Isaiah 1:21-31: The Faithful Wife

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 26 January 2014 

By Captain Michael Ramsay

  

When we last spoke on Isaiah here, we talked about Isaiah 1:1-20, highlighting verses 18-20:[1]

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the Lord.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool

if you are willing and obedient.

You will eat the good things of the land

but if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

 Today we are going to pick up from where we left off. Isaiah 1:21-23, Isaiah declares:

See how the faithful city

has become a prostitute!

She once was full of justice;

righteousness used to dwell in her—

but now murderers!

Your silver has become dross,

your choice wine is diluted with water.

Your rulers are rebels,

partners with thieves;

they all love bribes

and chase after gifts.

They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;

the widow’s case does not come before them.

Who is the faithful city in the text today? The faithful city is Jerusalem and Jerusalem here represents all the people of God. And God says that the faithful city has become a prostitute. The analogy here is clear. God is saying that the once faithful city of Jerusalem… God is saying that the once faithful country of Judah… God is saying that the once faithful ‘people of Israel’ has become unfaithful.[2] God is saying that Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion was once like a faithful newlywed wife of God who loved and respected her husband but now she, the once faithful wife, has become a prostitute chasing after lovers for money. God is saying that the things Israel and Judah are doing are hurting Him just as much as if His new bride, His true love, were to leave His bed in the middle night to chase after lovers. God is saying that the once faithful city of Jerusalem… God is saying that the once faithful country of Judah… God is saying that the once faithful ‘people of Israel’ has become unfaithful to Him.

In what ways has Israel and Judah’s faithfulness turned to unfaithfulness? Isaiah says that while Israel used to be just and righteous, now she is a murderer. Her rulers are rebels. She partners with thieves; she loves bribes; she chases after gifts; she no longer takes care of the widows, the orphans, the vulnerable and the marginalized.[3] In chasing money for oneself and in failing to look after the vulnerable and the marginalized, in so doing, God says that it is as if her wine has been so watered down that even if she drinks it looking for a warming feeling, that feeling will never come. It is as if Israel’s valuable silver has turned to dross before their very eyes. It is as if we take all the money that we all own in the whole world and gather it before us in front of everyone here and then as soon as we do this – instantly, all these new polymer bills turn into a heap of recycled plastic right before our eyes. God says when we don’t love our neighbour, God says when we turn our backs on those in need it, God says when we chase after money, God says when we look out for ourselves first before we look out for God and our neighbour, God says it is the same as taking everything that He has given us in the whole world and tossing it in the recycling bin. Because of this, verses 24,25a

Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,

the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes

and avenge myself on my enemies.

I will turn my hand against you.

Because God's people have acted as an unfaithful wife committing adultery for a profit: because God’s people have turned their backs on the vulnerable and the marginalized in society, because God's people have forsaken Him by forsaking their neighbours; God says, “I will vent my wrath on my foes…I will turn my hand against you.”[4] And He warns them even more, Verses 28-31:

…. rebels and sinners will both be broken,

and those who forsake the Lord will perish.

“You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks

in which you have delighted;

you will be disgraced because of the gardens

that you have chosen.

This is saying that they and we will be ashamed and disgraced of putting their faith in money and the economy.[5] When we fail to invest God’s love into our neighbours but invest in capital instead: banks fail; economies fail, we fail. And then,

You will be like an oak with fading leaves,

like a garden without water.

The mighty man will become tinder

and his work a spark;

both will burn together,

with no one to quench the fire.”

God’s people have been unfaithful: chasing lovers for money and forsaking the poor, the widow, the immigrant, the refugee, the marginalized and those in need. God says, Verse 25, “I will vent my wrath on my foes…I will turn my hand against you.” Then, Verses 30-31: “The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.”

This is the state of Israel and Judah centuries BCE. Israel eventually ceased to exist as a sovereign state in 586 BCE and Judah was destroyed in 720 BCE. As the countries continued to forsake God, they found themselves forsaken.

What about the nation of Canada in the 21st Century? Where do we stand? Are we a loving and faithful wife true to God and the vows we have taken with and before Him? Are we faithful to the principles upon which our very nation was founded? Canada was founded upon Psalm 72, the Order of Canada upon Hebrews 11; The House of Commons used to be a house opened with prayer, as did our classrooms. Canada, we used to be a faithful wife. Even as recently as my arrival in our fair city here, there wasn’t a public event I can recall that wasn’t opened in prayer or grace asked prior to a meal; now - save Legion events - the opposite seems to be true. It seems that we are not true to God any more. This is sad.

