Chapter Fifty-Nine

1–21. A dark characterization of the religious-moral and socio-political state of Israel as the true cause of its rejection by God.

Isaiah 59:1. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull, that it cannot hear. The close connection of this chapter with the previous one appears from the fact that it continues to answer the same question that was the theme of the preceding chapter, namely—why do the Jews, who seem to observe all the prescriptions of the Mosaic law so strictly, not receive justification and salvation from God? Could not the cause lie in the Almighty, as some of the more presumptuous and self-important among the sons of Israel might have thought? As if anticipating the very possibility of such a senseless question, the prophet begins this chapter with a decisive declaration that “the Lord’s hand is not shortened... to save, nor His ear dull... to hear” (verse 1). Consequently, the causes of the destruction of God’s people lie not in the Lord, but in the people themselves, more precisely, in their lawlessness and transgressions, which the prophet Isaiah goes on to unfold in detail.

Isaiah 59:2. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. From verse 2 through verse 8 there is a strong overall characterization of the religious-moral corruption of Israel, which separated it from God. In it one can see both a sharp denunciation of the Israelite society contemporary to the prophet and a prophetic vision of a similar, or even worse condition of later Israel, the era of the coming of the Messiah and the founding of Christianity.

Isaiah 59:3. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies and your tongue utters injustice. Isaiah 59:4. None calls for justice, and no one pleads truthfully; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity; Isaiah 1:15. “For your hands are defiled with blood... your lips speak lies... no one calls for justice... they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.” Both the thought of these verses and even more their verbal form are very close to the first chapter of the same book, which confirms the unity of authorship (cf. Is.1:15, 21). The defiling of hands with blood can, of course, have a literal sense, as the shedding of blood of sacrificial animals (without understanding the meaning of sacrifice) or even as the offering of human sacrifice (of children to the god Moloch – cf. Jer 7:31), or a symbolic sense, as the complete overthrow of all moral foundations, to the point of readiness for bloodshed and murder, or finally a typological sense, as a prefiguring of the Greatest Righteous One, whose murder the Jews completed as part of a series of similar historical facts (Matt 23:35). The prophet Isaiah sets forth as the chief cause of such corruption and decline of the sons of Israel their departure from the true path of “theocratic righteousness” (“the way of God”) onto the path of “wickedness and lies” (“the way of the devil”). Betrayal of the ideal of Divine Righteousness is betrayal of truth itself and is essentially falsehood. “They rely on empty pleas.” (verse 4) The Hebrew word is tohu, that is, one of those expressions used in Genesis 1 to describe the state of primordial chaos.

Isaiah 59:5. They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the egg that is crushed hatches a viper. Isaiah 59:6. Their webs will not serve as clothing, and they will not cover themselves with what they have made; their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. The prophet Isaiah expresses the same thought—about the unjust and violent character of all Israel’s activity—in these verses through images and comparisons, comparing the harmful character of the activity with “serpent’s eggs” and the qualitative worthlessness and fragility of its results with fine “spider’s web,” ready to tear at the slightest touch.

Isaiah 59:7. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their paths. Isaiah 59:8. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths. Their roads they have made crooked; no one who walks in them knows peace. If earlier the prophet spoke of “hands” full of blood, here, for completeness of characterization, he speaks of “feet” rushing to evil and sin. It should be noted that the prophet Isaiah penetrates deeply into the causes of such a condition, justly seeing them in the false disposition of thoughts and minds: “their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity” (verse 7). It also attracts attention that the parallelism of this entire section with many similar passages from the Book of Psalms (Ps 5:6-7; Ps 7:15; Ps 9:28; Ps 11:3; Ps 13:1-3; Ps 27:2-5 and others).

Isaiah 59:9. Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we wait for light, and behold, there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom. Isaiah 59:10. We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we were dead. Isaiah 59:11. We all growl like bears; like doves we moan mournfully. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. From verse 8 through verse 11 the disclosure of the fruits or consequences of such destructive behavior is given, which is characterized here as the removal of justice, as the loss of light and descent into darkness (verse 9), is compared with the helpless state of the blind, or even the dead among the living (verse 10), and is likened to the pitiful condition of a growling bear and moaning dove (verse 11).

Isaiah 59:12. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities. From verses 12–15 the prophet returns again to the pressing point—the sins of Israel. “For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities.” (verse 12). The thought and even the expression of it are purely psalmist (Ps 39:13; Ps 50:5 and others).

