- Isaiah 1-12: Isaiah’s call and messages of warning to Judah during the prosperous days of the kingdom. These came mostly during the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz.
Isaiah 1-5 contain sermons that at some time Isaiah preached to the people. Though not arranged chronologically, they introduce major themes to be developed throughout the book.
- Isaiah 1:1 (NIV 1984) The vision of Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The very first verse sets the date of the book and tells who will be under consideration. Verse 1 dates Isaiah in the corrupt 8th century B.C. during the time of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Of the kings mentioned in verse 1, only Jotham and Hezekiah are truly good kings. Uzziah was basically a good king who turned bad, and Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings that ever ruled Judah.
As the study continues remember that Isaiah was dealing specifically with the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. This group of people is also referred to as “Zion” and “Israel”. The name of Israel is used to refer to the people of God in general because of the name He gave Jacob long before this particular time in the Israelites history. In this context it does not refer to Israel as the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom of Israel had been taken into captivity and this is an important fact to remember during the study of Isaiah.
The first six chapters of Isaiah set the tone and give the outline for the rest of the book. For this reason it is a good idea to look closely at the first six chapters. Chapter one is a condemnation of the social corruption and the religious formalism of Israel. The first few verses of chapter one gives God’s complaint against His people. Read/Summarize Isaiah 1:1-9.
The Lord had a complaint against Israel. That complaint was based on three things:
1. He was their God, the one who had created them and He was their father, the one who had begotten them. Isaiah 1:2 (NKJ) “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me”.
2. He was their master; He had oxen and donkeys who obeyed his commands; the people should have obeyed in a like manner. Isaiah 1:3a (NKJ) “The ox knows its owner And the donkey its masters crib”.
3. He was their teacher; He had taught them, but they didn’t understand. Isaiah 1:3b (NKJ) “But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”
So God made this demand on the nation of Judah: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken” Isaiah 1:2a (NKJ). God wanted them to listen and pay attention. This demand was intended to produce two results. First, it was to convict them of their sin, which He lists in Isaiah 1:4-6.
Second, He told them they needed to be fearful of the judgment He was going to bring upon them because of their lack of attention to Him. God even told them the nature of that judgment (Isaiah 1:7-9). They would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah, totally destroyed, if God had not left some survivors because of His love and mercy toward them. God rejected the nation of Judah because their sacrifices had become only rituals. Read/Summarize Isaiah 1:10-16.
Keep in mind, all these things God said He detested and would not accept were the very things He commanded them to do under the Law. The reason He rejected these rituals now was because of the nature of their sacrifices. He said their sacrifices were worthless, detestable, and profane. He hated their assemblies and would not accept them or their feast days because their hearts were not in what they were doing. They were simply obeying His laws. They were not worshiping their creator. Their prayers were offered with bloody, unclean hands, so God would not listen to their prayers. He saw them, but He would hide His eyes from them, and He would not listen because they came to Him with unclean hands that were worshiping from an unclean heart. Simply put, the way Judah was living was unacceptable to God. He wanted them to repent and correct their sinful lives. Read/Summarize Isaiah 1:16-20.
God told Judah they needed to repent. Repent has two sides: ceasing to do wrong and learning to do good. God is a reasonable God and repentance means coming and reasoning with God. He wanted His people to think logically about Him. God basically told them if they repented He would bless them but if they rebelled they would be destroyed. In the next 3 verses, God describes the city of Jerusalem. Read/Summarize Isaiah 1:21-23.
The people had become a bunch of degenerates. They had sunk far below the kind of people they were supposed to be. Jerusalem had totally changed as a city. In the past she had been a faithful city that was once full of justice where righteousness dwelt. She had been materially blessed because of the kind of city she once was. Now, the city had become a harlot. It was a city full of murderers and people that hated widows and orphans. They were materially cursed. Their silver and gold had become dross. Dross is the scum or rubbish taken from molten metal. It is worthless. Their purity had become diluted, so their power had degenerated. Rather than having godly rulers and godly people, they had rebellious rulers and rebellious people. They were greedy and unjust. God judged them because of that.
There are two major thoughts mingled together in the Book of Isaiah that deal with God’s judgment on Zion. There would be punishment for the wicked and reward for the righteous. Isaiah 1:24-31.
