Isaiah 1:11, commentary and pictures

God declares He is surfeited with heaped-up animal offerings and takes no pleasure in their blood, counting the crowded feasts, assemblies, prayers and trampling of His courts as vain, wearisome and unheard while hands remain full of blood. It was spoken to Judah and Jerusalem when the once-favored people were laden with iniquity and gone backward, yet still kept the forms of worship and claimed to lean upon the Lord, a rebuke that also fits the leaders and traffickers in sacred things in Christ's day. No multitude of such sacrifices can pay for sin or win favor while the heart resists and persists in evil, for outward liberality and heartless ritual cannot cover transgression of His law or injustice that builds up with blood. Sacrifice was appointed to keep the coming Redeemer in mind as the symbol of His great atonement, and apart from a changed and just life it does not honor Him. What He requires instead is a broken and contrite heart, immediate surrender and faith that takes the already shed blood of Jesus to cleanse to the utmost, shown in humbly dealing justly, showing mercy, relieving the oppressed, defending the fatherless and widow, and obeying His commandments.

Historical Setting Addressed

The rebuke was spoken against apostasy in Judah after Ahaz came to the throne. At that time princes proved untrue, false prophets led astray, priests taught for hire, and many were persuaded into the worship of heathen deities. Even so the leaders still kept up the forms of divine worship while claiming to be numbered among the people of God, to lean upon the Lord, and to have the Lord among them.

It is addressed to Judah and Jerusalem, to Israel as the once favored people called to hold universal dominion with the scepter given to the seed of David. That people had become laden with iniquity, rebellious, not knowing or considering God, and gone backward, and are presented as a people to be utterly destroyed for their iniquities. Through continued transgression her rulers had become as children, and Isaiah called attention to her weakness among the nations of earth as the result of wickedness in high places.

Its hearers are called rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah. What was spoken of Israel also describes the leaders and teachers of the Jewish nation in Christ's day. This is seen in the men Christ drove out of the temple courts, who profited from the sacrifices and treated the sacred service as ordinary trade.

Empty Worship Rejected

The question is asked to what purpose is the multitude of sacrifices, for the Lord declares He is full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts and delights not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. The worship offered is vain and purposeless, and He refuses the coming to appear before Him to tread His courts. He hates the new moons and appointed feasts as a trouble He is weary to bear, and He hides His eyes and refuses to hear the many prayers and assemblies while hands are full of blood. This rejection was spoken to a hypocritical people called rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, to Judah and Jerusalem in apostasy, and it stands also against the leaders and teachers of the Jewish nation in Christ's day, including the men driven from the temple courts.

The offerings are rejected because the religious life is not sincere, with hearts resisting the Spirit, rebelling against Him, and persisting and continuing in evil. The people are corrupt and unrepentant, their service selfish and heartless, claiming to be righteous while transgressing the holy law. Outward sanctity is made to cover love of sin, while true devotion would reject sin, reflect His character, and put His glory first. Without obedience the many offerings and sacred services become empty outward acts, and lives stained with blood prove the corruption.

Abundant animal sacrifices have no value as heartless ritual and cannot win God's favor, conciliate Him, or please Him while people continue in evil. They cannot take the place of humble repentance and obedience, and keeping the forms of worship while living wickedly does not make worship acceptable. Sacrifice offered as a substitute for repentance is rejected, for He takes no delight in blood apart from clean conduct, doing good, seeking justice, relieving the oppressed, and defending the fatherless and widow. The warning falls especially where sacred service is treated as ordinary trade and a means of gain.

No multitude of sacrifices can take away sin as payment, not the giving of the firstborn for the sin of the soul, not shutting up in a monastic cell to scourge the body, and not a second crucifixion of Christ. Offerings without genuine repentance were worth less to God than a broken heart and contrite spirit. Sacrificial blood could not wash away the guilt of those rejecting God's present mercies and warnings.

Sacrifice was meant to point to the coming Redeemer and keep Christ's sacrifice in mind, flowing for centuries as symbols of the Son of God's great atonement. It was meant to accompany a changed life and just conduct, and by itself it does not honor God or serve as a means of gain. Without faith, humility, and sorrow for sin the ceremonies are an abomination, for formal religion had lost that meaning.

Religious offerings, prayers, and gifts are unacceptable when offered by people whose hands are stained with blood and whose conduct sustains injustice and builds up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Outward liberality cannot cover guilt, so gifts from liquor dealers cannot make their blood-stained wealth acceptable at God's altar. The rejection of sacrifice is therefore a rejection of using worship to cover wrongdoing.

Worship God Requires

Instead of the mere performance of rites, the verse requires genuine repentance, humility, faith, and sorrow for sin rather than heartless service offered as a substitute for humble obedience. Offerings made without such a heart are an abomination and have no value to win favor, for sacrifices performed while persisting and continuing in evil cannot conciliate God. Without true sorrow for sin and obedience, abundant animal sacrifices are worth less to Him than a broken heart and contrite spirit, and He takes no delight in their blood apart from clean conduct. The sacrifices were meant through the centuries to keep in mind the great atonement of the Son of God and His sacrifice, but formal religion had lost that meaning.

What He requires is immediate surrender to Him today, with a broken and contrite heart that loathes sin because sin crucified Christ. The sinner is to look to Calvary and by faith take the already shed blood of Jesus to wash and cleanse to the utmost, since no multitude of sacrifices, no giving of the firstborn for the sin of the soul, no shutting up in a monastic cell to scourge the body, and no second crucifixion of Christ can take away sin as payment. Vain and purposeless worship whose religious life is not sincere, whose heart resists the Spirit, and which refuses obedience to His commandments and His law is rejected, whether in those called rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah or in leaders and teachers who keep up outward assemblies, prayers, new moons, sabbaths, and feasts while their hands are full of blood. Burnt offerings and animal blood do not please Him while people persist in evil and neglect the oppressed, for religious observances cannot replace doing what is right, doing good, seeking justice, relieving the oppressed, and defending the fatherless and widow. True devotion walks humbly with Him, deals justly and shows mercy, rejects sin and reflects His character, and puts His glory first rather than covering love of sin with outward sanctity.

Ritual offerings cannot substitute for turning from sin and receiving His grace, so sacrifices offered by the wicked are unacceptable. He does not turn from sinners because He is unwilling to forgive, but their refusal to use His provision of grace leaves Him unable to deliver them from sin.