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Dr. Paul Wegner presents the theme of Isaiah - Will Israel ever obey? - and gets into the first chapter of the text!
Show Notes
This week on The Study Podcast, Dr. Wegner and host Tyler Sanders get into the text: Chapter one of Isaiah! Dr. Wegner introduces the theme of Isaiah - Will Israel ever obey? - and covers additional thematic elements related to that question: restoration, punishment of the wicked and a remnant that is saved.
Creators and Guests
What is The Study Podcast?
The Study Podcast is an in-depth look at the Bible with Dr. Paul Wegner and Dr. Alex Stewart.
Tyler Sanders 0:01
Welcome to Study Isaiah, the podcast where we examine the language, historical context, and meaning of the book of Isaiah with Dr. Paul Wegner. I'm Tyler Sanders, and across from me is Dr. Wegner, who is going to tell us the Hebrew word of the day.
Paul Wegner 0:13
Well, I have only one this week. It's Shah-bae-yah. And it's comes from 'shoov', means to return. So in this context, that means one who's returning back to God basically, so a repentant one. It occurs in Isaiah 1:27, "Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her repentant ones with righteousness." So that's where it comes from, from her repentant ones. So that's our word for today. And that's going to be crucial to the whole book. Because remember what I titled it as? Will Israel ever obey? And the answer is, yes, but only a remnant and it'll take a lot longer than they thought it was going to. So that's why that's going to be crucial to the whole book.
Tyler Sanders 0:56
Yeah, the idea of the remnant is a pretty big theme that comes up a lot. Now back into the text. Let's hear the word one more time; it's shah-bae-yah?
Paul Wegner 1:05
Uh, sub-bee-yah.
Tyler Sanders 1:06
Sub-bee-yah. And it comes from shoov. Which is, shoov would be the verb form of the word?
Paul Wegner 1:11
Yep, and it means to return.
Tyler Sanders 1:13
To return. Okay, that's great. Well, that is a great way to get into the text, and that's the exciting thing about this episode. We've gotten through all the intro stuff and now we're getting into the meat of it. Our first episode of the text, we're gonna be looking at the whole chapter, the first chapter of Isaiah, which is a contained section, a contained unit, right? We had two major divisions we saw in the book, right? First one is 1 through 39. Yep, second is 40 through 66. And then in each of those, there's like three subsections. And our first unit in the first half, I guess, the first division, that's only chapter one, right?
Paul Wegner 1:53
Yep.
Tyler Sanders 1:53
We're looking at a whole unit, basically.
Paul Wegner 1:55
Yeah. And we can see it by the introduction. So if you look at chapter one, verse one, "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah." So that basically is a same introduction, as you'll see, in almost all the prophets, I mean, they have that same kind of introduction like this. What's unique about Isaiah, is it has three of these. They don't always have the date, but they always say, "Isaiah, the son of Amos", we already knew who he was. So in chapter two, this has the same thing. Let me just read two for you. It says, "the word which Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem". So it sounds quite similar to the other, just doesn't give the dating. And then the third one is in chapter 13, verse one, which says, "the Oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw". So it seems like to me what we're doing is we've got three basic introductions to the book. And it seems like to me what they're doing is they're showing the units, the bigger units, the major units. And it seems like we've got a great way to divide the book then, because we've got these major sections. And we're going to see how those sections hold together. And the first one is chapter one. And my guess is that these were written at different times. And somehow, some point put together. And we know that Isaiah is not chronological, because if you go back to chapter one, I'm pretty sure we can date this part of it to 701 BC because it is explaining the situation real clearly. Chapter two has that section of what's called the Isaianic memoir in it. And that's, it's his call and commission is how it starts. That's probably about 740 BC. And if this chapter one is about 701 BC, we now know where it's not in chronological order. I think there are themes that are going to come through that'll help us.
Tyler Sanders 3:54
Yeah. Okay. Do you think there's anything to this...do you think chapter one...? I mean, because chapter one would be significantly shorter than the other sections. Is it kind of an introductory chapter?
Paul Wegner 4:06
Yep, I think it's an introduction to the whole book actually. And then it was put on, not actually even at the beginning, but later on, it was put on there to pull the whole book together.
Tyler Sanders 4:19
It's still Isaiah's work. It's not like a separate author being put on here.
Paul Wegner 4:23
Right.
Tyler Sanders 4:23
But it's kind of put together to kind of introduce the themes we're going to be seeing to the whole book.
Paul Wegner 4:27
And remember we talked about Isaiah prophesies over his lifetime, and remember his lifetime was like 60 years. So there's going to be Oracle's given throughout his lifetime, that's why it's going to look like they're sections and I don't know maybe-Calvin thought that once [Isaiah] gave an Oracle, he wrote it down and then hammered it on the temple door. We have no idea if that's really how it happened. But if that's true, then that would explain why you've got these units separated throughout the book and then at some point, I believe Isaiah joins them together and makes it into a unit.
Tyler Sanders 5:05
Yeah. Okay.
Paul Wegner 5:06
Oh, I don't know if you remember. Do you remember that chapter one has a lot of themes and units that are similar to chapter 65 and 66?
Tyler Sanders 5:16
Right, right.
Paul Wegner 5:17
So I think that's also happening of pulling together the book because of what's in chapter one. And a lot of times the things are talked about in chapter one and then you get the, almost like their answer in chapter 65-66. So that's kind of interesting, and that'll help pull the book together too.
