What Israel did 59:1-15a

As mentioned above, this second segment of the section dealing with the relationship of righteousness and ritual (chs. 58-59) deals with the inability of God's redeemed people to produce righteous behavior in their own strength.⁶⁶⁸

"In chapter 57 he [Isaiah] condemned adulterous paganism, in chapter 58 hypocritical fasting, while here it is chiefly injustice that calls forth his condemnation. Each of these chapters speaks about prayer. In chapter 57 it was not answered because it was not addressed to the true God (57:13); in chapter 58 because the petitioners are hypocrites (58:4); while here in vv. 1-2, it is because of their sins and particularly, as later verses indicate, their injustice."⁶⁶⁹

 Isaiah's evidence 59:1-8

"This passage describes the appalling moral breakdown of Jewish society--which perfectly accords with what we know of the degeneracy of Manasseh's reign."⁶⁷⁰

The prophet resumed his accusations against God's people (cf. 58:1-5).

59:1 The people were complaining that God was not answering their prayers (cf. 58:1-3). Isaiah assured them that His silence was not due to His inability to help them (a shortened hand) nor to His disinterest in them (an insensitive ear).

59:2 Rather the problem was with them, not Him. It was their sins that had separated them from their holy Lord (cf. Gen. 1:6; Jer. 5:26; Hab. 1:13; 1 John 1:6).

The evidence to support Isaiah's indictment follows.

59:3 Violence and bloodshed among God's people was one sign of their sinfulness. Lies and deception were another.

59:4 Justice was not coming out of the courts, but legal maneuvering and loopholes had taken the place of straightforward decisions. The people were using and abusing the legal system for their own ends rather than allowing it to sit in judgment on their actions. They were trying to confuse the issues and lie their way out of their responsibilities. Instead of conceiving the truth that would issue in righteousness, they were conceiving mischief that would result in iniquity (cf. Job 15:35; James 1:15).

59:5-6 The results of such a society are serpents eggs and spider webs. Instead of receiving nourishment from the eggs, the eggs either poison or, if opened, fatally attack the eater. Instead of receiving warmth from the beautifully woven web, the web fails to clothe and instead entangles its wearer. This was because the work the people expended to secure food and clothing was self-centered. People even resorted to physical violence to get what they wanted for themselves. Such a society promises much but delivers little, and what it does deliver turns around and kills it.

59:7-8 Instead of running from evil, God's people were running to it, even hastily shedding innocent blood to secure their ends (cf. Rom. 3:15-17). Again Isaiah used "way"to describe the moral life. Their hands and feet only manifested what was in their hearts, however. Their imaginations and thought processes were corrupt. All human ways are utterly futile apart from the Lord's intervention.

"His highways are peace and redemption (11:16; 19:23; 35:8; 40:3; 49:11; 62:10), but the human highways are destruction and confusion (7:3; 33:8; 36:2; 59:7). In his way there is guidance and confidence (2:3; 30:12), but in our ways there is discord and strife (3:12; 8:11; 57:17; 65:2)."⁶⁷¹

 Israel's confession 59:9-15a

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.