Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 1

Verse 1

Isa 1:1

DIVISION I (Isaiah 1-12)

This division has prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem, closing with promises of restoration and a psalm of thanksgiving.

This chapter has the title for the whole prophecy (Isaiah 1:1), God’s complaint against Israel (Isaiah 1:2-9), the statement that Israel has no excuse (Isaiah 1:10-15), a summary of God’s requirements (Isaiah 1:16-20), the prophet’s lament over Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:21-23), and a declaration of God’s judgment upon the apostate people (Isaiah 1:24-31).

Isaiah 1:1

"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."

The critical viewpoint that alleges an error in this title because the whole prophecy of Isaiah does indeed have many prophecies concerning other cities and nations besides Judah and Jerusalem is in error because all of the prophecies throughout the whole Book of Isaiah are included because of their relationship to the covenant people of Judah and Jerusalem, and because of their bearing upon the ultimate achievement of God in his purpose of salvation for mankind. As Rawlinson noted, "In the scriptural sense, all prophecy relates to Judah and Jerusalem."

"The vision ..." "This is a technical term for `Divine Revelation," as something displayed before the mind’s eye of the prophet. Actually, much of the Book of Isaiah was communicated to the prophet in a manner unknown to us, as the author of Hebrews put it, "by various manners and various portions" Hebrews 1:1, NIV. There are also examples of "visions" in the usual sense, as in Isaiah 6.

"The son of Amoz ..." This is not the same name as "Amos." The meaning of Amoz, the father of Isaiah, is "strong" or "brass." The name which he gave to his son (Isaiah) means "salvation is of the Lord," or "Jehovah is helper." It is supposed by some that Amoz was the uncle of Uzziah, which, if true, would make Isaiah the king’s cousin. Whether or not this is true, Isaiah was certainly well educated and was apparently of high social standing as indicated by his easy access to the presence of the king and his familiarity with royal problems.

Some have wondered why Manasseh was not mentioned here by Isaiah, since it is certain that Manasseh was associated with Hezekiah in the throne for the last ten years of Hezekiah’s reign (see introduction). Added to this is the well established tradition that Isaiah was "sawn asunder" by Manasseh, a tradition accepted by many Jewish authorities and seemingly suggested by Hebrews 11:37. The evil character of Manasseh could have been the reason for Isaiah’s omission of his name here. After all, Hezekiah was actually the monarch on the throne during the first ten years of the period assigned to the reign of Manasseh, a fact proved by the truth stated in 2 Chronicles 32:32, where it is stated that Isaiah wrote the biography of Hezekiah including "the rest of his acts" in the prophecy called the "Vision of Isaiah."

Isaiah 1:1 The first chapter is a prototype of the entire book. Contains the basic outline of the whole message: (a) sinfulness of Judah and Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:3-8); (b) appeals for repentance (Isaiah 1:16-19); (c) the coming judgment (Isaiah 1:24-25; Isaiah 1:29-31); (d) the blessings of the salvation to come (Isaiah 1:26-27). The combined reigns of the four kings mentioned covered some 81 years. 2 Chronicles 32:32 suggests that Isaiah may have outlived Hezekiah. The prophecy concerns the destinies of Judah and Jerusalem—not the Second Coming of Christ-the preservation of the covenant people and points toward a fulfillment in the First Advent of Christ.

Verse 2

Isa 1:2

Isaiah 1:2

"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me,"

This whole prophecy is very largely devoted to the great apostasy of the chosen people and their consequent loss of their status as being anything special in the eyes of God. There are many even today who simply have failed to understand this essential message of Isaiah. The appeal to heaven and earth to "hear" suggests a formal arraignment in a court of law and carries the implication that details and specific examples of Israel’s rebellion will be spelled out. This Isaiah proceeded to do.

Isaiah 1:2 Jehovah’s complaint is expressed in terms of Fatherhood (Cf. Hosea 11:1-7). When God chose Israel she was a small and insignificant people. He reared her and nourished her to a position of eminence and exaltation through special gifts and protections. Then she rebelled against Him and spurned His love (Cf. Ezekiel 16:1-63).

Verses 3-9

Isa 1:3-9

Isaiah 1:3-9

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward. Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil. Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah."

