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1. Inscription of the book. 2–3. Israel's ingratitude towards God. 4–9. The plight of the people of Israel. 10–20. The means to salvation is repentance of sins. 21–31. Prophecy about the future fate of Israel. Isa.1:1. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw about Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah - the kings of Judah. 1–3. The Almighty, as a Father faithful to His promises and loving Israel, complains of the unfaithfulness and ingratitude of His people, who owe to Him their position in the world. "Vision". This is the name of the special state of the prophet in which he received revelation from God (see the introduction to the prophetic books). But here this expression has the general meaning of revelation - about Judea and Jerusalem. This inscription applies to the entire book, because it is further added that the prophet wants to report on all the revelations that happened to him under the four kings of Judah. Judea and its capital city Jerusalem are especially mentioned because all other prophecies are related to Judea, to the destinies of the kingdom of Judah. Isa.1:2. Listen, O heavens, and listen, O earth, because the Lord says: I raised and exalted sons, and they rebelled against Me. The prophet’s speech, contained in the first chapter, was probably pronounced during the reign of the Judah king Ahaz, when illegal worship was performed in Jerusalem (cf. vv. 21, 29 and 2 Kings 16:3, 4) and when for this the Lord punished the kingdom of Judah with the invasion of the kings of Syria and Israel (vv. 5-9 cf. 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Kings 16:5; 2 Chronicles 28:5–8). Collectors of the speeches of the prophet Isaiah put this speech in first place, probably due to its general content, in which it, indeed, constitutes an excellent introduction to all subsequent speeches of the prophet. Addressing heaven and earth as witnesses to the exposure of Israel's sins gives the idea of ​​the publicity and importance of this exposure or judgment of Israel (cf. Deut. 32:1). In addition, as Blessed Theodoret notes in his interpretation of the book. Isaiah, heaven and earth were the instruments of communicating to the Jews various mercies of God - heaven sent manna, earth gave fruit - and they, indeed, testified to the ingratitude of Israel at the time when Christ gave up His spirit on Calvary. The Lord “educated” Israel through the religious and civil laws given to it, as well as by sending it everything necessary for physical existence. He “exalted” Israel among other nations by bringing them especially close to Himself and especially by performing great miracles for them (cf. Deut. 4:7; Deut. 26:19). The Jews “revolted” against the Almighty because they worshiped other gods along with the Lord (under Ahaz) and also because they did not listen to the prophets sent by Him. (2 Chronicles 36:15–16). Isa.1:3. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know [Me], My people do not understand. Animals, even the most stupid ones (“ox... and donkey”), feel gratitude to their owner, who feeds them, but Israel treats the Lord as if he were a completely alien, unfamiliar creature. The Prophet thus recognizes his unfaithfulness to the Almighty as the first reason for all the misfortunes of Israel further depicted. Isa.1:4. Alas, a sinful people, a people burdened with iniquities, a tribe of evildoers, sons of destruction! They forsook the Lord, despised the Holy One of Israel, and turned back. The Prophet, for his part, is now surprised at this behavior of Israel, which, it seems, cannot be brought to the consciousness of the wrongness of its actions. The Jewish country has undergone terrible devastation and will soon, perhaps, become like those pagan countries that were struck by the wrath of God. If it were not for the Lord, then even Jerusalem would completely disappear from the face of the earth, like Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite all God's care for Israel, this people did not become holy. The sons of destruction are those who direct all their thoughts to evil, think about how they can destroy others, and at the same time cause themselves spiritual destruction. Isa.1:5. What else should we hit you with if you continue your stubbornness? The whole head is full of ulcers, and the whole heart is withered. Isa.1:6. