Isaiah 59:9-15

2. THE CONSEQUENCES

TEXT: Isaiah 59:9-15 a

9

Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.

10

We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men.

11

We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

12

For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:

13

transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

14

And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.

15

Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the we doing the pleading for light?

b.

Is the confession of wickedness sincere?

PARAPHRASE

Yes, it is on account of our crimes that our nation is in such a state of chaos. There is no justice or righteousness in our society. It is no wonder that this generation which has expected light finds nothing but darkness and ignorance. It is no wonder we grope and grasp at things like blind men; no wonder we stumble around wounding ourselves like blind men in broad daylight; no wonder we are like a nation of dead corpses. Our whole nation is filled with confusion and turmoil and some people run around like bears roaring at the agitation they are suffering. Others go moaning like troubled doves. This disordered and disturbed society looks everywhere for justice and salvation but they never find it. There is no way this society can deny the multiplicity of its sins. Our sinfulness manifests itself to us in the consequences we are suffering. We know we are a sinful, disobedient people, rebelling against the Law of Jehovah. We have deliberately turned away from Him, we have advocated oppression of our fellow man and revolt against our leaders and we are a nation of liars. Injustice is the order of the day; justice has been completely perverted. Righteousness is unheard of in this country; truth is dead in the wicked streets of the cities and honesty and fairness could not come into this society if it wanted to because it is banned. Indeed, there is no truth here, it is all falsehood, and the man who tries to quit his wickedness becomes an outcast and a hunted man!

COMMENTS

Isaiah 59:9-11 CONFUSION: The first part of chapter 59 is Jehovah's indictment. In Isaiah 59:1-8 the Lord, speaking through Isaiah, tells Judah that He knows their sin. This section (Isaiah 59:9-15) is an evaluation of Judah's predicament from man's (Isaiah) perspective. It is, as it were, Isaiah concurring with the Lord's indictment. It cannot be a penitent confession of sin by the nation of Judah. The attitude of the populace grew more and more rebellious and not penitent as evidenced clearly by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah says, in effect, Lord, You are correct! This nation is filled with confusion because of its sin. The stupefying effect of the rejection of God's truth is seen in their clamoring, roaring, moaning for light and salvation while at the same time clamoring for more and more wickedness. They were like disoriented blind men groping, feeling, grasping for some object by which they might find their way. The way is there but they cannot see it because they have deliberately chosen not to see it. One is reminded of King Zedekiah who when faced with the consequences of his disobedience to God, sent for Jeremiah the prophet and asked, Is there any word from the Lord? (Jeremiah 37:17). Jeremiah had been preaching the word from the Lord for at least 23 years (Jeremiah 25:3)why had Zedekiah been unable to find the way for 23 years? Why all of a sudden roar and moan for salvation, Zedekiah? Because he had come to the end of his rope. He could no longer solve his problems by himself.

The nation of Judah was fast approaching the end of its rope. Isaiah recognized it. Many of the people, however, had not yet admitted it. Not until they had been violently dragged off into pagan captivity and had gotten their fill of idolatry did they confess their own helplessness and turn to God for salvation.
The interesting thing in our text here is the incongruity of moaning for salvation while running to evil and making haste to shed innocent blood (Isaiah 59:7). But what they are doing is nothing new. Israel did the same thing during the wilderness wandering, during the period of the Judges, during the period of the Seleucids and during the Roman occupation and the days of Jesus. Nation after nation has acted in the same stupid waymoaning for light while increasingly practicing darkness and roaring for salvation while continuing to. enslave itself with falsehood and wickedness. This senseless paradox fits certain segments of our own society and our own country. Some Americans run around roaring for liberty while burning and looting and shedding innocent blood. Others moan for truth in politics and religion while cheating on their income tax, stealing their neighbor's wife, violating every law they can without getting caught. People want their sins but they do not want the consequences. Judah was no different from every other generation.

Isaiah 59:12-15 CONFESSION: AS we stated earlier, this is not so much a confession of repentance as it is an admission, on Isaiah's part, that the Lord is correct about His charge against Judah. Even if this does represent a confession of sin by the nation, it is one thing to confess one's sins and another thing to repent of them. Sin and its consequences may even be regretted and still not repented of. Judas regretted betraying Christ but did not repenthe hanged himself.

As a matter of fact, it would be difficult for a nation as saturated with wickedness as Judah was not to be aware of its sin! The consequences of sin are usually apparent even to the sinner himself. When the consequences of sin are felt more by the society as a whole than by the individual sinner it is easier to admit the sin and the consequences, than it is when those consequences cause individual catastrophe. Individual sinners profiteering from their sin without any privations or calamity may hypocritically bemoan the sins of others in their society and go right on sinning themselves.

Apparently these verses are the righteous moanings of Isaiah the prophet concurring with God that Judah is a wicked nation. The depravity of the entire society was plainly evident. Anyone could see the nation had deliberately turned away from Jehovah and had become idolatrous. Anyone could see there was no truth anywhere in that nation; not in government, not in business, not in religion! Truth had fallen dead in the streets. Honesty and uprightness was not permitted. Any man who tried to give up his wickedness made himself a victim, a prey! He became a hunted man! Could any society become that wicked! Jeremiah was told to run through the streets of Jerusalem. to see if he could find a man, one who does justice.. (Jeremiah 5:1). Jeremiah, only some 80 or 90 years removed from Isaiah, found the people of Judah totally committed to wickedness. Not only so, they loved it that way (Jeremiah 5:30-31); they could not be shamed (Jeremiah 6:15); no one repented of wickedness (Jeremiah 8:5-6); and Jeremiah was told not to pray for that people (Jeremiah 7:16-17; Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11; Jeremiah 15:1). Yes, a society can become that wicked! And it happens to any nation when its preachers do not proclaim the word of the Lord and when its rulers transgress God's commandments (cf. Jeremiah 2:7-13).

QUIZ

1.

Why are these verses probably not to be considered as a penitent confession of the nation of its sins?

2.

How is it possible for a people to bemoan the consequences of their sins and yet keep on sinning?

3.

Did Israel ever do this before? When?

4.

Why is it nearly impossible for a society not to be aware of its sins?

5.

How far into wickedness did the nation go as recorded by Jeremiah?