One of the interesting things in this passage is the number of different words used to describe the sins of Israel. They are called rebellion (Isaiah 1:2), ignorance, lack of consideration (Isaiah 1:3), sin, iniquity, evil-doing, corruption, forsaking God, estrangement from God, backsliding (Isaiah 1:4), revolt, transgression, disobedience, sickness, (Isaiah 1:5) and unsoundness (Isaiah 1:6). The wounds and bruises of Israel mentioned here should not be viewed as resulting from the hostile attacks of her enemies but as the result of the stripes of punishment laid upon the sinful nation by the hand of her God.

The picture in Isaiah 1:5-6 is not of a sick man but of someone who has been flogged in an inch of his life, yet asking for more. Therefore sores in Isaiah 1:6 are actually weals.

The mention of the ox and the ass (Isaiah 1:3) stresses the truth that even domesticated animals of the type usually cited for their lack of intelligence exhibited desirable qualities that were absent in the behavior of Israel, which seemed to be totally ignorant of the signal blessings they had received from God and his amazing deliverance of them from slavery and oppression.

We entertain a strong objection to receiving the desolation depicted in these verses as an actual historical picture of conditions in Palestine following some invasion, either that of the earlier reign .of Josiah or, of that when Sennacherib shut up Hezekiah "like a bird in a cage". We are aware that many commentators offer this explanation; but to us it seems clear enough that what we have here is a master prophecy outlining the whole history of Israel in advance, not only covering the invasions mentioned here but the final overthrow of Israel by Babylon with the resulting captivity, and the return of "the remnant," significantly mentioned here as all that would be left of the chosen people. Rawlinson believed that the "remnant" here was "the few godly people left in Jerusalem!" However, such interpretations of this prophecy would make it necessary to accept the godless Manasseh as a part of that "righteous remnant." No! The very fact of the "remnant" being introduced in this opening passage unerringly points to the remnant of Israel that would form the nucleus of the "New Israel" of God. that is, the church, or kingdom, of Messiah! Furthermore, is not this chapter introduced as a part of the vision of Isaiah? The very word means a supernatural revelation of events to take place in the future from the time of the vision; and if this chapter is nothing more than Isaiah’s observations on the current state of the land of Palestine, it is not entitled to any place whatever in Isaiah’s prophecy. No! The commentators are merely deceived by the liberal canard that predictive prophecy is not found in the Bible. As we shall see, this chapter is really a summary of the whole Book of Isaiah.

There is no agreement whatever among scholars as to which of two principal invasions Isaiah referred to in this description of the devastated land. Archer stated that some scholars understand the whole passage as a description of Sennacherib’s invasion of 701 B.C., rather than the usual habit of applying it to the invasion of the Edomites and the Philistines in 734-733 B.C. All of the uncertainty is cleared up by understanding the passage as an extended prophecy of what was in store for Israel in a far more general sense. No other understanding of the place takes care of the question about who constituted that "righteous remnant."

Isaiah 1:8 refers to Jerusalem, "the daughter of Zion," as totally deserted like a "booth in a vineyard," or a "lodge in a garden of cucumbers." Jerusalem was never deserted throughout the life of Isaiah, nor until more than half a century later; therefore, this passage simply cannot be a description of conditions that Isaiah saw. This is a prophecy of the going of Israel into the Babylonian captivity.

Isaiah 1:3 This sin on the part of Israel is unnatural. It is animalistic, brutish, unreasoning. They behave worse than the most unintelligent, instinctive brute, for even the ass and the ox know enough to know who feeds them. Men often allow sin to degrade them; they behave worse than animals (Cf. Hosea 10:11-12; Jeremiah 5:8; 2 Peter 2:12; Psalms 73:22; Isaiah 56:9-12; Romans 1:18-32). When men “exchange the truth of God for a lie and serve the creature rather than the Creator” they “live in the passions of their flesh, following the (animal) desires of body and mind” (Cf. Ephesians 2:1-3). Evolutionism as a philosophy teaches that man has no Creator and such a philosophy is responsible for much of the animalistic behavior of men and women in our age.