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there is no healthy place: ulcers, spots, festering wounds, uncleansed and unbandaged and not softened with oil. Israeli society appears to the prophet under the image of a sick body. The “head” of this body (i.e., the government) is wounded, “the heart... (i.e., the priests and Levites) does not feel the illness of the body, it has withered away”; and finally, in the entire state body there is not a single healthy place left: “Ulcers” - such that they cannot even be cleaned (the pus can be squeezed out of them), “wounds” - cannot be bandaged, “spots” - (i.e. bruises, bruises) - cannot be smeared, softened with oil, which was usually used to heal bruises and wounds. All of these are metaphors pointing to the extremely disastrous situation of the kingdom of Judah under Ahaz. Isa.1:7. Your land is devastated; your cities are burned with fire; your fields are eaten up by strangers in your sight; everything was empty, as if it had been ruined by strangers. The previous metaphor is resolved into direct speech here. “Earth” – own. fields and fields. “Everything is desolate” is better translated: everything with us is devastated, just as the country of some wicked pagans can be devastated (cf. Is. 13:19). Isa.1:8. And the daughter of Zion remained like a tent in a vineyard, like a hut in a vegetable garden, like a besieged city. “Daughter of Zion” is the main city of the Kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem. The population of the city is presented under the guise of a daughter or daughters to show their defenselessness and weakness. "Tent in the Vineyard". The guardian's shelter in the vineyard, as now and before, consisted only of a wooden shack covered with branches (Geiki. The Holy Land and the Bible vol. 1 p. 141). "Like a city under siege". The severity of the siege lies in the fact that all communications from the besieged city are cut off and it must suffer from hunger and thirst. From this comparison it is clear, however, that the speech was delivered at a time when a real siege, in the full sense of the word, had not yet been established. Isa.1:9. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a small remnant, we would have been like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah. "Lord of Hosts". This name first appears in the 1st book. Kings (1 Samuel 1:3, 11). Hosts is a Hebrew word (zebaoth plural of zoba), which can mean: a) military units (Numbers 1:3; Judges 8:6; 1 Kings 2:5); b) with the addition of haschamaim - the heavenly army, that is, either the heavenly bodies (Deut. 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16) or the armies of angels (1 Kings 22:19). Therefore, some interpreters in the phrase “He who is is an army” see an indication of the Lord as the national Jewish god of war, others by “armies” mean the totality of God’s creations, as a manifestation of divine power, and the expression “He who is is an army” is considered synonymous with the expression “Almighty.” The second interpretation is more consistent with the general concept of God, which is given in this chapter by the prophet Isaiah: God appears here, in the 9th article, as the Provider of Israel, leaving some remnant from it, and not as a “god of war.” Therefore, it is better to interpret the phrase “He who is is an army” in the sense of the Almighty, who has at His disposal all the creatures of the universe, even the angelic armies, and directs these “armies” to serve His high goals (Glagolev A. Old Testament biblical teaching about Angels. Kyiv 1900, pp. 238–256). A small remnant was probably, in the eyes of the prophet, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and other Jews who had escaped from the invasion of enemies. But, in addition, here, undoubtedly, the prophet also had in mind that remnant of the holy seed, for the sake of which the Lord spared the criminal Jewish people. This remnant is a small society of true believers, grouped around the prophet Isaiah (Is. 8:16, 18). Isa.1:10. Hear the word of the Lord, princes of Sodom; Hear the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah! God admonishes the criminal Sodomites and Jews, who have sunk to the point of criminality, that they could once again gain the mercy of God. This requires, however, not sacrifices, not holidays, but the correction of one’s entire life, turning to the path of truth and justice in relation to one’s neighbors. The “princes” or leaders, the rulers of the chosen people, are similar in their sins to the Sodomites, and the people are similar to the inhabitants of Gomorrah. The prophet Ezekiel characterizes Sodom as full of pride, satiety, idleness and all injustice towards the poor (Ezek. 16:49). The rulers of the Jews were burdened with the same sins. The people, for their part, were worth such rulers, because their wickedness resembled the wickedness of Gomorrah. The “law of God” is not only the law of God given through Moses, but also all the revelations of God as communicated by the prophets. Isa.1:11. Why do I need your multitude of sacrifices? says the Lord. I am satisfied with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle, and