Tyler Sanders 5:34
Yeah, kind of bookends it in a way.
Paul Wegner 5:35
Yeah. Let's look at what the first verse is. Notice it's giving us some dates. Well, first of all, I highlighted the word vision. Because when we think of a vision, we think of like chapter six, where Isaiah sees a vision of God, right? But that's only in chapter six, the rest of it is not really like that. So the word is used in a more general sense as a message from God, I think. And so that's probably what it is meaning here. Oh, I wanted to make sure you knew, "Isaiah, the son of Amos", it's not Amos, the book. It's a different guy. So people could get mixed up on that, just making sure.
Tyler Sanders 6:15
No, it's a good detail.
Paul Wegner 6:17
Okay. And now it's "concerning Judah and Jerusalem". So notice it doesn't say Israel or Samaria. When this oracle is given, apparently, Israel's already gone. The northern kingdom, remember, it goes in 722 BC. And if this first chapter is dated to 701 BC, that's after Israel's already gone. So it makes sense that he's just talking about-
Tyler Sanders 6:40
And when you say gone what exactly do you mean? Is that like, into Syria or absorbed into Syria?
Paul Wegner 6:44
Yeah, they're taken captive into Syria, and Sumaria is pretty much destroyed. Now, I wanted to also help you, in chapter six it says, "In the year that King Uzziah dies". Okay, so if that's 740 or 739 BC, then that could be the only thing that Isaiah prophesies in Uzziah's time period. So, it's got his death and so he's listed here as part of the prophesying during his time. And then it goes down to Hezekiah's time, and remember, we looked at the last thing that's in the book itself that Isaiah probably would have known about, is when Esarhaddon gets placed on the throne in 681 BC.
Tyler Sanders 6:44
Right, right.
Paul Wegner 6:55
So it's very possible, [Isaiah] goes all the way down there and so Hezekiah, he's probably got a lot of prophesying during his time, probably. Only one year in Uzziah's time but quite a bit in the rest of these kings.
Tyler Sanders 7:32
Yeah. Oh, and these are all kings of Judah?
Paul Wegner 7:39
Yeah. He makes it real clear that Israel is pretty much gone by then.
Tyler Sanders 7:42
Yeah. Cuz he would have probably said kings in Israel, presumably.
Paul Wegner 7:45
Yeah. Okay. I wanted you to see that, because that's pretty similar to almost all the other prophets. They often will give dates like this. And that makes some sense, right? If you're gonna date something back at that time, you wouldn't say...well, Amos does say, "two years after the earthquake" and I'm going, well when was the earthquake? So it's easier for him to date-and better for him to date them during the times of the kings because most people would know when those were.
Paul Wegner 7:45
Right. And you said the other introductions in Isaiah don't necessarily have dates on it. Does that make this kind of fairly unique?
Paul Wegner 8:18
Yep. This is definitely the fullest one, too.
Tyler Sanders 8:21
Do you think this introduction refers to primarily chapter one in Isaiah or the whole book?
Paul Wegner 8:27
I think it's the whole book actually. Notice it's put on later, after. And some of the themes that we're talking about are going to pull themes from all over the book. It's interesting. Chapter one is going to go through and tell us certain themes, then chapters two through four are going to go into more detail of those themes. And then five through 12 is going to even go into more detail. So you're gonna see the seams or these themes over and over again.
Paul Wegner 8:55
Alright, so that's chapter one, verse one. And then remember, we talked about the introductions. I think if you look at verse two, you're gonna see that this is a courtroom scene. So verse two says, "Listen, oh heavens and hear oh Earth for the Lord speaks." So I'm going to argue that the heavens and earth are going to be the witnesses. And think about it, they'd be pretty good witnesses because they've been there during all of history, so they've seen what Israel's done. So God is going to be the judge and Israel is going to be the defendant, and Israel is going to look pretty bad by the end.
Tyler Sanders 9:30
I think we mentioned in the last episode, one of the reasons this makes sense as a prophecy is like, the witnesses of Israel, we're talking about generations of Israel so to have witnesses that are outlasting Israel probably makes a lot of sense, or at least that precede Israel.
Paul Wegner 9:45
Exactly. So having the heavens and the earth, who saw Israel right as they come out of Egypt and how God protected them and all that and then their rebellion as they're going through history, I think makes perfect sense because heavens and the earth are going to be able to see that.
Tyler Sanders 10:01
Yeah. Do you find this kind of model of like a courtroom show up anywhere else in the Old Testament?
Paul Wegner 10:07
Yeah, Amos has one. They're not real common, but you do see them regularly, a courtroom scene. And this one actually is pretty clear. Look what it says, "For the Lord speaks, 'Sons I have reared and brought up, for they have revolted against Me. An ox knows its owner, a donkey his master's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.'" So I think that's the charge. So here's God giving the charge against Israel and what they've been doing wrong.
Tyler Sanders 10:15
That's pretty tough. I mean, the nice thing would be to say interesting, I think, but that's pretty tough imagery really. Like children coming up against their parents and then even an animal knows.
Paul Wegner 10:50
Yeah. That's the brilliant image, isn't it? Here here; "an ox knows its owner, or a donkey, his masters manger." They feed them all the time, so that becomes a personal connection to them. It's been just opposite for Israel. God was feeding, taking care of them, and instead of being kind to Him, they've rebelled against Him and gone after other gods. And one of the places says they despise the Holy One of Israel. So they've not only pushed Him away, they've gone that next step of not only rejecting Him, but now despising Him. Which back in that time, that would be-that'd be despicable. Having a child that rebelled against their parents, that was like, the lowest of the low. So to have Israel responding this way to God's kind care and all that is really amazing.