Isaiah 1:4 Notice the sins of which they were guilty: Inconsiderateness; Sins of their forefathers (grumbling, idolatry, etc.); Crooked dealing; Forsaking the Lord; Going backward (backsliding); Reducing their worship to a mere formality; Despising the Holy One of Israel. Unbelief usually first manifests itself in the sin of Ingratitude (Inconsiderateness) (Romans 1:21; Deuteronomy 8:11-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-10).

Isaiah 1:5 It amazes the Lord that in spite of the afflictions He has allowed to come upon them, they persist in the hard way of the transgressor. (Cf. Ezekiel 33:10-11) So useless, uncalled for, but as long as they continue in sin they will be stricken. Jesus “marvelled” at the unbelief of the people of His home town (Mark 6:6). With all the advantages, liberties, and blessings of people in countries where the Gospel has been preached for centuries, it is nothing short of amazing to behold the unbelief, ingratitude and despising of the Holy God.

Isaiah 1:6 What is the explanation? The head is sick and diseased. The intellectual and moral life of the nation is diseased. They think wrong, because they love sin (Cf. John 3:18-20). “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people,” (Proverbs 14:34). You cannot think wrong and be right! “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” (Proverbs 23:7). The malignant cancer of sin is in all four receptacles of the heart (intellect; emotions; will; conscience). The whole man is diseased! The immortal heart pours its poison to every facet of life.

Isaiah 1:7 Note the use of both figurative and literal language. The country is desolate and literally burned with fire because of the spiritual conditions described figuratively. Desolation—burned cities—foreigners occupying their farms. Who the invaders were we do not know for certain. Possibilities: Edomites and Philistines who invaded Judea in the time of Ahaz; Israelites under Amaziah; Assyrians under Sargon.

Isaiah 1:8 Because of this condition Jerusalem is left humiliated like a frail, lonely, neglected watchman’s shack in a vineyard or a cucumber patch. She was surrounded by her enemies and cut off from the rest of the nations like a besieged city.

Isaiah 1:9 But there is one hope—a remnant, literally, a very small number which remains righteous and thus saved from the coming judgment. Only a few thousand remained faithful through the captivity and returned to restore the commonwealth of the covenant people with Ezra, Nehemiah, et al. Had it not been for this faithful remnant, Judah and Jerusalem would have been utterly obliterated like Sodom and Gomorrah. Ed. J. Young says, “Whereas, however, the delay of judgment also involves postponement of blessing, nevertheless the fact of the choice of the remnant is evidence that God is fulfilling His purposes in history. Here, then, is the true philosophy of history. It is because of the righteous remnant that the world remains. The wickedness of the world is permitted to continue until, in the counsel of God’s infinite wisdom, the time of punishment has come. That time is delayed for God is truly the God of the heathen also, a God of longsuffering and mercy. At the same time, in that delay, the delay of the full accomplishment of the blessing is also involved. The preserving of a remnant, however, is a step toward the fulfillment of the promise of blessing.” This applies to the blessings of redemption fulfilled in the First Coming of Christ and applies to the redemption and ultimate salvation to be fulfilled in the Second Coming of Christ.

Verses 10-17

Isa 1:10-17

Isaiah 1:10-17

"Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; for incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies, - I cannot; away with iniquity and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of hearing them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."

"Ye rulers of Sodom ... people of Gomorrah ..." (Isaiah 1:10). This line is addressed to Jerusalem, and therefore Jerusalem, which was spared in both of the invasions which commentators suppose produced the conditions Isaiah was describing in this chapter, cannot possibly be the "righteous remnant" referred to in Isaiah 1:9. The most helpful comment we have discovered with reference to that "righteous remnant" is that of Eiselen who said:

"It was the birth of a new era in Old Testament religion, for it was the birth of the conception of the Church, the first step in the emancipation of spiritual religion from the forms of political life, a step not less significant that all its consequences were not seen until centuries had passed away.”

