Isaiah, speaking for the sinful Israelites (cf. 6:5), first acknowledged the consequences of their behavior (vv. 9-11) and then confessed their guilt (vv. 12-15a).
59:9 Because they had denied justice and righteousness to others, the Israelites had not experienced justice or righteousness themselves, from the hands of God or men.
"Justiceis not the just society' as such but the rule of God which will set everything to rights; righteousnesshas the same meaning as in 56:1, the coming act of God in which he will vindicate and display his righteousness and fulfil [sic] all his righteous purposes."672
They had hoped for a bright future in view of God's promises, but their present condition was dark. They had expected to walk in the brightness of His presence, but they were groping in gloom because He had withdrawn the light of His presence from them (cf. 58:10).
59:10 All the parallel descriptions in this verse stress the hopelessness and vulnerability of the Israelites due to their natural blindness to God's ways (cf. 6:10; 8:16-17; 42:7; Deut. 28:29).
"They are blind' as to vision and clarity for guiding life, stumbling' as to constancy and stability of life, dead' as to vitality and get-up-and-go'."673
59:11 They could not even articulate their grief but simply growled and moaned like angry bears and pitiful doves (cf. Mark 7:34; John 11:38; Rom. 8:22-23). This lament closes as it began, with an admission that justice and salvation were far from God's people.
59:12 The reason justice and salvation were far away was the Israelites' multiplied transgressions, sins, and iniquities. But they had finally acknowledged their condition (cf. Ps. 51:5). Therefore hope that God would step forward and deliver them was possible (cf. 1 John 1:9).
"Hatred of the consequences of sin and its destructive effects on one's own life are not necessarily evidence of true repentance. It is when we face sin as rebellion against the holy God who loves us that we begin to see it, in some degree, as he sees it."674
59:13 The people acknowledged sins against God and against other people. They also admitted sins of omission and sins of commission, sins of action and sins of attitude, sins of the mouth and sins of the hands.
59:14 These are the reasons justice and righteousness stand far removed from the people. Truth had collapsed, so uprightness could not enter the company of the redeemed (cf. 1:21-23).
59:15a Where truth is lacking, as it was in Isaiah's society, the person who turns aside from evil to do good makes himself a prey to others who take advantage of him. This is the final irony of many ironies in this pericope. It corresponds to the earlier expressions of bad conditions resulting from iniquity (cf. vv. 4, 7-8). Isaiah was not advocating this type of behavior. He was saying that unless God intervenes for His people this type of behavior is all that they can expect.