Tyler Sanders 11:38
Yeah. And not even meeting the lowest bar, that an animal kind of gets this and understands the world, at least in this way.
Paul Wegner 11:46
Isn't it a brilliant image, though? It just catches us so off guard.
Tyler Sanders 11:49
Yeah. Yeah. It's a strong charge.
Paul Wegner 11:51
Yeah. So that's how it starts. Now look at verse four, "Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly." Can you see we've got phrase after phrase of just saying how bad they are. And I'm pretty sure they're going; wait, why are we a sinful nation? What have we done? Because later on, you're going to see that they keep doing their religious rituals. They're still offering sacrifices and stuff like that, but God says, it doesn't matter because you're doing it without your heart in it, so it's despicable to Me.
Tyler Sanders 12:28
Yeah. Right.
Paul Wegner 12:29
Okay. He keeps going, "They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him." That phrase, 'the Holy One of Israel', that occurs 25 times in the book of Isaiah. 12 times in the beginning, [chapters] 1-39. And 13 times in the second part. So it's interesting, and I actually think-I don't know if you remember chapter six, where [Isaiah] sees that vision of God and he sees the seraphim calling out, 'holy, holy, holy'. I think that image that Isaiah got in chapter six, he keeps throughout the rest of the book, and that's why that title, the Holy One of Israel, really makes sense. He actually got to see the Holy One of Israel. And here's these seraphim calling out 'holy, holy, holy'.
Tyler Sanders 13:13
It changed him.
Paul Wegner 13:14
I think so. I think worked brilliant. Okay. So that's kind of how it starts. He's given the charge. He's basically explained, pretty bad what they're doing. Now it's going to explain what God has done to try to bring them back to Him. So look at verse five.
Tyler Sanders 13:31
And this gets worse in a way.
Paul Wegner 13:33
Yeah, sure does.
Tyler Sanders 13:34
This is...I mean Israel is in a sad state, right?
Paul Wegner 13:36
Yeah, "Where will you be stricken again when you continue in your rebellion? Your whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is nothing sound in it. Only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, or softened with oil." Let me just stop there. You have to think, how would God punish a nation of Israel? What do you think? I'm going to ask you Ty.
Tyler Sanders 14:00
Yeah, sure. I mean, I think if you're thinking about a whole nation and stuff that's gonna affect everybody probably right? Famine, I would imagine.
Paul Wegner 14:08
Good.
Tyler Sanders 14:08
Maybe getting like outside enemies coming in and crushing you, you know.
Paul Wegner 14:13
Excellent.
Tyler Sanders 14:14
Probably any kind of what we would think like a natural disaster now; a flood or something like that.
Paul Wegner 14:20
Several of these have been enemies coming in from the outside. So we've had this Syro-ephraimite War, which basically came against Israel, or it came against Judah. Then we've got Assyria coming through and wiping out the Northern Kingdom and then coming after Judah. So you've got these major players or countries coming through, and Israel looks like it's a beat up child. I often say this looks like child abuse, except, God's the perfect father, and these children deserve it. And they in fact, they don't get it. So what's happening is they're getting more and more beat up because they just don't get it. In fact, He sounds kind of sad. Like, where do I beat you now? I've already beat you from the top of the head, bottom of the foot. Where else do you, where do you get hit?
Tyler Sanders 15:06
Yeah.
Paul Wegner 15:07
And it is interesting. The last part of verse six actually helps us to know how they took care of wounds. Notice, they don't press them out. They don't bandage them. They don't soften them with oil. So those are the things that apparently they did back at that time.
Tyler Sanders 15:21
To try and clean...
Paul Wegner 15:22
Yeah, to make sure the wound didn't fester and get it all worse.
Tyler Sanders 15:26
Would heal.
Paul Wegner 15:26
Right. That's how they were taken care of.
Tyler Sanders 15:28
And they haven't done this, right? Like, that's kind of the metaphor here, like they're so beat maybe they're not even aware...
Paul Wegner 15:36
That's probably true.
Tyler Sanders 15:37
...of the state that they're in, in a sense.
Paul Wegner 15:39
Yeah.
Tyler Sanders 15:40
And the punishments continue, right?
Paul Wegner 15:41
Yep. Now let's look at the next one now. So the first one is kind of like an image; here's a child that's been beat up. Okay. But the next one gets more specific, "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire. Your fields strangers are devouring them in your presence. It is this desolation as overthrown by strangers." Now that's starting to help us know when could that happen. Now, only even up to that part, that's only happened about three or so times in Israel's history, or like Judah's history. So we would have it in 701 BC, which would be pretty clear. Maybe in 733 and 732 BC, where the Syro-ephraimite war came down. They did some significant damage there. And then 586 BC. Those are really the only times when we know of, nations coming in and seriously destroying the land. Now it's going to get even more specific. So that helped narrow it down to about three times. But look at verse eight, "The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard." The Syro-ephraimite war was one time when Judah could have been pretty beat up. And then 701 BC would be another time when Judah would be this significantly beat up. And then the Babylonian exile. So those would be the major times when it could have happened. So he gets even more specific and says that Zion, which is Mount Zion, so it sticks up. Okay, look what, it says, "The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city." So basically, it's saying that it's sticking up above a destroyed area. So that'd be like Jerusalem sticking up when everything else around it is destroyed. The only time that happened was 701 BC. 701 is when Sennacherib came in, destroyed all the rest of the nation, except Jerusalem, and God stepped in and protected them. So that's a beautiful picture of 701 BC, what it would look like. And so that's actually helping us. Remember, I told you it's not in chronological order. So this will help us date chapter one pretty clearly.
