Final haftarah of affliction 07-13-2013 from Isaiah. (Click to listen/download)
In light of where we are in the calendar and that we have been reading from the prophets in our pre-service readings, I want to comment on this week’s reading. It’s the final haftarah of affliction with the fast of Av (the 9’th of Av) this Tuesday. In this reading Isaiah uses shock tactics to get the attention of his audience. Let’s read part of it again:
Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
Isa 1:11 “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 1:12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
Isa 1:13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations– I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Isa 1:14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
Isa 1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Isa 1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
Isa 1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Commentary from FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 – Voice of the Prophets.
First, let’s put Isaiah in his historical context. He was called to be a prophet in the year that King Uzziah died (about 740BC). He then continued to speak the words of God through the reigns of several more Judean kings. While we can’t exactly date the words in Isaiah chapter 1, evidence suggests that the prophecies in chapter 1 were delivered shortly before or shortly after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722BC. Isaiah is telling Judah that the same fate is in store for Him.
Isaiah made his tirade against the sacrificial system and the holy days to grab the attention of his audience. He made the people ask, “If God doesn’t want our worship, what does he want?” With the hook now in place, Isaiah delivers his central message: REPENT!
The message of Isaiah in the same message that all of the prophets brought to Israel: Repent. Turn around. Change your behavior. Quit sinning. Start doing good. The proclamation of the Gospel by our Master Yeshua came with the same message of repentance. Repentance is the consistent message of all of the scriptures. Repentance is the only proper response that we can offer to our interaction with God. In these verses Isaiah lays out the steps to repentance.
Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. In Judaism it is taught that spiritual washing implies regretting your past misdeeds and verbally confessing your sins. John the Baptist added a literal baptism of repentance to dramatize the process of confession and repentance. Through the ritual immersion, those who were penitent could act out their repentance of their sins and their desire for spiritual renewal.
Remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Real repentance requires a recommitment to yarat Adonai (fear of the LORD). This is a conscious decision to remember that God sees all of our deeds, even what we do in secret, and that He condemns sin. When we repent, we must remember that our sins are offensive to God. We have to remember that NO sin is hidden from God. Therefore, we have to resolve not to sin in the sight of God ever again.
Cease to do evil. Repentance requires a change in behavior. The one who is penitent must not only mentally and verbally resolve to quit sinning, but must follow up the confession with an actual change in behavior. When presented with the same temptation, we must not succumb but must prove our repentance by refusing to commit the same sin.
Learn to do good. Repentance isn’t simply ceasing to sin. The person who repents should expand their efforts toward replacing bad habits with doing good. Isaiah offers several examples of the kind of good deeds that he has in mind. Seek justice. Reprove the ruthless. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow. He emphasizes the weightier provisions of the Torah: Justice, mercy, and faithfulness. He emphasizes matters of social justice, fairness, equity, and the defense of the defenseless. In the words of James, the brother of Yeshua, Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God our Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their distress and to remain untainted by the world.
In laying out the formula for the people of Judah to avoid conquer and exile, he lays out for us the path we need to take in seeking out our God and Father. In preparing to meet with God in a special way in this season of preparation, let’s wash ourselves and make ourselves clean. Let’s remove the evil of our deeds from the sight of the Holy One. Let’s cease to do evil. Let’s learn to do good. Let’s hear the words of the prophet and the words of our Master!
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