Above: Tares
Image in the Public Domain
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READING FIRST ISAIAH, PART II
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Isaiah 1:2-31
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G. H. D. Kilpatrick, author of the exposition on Isaiah 1-39 in The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 5 (1956), described Isaiah 1 as
The Heart of Isaiah’s Message.
Kilpatrick began:
Here is a tremendous indictment of an apostate nation. The charge is the blindness, the insensitivity, the brutish stupidity of a people steeped in sin. The prophet is against them. In a sense the chapter is an epitome of Isaiah’s whole message and ministry. In this series of oracles he proceeds from accusation to judgment, and on to the divine promise of mercy in terms of repentance and obedience. Throughout the book the changes are rung on these themes.
–165
As I reread this chapter for the umpteenth time, I noticed themes that populated the (contemporary) Books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah, too. I noticed these themes readily because I have blogged my way through them before starting First Isaiah. I noticed legal charges of having abandoned the covenant. I noticed the allegation of idolatry–prostitution, metaphorically. I noticed the condemnation of corruption and social justice, especially that of the economic variety. I noticed the pronouncement that sacred rituals do not protect one from the consequences of impiety. I noticed the call to repentance and the possibility of forgiveness.
Chronology is not the organizing principle of the Book of Isaiah. No, the commission of the prophet is in Chapter 6, for example. Chapter 1 contains short speeches that summarize themes First Isaiah unpacks in subsequent chapters.
The text provides many options for where I may dwell in this post. I choose verses 27 and 28. The translation in Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible (2019), is close to the standard English-language rendering:
Zion shall be redeemed through justice,
and those who turn back in her, through righteousness.
But the rebels and offenders together are shattered,
and those who forsake the LORD shall perish.
However, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985) offers a somewhat different translation:
Zion shall be saved in the judgment;
Her repentant ones, in the retribution.
But rebels and sinners shall be crushed,
And those who forsake the LORD shall perish.
These verses date to either the Babylonian Exile or afterward. (As I wrote regarding the Books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah, the final versions of early prophetic writings date to the time after the Babylonian Exile.) Differences in Hebrew meter and the concept of Zion’s slavery relative to the surrounding material point to later origin. That may or may not prove interesting, but there it is.
I noticed that righteousness and justice are related concepts. This has long constituted old news to me, but I delighted to see another instance of it in Isaiah 1.
That justice and righteousness are related establishes a high standard. Many people mistake human vendettas for justice. Many people mistake torture for justice. Many people are oblivious to or forget Deuteronomy 32:35, in the voice of God:
Vengeance is mine and recompense,
for the time they lose their footing;
Because the day of their disaster is at hand
and their doom is rushing upon them.
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
When we set out to take revenge, we embark on a path we ought to leave alone. God knows better than we do.
I also noticed the difference between the translations of verse 27. I noticed that TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985) had “judgment” for “justice” and “retribution” for “righteousness.” Yet the germane note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), read:
Having been punished, Zion will again know justice and faithfulness. A new name is given to the reformed Jerusalem; c.f. 62:2-4; Ezekiel 48:35.
–769
The promised salvation will stem only from divine justice and righteousness, not the virtue of Israel. The destruction of rebels and sinners, however, will stem from their lack of virtue. For the meantime, Zion, as a faith reality, not a political entity, contains the good and the wicked. Likewise, in the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30), the wheat and the weeds will grow together in the field until the harvest time. God will judge at the harvest time. In the meantime, attempting to remove weeds may result in the removal of some wheat, also.
May we–you, O reader, and I–strike a proper balance, by grace. May we understand correctly the difference between good and evil. May we understand correctly the difference between that which is sinful and that which is not. May we understand correctly the difference between justice and injustice. When appropriate, may we speak out, and do so in the right way. And may we understand correctly the difference between our tasks and God’s tasks.
If I am going to err, I prefer to do so on the side of kindness, not harshness. I would rather be too gentle than mean. I prefer to strike the proper balance in each circumstances, of course. Yet maybe my Southern training takes over and tells me not to create a needless scene. I prefer to practice personal diplomacy, even when doing so entails telling white lies. “No, that dress does not make you look fat,” except it does. I also know enough to have some idea of what I do not know. God knows more than I do, and I do not bring people to God by behaving obnoxiously in God’s name.
Nevertheless, as anyone who has read my weblogs sufficiently ought to know, I do not always shy away from writing what I really think. I am capable of being blunt, too. There is a time for diplomacy, just as there is a time for bluntness. Yet there is never any moral justification for not leaving vengeance to God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 29, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PERCY DEARMER, ANGLICAN CANON AND TRANSLATOR AND AUTHOR OF HYMNS
THE FEAST OF SAINT BONA OF PISA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC AND PILGRIM
THE FEAST OF JIRI TRANOVSKY, LUTHER OF THE SLAVES AND FATHER OF SLOVAK HYMNODY
THE FEAST OF RUBY MIDDLETON FORSYTHE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY THERESA LEDÓCHOWSKA, FOUNDRESS OF THE MISSIONARY SISTERS OF SAINT PETER CLAVER, AND “MOTHER OF AFRICAN MISSIONS;” AND HER SISTER, SAINT URSULA LEDÓCHOWSKA, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE URSULINES OF THE AGONIZING HEART OF JESUS (GRAY URSULINES)
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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