Tyler Sanders 17:31
Oh, I see. Yeah, right.
Paul Wegner 17:51
Okay. So that'll let us know, not all of it's written at the same time, first of all, and they're out of chronological order.
Tyler Sanders 17:58
Yeah. Okay.
Paul Wegner 18:00
So it must be, there's going to be themes that you're hearing. And when we get to the end, we'll kind of summarize what those themes were. Okay, there's one more, look at verse nine, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Soddom, we would be like Gomorrah." Means they'd be totally wiped out. And I don't know if you remember, but when Sennacherib comes, Hezekiah uses that exact same term; that if God would protect the few survivors that are left. So it uses that same term for 701 BC. So that's kind of neat.
Tyler Sanders 18:33
And this is our remnant, essentially right? These are our survivors.
Paul Wegner 18:36
Yep.
Tyler Sanders 18:36
And Sodom and Gomorrah, of course, like loaded images in the Bible. Specifically for Israel, right?
Paul Wegner 18:43
Yep.
Tyler Sanders 18:44
And now we're almost saying, you'd be like them, right?
Paul Wegner 18:47
Well, not only that, the next one, he's going to actually call them that. Think about this. That's like for 700 years-okay, if Isaiah is in the 700's (BC) and Moses, I think wrote the pentateuch took about 1400 BC, but this one goes back even to more like Abraham's time, so like 2000 BC even. So that means like, for about 700 years, Sodom and Gomorrah has become an image of total destruction. And they all knew this story, it made perfect sense to them. So when He says, you'd have been like Sodom and Gomorrah had I not stepped in and protected you, that would make perfect sense to them.
Tyler Sanders 18:47
I imagine, if I can imagine about this, it's probably almost how we think of, like in English, the Good Samaritan. Samaritan really doesn't mean person from Samaria to us. It kind of has the meaning of the story of the Good Samaritan, you know, a person who does good even when you don't have to, or when inconveniences them, you know, whatever else that means. Sodom and Gomorrah, like that's loaded language that means more than just the places Sodom and Gomorrah.
Paul Wegner 19:55
Lets go to the next verse and see what happens. "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah." Remember if this is a law scene and God is saying; okay, you people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Think of how they would have felt about that. They knew this story. They knew the history of what had happened. They then probably also knew that they deserved punishment too.
Tyler Sanders 20:23
It's two levels, really. It's connecting them to the evil but it's also like, this is something that deserved to be totally destroyed. Like, there has been a remnant left, but that's not really...that's an act of mercy.
Paul Wegner 20:35
God didn't even have to tell them anything, right? He could have just destroyed them. But instead, He's doing everything He can to bring them back to Him. He's punishing them, He's giving them messages. 701 BC, if you remember at the end of the day, He delivers Jerusalem. So that, you would think, that would have been a wonderful image of 'here's a God that loves you so much, He's willing to protect you'. And it's right in this context now of chapter one, when that 701 BC made perfect sense. And they still don't get it.
Tyler Sanders 21:10
Still.
Paul Wegner 21:11
And yet this God is going to keep trying. That's amazing. Okay, sorry. Had to preach there for a second.
Tyler Sanders 21:22
Now the next section gets into worship. Detestable worship, probably, how we'd describe it, right? And I think, you know, just kind of doing a little bit of reading, seemed like maybe there's two big problems with their worship. One being it's not accompanied with a repentant heart. There's something empty about it. And the other being, that there's sin involved, there's something sinful about what they've been doing, right?
Paul Wegner 21:45
Oh, you just wait till we see it.
Tyler Sanders 21:46
Well, let's do it.
Paul Wegner 21:48
Alright, look at verse 11, "'What are your multiplied sacrifices to me?', says The Lord." Now, that's letting you know, they're still doing it. They're called Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet they're still offering their sacrifices. So in some sense, they don't get it, do they? They figure that if I do this ritual, I'll be acceptable to God. And He's calling them Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. So they really don't get it. Okay. All right. "I haven't had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or rams or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of this trampling on my courts?" Now, that's interesting. I think Israel would have said, You did! Weren't you the ones that told us that we had to offer these sacrifices and stuff like that?! He's calling it 'the trampling of my court'. So they missed it. They didn't realize that you had to connect the sacrifice with a heart attitude, or it actually does no good. And now He's making it real clear. Liberal scholars used to argue; oh, what's going on here? Now, God's not asking the offer sacrifices. I think they totally missed what He's getting at. No, He still wants them to do it but He wants them to know they have to be connected with the heart attitude, or they're worthless. They do absolutely no good.
Tyler Sanders 23:11
So do you think, would it be a fair comparison to compare this to the Sermon on the Mount maybe? Where it's kind of like, Jesus keeps saying things like; you've misunderstood this. Like, you've thought like you haven't committed murder but you've had anger in your heart. And like really, we're talking more about what's going on inside of you. You can uphold a lot of things and make it look like everything's fine, but it's meaningless if it's not reflecting what's going on inside of you. Is that kind of the same idea?
