Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Isaiah-Chapter 1

Isa 1.1-31 tells us about several concepts going on. The Assyrians have attacked and Judah is on the brink of surrender, so it is during the reign of Hezekiah. So, that means the book is not in chronological order. Prophetically, Assyria is the Russians (Ezek 38-39) and we will be able to establish that. At the same time, Israel has no hope. We will be able to identify Isa 1 as a Yom Ha DIn Yom Kippur and we will also be able to establish that as we go on.

There are two days in the year that are called a Yom Ha Din, or Day of Judgment. They are Rosh Ha Shanah or Yom Teruah, and Yom Kippur. You will be able to tell which one is being discussed by the context. This chapter is the third year of the birth-pains (King Hezekiah) and we have a court room scene which uses Yom Kippur terms. This is not the beginning of the birth-pains because Judah is beat and the cities are devastated.

v 1…The vision (message) of Israel the son of Amoz (strong) concerning Judah and Jerusalem (Samaria/Ephraim/ten tribes have fallen), which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah (my strength is Yah), Yotham (God is perfect), Ahaz (has held) and Hezekiah (Yehovah strengthens) of Jerusalem (these kings and the events during their reign teach the first half of the birth-pains).

v 2…”Listen (shema) O heavens, and hear, O earth (they are being called as witnesses in a court scene); for Yehovah speaks, Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against me (Israel is the first-born-Exo 4.22; Mic 1.2; Rom 3.23-all have sinned. Yehovah is bringing charges as in a court because it is a Yom Ha Din).

v 3…An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger (they know who cares and feeds them), but Israel (twelve tribes) does not know, my people do not understand (they never gave it much thought).

v 4…Alas (woe; lamentation awaits you), a sinful nation (nation is “goy” and can also be used for Israel as well as a non-Jew-Isa 26.2; Exo 19.6 for example), people weighed down with iniquity (full of it), offspring (children) of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They have abandoned Yehovah, they have despised the holy one of Israel (after “despised” in Hebrew we have the aleph and tav or “et” which is symbolic of the Messiah in Zech 12.10 and Rev 22.13, who is also despised or “called a Nazarene” in Matt 2.23, and Isa 49.7. The aleph and tav means “first and last, and head of the covenant”), they have turned away from him.

v 5…Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion (Judah has been devastated by war with Assyria, a picture of the future with Russia). The whole head is sick (diseased, don’t think God’s thoughts, the entire nation) and the whole heart is faint (a parallelism).

v 6…From the sole of the foot (don’t walk in God’s ways) even to the head (don’t think God’s thoughts, from the lowest to the highest), there is nothing sound (healthy) in it, only bruises (contusions), welts and raw wounds (their sins were like ulcers, judicially inflicted-Hos 5.13); not pressed out (squeezed to get the pus out) or bandaged, nor softened with oil (no medicine to help the healing process-Jam 5.14).

v 7…Your land is desolate (Judah and Israel was weakened by the Syrians in 2 Chr 24.24, 25.13-23, but now Assyria has really made it desolate. They need a great salvation as a result of the Assyrian invasion. They are beaten, no hope of victory and no help), your cities are burned with fire, your fields- strangers are devouring them (the army of Assyria, but later Babylon, Rome, Russia and eventually the False Messiah).

v 8…And the daughter of Zion (“Bat Zion” or Jerusalem’s inhabitants; daughter speaks of submission) is left, like a shelter (sukkah) in a vineyard, like a watchmen’s hut in a cucumber field (after the harvest is over), like a besieged city.

v 9…Unless Yehovah Tzavaot (Lord of the armies; when Yehovah uses this term he is speaking from a military position of power) had left us a few survivors (of the desolation, hiding behind the walls of Jerusalem), we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah (totally destroyed-Isa 3.9).

v 10…Hear (shema) the word of Yehovah (verses 10-20 are Yom Kippur themes), you rulers of Sodom (meaning “flaming, burnt” and alludes to Jerusalem), give ear to the instruction (Torah) of our God, you people of Gomorrah (people of fear or who shoots arrows-these cities are fitting metaphors for Israel, but also for the world today-Luke 17.28-30).

v 11…What are your multiplied sacrifices to me?” says Yehovah (v 11-15 are some of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible and we will comment on this after v 15), I have had enough of burnt offerings (“olot”) of rams, and the fat of fed cattle, and I take no pleasure (Hag 1.2-8) in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.

v 12…When you come to appear before me (with hypocritical korbanot), who requires of you this trampling of my courts (in the Temple)?

v 13…Bring your worthless offerings no longer (animal, bread, wine, oil, fruits incense, etc) their incense is an abomination to me. New Moon (Rosh Chodesh or “renewed moon”) and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly (either Rosh Ha Shanah or Yom Kippur).

v 14…I hate your new moon and your appointed feasts (he gave them in Lev 23), they have become a burden to me (they were to be a pleasure), I am weary of bearing them (putting up with them).