I do not want the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. God established the offering of sacrifices not because He Himself needed them, but in order to distract the Jews from their infatuation with pagan sacrifices and, moreover, as Blessed Jerome says, in order to raise the human mind to the awareness of the need for “spiritual sacrifice.” The Jews sacrificed in abundance either whole animals (burnt offerings), then some of the best parts of animals (fat or fat), then, finally, only the blood of animals. But at the same time, in the hearts of the Jews there was no pious mood corresponding to the sacred rite, and for this the prophet denounces them. The prophet himself recognized sacrifice as a necessary expression of religious feeling (Is. 19:21; cf. Is. 29 et seq.; Is. 34 et seq.). You can read more about this from A. Spassky: - the attitude of the prophets to the ritual law of Moses (Read in the general. L. D. Eminence. 1886, March). Isa.1:12. When you come to appear before Me, who demands that you trample My courts? To come to the church, in the presence of God, with gifts and at the same time harbor bad feelings in your heart towards your neighbors (see vv. 16 and 17) - this means in vain to trample the courtyard of God’s church. Isa.1:13. Bear no more vain gifts: smoking is disgusting to Me; New moon and Saturdays, holiday gatherings I can’t stand: lawlessness - and celebration! “Gifts” - in Hebrew. mincha, as opposed to zebach, means grain offerings (Lev. 2) “Vain” - more correctly, deceitful, not expressing the real mood of those bringing. Such a gift, according to a more accurate translation from the Hebrew, is disgusting incense for God. Here mincha is called incense because part of the grain offering along with incense was burned on the altar (Lev. 2:2). "New Moons". The beginning of each month or each new moon was accompanied by the addition to the daily burnt offering of a holiday sacrifice, consisting of two bulls, one ram and seven first-year-old lambs, with a corresponding grain offering. In addition, another sin offering was offered, consisting of one goat; at this time the priests blew the sacred trumpets (Num. 28:11–15; Num. 10:10). In the later times of Jewish history, on the days of the new moon, trade and trade ceased (Amos 8:5) and the devout Israelites sought edification from the prophets. Celebrating the new moon, Israel asked the Lord for a blessing for their work in the beginning month (Keil. Guide to biblical archeology, part 1, § 73. Kiev, 1871). Isa.1:14. My soul hates your new moons and your holidays: they are a burden to Me; It's hard for me to carry them. Hatred is attributed to God in a figurative sense. This means that God is withdrawing from the Jewish holidays, which were not at all an expression of real joy in God. “It’s hard for me to carry them.” By portraying God as tired of these holidays, the prophet is obviously hinting here at the fatigue that every person feels when he has to do things that do not bring anyone the slightest benefit. Isa.1:15. And when you stretch out your hands, I close My eyes from you; and when you multiply your prayers, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood. “Easing hands” or raising hands to heaven served among all peoples as an outward expression of prayerful groanings to God (1 Kings 8:22, 54; Ps. 140:2). "Full of blood". Here in Hebrew the word blood is plural, indicating an abundance of blood. The prophet presents the Jews who come to pray in the church as criminals, murderers who have not yet had time to wash their hands after the murder they committed. Isa.1:16. Wash yourself, make yourself clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; stop doing evil; Isa.1:17. learn to do good, seek truth, save the oppressed, defend the orphan, stand up for the widow. The Prophet invites these people, polluted by crimes, to wash themselves clean (“wash, be clean”!), that is, through repentance, to cleanse their souls, of course, with the help of the Almighty (Ps. 50:9), and no longer do evil. This is the negative side of repentance. But, in addition, they must also positively declare the spiritual renewal that has taken place in them: they must begin good deeds - to protect all the oppressed, especially orphans and widows who are defenseless. Isa.1:18. Then come and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; if they are red as crimson, they will be as white as wool. Isa.1:19. If you want and obey, you will eat the blessings of the earth; Isa.1:20. But if you deny and persist, the sword will devour you: for the mouth of the Lord speaks. Only with such active and sincere repentance can the Lord allow Jewish sinners to come to Him and sort out their case with them. Their conscience will, of course, torment them