1The 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 book of Isaiah begins with the words “the vision.” All of the revelation that Isaiah received during the time of the reigns of the four kings named above is described as a single vision. This vision is most focused on Judah and Jerusalem but also includes prophecies concerning other nations, particularly prophecies which pertain to those nations’ treatment of Israel. According to 6:1, Isaiah began to receive this revelation in the year that king Uzziah died. Thus, the vision did not include foretelling of things prior to that year but may include a recounting of earlier things from Uzziah’s reign.
The book begins with an indictment of Judah by the LORD in verses 2 and 3. Then, Isaiah laments the condition of the nation and declares to them God’s indictment.
2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
God’s call to the heavens and to the earth to hear are like the words found in Deuteronomy 4:25-27, where Moses warned Israel of idolatry. He said “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day....” He told them that if they worshipped idols, God would put them out of the land. Moses also warned the people in Deuteronomy 32 and began with the words, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” He said, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah...” (verses 1, 32).
With striking similarity, in His revelation to Isaiah, God said, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” The implied message is that the warnings in Deuteronomy that Israel received before they entered the land of Canaan were not heeded. As a result, they will be put out of the land.
Even in His rebuke, the LORD used endearing words, saying that the people of Israel were children that He’d nourished and brought up, and calling them “my people.” But, because of their rebellion against Him, He also said that they had less understanding than an ox, that at least knows its owner, and than an ass, that at least knows the trough where its master feeds it.
4Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Isaiah calls the people of the nation of Israel “a seed of evildoers.” This expression probably does not mean that the ancestors of the people were evildoers but rather that the people are descendants who are themselves evildoers. Their being “sinful,” “laden with iniquity,” “evildoers,” and “corrupters” stands in stark contrast with God’s being “the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah calls God “the Holy One of Israel” 24 times in this book. It seems likely that Isaiah, more than any other Old Testament author, chose this title for God on account of the vision of God which he saw at his commissioning. That commissioning will be recounted in chapter 6. The people of Israel had forsaken and spurned the LORD and were estranged from Him.
5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7Your 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. 8And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
These verses speak of an existing judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah because of the peoples’ sin. If we consider the events recorded in Scripture which took place during the time period of Isaiah’s vision, it seems most likely that Isaiah is referring to the results of the invasions of Judah by Syria and by the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of the wicked king Ahaz.
II Chronicles 28:5-6 state:
“Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him [Ahaz] into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.”
Also during that time, the Edomites smote Judah and took captives, and the Philistines seized and occupied villages in Judah (II Chronicles 28:17-18).
Because this chapter provides an introduction to the whole book, the description in verses 5-9 may be intentionally broad enough to also encompass the invasion by the Assyrian king Sennacherib during the reign of Hezekiah. In that invasion Sennacherib took the fortified cities of Judah and threatened to take Jerusalem, too (II Kings 18:13,17). The statement, “the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city,” is fitting to that invasion.
There is no reference in the historical books of the Old Testament to cities of Judah being burned with fire during the invasions named above, but such destruction by fire may have taken place then. It seems likely that Isaiah’s prophecy continued to look forward to the invasion by Babylon which would take place after the reigns of the four kings named in verse 1.
According to II Chronicles 36:17,19,
“Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand....And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.”
We know that this attack by Babylon is within the scope of Isaiah’s prophecy because in chapters 13 and 14 Isaiah will declare God’s subsequent judgment against Babylon.
Thus, in this first chapter, Isaiah has given a prophetic overview of the judgments that would come on the southern kingdom of Judah because of the peoples’ sin.
10Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full 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. 12When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15And 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.
In these verses, Isaiah described a setting in which the temple was still open and functioning. One of the latter wicked acts of king Ahaz was to close the temple. According to II Chronicles 28:24, “And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.” The temple was later reopened at the very beginning of the reign of king Hezekiah (II Chronicles 29:3). Thus, it is likely that verses 10-18 speak of hypocritical religious observances in Judah prior to the time that Ahaz closed the temple. The fact that God declared coming judgment on Judah even at the end of the reign of Uzziah (6:9-12) makes clear that this hypocrisy had a long history.
God said that right religious observances done by anyone who is continuing in personal sin are an abomination and iniquity in His sight. He hates religious observances done in hypocrisy and will not hear the prayers of those who perform them.