Canada within the world and Saskatchewan within Canada used to stand tall as a place where people loved people because they loved God. There was a time not that long ago when anyone would be welcome at anyone’s home anytime they were in real need of a meal; there was a time not that long ago when anyone would help a friend find work; there was a time not long ago in this province when we intentionally set aside personal privileges in order to provide Medicare and medical and other assistance to those in very real need - now I fear the opposite may soon be true. These days, I hear politicians (even Christian ones) talk about cutting taxes and therefore cutting services to the poor, the weak, and the marginalized. As we said the previous time I chatted with you from up here, God tells us that how we love Him is reflected in how we love our neighbour. The faithful wife will love her husband's children. The unfaithful wife will chase after money and her own lusts in the middle of the night. Which is our country? I fear that maybe Canada is along with Israel, the once faithful wife now chasing after our own lusts and private monetary gain.

What about you and I assembled here today? It is one thing to talk about our vast country in general. It is yet another thing to talk about a foreign nation, oceans and millennia apart from our own. But as our pericope asks, how are we here at defending the cause of the fatherless? How are we here at defending the cause of the widow? How are we here at standing up for and standing up with the marginalized in our own time and place? How are we at helping out those in need around us in Swift Current, in this corps, in this congregation? There are many people in real need in our midst today. There are some in need of food and shelter. There are some in need of something to do. There are some in need of a hug and there are some in need of a prayer. There are some here who would love nothing more than for you to visit them during the week so loneliness will no longer drag them through despair. There are some here that if you call them this week, you will fill them with such joy that you cannot even fathom it. You and I here today, how are we at being the faithful wife? Do we need to return to the loving embrace of the Heavenly Father by extending an appropriate loving embrace to our neighbour? If we do, as we do, when we do take the time to find out what the people around us need and when we extend that helping hand to them in the Lord’s Name. God says, Verses 25b-27:

I will thoroughly purge away your dross

and remove all your impurities.

I will restore your leaders as in days of old,

your rulers as at the beginning.

Afterward you will be called

the City of Righteousness,

the Faithful City.”

Zion will be delivered with justice,

her penitent ones with righteousness.

Even though Israel is evil; even though Israel is turning her back on God by turning her back on her neighbour; the Lord loves her. He is faithful even though she is faithless. He will remove her impurities.[6] He will recycle the discarded plastic back into brand new polymer bills. He will restore His wife to her faithfulness and He will deliver her with justice. Even with all of the sins that Israel is committing in stepping out on God and by treading on the downtrodden; the faithful, Verse 27, the penitent ones, will be delivered with righteousness (TSA doc 10). No matter how bad they have become and no matter how much the faithlessness of the nation costs the people, the penitent ones will be delivered with righteousness (TSA doc 7).

It is the same with us: no matter how bad we have become, no matter how selfish we have become, no matter how much we have put ourselves first, no matter how much we have chased after what we want in life rather than what God wants of our life, no matter how much we have ignored our Lord by ignoring the needs of the people around us, God is still calling us back. And as we repent, as we love Him and as we love our neighbour, as we return to Him, as we seek Him, we will find Him and then He will purge away all our dross making as pure as the purest silver, as faithful as the most faithful spouse, and as righteous as His most righteous city.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Michael Ramsay, 'Isaiah 1:1-20: White as Snow,’ presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, SK: 12 Jan 2014). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/01/isaiah-11-20-white-as-snow.html

[2] Cf. Gene M. Tucker, NIB VI: The Book of Isaiah 1-39, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn: 2001), 60.

[3] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, ‘Isaiah 1-39,’ Westminster Bible Companion (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky, 1998), 21-22.

[4] Cf. Reuven Kimelman, "Prophecy as Arguing with God and the Ideal of Justice," Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 68, no. 1 (2013): 22.

[5] J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1999 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 20), S. 57

[6] Cf. Geoffrey W. Grogan, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Isaiah/Exposition of Isaiah/I. Oracles Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1-12:6)/A. God's Charge Against His People (1:1-31), Book Version: 4.0.2

Isaiah 1:1-20: White as Snow.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 12 Jan 2014 

by Captain Michael Ramsay.

Isaiah Chapter 1 has often been compared to a courtroom scene as Isaiah uses much of the same language that one would hear in an ancient near east indictment. As a parent of three children, this passage reminds me of a child coming before their parents or a student coming before the principal in the days before they banned the strap[1] – which is surprisingly not so long ago in Saskatchewan here. The exasperated parent in the opening verses (1:2ff) calls out:

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!

For the Lord has spoken:

“I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its master,

the donkey its owner’s manger,

but [my daughter] Israel does not know,

my people [my children] do not understand.”