v 15…So when you spread out your hands (to pray), I will hide my ears from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers (thinking God would hear-Matt 6.7), I will not listen. Your hands are full of bloodshed (So what is going on here in these verses? First, we need to realize that the Temple ceremonies and offerings are from Yehovah. He created the Temple, the korbanot, and he required them to do this, but many have used these verses and others to teach that Yehovah takes no pleasure in Temple worship and korbanot anymore, he did away with them. But, that is not what is being communicated here. The entire sacrificial system would appear brutal unless it was administered in an almost perfect religious atmosphere. Only a nation with the highest moral and spiritual characteristics and caliber could be worthy of it. Temple worship with the korbanot must feel very different than just slaughtering an animal for food, or giving bloodless offerings like bread, wine and oil -Matt 23.23; Psa 51.17. The people here were missing the point of it all which was restoring balance to the relationship between Yehovah and the people for breaking the covenant. When you substitute culture or anything it is useless-Isa 58; Luke 10.30-37. It is not the going through the various ceremonies, but what you put into them with the heart, and what you derive out of it, which is called the “essence.” In short, their attitudes were all wrong. The Temple ceremonies and the korbanot weren’t the problem, the people were. The issue is this. The mundane performance of any commandment in the Torah, void of their deeper concerns like love, mercy, justice and kindness towards others, is not centered in the Messiah, as seen in Rom 10.4, can limit true observance).

v 16…Wash yourselves, make yourself clean; remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil (Isa 1.16-33 will use Yom Kippur terms and themes, and it is a Yom Ha Din when God sits in judgment. This is talking about what they can do to repent. We will find out later in the book that the destruction of Assyria happened around the festival of Yom Kippur. This alludes to the fact that Russia will be destroyed around that time also, at the end of the third year, going into the fourth year of the birth-pains. Isa 1.16-18 is read in synagogues on Yom KIppur).

v 17…Learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (the helpless).

v 18…Come, let us reason together, says Yehovah (encouraging the remnant to draw near, and it is amazing that Yehovah would even discuss anything with us), though your sins are as scarlet (what Yeshua wore to the cross by the way-Matt 27.28), they will be as white as snow. Though they are red (tola) like crimson, they will be like wool (on Yom Kippur it is said that a scarlet thread is placed on the head of the Azazel goat and then killed in the wilderness. A second scarlet thread was kept back at the Temple. When the goat was killed, the scarlet thread turned white. This happened till 30 AD, the year Yeshua died, and then for the next 40 years to the destruction of the Temple it never happened again-Talmud, Yoma 39b; the book “History of the Jewish People-The Second Temple era” by Mesorah Publications, p. 153. Also, the word “tola” is a type of worm that secretes a dye when it is attached to a tree. For a fascinating study on this worm, go to the article called, “The Crimson or Scarlet Worm” at Discover Creation.org on the web. It will present a picture of Yeshua and the crucifixion).

v 19…If you consent and obey (the Torah and his offer of forgiveness), you will eat the best of the land (of Canaan).

v 20…But if you refuse and rebel (against the Torah and his offer), you will be devoured by the sword (of war, and they were. Assyria, Babylon, Rome and finally the False Messiah and Europe), truly, the mouth of Yehovah has spoken.

v 21…How the faithful city has become a harlot (not the virtuous woman spiritually). She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers (evil wasn’t confined to just the religious realm, it was in the government, financial centers, science, academics and the arts of the land. This will be true when the birth-pains arrive very soon).

v 22…Your silver has become dross (figurative for the princes and nobles who were once pure, but not anymore), your drink (older wine, figurative for older Jerusalem) diluted with water (weak and just a shadow of what they once were).

v 23…Your rulers are rebels (stiff-necked, obstinate against the Torah), and companions of thieves (to satisfy their greed); every one loves a bribe and chases after reward (corrupt government officials), they do not defend the orphan (make sure they have justice), nor does the widow’s plea come before them (no money to be got from them).

v 24…Therefore, states the Lord (Adon), Yehovah Tzavaot (Lord of the armies), the mighty one of Israel declares, “Ah (alas), I willl be relieved of my adversaries, and avenge myself on my foes (Israel won’t be able to bribe her way out of this one).

v 25…I will also turn my hand against you (Jerusalem), and will smelt away (refine) your dross (remove the evil leaders) as with lye, and remove all your alloy (self-righteousness in high places).

v 26…Then I will restore your judges (like at the time of Moses, Joshua, etc) as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning (of Israel, the golden age); after that you will be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city (when Messiah comes ultimately).

v 27…Zion will be redeemed with justice (in the Messianic Redemption), and her repentant ones (exiles) with righteousness (tzedekah).

v 28…But the transgressors and sinners will be crushed (consumed) together, and those who forsake Yehovah shall come to an end (at his coming-1 Thes 2.8).

v 29…Surely, they will be ashamed of the trees (elim) which you have desired (they put idols under them), and you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen (they had hangings there as offerings, like pictures of the gods and goddesses, etc).

v 30…For you will be like a tree whose leaf fades away (dry, dead, no life) or as a garden that has no water (dry, dead and is the opposite of Psa 1.1-4-no Torah, the living water).

v 31…And the strong man (self-righteous rich) will become tinder (a wick that burns quickly), his work (idolatry, bribery, murder, etc) also a spark (the cause of the fire of destruction). Thus they shall both burn together, and there will be none to quench them (in the final judgment, in the lake of fire-Luke 16.24; Rev 20.10).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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