terribly; they will reach despair, remembering the crimes they have committed, and God therefore calms them with the hope of the opportunity to receive forgiveness from any, even the most serious, sin. “Baghryan Itza” in Hebrew. schantm from the word schani. This was the name given by the Jews to a thick red paint obtained from the testicles of a mollusk that was found in abundance along the shores of Phenicia and in the Mediterranean Sea in general. Only the Phoenicians knew the secret of preparing this paint. "Purple" in Heb. tofe also means red paint. Both of these synonymous expressions serve as symbols of blood, with which, as stated above, the hands of the Jews were stained, and together indicate their strong sinfulness, which cannot be healed in the same way that purple or crimson dye cannot be washed off from fabric. “Snow and wave” (sheep’s wool, cleaned, completely white) are symbols of purity, which among all peoples was symbolically indicated by the white color of clothes (cf. Ps. 51:9; Dan. 7). “You will eat... - the sword will devour.” There is an obvious play on words here: either the Jews will eat the fruits of the earth or they themselves will be devoured by the sword, which, as they say, eats into the body of the one on whom it falls (Deut. 32:42). Isa.1:21. How the faithful capital, full of justice, became a harlot! The truth lived in her, and now - the murderers. Isa.1:22. Your silver has become dross, your wine is spoiled by water; Isa.1:23. your princes are lawbreakers and accomplices of thieves; they all love gifts and chase bribes; the orphans do not protect, and the widow’s cause does not reach them. Having again briefly mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet predicts the judgment of the Lord, in which the chosen people will be cleansed of their sinfulness and Jerusalem will again become a city of righteousness. Those who remain stubborn in their sins will perish like dry branches in fire from the wrath of God. Jerusalem is called “harlot”, as having betrayed the Lord, who is depicted by the prophets as the spouse of the Old Testament church or chosen people (Ezek. 16:15; Hos. 1:2). The inhabitants of Jerusalem violated allegiance to the Almighty and His laws, do not fulfill the demands of Divine truth and even divide their affection between the true God and other gods (Akhaz and other Jews who served alien gods). “Silver” is a symbolic designation for the aristocratic, ruling classes of Jewish society. This “silver” lost all its nobility and began to contain only waste (dross). “Wine” - (in Hebrew sobe the best, strong wine) or, what is also the same, the upper class of society has lost its prowess, just as good wine spoils when water is poured into it. “Princes” are judges whom the prophet accuses of bribery and cruelty towards unfortunate people. Isa.1:24. Therefore says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Oh, I will satisfy Myself over My adversaries and take vengeance on My enemies! Here the Lord Himself begins to speak. “The Mighty One of Israel” - this is what the patriarch Jacob called God, wanting to indicate that God would be the protector of his entire tribe (Gen. 49:24). Now this Defender of Israel will rise up against the children of Israel who have become the enemies of God. “I will satisfy” Myself is an anthropomorphic expression, meaning the severity and immutability of God’s judgment awaiting the Jews who disobey God. Isa.1:25. And I will turn My hand upon you and, like lye, I will cleanse the impurities from you, and I will separate from you all that is leaden; The people of Israel are compared to silver, which is mixed with a base metal - lead. To separate this latter, silver must be burned in a fire and then placed in caustic alkali - a special ash obtained from one plant. The Lord, in the same way, through various severe punishments (captivity, etc.) will separate from Israeli society all the elements that spoil its purity. Isa.1:26. and again I will appoint for you judges, as before, and counselors, as at the beginning; then they will say about you: “city of righteousness, faithful capital.” "Judges as before". Since we are talking about Jerusalem here, the prophet calls the best rulers from the dynasty of David and their ministers judges in the former generation (cf. Jer. 33:16 et seq.). “Faithful capital,” that is, the real capital city of a theocratic state, where the law of the true king, the Lord, is strictly observed. Jerusalem, of course, should become such a capital in the last times of the world: this is the new Jerusalem, which St. John the Theologian saw in Revelation (Rev. 21:2). Isa.1:27. Zion will be saved by justice, and her converted sons by righteousness; “Zion” or the Jerusalem of the future will be saved, on the one hand, through