They were probably fairly satisfied that they had given Him His due. Did they not indeed carry out the requirements of the cultus? Should He not be satisfied? But Isaiah's point is that it is the very way in which they do this that demonstrates how much they despise Him (Isaiah 1:11). Their very sacrifices are an insult to Him because they are designed to keep Him satisfied while they themselves ignore what He has commanded. They think that He can be thrust to one side, that once ‘dealt with' through ritual He can be dismissed, while they proceed to do as they wish. They are totally unaware of the nature of the One with whom they have to do.
‘They have estranged themselves.' By their actions and attitudes they have withdrawn themselves from Him and have actually chosen in reality to disinherit themselves, to make themselves ‘estranged' as though they were ‘strangers and aliens' to Him. By their behaviour they have made themselves no longer an essential part of the covenant relationship with God, and are even satisfied for it to be so. No indictment could be greater than that. All of us must choose. We cannot love God and mammon. Let us make no mistake about it. There is no part in any covenant for those who refuse to obey Him.
‘Backwards.' The word stands stark and alone (translators sometimes add words such as ‘are gone). They have been on the move, but it has been backwards. Instead of going forward with God, they have gone back to darkness and to idols.
‘Seed of evildoers.' The idea of the seed is prominent in the book. They prided themselves on being the seed of Abraham and of Jacob (Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 45:19; Isaiah 45:25; Isaiah 65:23), some would be the seed of the Servant (Isaiah 53:10 compare Isaiah 44:3), but here they are declared rather to be the seed of evildoers, an expression that depicts the most evil of men (compare Isaiah 14:20).
‘Why will you still be stricken,
That you revolt more and more?
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
Only wounds, and bruises,
And festering sores.
They have not been closed, nor bound up,
Nor mollified with oil.'
He now points out what this has brought them to. He describes Israel as being like someone dreadfully ill, and asks why in that condition they are so foolish as to carry on rebelling when it can only lead to further distress. Their head throbs, their heart faints, their whole body is covered with wounds, bruises and festering sores completely untreated. No one has closed their wounds or bound them up, or applied healing potions to them. They are sickly and untended. Yet by their behaviour they are deliberately asking to be smitten again. He cannot understand why they do it. Why do they not stop, and consider, and listen to God? These ideas were taken from the Torah. For a similar description compare Deuteronomy 28:58. See also Deuteronomy 28:21; Deuteronomy 28:35; Leviticus 26:16.
This picture of Judah and Jerusalem as the sick man of the Near East is vivid and descriptive. In their rebellion they are shown as having fared very ill. But they are seen to have brought it on themselves. They have been stricken in order that they might repent. And yet because of their continuing behaviour and refusal to repent they will be further stricken. They are sick indeed. Why do they do it? Why do we do it?
‘Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire,
And as for your land,
Strangers devour it in your presence,
And it is desolate as overthrown by strangers,
And the daughter, Zion, is left,
Like a booth in the wilderness,
Like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
Like a besieged city.'
This now illustrates the illustration. Note again the pattern. First the four parallel descriptions of judgment followed by the fourfold picture of the consequence, with Isaiah 1:9 then following it up. Part of their sickness is due to the fact that they are under invasion, their country desolated, their cities burned, and Jerusalem stands alone with no one to help. The whole of the land is under the conqueror's cruel boot. And as he will point out later, this is not so much because their kings were incapable, but because they had failed to trust in Yahweh. Had Ahaz not called on the Assyrians for help, and had Hezekiah not revealed their wealth to the Babylonians, they might have been left alone, with the help of Yahweh, as a small nation under His protection which was not worth troubling. But they had been unwilling to trust Him. Thus they had had to enter into their foolish alliances with foreign nations who would only swallow them up.
‘Your cities are burned with fire.' This was regularly seen in Israel as indicating a particular retribution (Numbers 31:10; Deuteronomy 13:16; Joshua 6:24; Joshua 8:8; Judges 1:8; Judges 18:27; Judges 20:48).
‘Strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers.' Here the partial duplication is deliberate and for emphasis. There is a double emphasis, both actively and passively, on the fact that they are devoured by strangers, by aliens, by the unknown, something far worse and horrific than being invaded by neighbours.
Furthermore the aliens destroy everything in front of their eyes, and they do it as savagely as only aliens would, so that when they look on what has been done, they see that it has indeed been left totally desolate, in such a way as would only be done by strangers. Neighbours might invade but they would not normally cause so much damage, (especially to trees which take so long to grow, contrast Isaiah 37:24), since they would have more consideration for the future and of the possibility of retaliation and reciprocation. So here they are depicted as first seeing the action of desolation ‘as by strangers', and then as gazing on the consequences.
‘And the daughter, Zion, is left like a booth in the wilderness, like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city.' The reference is to Jerusalem, built around Mount Zion, seen as God's adopted daughter. It is suggesting that she now stood, solitary, and lonely, and vulnerable, a vulnerable young woman with none to support her, like a shepherd's solitary lean-to in the wilderness, or a lonely watchman's hut in a cucumber garden, open to the ravages of evil men. The idea includes both solitariness and helplessness, with Jerusalem seen as standing alone, and as flimsy and not strong enough to stand against her attackers.
‘Like a besieged city.' That is, cut off from all help and communication, solitary and alone. See also Deuteronomy 28:52.
This possibly reflects the situation described in Chapter s 37-38 when Judah appeared to be on its last legs. If that is so it is clearly here considered as carrying an important, permanent message for Judah and Jerusalem.
‘Unless Yahweh of hosts,
Had left to us a very small group of survivors,
We would have been as Sodom,
We would have been like Gomorrah.'
What they deserved was total destruction, as had happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, but this had not happened because Yahweh of hosts in His mercy had left a few to survive so as to build up the future. Had He not done so there would have been nothing left of Jerusalem. She would have disappeared in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah had (Genesis 19:28).
‘Yahweh of hosts.' This is the absolute description of power, a title found regularly throughout Isaiah. He is overlord of all heavenly beings, the hosts of heaven (Genesis 32:2; Psalms 103:21; Psalm 148:20) and especially of the hosts of God (Joshua 5:14), overlord of all that is in the heavens (Psalms 33:6; Deuteronomy 4:19), and overlord of all that is on earth (Genesis 1:2), and of all earthly hosts. He is Lord of All. And thus against ‘Yahweh of hosts' none can stand. And it was He Who had determined that there would be survivors, which is why there were.
While these pictures could be describing any severe invasion they fit best with the Assyrian invasion in 701 BC (2 Kings 18:13). The Assyrians were truly aliens, and savagely destructive, and it was during their invasion, when city after city was devastated, that Jerusalem was left as a last bastion in Judah.
This description of the moral and religious state of Judah and Jerusalem, and its result, is preparatory to the whole book, revealing their sinful state and explaining why God will act as He will in His judgments. But they also give hint of a future hope through the description of the preservation of a few as a result of the mercy of God, an idea which will recur again and again. The word used here is not, however, the usual one for the remnant. They are not here a spiritual remnant, but merely a group of survivors.
We should learn from this that when troubles come upon us we need to consider whether they are the result of God giving us a warning. Alternately of course they may be the result of the attacks of the Enemy. But either way we should learn from them.