Chapter 1
Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (who is made a leper when his pride pushes him to try and burn incense restricted to the Aaronic priesthood), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah. According to MSB, this would be 739-686 BC. The oldest copy of the whole book was found in Qumran, and has been dated as long ago as 356 BC. This scroll, when found, was 1000 years older than any other copies. It is the same as the later copies. This link, http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/chapters_pg, compares the Qumran scroll with the Masoretic Text which is a fundamental source of our modern English Bibles. This would be worth a line by line comparison. This would be something to challenge a "doubter" to do. If you believe the Bible is corrupt, compare these two texts - the Qumran version of Isaiah and the next oldest copy, from a thousand years later. Show me what is corrupted. And if you cannot/won't do that, then go away and leave me alone with your shallow, un-researched claims. One could determine for himself whether there have been changes in the Bible. The Masoretic Text dates from the 10th century, though there are sections of it that go back to the 7th century. This would all be OT.
Says this is about Judah and Jerusalem in vs 1. Northern kingdom is not mentioned.
Starts with an indictment of the people of Judah. This verse:
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. [Isa 1:6 ESV]
Not many good people in Judah at this time. They had abandoned God almost entirely. They were wounded, but leaving the wounds open, untreated, untended. Infection and death is imminent. They no longer "feel" their wounds. As Jonah, they are so "comfortable" with their sins that they do not realize the impending consequences of it.
vss 7, 8 imply that Judah was at least partially occupied, and many cities were damaged from wars, and left in ruins.
But God hangs on to His promises:
9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. [Isa 1:9 ESV]
Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared for 10 good men, but they could not be found. This verse implies that even at this dire time, there were still some good men, preserved by God to receive His promise, alive and well in Judah.
2021-The first 9 verses are all indictment of the people Isaiah speaks to. You don't hear preachers talk this way today. He is comparing them to rebellious, wayward children. Children gone completely off the good path. And they know they have done it, and they choose to continue doing it.
They still worship, but not with any sincerity. It is empty worship, it is ritual, it is habit. This very long verse:
11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. [Isa 1:11 ESV]
2021, This is an interesting phrase:
[Isa 1:13b ESV] ...I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
God particularly despises hypocrisy in worship.
What needs to be done to regain God's favor? These verses:
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. [Isa 1:16-17 ESV]
Here is another picture of baptism. It is ritual, it makes us clean for service to God. It symbolizes preparation, the washing off of old dirt, that as clean we can begin to serve him. Judah needed to be re-baptized, and start again.
This is a formula for revival. This is how we turn it around.
What a good FB post!
This whole first chapter is indictment, warning, and promise of deliverance if they will change their ways. It is ultimatum, but with an escape clause. Yet there is no doubt from the language that God is just about out of patience. Jerusalem has become as bad - maybe worse - than Sodom and Gomorrah. Note also that there are many verses that describe a nation that has become corrupt from the inside out.
Starts in vs 4, sinful nation, God is forsaken by the children. Then vs 6 about untreated wounds - they don't recognize their danger. The country is desolate, cities burned by fire in vs 7, 8. Oh how that rings true! Then vs 9, where at least there was more to save than in Sodom and Gomorrah. What is left of "religion" is ritual and rote, not from the heart in vvs 10-17. Vss 21-23, murderers in the capitol city, known, and open. Princes - that is the leaders of government - are the companions of thieves. "Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts".
2024 - Took a look at this prophesy from vss 18-20. There is both hiphil imperfect and qal imperfect, and I admit I cannot really understand them...but let's try. Qal and Hiphil are verb tenses. Qal is active in "he loved", Niphal is passive as in "he was loved". In contrast to that, Hiphil is causative, active, as in "he caused to love", and Hophal is causative passive as in "he was caused to love".
So, the Qal imperfect is the verb translated as "are" in sins ARE as scarlet. It is a simple active.
In the phrase "will be as white", will be is Hiphil imperfect, so causative active, and so is the phrase "they will be".
18 "...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. [Isa 1:18 ESV].
So we read that "sins are", as a description of the existing state. It just says here is how things are now. Despite the simple fact that they ARE red, they WILL BE white. Something CAUSES them to change. An action is implied, a cause is implied.
And let us remember that in this case, the verbs - all of them - are imperfect "type", meaning they express action which is "continuous, incomplete, or open-ended. So the sins are continually like scarlet, but at another time, they will continually be white as snow. Both verbs are about a state that is continual, rather than instantaneous. This is not about the "bang" of a gun going off, it is about the ongoing rumbling of a volcano - day and night.
So this little study says that this particular prophecy, while using the imperfect type, does not include in "sequential imperfect" verbs. We have taken a few minutes to better understand how Hebrew verbs work, and can better watch for that first "sequential imperfect" that we want to see.
2021 - Corrupt, full of open evil. That seems to be the key. From top to bottom, there is corruption, and it is so common and acceptable that no one even tries to hide it. That is what we have going on here in so many ways. Abortion particularly. People shout right out that they support killing unborn children, as if they are proud of what was once a supremely shameful practice. Here are the verses:
[Isa 1:21 ESV] How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
[Isa 1:22 ESV] Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.
[Isa 1:23 ESV] Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.
2021 - Look how far this goes! God has declared Judah and His city Jerusalem to be His enemies. His children have become His enemies. Think of how that would affect you! Here is the reason for the patience of God toward Jerusalem. They are His children!
[Isa 1:24 ESV] Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.
I would go so far as to say vss 21-31 are prophecy of the Millennial. I think that, because nothing that happened between Isaiah and the Millennial has made these statements come to pass. But they will be true in that day.
Beginning in vs 24, God reveals His plan to clean up the mess: He will "smelt away" their dross. That is fire. That is melting down, removing the dross, and congealing purity. This is correction by fire, not by gentle persuasion. This will be violent and wrenching.