Isaiah (5)

Where will you be stricken again,
As you continue in your rebellion?
The whole head is sick
And the whole heart is faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head
There is nothing sound in it,
Only bruises, welts and raw wounds,
Not pressed out or bandaged,
Nor softened with oil. Isaiah 1:5 - 6

Yahweh through His prophet asks a question of ancient Judah, “Where else would you like to be sick and diseased?” Or phrased another way, “Why will you continue to be stricken, sick, and diseased? Why will you continue in your rebellion?”

The comprehensiveness of Judah’s condition is emphasized: head - heart, foot - head - full circle; from the head to the heart to the foot and back to the head - there is nothing sound in it, there is no healthy part of the body - from top to bottom the body has bruises and welts and raw wounds, raw sores.

I have someone close to me who has battled a rare disorder that affected 100% of his skin, the soles of his feet were affected to the point that he could hardly walk because of the pain. When medical specialists wanted to take a tissue sample of his skin they couldn’t do so because there was not enough healthy skin for a sample. When I viewed photos of this condition they were hard to look at - I could only imagine what this dear person was enduring. This approaches the image that we see in Isaiah 1:5 - 6, except that Isaiah’s image is much worse - at least my dear friend was receiving medical attention, but Judah, as we see it in Isaiah, not only was not receiving medical attention, it was continuing in behavior that was bringing even more misery on itself - yet in its rebellion it denied that anything was wrong - it considered itself healthy when it was sick.

I recently watched a series of people being interviewed about the state of America, they came from varying regions and backgrounds and ethnic groups. All of them evaluated the condition of America based on economics, there was no one who expressed interest in morality, in care for the poor, in justice, in helping others - the only lens through which these men and women, young and old, viewed the condition of their nation was the lens of economics. About the same time I watched a few segments of televised “church” services, I was relieved to hear that God is focused on our checking accounts and on us being successful and happy - someone should have told Paul and Peter and the rest of the early church about this, apparently they didn’t get it right, they must have misunderstood Jesus.

Ancient Judah deceived itself in its rebellion, it denied that it was sick - if that happened in Judah it can happen anywhere. Judah foolishly thought that it could claim God’s blessings based on its history, based on its forbearers - it was not only wrong, it was self-deceived to the point that when the judgment of God was coming on it that it did not recognize it - it continued in denial.

No nation can be Biblically great that is not morally and righteously great - the prophets never judged Israel or Judah based on whether their economy was growing, but rather on justice and equity and righteousness and the worship of the true and living God. When the prophets spoke words of judgment to other nations in the ancient world, those nations were held to standards of mercy, justice, and righteousness - they were held to the standard of common grace and the innate sense of right and wrong planted in all peoples. We are all responsible for the light that has been given to us.

Would we eat a cake that has 99% pure and healthy ingredients and only has 1% poison? Would we fly in a plane with 99% functioning parts and 1% malfunctioning parts? Surely in both cases the good must outweigh the bad. If, as Paul writes, a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, what must be the true condition of a society when it places narcissistic pleasure and power above all else? What must be the true condition of a nation when it explicitly repudiates the image of God? When it codifies the destruction of the helpless? When the value of a person is determined by that person’s usefulness to society?

We see in the prophets that rulers and nations mistook economic and military power with carte blanche to do as they pleased - God judged them for their unrighteousness - whether they were Israel and Judah or their neighbors. Prosperity can kill a people who are not servants of righteousness, they can deceive themselves into thinking they have the right to be the arbiters of morality and justice, that they can make their own rules and change them at will. The ends justify the means. When those who serve the Temple join in this insanity then idols are brought into the Temple; whether the ancient Temple in Jerusalem or the Temple of God’s People today. We must all feed the engine of success and prosperity and we’ll justify whatever it takes for sustained economic growth.

As Edward J. Young observes in his commentary on Isaiah, the people of Judah were “money crazy.”

Well, that was Judah back then, it could never be us today.