The language of this paragraph has been used to disparage the observance of all forms, ceremonies, and sacrifices connected with holy religion; but such a usage is an irresponsible device for "wresting the Holy scriptures." What God protested against in this paragraph is certainly not the faithful observance of those very ceremonies and sacrifices which God had commanded his people to observe, but the substitution of a meaningless observance of such forms and sacrifices without the heartfelt devotion and faithful obedience to all of God’s commandments which were supposed to accompany such external observances. As Jamieson put it, "God does not here absolutely disparage sacrifice, which is as old and universal as sin itself, but sacrifice unaccompanied by obedience of heart and life.” Any other view of this passage becomes impossible when it is seen that the very same teaching on forms and sacrifices here is also given with reference to prayer (Isaiah 1:15); and in view of the Holy Saviour’s command that his human children should continue steadfastly in prayer, it becomes impossible to misunderstand the true teaching of Isaiah in these verses.

"Bring no more vain oblations ..." There is an ocean of difference in this commandment and the dishonest understanding of it as a command to "Bring no more oblations!" Evil men prefer the dishonest version of it.

Isaiah 1:10 THE CALL TO CONSIDER: Be still and give attention for it is Jehovah who speaks. One does not truly hear God’s Word unless he obeys that word (Cf. James 1:22). Until a person is in an attitude of willingness to do the Lord’s will, he cannot know it (Cf. John 17:17). If one does not obey, it is as though he had not even heard.

Isaiah 1:11-15 THE FALSE APPROACH: Sacrifices without their heart in them. Sacrifices without faith in the One (God) to whom they were supposedly being offered. Ceremony without obedience (Cf. 1 Samuel 15:22; Jeremiah 6:16-20; Amos 5:21-24). To worship without doing God’s commandments in the rest of life is no true worship, and any ritual of worship without faith is a hollow mockery. All that is done in a religious way if it is not accompanied with faith in the Person of God is vain and offensive to God (Cf. Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23). Without faith it is impossible to please God! And, of course, worshipping Him in violation of any expressed commandment is to make void the Word of God. Worship and sacrifice and solemn assembly, without faith, becomes a “weariness” to God—it vexes His innermost soul—it disgusts Him. Who required of them such a steady stream of traffic in faithless sacrifices? Not God! They willfully forced these rituals upon Him. He loathed them. Their worship and their living were incongruous—they did not go together—because iniquity and solemn assembly are totally incompatible. God was fed up with them, sick of them, tired of them and would “spew them out of His mouth” (Cf. Revelation 3:16). They were there in bodily presence but their hearts were far from Him. This is totally unacceptable to God. Goodness, love and faith begins in the mind and heart—this is what God wants!

Isaiah 1:16-17 THE TRUE APPROACH: Get your heart right! Wash, cleanse, repent! The O.T. abounds in the use of the figure of washing to refer to repentance (Cf. Psalms 51:2; Psalms 51:7; Jeremiah 4:14; Ezekiel 36:24-26; Zechariah 13:1). Repentance is the condition which God demands in order to work His cleansing in man, (Cf. 1 Peter 1:22-23). Repentance is: “ceasing to do evil—learning (become skilled in) to do well.” Doing well is: being just and seeing that justice is given; correcting and chastening the oppressor; championing the orphans’ cause and that of the widow. God cannot even be approached by man unless man is in an attitude of repentance (change of mind). Wm. Chamberlain, in his book, The Meaning Of Repentance, defines repentance: “A pilgrimage from the mind of the flesh to the mind of Christ.” Repentance is surrender; a change of thinking, willing, acting; a life directed toward the will of God as revealed in His Word.

Verses 18-20

Isa 1:18-20

Isaiah 1:18-20

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it."

The proper understanding of this passage as a reference to the new covenant which was destined eventually to replace the Law of Moses is faithfully witnessed by the unerring instinct of the Church which has incorporated these words into their hymnals all over the world. Jeremiah indicated that the forgiveness of sins was an infallible identifying mark of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33). Thus we have further proof that Isaiah in this chapter is not merely describing the results of some undetermined invasion; but he is speaking of the New Covenant, the "faithful remnant" and the Church of Jesus Christ.

Also, we should notice that obedience, faithful and loyal obedience, is the sine qua non with regard to that redemption which includes forgiveness. The threat of the sword for the disobedient is a statement negatively of the same universal and eternal principle.

