Isaiah 1: Stop doing wrong and learn to live right
Isaiah 1
The book of Isaiah begins by telling us that Isaiah was the son of Amoz, and that he wrote during the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah who were kings of Judah. The academic theologian in me wants to stop right there, and get out my commentaries, so I can find out at what point in Israel's history this was, who those kings were, if the name Isaiah referred to a real person or was a pseudonym for some other author, and what were his motives for writing. But I have to acknowledge that a lot of that stuff is an avoidance tactic to hearing God's word. Reading the Bible is a funny process- rather than read it as any other kind of literature, Christians read it because we believe something supernatural about it- we believe that it is the word of God. Now we interpret that in all sorts of ways, but it must mean that by reading these words, written many years ago to a people and a context that is far removed from mine, I expect to encounter God. Find out who He is? Or at least, who He was? Or only who the writer thought He was? Maybe these philosophical knots are just another avoidance tactic...
So on with chapter 1. Things clearly have gone wrong for God's people. He talks about them as His children, who He has raised, but quickly compares them rather to farm animals, oxen and donkeys, maybe making a point about their stupidity.(Is 1:3) Things seem to have gone wrong at all levels- there is spiritual language here of sin and guilt, but also straightforward political and economic problems of invasion and destruction. It's interesting to see how the two strands are entwined in each other- we have done such a good job of separating the spiritual from the secular that we would not expect a newspaper editorial on say, the murders in Norway, or the economic problems of Greece, to contain phrases like 'you are a sinful nation, loaded down with guilt' (Is 1:4) The people seem to be trying to put things right by doing all the right religious rituals, but God is really fed up with this- He says some astonishing stuff like 'Stay out of my temple!' (Is 1:12) and 'No matter how much you pray, I won't listen.' (Is 1: 15) This is worrying- what are we supposed to do if things are falling apart all around us? It doesn't take long for God to get to the crunch-
Stop doing wrong, and learn to live right. (Is 1:16, 17)
This is blunt and obvious. We don't need to know who Isaiah was, who the enemies were who were attacking his city, what type of sacrifices the people had tried or any of that stuff to get the point. Maybe this is what reading the Bible is for- to hear the truth.
Is 1: 18 goes on to say 'I, the Lord, invite you to come and talk it over.' So there will be more to say, and God invites us into the conversation. In some sense He tells us it will be a dialogue, one He expects us to take part in, not just a list of commands that He throws at us. That encourages me as I look forward to reading chapter 2, but this is what I shall take with me from chapter 1:
Stop doing wrong, and learn to live right.
The book of Isaiah begins by telling us that Isaiah was the son of Amoz, and that he wrote during the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah who were kings of Judah. The academic theologian in me wants to stop right there, and get out my commentaries, so I can find out at what point in Israel's history this was, who those kings were, if the name Isaiah referred to a real person or was a pseudonym for some other author, and what were his motives for writing. But I have to acknowledge that a lot of that stuff is an avoidance tactic to hearing God's word. Reading the Bible is a funny process- rather than read it as any other kind of literature, Christians read it because we believe something supernatural about it- we believe that it is the word of God. Now we interpret that in all sorts of ways, but it must mean that by reading these words, written many years ago to a people and a context that is far removed from mine, I expect to encounter God. Find out who He is? Or at least, who He was? Or only who the writer thought He was? Maybe these philosophical knots are just another avoidance tactic...
So on with chapter 1. Things clearly have gone wrong for God's people. He talks about them as His children, who He has raised, but quickly compares them rather to farm animals, oxen and donkeys, maybe making a point about their stupidity.(Is 1:3) Things seem to have gone wrong at all levels- there is spiritual language here of sin and guilt, but also straightforward political and economic problems of invasion and destruction. It's interesting to see how the two strands are entwined in each other- we have done such a good job of separating the spiritual from the secular that we would not expect a newspaper editorial on say, the murders in Norway, or the economic problems of Greece, to contain phrases like 'you are a sinful nation, loaded down with guilt' (Is 1:4) The people seem to be trying to put things right by doing all the right religious rituals, but God is really fed up with this- He says some astonishing stuff like 'Stay out of my temple!' (Is 1:12) and 'No matter how much you pray, I won't listen.' (Is 1: 15) This is worrying- what are we supposed to do if things are falling apart all around us? It doesn't take long for God to get to the crunch-
Stop doing wrong, and learn to live right. (Is 1:16, 17)
This is blunt and obvious. We don't need to know who Isaiah was, who the enemies were who were attacking his city, what type of sacrifices the people had tried or any of that stuff to get the point. Maybe this is what reading the Bible is for- to hear the truth.
Is 1: 18 goes on to say 'I, the Lord, invite you to come and talk it over.' So there will be more to say, and God invites us into the conversation. In some sense He tells us it will be a dialogue, one He expects us to take part in, not just a list of commands that He throws at us. That encourages me as I look forward to reading chapter 2, but this is what I shall take with me from chapter 1:
Stop doing wrong, and learn to live right.
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