The punishment for the wicked that God was talking about included personal ruin for the people. They would be shamefully disgraced as a people. Their glory would fade like the colors fade on the leaves of an oak tree. Their punishment was going to be total, complete, continual, and irrevocable destruction (A.D. 70?).
God said He would burn there among them as a fire, and no one would be able to quench it. At the same time, there would be purification and reward for the righteous. The impurities would be burned away by fire. Godly leadership would be restored and justice would be recovered.
The Mountain of the Lord – Isaiah 2. When all the punishment and purification was over what would it be like for God’s people? God talked about the days after punishment in Isaiah 2. It was the future for the people that Isaiah was speaking to but it is the present for us today. It speaks of God’s goal and His intent for Zion. He speaks of what Zion would be one day. Read/Summarize Isaiah 2:1-5.
Isaiah saw God’s goal for Zion. He spoke of its exaltation. Zion would be established as chief among all the nations. It would be above all the hills. It would be the preeminent kingdom of the entire world. Notice its extent. He said many nations; many people would stream into it. They would come to it and say, “Let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord.” It would be universal (the church).
Notice the standards. Isaiah said “He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” Its standards will not be Israel’s ways but his ways. They will walk in his paths. Notice His commission. It is to send out the law from Zion. It is to see that the word of the Lord is to go forth from Jerusalem. That is the great commission as Jesus would state it in the New Testament (Matthew 28:16-20).
Notice that the power of the nation is found in its king. He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples (Isaiah 2:4). Notice its plan. It’s a plan of peace. All the war instruments will be turned into farm tools (Isaiah 2:4). No longer will they destroy the nations. They will not fear the nations. Theirs is a path of the light of the Lord.
- John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The picture of glory for Zion is followed by “the day of the Lord”. In the Bible, the theme of Day of the Lord appears frequently. It does not refer to the end of time, but to a period of God’s dramatic intervention in human history in order to right wrongs. See, for example, Amos 5:18-20. In Isaiah this would refer to God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:6-4:6). Isaiah, inspired by God, gave two specific reasons Judah would be destroyed and a summary that involved many reasons.
The first reason Judah would be destroyed was because they were religiously and morally corrupt. Read/Summarize Isaiah 2:6-11. Judah was controlled by eastern superstition. They were cultic and immoral in their nature. They made their religious decisions like the Philistines, which was probably by tossing coins or by the divining of animals. This would have also included witchcraft and fortune tellers. They were involved in foreign alliances with pagans which God had expressly forbidden (Joshua 23).
God had promised judgment if they forsook Him for an alliance with other nations. They had become exceedingly materialistic so that there was no end to their treasures.
They were filling the land with horses, which was something that God commanded them not to do (Deuteronomy 17:16). They trusted in their military might and in war so that there was no end to their chariots. They had given themselves over to idolatry. God had no choice but to judge them because of their idolatry. They had become proud and arrogant. Solomon had already announced the judgment of the proud in Proverbs 16:18 (Pride goes before destruction). They would pass away never to be seen again. Man’s pride puts him in a place of God who alone will be exalted.
The second reason for the destruction of Judah was because their pride was in the nation. They were proud of themselves rather than being proud of God who was the one who should have been exalted. They were described as proud, lofty, and arrogant. Isaiah reminded them that only the lord was to be exalted. Read Isaiah 2:12-22 (12, 17-19, 22). Isaiah spoke about the fear people ought to have when they are judged. They should flee before the lord, throw away their idols, and realize that all of their efforts were futile. Their trust in man rather than in God was the reason for their fall.
Among the many reasons for God’s judgment upon Judah were the areas of social and political corruption (Isaiah 3:1-4:1). He told them they would have no supply or support when judgment came upon them. He was going to take away their food, water, and heroes. God took His word from them and they had no wise men to guide them. There were no soldiers to protect them and no craftsmen to bring joy and good things into their lives. God said their rulers would be weak and foolish like boys and women.
He described their civil disorder as the oppression of their neighbors, who were the very people they should have helped. They had no leaders in the family, because the father was not taking a leadership role and the mother was not raising the children. There was open sin in Jerusalem. Isaiah 3:9 says they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. They were parading their sin, as Sodom and Gomorrah did, in broad daylight. They were not even trying to cover it up with darkness. They were not hiding the evil they were doing.