Paul Wegner 23:46
Yep. Yeah, in fact, notice it started clear back here. So imagine, if it's still happening in Jesus day, that means they didn't get it. So all the way along, He's trying to grab their attention and say; hey, you guys, this is not how it's supposed to be. You're supposed to offer the sacrifices with the right heart attitude. You're supposed to have some sorryness for these sins you've committed.
Tyler Sanders 24:11
Yeah. Well, I mean, not to sermonize it too much, but it's still kind of the thing we're going through, right?
Paul Wegner 24:18
Yeah, I agree.
Tyler Sanders 24:18
Like, anytime we're...I feel like we as Christians, I suppose, we have this tendency to move towards, or some of us, have a tendency to move towards legalism, and some level of that is a rejection of grace, right? And a try for separation, I can do this on my own. I can figure it out. I can obey all the right rules and laws, and then that means I'm okay, right? But of course, that's not true.
Paul Wegner 24:44
Yeah, it doesn't. And actually, I assume the application for today is us going to church, time after time, ritual. Just doing it without the right attitude. This often gets me when I'm going to church on Sunday. Is my heart right where it's supposed to be when I come before God to worship Him? And I think that's what it's getting at to.
Tyler Sanders 25:08
Yeah. Okay, let's move on to that next part. The last image in here is something I hadn't put together before.
Paul Wegner 25:15
Okay, verse 13 says, "Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Your incense is an abomination to me. New moons and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies." This is basically going through all the things that God had told them to do; your offerings, offering of incense, new moon sacrifices, Sabbath, all of those.
Tyler Sanders 25:15
Because it's just empty practice at this point.
Paul Wegner 25:20
Yeah. "I cannot endure the iniquity in the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me, I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood." Now that's- is that the image you were talking about?
Tyler Sanders 26:00
Yeah, that's the one. I don't think I'd connected those two states. Or the two references to the hands as being one state that like, you have your hands spread out in prayer and I'm going to turn away from them because they're covered in blood.
Paul Wegner 26:16
Yeah, now let's see, what does that image mean. That covered in blood could mean they're offering the sacrifices with without a true heart attitude right? But it could be more literally, they're actually killing people. They're starving the poor or not helping the orphan or something like that. And by that-remember back then there's no government help. So these guys, if they don't get charity from other people, other God-fearers, they got it from no one. So no one helped them and so if they're not able to eat and stuff like that they're dying. At least, I think it could be very well saying; your hands are covered in blood, you've been ripping off these poor people so bad that they're starving. And what makes you think that I'll listen to your prayers when their blood is right there? I see it.
Tyler Sanders 27:07
It seems like it because following this, He kind of you know...we get the answer; a way to clean yourself. And some of those instructions are; defend the orphan, plead for the widow. It seems like that's something that was obviously being missed. And so I would imagine that's probably a pretty good connection to make with, in terms of bloodshed, just almost like a sin of omission or ignorance or something. Or not ignorance, but ignoring those who need help.
Paul Wegner 27:35
Yeah, and I would say even more than just ignorance, I think they knew they were doing it. Because later on, He's going to talk about collecting the fields from other people. Well, the only way they could do that is if people got into debt, and then these guys were stealing, taking their land to pay off this debt. Well, how'd they get into debt anyway, they were never supposed to charge usury for another Israelite, right? So, something's going wrong here.
Tyler Sanders 28:03
Yeah, yeah.
Paul Wegner 28:04
Okay, verse 16. "Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Remove the evil deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." See, those are things you can't hold somebody guilty for. Like, defend the orphan. Okay, who's going to hold them responsible for not defending the orphan? Or pleading for the widow? That was something you'd only do if you actually cared about them? Right?
Tyler Sanders 28:36
Right.
Paul Wegner 28:36
A judge is not going to say; oh, sorry, you didn't plead for the orphan so you're gonna go to jail. There wasn't anybody to hold them responsible for that, but God can. And I think that's what's going on here. He wants to see a change in their actions. And so the "wash yourself, make yourself clean, remove the evil," it starts off with, here's a picture of what needs to happen. You need to get cleaned up. But then to demonstrate that you've got cleaned up, are these other things; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, and stuff like that. So at first, He's telling you to get cleaned up. But then He says, now I want to see something from that. I want to see how that affects your life.
Tyler Sanders 29:15
So that's interesting. That would mean, these are not ways to clean yourself. These are ways a clean person acts.
Paul Wegner 29:22
Yes. Yes.
Tyler Sanders 29:23
That's the distinction there, right?
Paul Wegner 29:24
Yeah, yeah. Right. Look at verse 18, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord." That's an amazing statement when you think about it. Here's Israel who's continued to rebel against Him and God is still going after them and asking them to come back to Him. That's an amazing God.
Tyler Sanders 29:42
That's a very merciful ask.
Paul Wegner 29:44
It is. Yep.
Tyler Sanders 29:45
Let us reason, like let's think about this together.
Paul Wegner 29:48
And then if they do use any reason, they're going to know they deserve judgment, right? Okay, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.'" See back at that time, snow and wool would have been the lightest things they knew. So when you saw the snow on the mountains, that would have been a beautiful picture for them of cleansing. One thing that's also interesting, I've heard that red, this scarlet and stuff, is the only thing you can't get out of material. That it's such a stain that you cannot get it out.
Tyler Sanders 30:29
Interesting.