Isaiah 1:18 THE INVITATION: Come is in the imperative—a command. The invitation is to think—not to make any decisions about the means of one’s salvation. God alone can lay down the arbitrary conditions for salvation, for He is infinitely knowledgeable, wise, loving and powerful. On the basis of past historical demonstrations of God’s omniscience and omnipotence, man is commanded to come and use his mind to remember, to think, to reason. If God has been absolutely faithful in keeping His word in the past, it should stand to reason that He will do so in the future. Man must think God’s thoughts—man must conform his thinking to the revealed thoughts of God in order to be reasonable. To be reasonable is to obey the commands which God has given and the promises He has made. All sin and rebellion, whether in deed or thinking, is unreasonable. “Come to your right mind, and sin no more” (1 Corinthians 15:34). “. . . they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened . . . claiming to be wise, they became fools . . .” (Romans 1:21-22). “. . . irrational animals . . .” (2 Peter 2:10-13). In the light of the historically established evidence and the pragmatic proof of the commandments and promises of God’s Word, unbelief is irrational, unreasonable and immoral. Only God knows where man came from, what man’s purpose in existing is, and what man’s destiny is. All other thinking about these ultimates, unless conformed to God’s revealed thinking, is irrational and untrue.

Isaiah 1:18 THE PROMISE: The bloodiest sin can be erased and the sinner transformed into such purity as the whitest snow or wool. God pardons the penitent sinner vicariously and judicially. That is, the sinner does not merit his own pardon. When the sinner turns to God in faith, trust and repentance, God forgives and erases his past and pronounces him righteous, even though the sinner himself could never do enough or be perfect enough to earn this forgiveness. Lest anyone should think, however, that this was an offer of unconditional pardon, whether there was faith or repentance or obedience on the part of the sinner, the Lord immediately calls the attention of the nation to the need for repentance and obedience.

Isaiah 1:19-20 THE ALTERNATIVE: The alternative to blessing is curse! God wants willing obedience—not the obedience of force. One translation has it: “If ye be willing and hearken . . .”To hearken is to obey. “If any man hears these words of mine and does them, he is like the wise man. . . .” “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man . . .” (Matthew 7:24-27). The alternative to salvation is destruction. Such alternatives are inevitable in a moral universe!

Verses 21-23

Isa 1:21-23

Isaiah 1:21-23

"How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them."

This is further lament over the extensive apostasy of Jerusalem. The message of Isaiah here is very similar to that repeated so frequently in practically all of the twelve minor prophets. Social justice simply did not exist any longer in Israel nor in Judah. Israel had, at the times of Isaiah, just about filled up the cup of their wickedness. They had become "traffickers," that is Canaanites, meaning that they were at that time no better than the godless Canaanites whom God had driven out of Palestine in order to re-populate the land with Israel. At this period in their history, the time was as when God would remove them from what, at one time, had been "their land." Israel at that point fully deserved to be removed from Palestine. Why then did God spare "a remnant," bring them back from Babylon and repatriate them in Palestine? There can be but one answer. Due to the Divine promises to the great patriarchs of Israel’s history, God had no honorable course except to retain his watchfulness over the apostate nation till Messiah should come, fulfilling the ancient promises.

Isaiah 1:21 JERUSALEM HAD BECOME A HARLOT: a profligate, sensual, mercenary city, worshipping idols. It was no longer wed to God, sharing His nature and His goals. People make up a city. The city is what the people make it. Some cities have parks, flowers, trees, churches, justice and peace some have saloons, brothels, gambling halls, law-breaking and fear. The spirit of harlotry is the spirit of promiscuousness. Jerusalem left her first love and prostituted herself to pagan idolatry (which is in reality selling oneself to Satan who exploits for his own prideful purposes anyone who will do so),

Isaiah 1:21 WISDOM AND JUSTICE WERE LOST: Justice and righteousness had found permanent residence in Jerusalem before (probably in the days of David and Solomon, 1 Kings 3:9-28; 2 Chronicles 19:5-11, or the days of Jehoshaphat). Jerusalem had been known throughout the world for her wise and just men—but now she was known for her profligacy, injustice and murderers.

Isaiah 1:22 GREAT MEN HAVE BECOME CONTAMINATED: Silver represents nobility—but it had been mixed with “dross” (the scum or refuse matter thrown off from molten ore or metal). Her great men had deteriorated. They had been weakened by mixing in sin like wine is weakened when mixed with water. The further a nation gets from God, the harder to find men with elements of greatness; faith, vision, initiative, moral integrity, humility, unselfishness. When a nation allows its young men to be taught unbelief and sin, its noble manhood is weakened to little men with enlarged egos—self-serving, greedy, stupid men, drunk with the intoxication of their self-importance.

