Isaiah 63 - Introduction

Isaiah 63:1-6. The Day of Vengeance in Edom

These verses form a detached oracle, representing the final triumph of Jehovah over the enemies of His people. The image presented is one of the most impressive and awe-inspiring in the O.T., and it is difficult to say which is most to be admired, the dramatic vividness of the vision, or the reticence which conceals the actual work of slaughter and concentrates the attention on the Divine Hero as he emerges victorious from the conflict. A solitary and majestic figure, in blood-red vesture, is seen approaching from the direction of Edom. A question of surprise escapes the prophet's lips as he contemplates the singular and startling apparition; and a brief reply comes from afar, indicating that the Hero is Jehovah, the Saviour-God of Israel (Isaiah 63:1). The prophet then ventures to address himself directly to the advancing figure, inquiring the meaning of His crimson-stained raiment (Isaiah 63:2). What follows (Isaiah 63:3) contains Jehovah's answer to the prophet's challenge, and the explanation of His strange appearance. The day of vengeance, the necessary preliminary to redemption, has come and passed (Isaiah 63:4); the foes of Israel have been annihilated, as in some vast winepress (Isaiah 63:3; Isaiah 63:6); and this great act of judgement has been accomplished by Jehovah alone, no human helper having been found to execute His will (Isaiah 63:5).

It was a serious misapprehension of the spirit of the prophecy which led many of the Fathers to apply it to the passion and death of Christ. Although certain phrases, detached from their context, may suggest that interpretation to a Christian reader, there can be no doubt that the scene depicted is a "drama of Divine Vengeance" (G. A. Smith), into which the idea of propitiation does not enter. The solitary figure who speaks in Isaiah 63:3 ff. is not the Servant of the Lord, or the Messiah, but Jehovah Himself (comp. the parallel ch. Isaiah 59:16); the blood which reddens His garments is expressly said to be that of His enemies; and the "winepress" is no emblem of the spiritual sufferings endured by our Lord, but of the "fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (Revelation 19:15) towards the adversaries of His kingdom. While it is true that the judgement is the prelude to the redemption of Israel, the passage before us exhibits only the judicial aspect of the Divine dealings, and it is not permissible to soften the terrors of the picture by introducing soteriological conceptions which lie beyond its scope.