Paul Wegner 30:29
So He's saying, the only way that's going to happen is if you come to Me, and though those sins are a scarlet, I can make them white as snow.
Tyler Sanders 30:37
Basically do the impossible.
Paul Wegner 30:38
Yeah, yeah. "If you can set and obey, you will eat the best of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken." That's like God giving the ultimate judgement-you know, verdict. You know, you've got a choice here. You can either obey and you'll eat the best to land, or refuse and look what's going to happen to you. You're going to be eaten by the sword. It's a play on the word. You'll eat the best of the land, and then devoured, that's the same word. So it's like a play on words.
Tyler Sanders 31:18
Yeah. Yeah, that's actually one you can pretty well see in English, I guess it's about the meaning of the word, you know.
Paul Wegner 31:26
And then when it says, "Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken", I think that's Him saying, this is the verdict. So, you've got a choice here. It seems like to me, He's now bent over backwards to help them. And they continue to rebel.
Tyler Sanders 31:43
This is just chapter one.
Paul Wegner 31:44
Yeah. It just bounces off.
Tyler Sanders 31:46
Yeah.
Paul Wegner 31:47
It's funny, because you're gonna hear these themes over and over again, all the way through the book. And actually, they never get any better, but what happens is that God has more mercy each time. I mean, He didn't have to bring the remnant out of Babylon, but He does.
Tyler Sanders 32:03
Right. Yeah.
Paul Wegner 32:05
Okay, let's keep going. So we've seen Mount Zion, that's that hill. Then there's that vineyard, so that sticking out. Okay. And now here's that faithful city palistroph.
Tyler Sanders 32:18
Okay.
Paul Wegner 32:18
Now remember, I don't see these everywhere, but when they're there, it is pretty clear.
Tyler Sanders 32:27
Just to remind everyone again, the palistroph is kind of like a chiasm. There's a kind of reflexive pattern to it but there's something, a core thing in the middle. The main point that we're getting to.
Paul Wegner 32:40
That's the crucial thing. That's actually where the change comes. This is actually going to start off really good, then it goes bad. Then God declares there, and then He's going to clean things back up again. So if you look at verse 21, it says, "How the faithful city has become a harlot." Now go down to verse 26, "After that you will be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city." So now it's pretty clear, you got that same phrase, a faithful city, at both ends of this palistroph. Okay? Now remember, there's going to be steps going downward, then God's going to speak and then there's going to be steps going upward. Okay. "How the faithful city has become a harlot. She who was full of justice, righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers." That probably is a pretty good indication also, that when their hands are full of blood, the idea of murderers probably makes a lot of sense. Okay. All right. "Your silver has become dross." Do you know what dross is?
Paul Wegner 32:42
That's the leftovers from the purifying process, right?
Paul Wegner 33:11
And notice, "your silver has become dross." So silver, a very valuable thing-and it's interesting when you see silver, and you put a fire under a flame, the impurities will burn off the top. Okay. All right. "Your drink is diluted with water." Oh, the reason that would be, is apparently the whole reason you drink is to get some effect from it and it's so diluted now, there's no effect from it. Okay. "Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, nor the widow's plea come come before them." Back to what we mentioned before, right? Do you see the negative steps going down? Okay, now we're verse 24, "Therefore, the Lord God of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel declares, 'I will be relieved of my adversaries.'" Well, who are the adversaries? Those rebels, the rulers who are rebels and thieves up above there, right? "And I will avenge myself on my foes." Once again, same thing as those rulers. "I will turn My hand against you. I will smelt away your dross as with lye." So now we're talking about that silver becoming dross, now it's going to be smelted away. Now it says, "as with lye", so it doesn't say down here that it's silver or anything like that, and I'm assuming lye usually was to get clothes clean. So I don't know that [lye] is ever used in the [silver] refining process, as far as I know. So I think it must be talking now about some kind of impurities in the clothes and stuff like that, I'm assuming.
Tyler Sanders 35:33
Yeah, but it's some cleaning. It's removing of impurities.
Paul Wegner 35:38
And it still used that word dross. So that's how you could make the connection with both. "...And I will remove all your alloy..." Back at that time, alloy would have been anything mixed with a metal that made it less pure. So gold mixed with something else would not be as good as pure gold. That's what that's getting at. "...And then I will restore your judges as at first, your counselor as at the beginning..." Remember, "she was full of justice and righteousness once lodged in her?" So He's going to take them back to that time when now the judges are going to be like they were at first. Okay. "After that you will be called the city of righteousness." And remember, righteousness once lodged in her? "A faithful city."
Tyler Sanders 36:26
Well, and faithful city, I mean, at the beginning it's the faithful city has become a harlot, but it's returned back to the faithful city.
Paul Wegner 36:32
Yeah. So isn't that beautiful? Now, I don't know if that was the first one I saw. But it didn't seem like that one was real clear. And you can see, it all pivoted around verse 24.
Tyler Sanders 36:44
Yeah, the declaration of the Lord, really. And that He's going to do it.
Paul Wegner 36:47
Yep. And a lot of times, you're using the same exact terms in both parts of it. So you can actually catch that that's what's going to happen.
Tyler Sanders 36:56
Now, do you think when people are reading this, maybe when Isaiah was originally saying it, is this an indication that God's going to just do whatever necessary to do this, whether they're on board or not? Or is this an indication that like, the remnant, there will be people who obey, and then God is going to work with them and that's how this process is going to work itself out in a way?