Isaiah 1:23 REBELLIOUS PRINCES: The royal household (princes) were in rebellion against the true king (God). The princes were companions of thieves—in league with criminals, involved in bribery and graft. Men sworn to uphold law and decency using their position and power to defraud the very people they are supposed to govern and protect. They are greedy shepherds devouring the flock over which they have been made overseers (Cf. Ezekiel 34; John 10). They use the law for lawless purposes—for selfish ends. Could such a scathing condemnation be true of some of the leaders of God’s kingdom (the Church) today? Unquestionably!

Verses 24-31

Isa 1:24-31

Isaiah 1:24-31

"Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies; and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy sin; and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shall be called, The city of righteousness, a faithful town. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. For the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them."

This paragraph follows the same pattern so frequently noted in all the rest of the Old Testament prophecies, especially in the writings of a number of the minor prophets, where one finds a blending of the prophecies that speak of the fate of the secular Israel, with undeniable references to that indefinite "afterward," "in the latter day," "in those days," etc., all of which references (as these latter ones) refer to the New Israel, which is the Church, and not to the old secular Israel. This mingling of such diverse prophecies in the same paragraph, and sometimes in the same sentence, often poses difficult problems of interpretation. Here Isaiah 1:29 refers to the "groves" of the prevalent Baalim in Palestine with the shameful religion observed with pagan immorality; and the "gardens" mentioned with them is another reference to the same thing. The destruction of sinners and transgressors, along with God’s avenging himself upon his adversaries and the mention of sinful men and their evil works being burned up "together" are references, first of all to the ultimate destruction of the fleshly Israel, and typically to the eventual destruction of the incorrigibly wicked in hell, following the second advent and the final judgment of mankind.

Isaiah 1:24-27 RESTORATION: The impenitent sinner is the enemy of Almighty God! The sinner is a burden to God—the sinner’s rebellion is unreasonable and unjust in the light of God’s love. Therefore God is justified in avenging Himself of impenitent rebels. But in the process God’s wrath also works chastening, repentance and purification of some. Smelting silver ore is a radical process; purifying sinners is a radical process demanding the death of self! But when the purification has been accomplished, the beauty and utility of the finished product is well worth enduring the crucible. The promises given in Isaiah 1:26-27 are not that of mere restoration of physical conditions, but the introduction of new conditions that never, in their fullest sense, prevailed before. There may be some temporary reference to the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth after the exile, but this restored commonwealth was only typical of the Messianic kingdom to come, so that the fundamental meaning of the prophecy is that there will come a time, typified by the former reign of David (righteousness and justice) in which true righteousness and justice will be found, namely, the Messianic Age (Cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-9 ff; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 34:23-24, etc). This purifying reign of justice and righteousness would be accomplished by the redemption wrought through Jesus Christ (Cf. Luke 1:67-79; Acts 13:34-40; Titus 2:11-14). The “converts” of Zion are Christians, both Jew and Gentile, of the N.T. Church.

Isaiah 1:28-31 REPROBATION: The doom of the apostates. They will reap what they have sown—they will be paid shameful, confounding, condemning wages for their shameful, confounding, condemning deeds (Cf. Romans 6:20-23; Galatians 6:7-9; Romans 1:18-32, etc.). Those who turn to dumb idols will one day be brought face to face with the brutal reality that their false gods are dumb, impotent and useless—and they will be ashamed. The “oak groves” where they set up idols to worship would incriminate them in their shameful apostacy—places they would like to forget when God’s judgment begins to fall. The nation would be seared and withered by the heat of God’s wrath as well as by their own spiritual starvation. They would not be like a tree planted by the water (Psalms 1:1-6). They would be as the “tow” (the coarse and broken part of flax) used for burning. All of man’s strength—whether intellectual or physical—will be consumed and disappear as rapidly as tow when God’s judgment breaks out. This judgment is much more than the exile and captivity. The sin, spiritual in nature, if not forgiven, will be rewarded with spiritual punishment—eternal punishment in Hell.