Mom or Dad continues,

Woe to the sinful nation [family],

a people whose guilt is great,

a brood of evildoers,

children given to corruption!

They have forsaken the Lord;

they have spurned the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on Him.

Now this is where it gets interesting. God is obviously being compared to a judge ordering corporal punishment or more likely - with this language of the family here - a parent who physically disciplines his children.[2] God is portrayed as one who has been provoked to this quite severely. Isaiah says, Verses 5-6:

Why should you be beaten anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head

there is no soundness—

only wounds and welts

and open sores,

not cleansed or bandaged

or soothed with olive oil.

And then Isaiah tells us what he means by this analogy of God having the transgressor beaten. He says:

Your country is desolate,

your cities burned with fire;

your fields are being stripped by foreigners

right before you,

laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

Daughter Zion is left

like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a hut in a cucumber field,

like a city under siege.

Unless the Lord Almighty

had left us some survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.

Let’s stop and think about this for a while because it raises a number of really serious questions:

1. Does God condone beating children or other offenders?
2. Does God beat us into submission through events in our life?
3. Is God picking on Israel? Does He pick on us?

There will be a fourth question that we will look at too:

4. Does God want more from us than just to worship Him?

We will come back to these questions but first let us look a little bit at the historical context of this text. Isaiah the prophet lived in the 8^th Century BCE. He lived 700 or so years before Christ. He and his wife were both prophets (8:1-4)[3] and he had a number of disciples who worked with him (8:16-22) and they probably carried on his prophetic work long after he had received his ‘Promotion to Glory’. Isaiah is mentioned elsewhere in the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles in our Bibles (2 Kings 19:1-7, 14-37; 20:1-11; 2 Chronicles 26:22, 32:9-33). And Verse 1 of Chapter 1 of Isaiah tells us that the part of the book to which we are referring is ‘The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah’.

At this time in history the regional superpowers are Egypt to the southwest and Assyria to the northeast of Israel and Judah who are, with others, stuck right in the middle as they vie for military, political, and economic power in the area. Israel and Judah, as this prophecy is being spoken to them, are extremely vulnerable to attack. Israel will actually be wiped out by the Assyrians right around this time, in 722 BCE. This brings us back to Isaiah’s prophetic warning to the people of Israel and Judah.[4]

As we have said, Isaiah uses the language of a parent applying corporal punishment – spanking or more – to his children. From this language arises then our first three questions that we are looking at:

1. Does God condone beating children or other offenders?
2. Does God beat us into submission through events in our life?
3. Is God picking on Israel? Does He pick on us?

Does God here condone beating children or other offenders (like they cane people in Singapore, for example)? No, He doesn’t. But neither does He condemn it here either. God isn’t actually addressing the best way to discipline your children at all in this pericope; God, through Isaiah, is merely drawing an analogy that everyone listening to his prophecy at this time and place would understand. If this pericope were penned in our contemporary Canadian culture, Verses 5 and 6 probably could read:

O Canada, why should you be in timeout anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole day is spent in that timeout chair,

You are grounded for a week

From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed

there is no TV, video games or friends—

only sitting in the timeout chair

not moving or talking

or doing anything but homework.

God is not addressing corporal punishment specifically here. He is talking about the importance of a parent disciplining his children. And we know that a loving parent does teach his children right from wrong. A loving parent does discipline her children. Proverbs 24:18, which my mother used to quote for me many time growing up, reads:

Whoever spares the rod hates their children,

but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

[Spare the rod and spoil the child]

The parent who loves their children disciplines them. The one who hates them does not. This is what God is talking about in our text today. God says to the people of Israel and Judah: 'Look at all of these things that are happening to you now', Verse 7:

Your country is desolate,

your cities burned with fire;

your fields are being stripped by foreigners

right before you,

laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

Take this as a warning, God says. Like a parent, He says, ‘now think about what you have done. This should be an opportunity for you, my children, to think about what you have done and make the necessary changes before it is too late and something really drastic happens.’

God isn’t beating His children into submission; God is disciplining them before they - through their actions - cause real problems for themselves. God is warning them and hopefully they will heed His instruction so that they will not force their own destruction upon themselves. What Israel and Judah are experiencing is a direct result of their blindly acting out on their own without taking care of their little brother or sister. God isn’t picking on Israel at all; as a matter of fact He is telling Israel to smarten up and to stop picking on her little sister or there will be real problems.

