Israel was guilty of forsaking her God and, as a result, she had become broken and desolate.
1:2-3 God Himself charged the Israelites with their sin. He called the heavens and earth to listen (cf. Deut. 30:19; 32:1). His people had not only violated His covenant but common decency and good sense.21It was unthinkable that children should revolt against a loving father who nurtured them. Even stupid oxen and donkeys know their master, but the Israelites did not realize who cared for them.
1:4-9 The prophet amplified God's charge and proved it by referring to Israel's condition. He lamented that Israel's state was the logical outcome of her behavior. She had forsaken the Holy One of Israel, "the transcendent God, who is wholly separate from the frailty and finiteness of Creation (his majesty-holiness), and wholly separate from the sinfulness and defilement of man (his purity-holiness)."22She was consequently experiencing the destructive results of her sin in national disease and in political and social catastrophes (vv. 5-6; cf. 53:4-10; Deut. 27-30). It was customary in Isaiah's day for people to squeeze the puss out of a wound, to pull a cut together with a bandage, and to pour olive oil on sores to aid healing.23
Isaiah moved from describing Israel as a sick and injured body to a desolate, conquered land (vv. 7-9; cf. Lev. 26; Deut. 28-29). The description "daughter of Zion"(v. 8) emphasizes that God feels about His wayward people as a father feels about his daughter. He loves her, has committed himself to protecting her, and takes pains to guard her from all evil and danger.
Many Israelite families lived in villages but built little shelters in their fields and camped there during the harvest season. After the harvest these little shacks looked pitiful, abandoned, useless, and deteriorating. Unless the LORD of armies had preserved a few faithful in Judah, as He preserved Lot and his family, He would have destroyed the nation as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 10; cf. Gen. 19; Rom. 9:29).24