16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
In Exodus 22:22-24, God said,
“Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”
The words, “relieve the oppressed” in verse 17 may be translated, “righten the ruthless.” It is the ruthless who are willing to enrich themselves at the expense of the fatherless and the widow. Such injustice was happening in Judah.
18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Verse 18 contains the only offer of forgiveness found in this chapter. God speaks of two ways of salvation for Israel as a nation. The first way is that of forgiveness and return to obedience. The second way is that of judgment on the nation to purge out the evil. The second way is the topic of the remaining verses of this chapter.
When the LORD says, “Come now, and let us reason together,” we understand that the first step toward forgiveness is that people, individually and collectively, become honest with God. At this point in the book of Isaiah, there is no explanation concerning how the sins of the people will be made like snow and like wool. This “how” of this offer will be progressively revealed in the coming chapters. In the New Testament, Matthew 27:27-28 says,
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.” Jesus took on Himself our sins which are as scarlet and are red like crimson.
Verses 19 and 20 contrast the two possible consequences of the decision to be made by the nation. Willing obedience would allow them to eat the good of the land. Rebellious refusal of God’s offer would bring a sword that would eat them. A partial judgment by the sword took place through the attacks of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel (II Chronicles 28:5-6), but much more would come through the conquest of Judah by Babylon. In verse 7, this judgment was described as present and ongoing: “your land, strangers devour (literally, “are devouring”) it in your presence,” probably referring to the attacks which took place during the reign of Ahaz and to the invasion by Assyria during the reign of Hezekiah. Verse 20, however, uses the future tense: “ye shall be devoured with the sword,” probably looking on to the conquest by Babylon after the time of Hezekiah.
21How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 23thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 24Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25and I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
God said that in the past, Jerusalem was like a faithful wife, but that she had become a harlot. The city had betrayed Him with the worship of idols. In verse 25, God said that He would put into place again righteous judges and counselors “as at the first” and “as at the beginning.” It seems likely that He was referring especially to the time of the reign of David and to the first part of the reign of Solomon. There was also an effort made by Jehoshaphat during his reign to put into place godly judges (II Chronicles 19:5-11). While Isaiah was prophesying, however, especially in the time of king Ahaz, Jerusalem had become the dwelling place of murderers. Ahaz himself offered his children as burnt sacrifices to false gods (II Chronicles 28:3).
God called the corrupt leaders of Judah His adversaries and His enemies. Verses 25 and 26 each begin with the same Hebrew word, “a-shi-vah” (“I will turn...I will restore”). Probably this repetition is to emphasize that subsequent restoration is as sure as was the judgment. The LORD promised that after He avenged Himself of His enemies, purged away the sin in Jerusalem, and restored righteous leadership to the city, it would be called “the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” There were periods of partial spiritual recovery during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, but God had already told Isaiah at the time of his commissioning that the spiritual blindness and dullness in Judah would continue and result in His removing the people from the land in judgment (Isaiah 6:11-12).
A partial spiritual restoration in Jerusalem also took place after the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. But Zechariah, who was prophesying at that time, spoke of a day yet in the future when there would be cleansing for Israel:
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.” (Zechariah 13:1-2)
We know that there were yet unclean spirits in the land at the time of Jesus’ first coming. Thus, the day that Zechariah foresaw and the day of restoration that Isaiah spoke of looked beyond the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, beyond the return from captivity in Babylon, and to the coming and return of Christ. “In that day,” the city of Jerusalem will be known for righteousness and faithfulness that will also exceed that of the time of David.
27Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
God will save Israel, either through the forgiveness He offered in verse 18 or through cleansing that comes by violent judgment. Verses 24-31 indicate that the second way of purging from evil will be necessary. Verse 27 states that “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment.” That means that God will inflict judgment on Jerusalem in order to get the people of the city out of the sin in which they are entrenched. The words “her converts” mean “her returning ones,” probably referring to those who would someday return to the land after the judgment.
The “oaks” and “gardens” were places of idol worship in Judah. In verse 30, the LORD says, “For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.” In other words, the people would become like the lifeless shrines where they worshipped. In verse 31, “the strong” may refer to leaders who had the idols made. God said that the strong would become like “tow,” the flammable debris left when flax is beaten. The word translated “the maker of it” refers to the person who crafted the idol, unless the word is to be translated “his work,” as many commentators think, in which case the reference would be to the idol itself. In either case, God said that the latter would become as a spark to ignite the former. Both would burn together. No one will be able to quench the fire of God’s judgment until the evil is consumed out of the land.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.