Isaiah 57 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 57

Israel’s Futile Idolatry

57:1   The righteous man perishes,
    and no one lays it to heart;
  devout men are taken away,
    while no one understands.
  For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
2     he enters into peace;
  they rest in their beds
    who walk in their uprightness.
3   But you, draw near,
    sons of the sorceress,
    offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
4   Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
  Are you not children of transgression,
    the offspring of deceit,
5   you who burn with lust among the oaks,¹
    under every green tree,
  who slaughter your children in the valleys,
    under the clefts of the rocks?
6   Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;
    they, they, are your lot;
  to them you have poured out a drink offering,
    you have brought a grain offering.
    Shall I relent for these things?
7   On a high and lofty mountain
    you have set your bed,
    and there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8   Behind the door and the doorpost
    you have set up your memorial;
  for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,
    you have gone up to it,
    you have made it wide;
  and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,
    you have loved their bed,
    you have looked on nakedness.²
9   You journeyed to the king with oil
    and multiplied your perfumes;
  you sent your envoys far off,
    and sent down even to Sheol.
10   You were wearied with the length of your way,
    but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;
  you found new life for your strength,
    and so you were not faint.³
11   Whom did you dread and fear,
    so that you lied,
  and did not remember me,
    did not lay it to heart?
  Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,
    and you do not fear me?
12   I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
    but they will not profit you.
13   When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
    The wind will carry them all off,
    a breath will take them away.
  But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land
    and shall inherit my holy mountain.

Comfort for the Contrite

14   And it shall be said,
  “Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
15   For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
  “I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
  to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16   For I will not contend forever,
    nor will I always be angry;
  for the spirit would grow faint before me,
    and the breath of life that I made.
17   Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
    I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
    but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18   I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
    I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19     creating the fruit of the lips.
  Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD,
    “and I will heal him.
20   But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
    for it cannot be quiet,
    and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
21   There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Footnotes

[1] 57:5 Or among the terebinths
[2] 57:8 Or on a monument (see 56:5); Hebrew on a hand
[3] 57:10 Hebrew and so you were not sick

Commentary

v1-2: These verses follow on from 56.9-12, where the leaders acted irresponsibly.

The faithful remnant, with the majority of the people not trusting in the true God. The righteous and merciful perish, are taken captive, and treated unjustly. But no one was concerned at this state of affairs. But God sees, and has His promises for those who remain faithful. He delivers the righteous into peace in death, for "they find rest." This distinction which God made was ignored by the majority.

v3-4: The Jews had traditionally despised Gentiles, as "sons of the foreigner" (56.3), but the Lord uses similar phrases here to describe His own people;

you sons of a sorceress;
you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes;
brood of rebels;
offspring of liars.

Such descriptions seem even worse than those used by the Jews of the Gentiles; the Holy One of Israel was not impressed with His own people!

v5-6: Israel was guilty of idolatry, and the other sins that followed so closely, immorality, child sacrifice.

v7-10: Idolatry described as spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness. There is such a thing as spiritual intimacy, which should be between God and His people; this is something both precious and essential. Yet the people of Israel prostituted themselves with idols, even making covenant (like a marriage) with them. They spent their money on something that had no value (55.2), and they failed to realise the folly of their actions.

v11: The Lord's sorrow and anger; His own people had turned away from Him. He had held His peace, which Israel had taken as a sign of His approval; compare 29.15, where the people thought that God was silent.

v12: Now He speaks, and declares that their righteousness, such that it was, and their works, could not profit them.

v13: Next time difficulties come, let them cry out to their idols, and discover that their "collection of idols" which they carried with them, could not save them. But the truth remained that those who trusted in the true God would be delivered.

v14: Idols to be removed, the stumbling block to be taken away. Compare 40.1.

v15: The call to repentance, the call from the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, the Almighty God. The God who fills the whole of creation dwells in the "high and holy place," even the heart of the penitent.

The promise of fellowship with God, "I live...with him..." The condition is repentance, a contrite and lowly heart; not just sorrow at a single act of wrong doing, but an attitude of humility and submission before God. The Lord God will revive the hearts of such.

The highest heavens and the lowest hearts, are God's chief dwelling places.

v16-19: The Lord's intention is not to contend for ever, for His anger will cease. The judgment will be over, giving room for healing, guiding, restoring, bringing praise to their lips, and peace to their hearts.

There is wisdom here for us also; if the Lord will stop contending, or accusing, we must learn from this in our relationships, within our families, and our churches. Where we constantly contend or criticise another, they will grow faint and discouraged.

v20-21: Like 48.22, marking the end of the section; another warning.

The sea refers to wickedness, stirring up mire and dirt; in Gen 1.9-10, sea refers to separation. In Rev 21.1, there is no more sea, no more wickedness, no more separation from God.

The Jews cannot escape the truth of this verse if they do not repent. Their claim to be of Abraham will not save them.