the revelation of Divine Justice (the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate and Representative, was the work of Divine Justice (Rom. 3:25), on the other hand, by the truth or justification that God will offer to humanity, as soon as it converts or believes in Christ and His saving merits (cf. Is. 59:20-21). Isa.1:28. But to all apostates and sinners there will be destruction, and those who have forsaken the Lord will be destroyed. Isa.1:29. They will be ashamed for the oak groves that you so desire, and they will be put to shame for the gardens that you have chosen for yourself; Isa.1:30. For you will be like an oak whose leaf has fallen, and like a garden where there is no water. Isa.1:31. And the mighty will be rags, and his work will be a spark; and they will burn together, and no one will put it out. The Prophet in brief words depicts the fate that awaits all stubborn sinners, but puts his thoughts on this subject in a form most understandable to the people of his time. “Oak trees” - in Hebrew. elim - oaks or generally tall and shady trees, which to this day enjoy special, superstitious respect in the east. “Gardens” - more precisely, groves in which the Jews served idols (2 Kings 16:4). The Jews, who worship oaks, will themselves become like oak trees, but withered, or like gardens deprived of all irrigation. A strong man, a Jew, even if he is as strong as an oak (cf. Am. 2:9), will become dry, flabby tow, and his work or product; i.e. idols are a spark. The last expression indicates that idolatry will destroy the Jews, just as one spark falling into dry tow causes a fire. Some critics reject the authenticity of several verses of the first chapter, others - its unity, saying that it is a composition of prophecies pronounced at different times by the prophet Isaiah. But the entire speech of the prophet contained in this chapter does not differ at all from other speeches he delivered. The train of thought in the speeches of Isaiah, like that of other prophets, is usually as follows: the prophet first accuses the people of deviating from the law of God, then threatens them with punishment, calls them to repentance, announces the coming of the day of judgment and promises the righteous messianic benefits. All this is found in the same sequence in the first speech of the prophet Isaiah. Its peculiarity lies only in the division of thoughts into stanzas, which results in some surprises in the transition from one thought to another. This speech is a poem, perfect in both form and content. The law of symmetry is also observed in it, since the stanzas come with a known number of verses: in the first stanza (2–4 v.), depicting the crime of the people, there are 2+2+3 verses; in the second stanza (or antistrophe), dedicated to the picture of punishment, there are also 2+2+3 verses (5–8 art.). A little further, the next stanza (verses 11–14) depicts the Lord, tired of the abundant offerings of the Jews. The antistrophe corresponding to this stanza is Art. 15–17. changes the reason for this discontent of the Almighty: He wants justice from the Jews first of all. Here the same number of verses, the same grouping are still observed, although the movement of the antistrophe is faster and the verses become shorter. The last two stanzas are 21–23 art. and 24–27 art. contain two opposing thoughts: about defilement and about cleansing. As for the form, in these stanzas six words are repeated symmetrically and one of them is dross (in Heb. sigga), which is quite rare in the Bible, is placed in both stanzas in verse 3. The stanzas are intermediate or mediating, namely 9–10 and 18–20 stanzas. are also constructed symmetrically: the thought is expressed by contrasts or alternatives, the name of the Lord is repeated at the beginning and end of the stanzas, the particle if (im) is repeated twice in each part. Regarding Art. 28–31, then they belong to the next poem. It is clear from all this that in the first chapter we have before us an entire work by the same author. These are the stanzas contained in this speech-poem. Art. 2–4 – 2, 2, 3 verses (or more correctly, hemistiches) Art. 9–10 – 2, 2 verses (transitional stanza) Art. 11–14 – 3, 2, 2 verses Art. 15–17 – 3, 2, 2 verses Art. 18–20 – 2, 2 verses (transition stanza) Art. 21–23 – 2, 2, 2 verses Art. 24–27 – 2, 2, 2 verses On the eve of Epiphany, Articles 16–21 are read. 1st chapter Isaiah, which contains God’s promise to cleanse, in case of repentance of the Jewish people, all their sins. In this promise, the Holy Church sees a foreshadowing of the most complete cleansing of sins, which is given to all people who receive Holy Baptism. The Feast of Epiphany or Epiphany reminds us of the event through which Christian baptism received its power. You might be interested in: