LESSON 8.—NOVEMBER 20.—ISAIAH'S MESSAGE TO JUDAH.
(1) “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, king of Judah. (2) “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. (3) The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. (4) Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward. (5) Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. (6) From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil. (7) Your country is desolate: your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. (8) And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. (9) Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (16) “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; (17) learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. (18) “Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (19) If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (20) but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.” Golden Text.—“Cease to do evil; learn to do well.” Verses 16, 17. (1) What was the subject of Isaiah’s vision? In connection with what kings was his prophetic career? Verse 1. (2) What was the extent of his appeal for a hearing? Of what did the Lord complain? Verse 2. Note 1. (3) How did His people compare with the ox and the ass in knowledge? Verse 3. Note 2. (4) How did the Lord then characterize the people and their condition? Verse 4. (5) What pathetic question did he ask? To what extent had their sin afflicted them? Verse 5. Note 3. (6) How is this condition emphasized? Verse 6. Note 4. (7) What was said of their country? Verse 7. Note 5. (8) To what was the spiritual home of the people compared? Verse 8. Note 6. (9) For whose sake was the nation spared at all? Verse 9. Note 7. (10) Yet in this apparently hopeless condition, what merciful council is given? Verse 16. (11) In ceasing to do evil, what important lesson were they to learn? Verse 17. Note 8. (12) What gracious invitation was given to the back-slidden people? And what merciful promise was added? Verse 18. Note 9. (13) What further reasonable proposition was made? Verse 19. Note 10. (14) What would be the reasonable result of refusing to obey God? What was the positive assurance that this would be true? Verse 20. Note 11. 1. “The Lord hath spoken.”—Surely it is time to give heed when the Lord speaks. Especially when He has something of such general importance that He desires the heavens and the earth to give attention, no one can afford to be listless. When a rebellion on the part of the employees of a great corporation is announced, there is always a widespread interest manifested; much more, then, a rebellion against the government of God should be noted and deplored. 2. So far had the children whom He had so carefully nurtured departed from His law, so far had they lost sight of the Hand upon which they were dependent for all things, that they didn’t even know as much as the ox or the ass. They had fallen below even the animal instinct that recognized the source of daily food. 3. “Why will ye still be stricken?”—These rebellious children had gone so far astray, and were so determined on a course of self-destruction, that nothing short of chastisement would avail anything. And already they had been chastised till even that remedy had been exhausted, and the merciful Father sends a Spirit-filled prophet to further plead with them. 4. Israel had been scourged, as a result of their apostasy, till there was no unafflicted spot on them for any further stripes. 5. Their enemies had robbed and pillaged the land until desolation was evident everywhere. 6. A “booth,” a “lodge,” a “besieged city,” are expressions indicating the merest apology for dwelling-places, and a want to be compared only with a condition so utterly isolated as to be shut off from all source of supply. 7. Excepting a remnant.—That remnant accounts for Israel’s preservation in her terribly-backslidden condition. It was through them that God was carrying out His promise to Abraham and to David. “Ye are the salt of the earth,” says Christ to His disciples; and it is because of the presence of His people that the sin-cursed earth was not destroyed long ago. True, they are “a little flock,” but the Spirit of God is in them to preserve. 8. The leading detail of Israel’s defalcation seems to have been selfishness. In counseling the people to “learn to do well,” the Lord has shown us emphatically what is pleasing to Him—that we “seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” We have it repeated to King Jehoiakim by Jeremiah (ch. 22:1-3, 13-16), and again in James 1:27. 9. Men have sometimes advocated a god of Reason, and have set up the most unreasonable theories in support of it; for instance, when the infidels of France, during the great revolution of 1798, paraded a lewd woman through the streets of Paris and proclaimed her the Goddess of Reason. But the true God gives us something that is reasonable—that an all-wise and merciful God should forgive sin on reasonable conditions. 10. It is also reasonable that One who has created all things, and upholds all things, who “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things,” should demand obedience on the part of the recipients of all His favors. 11. If those to whom He has given life and sustenance persist in misusing these blessings, it is but reasonable that He should withdraw them. Life is not a blessing to one who will not use it in the “reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1) of Him who gives it, and who alone can continue it. This warning to Israel was also for all people, to the end of time. The word of the Lord never fails. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23.