Paul Wegner 37:20
Yeah, it's going to be the latter. But the idea of a remnant only comes around about 750 BC. Before that, like through the wilderness wanderings. It was clear, God was working with all of them. When Achan sins, they all get punished. But at about 750 BC, you start getting this idea of a remnant that God's going to pull out, and that they are going to believe. So God doesn't force people that don't want to believe Him, to believe Him. But what He'll do is, He'll work with the ones that love Him and want to love Him.
Tyler Sanders 37:53
And it's like a purifying process.
Paul Wegner 37:55
Yeah. So I think that's brilliant. So what you've got here, a remnant coming through, that's going to be pulled out, and God's going to work with them. So the wicked people can remain to be wicked in Israel. And they'll get their judgment and stuff like that, but the people that are willing to turn, they'll be the ones that God works with. And now we're ready for the seam. The seam in my mind is going to have these three elements. It's going to have a restoration, it's going to have a remnant that's saved, and the wicked are punished. And you're gonna see that same thing about six times throughout the book, where I think a seam pulls together book and you got these reiterated. And some of them, like this one, watch, when I read this. We just got done with this faithful city, right? You would have thought; okay, let's stop there, how could it get any better? And then it goes into the bad parts. You still got [verse] 27 that talks about Zion being redeemed with justice, and repentant ones with righteousness. There's that idea of a remnant gonna come through. "But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together." So we've got the first two already mentioned in verse 27; the restoration and the remnant saved. All the rest of this is talking about the wicked being punished; "but transgressors and sinners will be crushed together. Those who forsake the LORD will come to an end. Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired." I better make sure you understand that.
Tyler Sanders 39:27
That's a very specific sounding reference.
Paul Wegner 39:30
It is. The high places were places where Baal and other gods were worshipped. And what they would do is they would make like gardens up on top of hills, with the idea that Baal could bring fertility to the land. So you'd have these gardens and hopefully that'd give them the idea that Baal could do this. [God] says that surely at some point, you're going to be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired. So these oak trees that were planted up on top of these hills, that they used to tell how Baal was making everything fertile, at some point they're going to be ashamed of those. At this point, they're not. In Israel's history at this point, they are serving Baal big time.
Tyler Sanders 40:18
So this is probably the first real references we get to that in Isaiah so far.
Paul Wegner 40:22
Yes, in Isaiah, yep.
Tyler Sanders 40:23
That there are specific religious practices that they are following that are against God.
Paul Wegner 40:29
Yeah, yep. Okay. "Surely you will be shamed of the Oaks which you have desired, you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen..." Same thing, so the oaks and gardens are those things they've done for Baal. And notice that "you have chosen"? So [they've] purposely gone after those false gods. "For you will be like a oak, whose leaf fades away, or has a garden that has no water." So basically, He says they're going to be destroyed.
Tyler Sanders 40:57
These are things that die away.
Paul Wegner 40:58
Yeah. "The strong man will become tinder and his work a spark. Thus, they will both burn together, and there will be none to quench them." Sounds to me like ultimate punishment. And in fact, the idea of them becoming burning and fire like that, you're actually going to see that same thing at the very end of the book. And it's very similar. So especially when it says there's nothing to quench them. Meaning that fire will never quit, it's going to continue on, because there's nobody that's going to save them, because the wicked have turned away from the very one that could have saved them. It goes back to that word "that you have chosen." So let your false gods try to protect you. God, Yahweh is not going to.
Tyler Sanders 41:42
Right. Yeah. That's interesting. The idea of the strong man will become tinder and his work also a spark. What does that mean his work? His work is what actually will start this fire almost in a way? Am I reading too much into that? Like the choices he's made?
Paul Wegner 42:01
Yeah, that's what I think it is. The choices he's made is going to start the fire. Yeah. I think that fits very well.
Tyler Sanders 42:09
It's very condemning. I mean, it's pretty straightforward, really. But, yeah.
Paul Wegner 42:13
So I don't know if you saw it. There was restoration mentioned, a remnant saved in verse 27. And then the rest of it is this idea of judgment on the wicked.
Tyler Sanders 42:23
So that meets the three requirements for a seam. And this was also the end of the chapter. Which also means end of the unit. Of this unit. And seams are also used to connect units, right?
Paul Wegner 42:38
Yep. So it goes over the ideas that were mentioned there, but then talks about the punishment that's going to happen. Then this punishment is going to be explained even further in the next couple of chapters.
Tyler Sanders 42:52
It's connective tissue. It's not just a summary of what we've seen. It is connecting to the next.
Paul Wegner 42:52
It almost like lays the groundwork for the next thing coming. So it prepares you to know; judgment's coming and why and all that. And each one does it a little different way. So this one was pretty clear. It gave that paliistroph on the city, and starts off with that court scene, where 'here's what you guys are like, and here's what's going to happen to you unless you repent'. And He's calling out to them to repent, "Though your sins are as Scarlet, I can make them white as wool." So it's actually interesting, here's that offer of cleansing for them.
Tyler Sanders 43:36
As the seam kind of works here and gets us ready for the next thing, what are some things that people can be ready for in the next section we're gonna read?
Paul Wegner 43:45
Okay. Well, first of all, Zion is going to be redeemed. So you'll get that image over again.
Tyler Sanders 43:50
That's an important thing because we're entering the homework portion of the podcast.
Paul Wegner 43:54
Oh, there we go!