Not only was their civil disorder; there was also social corruption. Read/Summarize Isaiah 3:10-15. In the midst of all the social corruption, God said to tell the righteous that He would reward them. Even though the people were corrupt and ruled by women and children, God, as the Judge, would bring judgment upon those who had afflicted them. He would take care of the mistreatment of His people. The deepest sin in Judah was their worldly women. Read/Summarize Isaiah 3:16-4:1.
Notice the pride of these worldly women! They were haughty and walked with outstretched necks. Notice their lasciviousness (inclined to lustfulness). They had flirting eyes and mincing feet. They dressed and acted in such away to call attention to themselves and to bring about lust. Notice their fine luxury. There are 21 items of luxurious living listed. The judgment that God was going to place upon them was very appropriate to their sins.
There would be a bad smell instead of a good one, a rope instead of a pretty sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo. There would be sackcloth instead of fancy clothes, branding instead of beauty, defeat instead of victory, mourning instead of joy, and destitution instead of riches. These women would cry, “We will support ourselves! Just let us have your name. Take away our reproach!” (Isaiah 4:1). Read/Summarize Isaiah 4:2-6.
God will protect His children. His children will be the people who have remained faithful to Him and did not trust in their riches. They will be the ones who did not worship idols and did not form alliances with foreigners. God will bring them peace and joy. He will give them bounty and glorious beauty. There will be holiness and divine presence. There will be divine protection for those who walk in the simple way of the Lord. 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. God gives His children peace in their humble walk with Him.
Isaiah 5 is known as The Song of the Vineyard. It beautifully summarizes God’s message to Judah. Although he had done everything possible to care for the nation, his “vineyard” – the house of Israel – had produced only bad grapes. Jesus used a related analogy in some of his parables (Matthew 20:1-16; 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 13:6-9; 20:9-19).
Isaiah 5 contains three parts: the parable of a disappointing vineyard (1-7); “six woes” against injustice (8-23); and an announcement that God will punish the unjust (24:30).
Isaiah 5:1-7: Isaiah, probably playing a harp or lyre (Psalm33:2-3), appears before an audience as a minstrel and sings about his best friend and his vineyard. His friend expended much energy preparing the ground for a vineyard and a vat for its fruit. His expectations of bountiful good grapes are very high. But the vineyard produces wild grapes. His friend’s disappointment is immeasurable. He resolves to demolish the vineyard. The audience empathizes with the vine-dresser. Then Isaiah declares the vineyard is the nation of Israel and the people of Judah (Isaiah 1:7). Using Hebrew wordplay’s, Isaiah, inspired by God, declares that the good grapes are justice and righteousness; but the wild grapes, bloodshed and a cry.
Isaiah 5:8-23 pronounces “six woes” against injustice, examples of the sin condemned in the song of the vineyard. The first woe denounces the rich and powerful for endless property expansion (removing a neighbor’s boundary marker; see Deuteronomy 19:14). As just punishment, God will despoil the great houses and deplete the crops of the rich. The second woe rebukes powerful rich leaders of God’s people who try to escape impending punishment for their sins by becoming absorbed in drunkenness and salving music. These individuals show no respect for God’s deeds or work of humbling the people by sending armies to overthrow them and carry them into exile. This demonstrates God’s holiness, justice, and righteousness.
The third woe reproaches Isaiah’s opponents who mock his announcement that God has a plan to send enemies to punish His people for their sin.
In verse 20, contexts suggest that the fourth woe censures those who proclaim all is well in Judah although God’s people are approaching calamity (compare to verse 30). It may also condemn people who reverse God’s moral standards.
Verse 21, the fifth woe, rebukes those who assume they can live by standards derived from their own wisdom apart from God’s guidance. In verses 22-23, the sixth woe condemns indulgence in drunkenness (compare to 5:11) and undermining justice in court by giving and receiving bribes (Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19), thereby refusing justice to the innocent.
Isaiah 5:24-30: God will punish His people as fire consumes straw or grass because they have ignored His instruction (His word). Prophets did not establish a new religion but evaluated people by God’s existing law, as thee six woes illustrate. God unleashes anger once and again, because the people persist in sin.
- Isaiah 5:25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake,and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
The exact phrase “his anger is not turned away” appears 5 times in the NIV translation of Isaiah, here in 5:25 in 9:12, 17, and 21, and in 10:4. This shows God’s absolute disgust with what His children had become.