Isaiah: Chapters 48 to 55

Here is the previous bit.

CHAPTER 48

God castigates the Children of Israel for not always following his ways.  But don’t worry, God will remember them eventually. He says at one point, “For the sake of my name I restrain my anger. For the sake of my renown I hold it back from you lest I destroy you.”  Am I the only one who thinks God sounds like a self-important jerk here?  (To be fair, if anyone is going to sound self-important, yeah – it may as well be God).

It gets better later, with another great moment of Isaiah rhetoric: “If only you would attend to my commandments, your peace would be like a river, your vindication like the waves of the sea.  Your descendents like the sand, the offspring of your loins like its grains, their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.”  I’m not sure what it means exactly “peace like a river” – what dose that mean?  But it sure sounds nice.

Oh, and the chapter ends on a fairly famous line: “There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.”  The famous phrase is “no rest for the wicked” but that just sounds like a variation on this line.

CHAPTER 49

In a rather unexpected start, Isaiah II tells us that he was called by the Lord from his mother’s womb to be a prophet.  Really?  I’d heard that about Jeremiah, but not Isaiah.  In fact, earlier in the book we were told he’d received the call around 742 BC.  I guess this is a sign that there is more than one prophet here – the 742 BC guy and this anonymous guy. 

It’s a bunch of fairly standard stuff, except for the end, when he gets really grizzly on what will happen to the enemies of the Hebrew after they’ve returned to Jerusalem: “I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own bloods, as though with new wine.”  Gross. 

CHAPTER 50

We start veering towards Christianity here, as we’re told that the people will achieve salvation through the Lord’s servant.  Isaiah never really makes clear who or what this servant is, but the Christians sure have their answer – Christ (of course).  Frankly, the entire concept of salvation is more in tune with Christianity.  Sure, it comes up here in Isaiah, but otherwise … not so much.  At least not yet. 

God says (through Second Isaiah) of his servant: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard.  My face I did not hide from insults and spitting.”  That sounds a little like Christ’s passion.

There’s a little bit of Christ foreshadowing here, but an utter ton will come up in a few chapters.

CHAPTER 51

Not much to say about this one.  It repeatedly (OK, twice – but that still counts as repeatedly) calls out, “you who know justice.”  Keep faith in the Lord, but the day of deliverance is coming. 

God notes, “My salvation shall remain forever” which sure sounds a lot like heaven and I’m sure is taken to mean that by Christians, but in the context I don’t think that’s the point. In context, deliverance from Babylon is forever.

CHAPTER 52

It’s another chapter celebrating the imminent return to Zion for the Jews.  “Never again shall the uncircumcised or the unclean enter you,” God says of Jerusalem.  Yeah, well, that won’t work out too well actually.  Jerusalem will be almost always run by non-Jews in the years heading forward.

The end of the chapter starts hitting us heavily with the references to this mysterious servant person that Christians can clearly see as references to Christ.  Isaiah says, “my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.”  Yes, Christ will be exalted, though much of the esteem he gets will come after death.

Going on, Isaiah notes< “Even as man were amazed by him” – yup, he turns water into wine and all that – “so marred were his features” – yup, whipping, crown of thorns, crucifixion – “beyond that of mortals” – yup, not mortal and went through extreme pain –“his appearance, beyond that of human beings – so shall he startle many nations kings shall stand speechless.” 

Yeah, it’s easy to see this as a bunch of foreshadowing for Jesus Christ.  But that’s nothing.  Chapter 53 goes full tilt mode in setting the stage for Christianity.

CHAPTER 53

By my count, the Catholic Bible’s Old Testament contains 1,074 different chapters.  But none of them contains as much direct and blatant foreshadowing of Jesus Christ than this one.  What makes this so striking isn’t just that some ideas are presented that can be used by Christians – like the frequent references in Isaiah to “my servant.”  No, what makes this so notable is how the theology of this fits so well with Christianity.  Hell, if I didn’t know better, I’d wonder if St. Paul actually wrote this and then had it stowed away in Isaiah to justify all the things he’ll say about Jesus Christ later on.

Nearly every single line of this chapter helps pave the way for Christianity.  It starts out a bit vague, saying, “Who would believe what we have heard?”  Eh, that can refer to almost anything.  “To whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed?”  Well, that sounds a bit Christ-like but it can still be taken many different ways.

But Isaiah clearly is thinking of one person, as he says, “He grew up like a sapling before him” and “”He had a majestic bearing to catch our eye.”  So it’s a person, but still – it can be many different people. 

But we’re just getting warmed up people.  Isaiah goes on: “He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain.”  Suffering?  Spurned? Knowing pain?  Why all that sort of stuff is crucial to Christian theology.  And the second half of the verse goes, “Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned and we held him in no esteem.”  Yeah, Christ was spurned in held in no esteem. 

But it really kicks into gear.  So far, it’s just been references and ideas that Christianity can use.  Now Isaiah decides to dump some heavy and obvious Christian theology on us:

“Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured.  We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our sings, crushed for our iniquity.  He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed.” 

Whoah!  This is the Old Testament?  Seriously – is there a single word there that wouldn’t fit in beautifully with St. Paul’s theology of Christ’s life and death?  Usually references to a savior or messiah in the Old Testament take on a more earthly form.  The savior will save the people from an earthly plight and re-establish David’s kingdom on earth.  That’s a big part of the reason why it’s important that the savior be from the House of David – the house that the Lord has made a covenant with to rule over his people on earth.  But this chapter?  It’s not a warrior savior at all.  It’s a savior who will take all of our sins upon himself and die for us.  He’ll be the human form of a scapegoat.  This is pure Christian theology.

And it goes on, with Isaiah saying, ‘We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way, but the Lord laid upon him, the guilt of us all.  Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led a slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth.”

Lamb to the slaughter?  That sure is a famous line.  And Lord knows the imagery of Christ with a lamb is an image with staying power. 

And it goes on, “Seized and condemned, he was taken away.  Who would have thought any more of his destiny?  For he was cut off from the land of the living, struck for the sins of his people.  He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth.”  Again, this is pure Christian theology.  He’ll die for us – and who expects to hear from again after he’s buried.  But even as it’s written here, it’s clear that his destiny is not yet over, even though he’s been killed.

“But it was the Lord’s will to crush him with pain, by making his life as a reparation offering, he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days, and the Lord’s will shall be accomplished through him.”  The Lord’s will shall be accomplished through him via his death?  Yup, Christ’s death frees people from original sin.

“Because of his anguish, he shall see light; because of his knowledge he shall be content.  My servant, the just one, shall justify the man, their iniquity he shall bear.”  I doubt many places in the New Testament will  do directly state Christian beliefs as this chapter here, tucked safely away in the Old Testament.  I can only imagine that guys like St. Paul were familiar with this chapter and used it to form early Christian theology to interpret Christ’s death in a way that allowed his teachings to survive his earthly end. 

CHAPTER 54

This is a much more generic chapter.  It just talks about how great things will be in Jerusalem once the Jews finally get back there.  It speaks of Jerusalem as if it’s a barren woman.  But this barren woman will soon have a multitude of kids before her.

CHAPTER 55

I love the opening line of this chapter: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water.”  Sometimes, it’s the basic analogies that work best. 

This chapter is called “An invitation to Grace” and calls on the believers to come before the Lord’s way, as they’re told, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant” – another line that can be used easily by Christians.

Here is another great moment in rhetoric you can imagine your favorite preacher man saying: “Let the wicked forsake their way, and sinners their thoughts.  Let them turn to the Lord to find mercy, to our God, who is generous and forgiving.”  Well, maybe it isn’t as great as some of the other spots I’ve quoted, but it’s nice nonetheless. 

This ends the Second Isaiah section.  The last 11 chapters are supposed to be to Third Isaiah, and written after the Jews have returned to Jerusalem.  (That said, I supposed the Second and Third Isaiahs could be the same guy.  The gap isn’t too big, unlike with First & Second Isaiah). 

Click here for the last part of Isaiah.