Isaiah 59:13. We have been false and have lied against the Lord, and we have turned away from following our God; we have spoken oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. “We have been false and have lied against the Lord and turned away from following our God.” A strengthening and clearer exposition of the thought previously expressed that betrayal of the Lord is departure from truth and service to falsehood (verses 3–4). “Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words” (verse 13). The thought is very deep. Following the earlier expressed thought about the disposition of the mind (verse 7), he speaks about the direction of the heart, that is, the realm of feeling, and depending on it, of the will, that is, human activity itself (Matt 15:19).

Isaiah 59:14. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has stumbled in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Isaiah 59:15. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off, for truth has stumbled in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.” A beautiful, picturesque expression of the same thought—about the loss of justice, truth, and even elementary honesty. From the second half of verse 15 through the end of verse 19 is contained the exposition of God’s fearful Judgment upon all His enemies who trample justice and righteousness, and by association of similarity, the prophet’s thought also turns to the enemies of Israel, to whom the Lord promises to raise up a special “intercessor,” that is, the Messiah.

Isaiah 59:16. He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; then His own arm brought Him victory, and His righteousness upheld Him. “He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene.” Israel itself, as appears from the foregoing narrative, was guilty all around and could not save itself from God’s righteous Judgment. Naturally, one would look for some righteous person who would appear as an intercessor and mediator for the guilty people, similar to how once Abraham interceded with God for the salvation of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, on the condition that only ten righteous could be found there (Gen 18:32). But if in those doomed cities no ten righteous were found, now among the Hebrew people there will not be found even one such righteous person who could turn away God’s righteous wrath from the people; for, as the Psalmist says, “all have turned aside, they have all alike become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Ps 13:3). “Then His own arm brought Him victory, and His righteousness upheld Him.” The absence of a defender of Israel before God among men leads the prophet’s thought to that great Mediator whom God Himself will raise up, that is, to the Messiah. Such a view of the implied Mediator fully agrees with other, undoubtedly messianic passages from the same prophet (Isa 40:10; Isa 43:5; Isa 63:5 and others).

Isaiah 59:17. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak. Isaiah 59:18. According to their deeds, so will He repay them—wrath to His adversaries, requital to His enemies; to the coastlands He will render requital. Isaiah 59:19. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. For He will come like a pent-up stream that the wind of the Lord drives on. From verses 17–19 in a bright image of a warrior’s combat of the Mediator of Israel with all His enemies is depicted the future triumph of the Almighty over all opponents, both from among the Jews themselves (“adversaries” and “enemies” – verse 18), and from among the nations (“coastlands” verse 18). Noteworthy here is the very juxtaposition of ordinary military armor (breastplate and helmet) with instruments, or means of moral combat (righteousness, salvation), which is repeated later by Apostle Paul (Eph 6:17; 1 Thess 5:8).

Isaiah 59:20. And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord. The preceding half-veiled messianic discourse of the prophet passes here into a clear and direct prediction concerning the Messiah and the New Covenant. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord.” Apostle Paul in his well-known deliberate discussion of the fate of Israel cites this passage as proof of the future conversion of all Jews before the time of the Lord’s second coming to earth (Rom 11:26). But, of course, nothing prevents us from referring the partial fulfillment of this prophecy also to the time of the first coming of Jesus Christ, when many of the Jews also turned to the Lord and believed in the Messiah.

Isaiah 59:21. And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your offspring, or from the mouths of their offspring, says the Lord, from now on and forever. “And as for Me, this is My covenant with them... My Spirit that is upon you... shall not depart from your mouth and from the mouths of your offspring... from now on and forever.” Although some of the interpreters, even including blessed Jerome, are inclined to refer these words only to the person of the prophet Isaiah himself, as a faithful “servant of the Lord” and “watchman of the house of Israel,” the overall meaning of the narrative and the immediate context of the discourse (“covenant... with them”) compel us to see here a reference to all the New Testament Zion, or faithful Israel. We are also convinced of this by the divine promise not to take away from this people the prophetic gift (“My Spirit that is upon you”), which was the chief distinctive mark of all the missionary service of the Old Testament Israel and which continued to operate for some time in the New Testament church, in the persons of special “apostles and prophets” (Eph 4:11). Of this missionary calling of the best sons of Israel the prophet Isaiah, as is known, speaks not once before (Isa 42:1-4; Isa 44:26; Isa 55:3 and others).