God doesn’t pick on us either in our lives. Many times, if the hardships in life that we are experiencing are the natural results of our own actions, then indeed we should take them as an opportunity to change before our own actions result in our own destruction. However, we must not forget that when in the New Testament Jesus’ own disciples make the theological error of the prosperity heresy, asking, John 9:2, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” When they say that sin is the reason the boy is blind; when they imply that anything and everything that we don’t enjoy in life is condemnation from God, Jesus rebukes them. John 9:3, “‘neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”

God doesn’t punish us ‘willy, nilly’. He isn’t a vengeful God like the mythological Zeus sitting on a cloud with a thunderbolt waiting to zap us whenever we do something wrong. Quite the opposite; in our pericope today, God is compared to a loving parent who needs to discipline His own children before they race off to their own destruction.

That brings us to Verses 11-17. My own children of course are very near perfect and almost never ever need correction or discipline…but occasionally if Susan or I pull one of them aside and have to discipline them, she may protest: What did I do? It was my sister that did that. I didn’t do anything wrong! It isn’t my day to unload the dishwasher or do some other chore that isn't done! It’s not my fault! She hit me first... She told me to do that… I didn’t do anything wrong! I was just nicely doing my chores, doing my homework, minding my own business when all of a sudden that favourite mug of yours just jumped off the cupboard and broke all by itself. I didn’t do anything wrong! It's not my fault! You're picking on me! It’s not fair!

Israel’s complains: ‘Why are you disciplining us? We didn’t do anything wrong: we always observe the Sabbaths and other occasions, we always come to the Temple, we always offer You sacrifices, we always pray; so why are you picking on us, God? It’s not fair. That brings us to our fourth question: does God ask more of us than just to worship Him? Do You, God, always appreciate our worship even? God’s reply, Verses 11-15:

“The multitude of your sacrifices—

what are they to me?” says the Lord.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure

in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

When you come to appear before me,

who has asked this of you,

this trampling of my courts?

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!

Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—

I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,

I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

This is significant. The children of Israel are praying; they are going to church, going to the Temple; they are offering sacrifices; they are spending time with God; so, is praying, reading your Bible and worshipping in church enough to experience God’s salvation? God says ‘no’.

Many times in the Scriptures God tells us that He doesn’t want a proverbial Christmas card from us if we are going to refuse to be nice to our sister. He says, ‘don’t give me a hug if you are just going to turn around and bop your brother on the head’. He says, ‘I don’t want your praises if you are going to keep picking on your little brother and your little sister.’ He says, ‘You say you love Me but that is not true; if it were true that you love Me, you would be nice to my children; if it were true that you love Me, you would love your brother. If it is true that you love Me, stop picking on your sister![5] Verses 16 and 17:

Wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

stop doing wrong.

Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

plead the case of the widow.

This I think is very important for those of us who are here today. Jesus says, Matthew 22:37-38 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” But He doesn't end there. Verses 39 and 40, Jesus says, “...‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus says, Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Jesus says, in the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:12, ‘forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us.’ And Jesus says, Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Jesus says again, Matthew 25, just like in Isaiah 1, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did not do for me (v.41).’ So ‘…depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (v. 45)’.  But “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world (v.34).’” For, ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did do for me (v.40).’”

This is very important for us in the churches: when we gossip about others, when we complain about others, when we won’t sit with others, when we won’t talk to others, when we won’t go to church or to a certain event because someone else is there; when we are mad with our brother; when we don’t forgive our Christian sisters, when we do this, God can’t be expected to forgive us now can he?

It is my hope then that in these last few minutes as we sing our songs of response to today's message, that if there is indeed any sin that you need to get rid of; if there is anyone you need to forgive so that your Father in Heaven will forgive you, it is my encouragement that you will do that now even before you leave this room. And, of course, if you would like to come up to the front for prayer support before we leave, that is what the Mercy Seat here is for - it is a place to meet God and God is always available and God wants to love us and to forgive us and Isaiah 1:18-19a,

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the Lord.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient...

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com  

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[1]Cf. Alec Motyer, J.: Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1999 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 20), S. 50

[2] Cf. Gene M. Tucker, NIB VI: The Book of Isaiah 1-39, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn: 2001),53.

[3] But Cf. John H. Tullock and Mark MacEntire, The Old Testament Story, (Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ: 2006) 214 where they argue that Isaiah 8:3 may not be designating his wife as a prophet but rather as the wife of a prophet.

[4] Cf. By Captain Michael Ramsay, Isaiah 1-39: 1^st Isaiah, Later the World. Presented to Swift Current Corps on January 10, 2010. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2010/01/isaiah-1-39-1st-isaiah-later-world.html

[5] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, ‘Isaiah 1-39,’ Westminster Bible Companion (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky, 1998), 17-18