Tyler Sanders 43:55
What people need to be thinking about reading next week. So they should probably read, how many chapters for next week?
Paul Wegner 43:59
I would do two through four.
Tyler Sanders 44:00
Okay, so for the next episode, read chapters two through four. And these are some things you can look for; Zion being redeemed.
Paul Wegner 44:06
Yep. Punishment on the wicked, that'll be real clear. And then the idea of a remnant. Now, in chapter four, you'll get that message of a remnant. You don't see it real clearly all the way through, because He's talking to the nation. He's trying to get them to repent. So only the ones that will actually repent are going to end up being that remnant. But He still is offering it to them all. So that's kind of the thing that's going on. He's offering it, only a few will come out of there and actually repent.
Tyler Sanders 44:38
Okay, yeah. I think that's a great way to have worked through the first unit, the first chapter here, that's really cool.
Paul Wegner 44:46
Now, if I was going to ask now, what did you learn in chapter one? What would you tell me?
Tyler Sanders 44:51
What did I learn in chapter one? That's a great question. I mean, there's a lot of pieces in here, but it seems there's definitely hope. There's definitely hope that's going to come but things are really, really bad. And you do kind of get the, I guess the sense I kind of get is, I'm going to use a lot of New Testament here, but there's like the wide path and narrow path, there's a separation coming. So with this idea of the remnant coming through, it kind of seems like the choice people are going to have is, are you going to be part of the remnant and be cleaned, and then you act this way? Or will you continue to be who you already are? Basically.
Paul Wegner 45:31
Where do you think those New Testament concepts came from?
Tyler Sanders 45:33
That's right. Yeah, well of course. Yeah. But that does get into an interesting thing. Like, let's say, someone's preaching through Isaiah. Because, I mean, you could probably preach through Isaiah 1 in a sermon.
Paul Wegner 45:45
Oh, yeah, I would think so.
Tyler Sanders 45:47
But you know, there's an interesting question of when you are preaching, how do you bring Christ into this? Because we don't want to just like, there's probably a lazy way to do this, so what would you tell a person who's maybe preaching through Isaiah one, it's their first time preaching Isaiah, how do they do that?
Paul Wegner 46:08
Yeah. First of all, I'm not always convinced that you have to find Christ everywhere. But this time, I think this is going to come up and it's like the foundation here. If you think about it, what was happening is that the people were doing their ritual, they thought that it still pleased God, and God's saying; no, offering the sacrifices doesn't do any good unless your heart has changed. It's gonna be the New Testament that tells them how. I mean, at this point, how is it you change your heart? Well, you start showing kindness to other people, and so it's more like it's demonstrated. But it seems like to me, the actual answer is going to come in the New Testament when Jesus dies for our sins so that you actually can be cleansed and then you can start doing those things. It seems like to me in this chapter one, the one element you're missing is, why would I want to start? Why would I want to start helping the orphan? Or why do I want to defend the weak or something like that? It seems like the answer is not quite there, the only answer you really get is; out of your love for God and your obedience to God. But I think the New Testament then comes and you got even a better answer. Now Jesus comes and changes your heart, and then you want to do those kinds of things. So it seems like to me that would be the explanation, I would want to highlight.
Tyler Sanders 47:34
Christ as the mechanism of this in a way.
Paul Wegner 47:36
Yeah of how this is going to actually work. In the Old Testament, it's them loving God and being obedient to God. In the New Testament, you now get the reason why you'd want to be obedient to God, and why you'd want to have those sins taken care of. And I think it's because Jesus died for your sins. So in the Old Testament it's getting the foundation built. And then New Testament comes in, it gives you all those little pieces you were missing, I think. Once again, I would preach it, but I would preach it so that it would explain that this is what they're looking forward to. They're looking forward to the New Testament when Jesus comes, dies on the cross, and then out of obedience to Him and out of love for Him, you want to be kind to the orphan, you want to help the weak.
Tyler Sanders 48:21
Because this really sets up the problem. In very vivid terms.
Paul Wegner 48:25
Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Vivid terms like Sodom and Gomorrah, right?
Tyler Sanders 48:31
Yeah. It's kind of brutal. But it's serious. I mean, that's really what it is.
Paul Wegner 48:37
And the reason it's brutal, is because the guys aren't getting it. Israel is wandering on their way, doing these rituals and thinking that they're being pleasing to God, because that's what He told them to do. And He's trying to get the heart of it and saying, you're missing something. All these things you're doing are like trampling on my court. And I am not going to hear your prayers because your hands are full of blood. You gotta get that taken care of before I'm going to listen to your prayers.
Tyler Sanders 49:07
Yeah. As people are preparing for the next episode and are reading Isaiah, is there anything else maybe that could be helpful for them to read or read along with?
Paul Wegner 49:16
Well, just be aware of. In chapters two through four, is what I call an envelope pattern. At the beginning and at the end, it's talking about the future time when Israel is restored and God is blessing them and all that. Then, in between it, chapter 2:5-4:1, I think it is. In that time period, you're seeing what Israel is presently like. So at the ends you look at the future, what God is going to make of Israel, but in the present, you're going to see how wicked they are. And that's what [listeners] need to be aware of. They need to be watching for that. I think that'll help them and then I'll try to point it out next time.
Tyler Sanders 50:02
Yeah. Okay, that's good. Thank you for everything you brought today, Dr. Wegner, I want to thank everyone for listening. And I just invite you all to join us next time as we continue to study Isaiah.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai