Sunday, February 21, 2021

Isaiah 56 - Redemption for Foreigners and Eunuchs

In this chapter, God speaks to those called "His people" and He speaks to those who are not "His people." In this first part we see salvation decreed for those who were His covenant people and those who were not His people; in the second part we see a rebuke of those who remain not His people.

Isaiah 56:1-2 (HCSB) This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed. Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Notice the first thing YHWH speaks: preserve justice and do what is right. National Israel had practiced long and hard to disobey God, as we have seen previously in this study. The salvation decreed for national Israel here is not eternal life, but salvation from slavery in Babylon - as they had been redeemed from slavery to Egypt. The righteousness of God would be displayed as Cyrus funded the return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of that city and its temple. Those Jews who had kept the Sabbath and refrained from evil would be rewarded. The weekly Sabbath was highlighted here because it was signaled by God as THE sign His covenant with the Hebrew nation: Exodus 31:12-14 (HCSB) The LORD said to Moses: “Tell the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am Yahweh who sets you apart. Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people."

We had previously read what Amos had said about Israel profaning the Sabbath. Nehemiah also made note of it - read Nehemiah 13:15-18. Not many kept the Sabbath - most of them looked forward to doing evil in the marketplace on the first day of the week, if they were kept from doing so on the Sabbath (as we read in Amos 8). The things God identified as special to Him, His covenant people repeatedly trampled. As we read in the gospel accounts, they aggressively promoted the minors and missed the point repeatedly. May it not be so with us!

Isaiah 56:3-8 (HCSB) No foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD should say, “The LORD will exclude me from His people”; and the eunuch should not say, “Look, I am a dried-up tree.” For the LORD says this: “For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD minister to Him, love the name of Yahweh and become His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to My covenant—I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”

Foreigners and eunuchs were generally excluded from worship; but those who joined with ethnic Israel and kept the covenant were included. YHWH reminds Israel of this - these who were not His people became His people when they were circumcised and agreed to keep the Mosaic Covenant. These foreigners were entitled to all the benefits and privileges of that covenant - with security better than the Jews had, IF they kept the covenant. This is how we know this passage is "in the flesh" and refers to the Mosaic Covenant and is not the fulfillment picture of the New Covenant: all the blessings of this covenant are dependent upon the human participants keeping it, holding FIRMLY to it (twice YHWH uses that term here). We see God gathering the exiled Jews and those who were not His people - teaching the Jews that YHW was serious about the Abrahamic promise of gathering countless people from every nation as His children. This beautiful word picture no doubt filled the nation of Israel with joy and awe; but we know from Scripture they continued to see things through eyes of flesh and thought their temporal nation was the end-game YHWH had in mind, never really understanding that Gentiles would be JOINT heirs and not accepted foreigners. Since no one will be justified in the sight of God by keeping any law (Romans 3:20), the exhortations for keeping the law of the Mosaic Covenant cannot be that of finding eternal peace with God. The New Covenant is not dependent on anything man does - the blessings and inheritance is totally dependent on the work of Christ Jesus; the only faithful Son of Israel.

Isaiah 56:9-12 (HCSB) All you animals of the field and forest, come and eat! Israel’s watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep. These dogs have fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own gain. “Come, let me get some wine, lets guzzle some beer; and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

This last part of the chapter is a rebuke to the faithless leaders of national Israel, echoing terms we read in the gospels - blind guides, dogs, those seeking their own way, whose god is their bellies. Watchmen were supposed to keep a watch, warning the city of danger. Ezekiel, in chapter 34, devotes much effort at describing these responsibilities and Israel's failure to hold firmly and do them. People who are concerned and consumed with self will either be hopeless OR self-confident. These are described as blindly self-confident, with fierce appetites, seeking only their own gain - each one. These present the mindset Paul was warning against in 1 Cor 15:29-34, as some people were convinced the resurrection had already taken place and there was no longer any reason to be subject to the rule of God. "If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals. Come to your senses and stop sinning, for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:32b-34).

Brothers and sisters - let us be careful not to grow lax and drift into thinking we are doing good as we wander a crooked path of our desires. While we who are in Christ are kept by His Spirit and not our own work, none of us indwelt by His Spirit should be marked by a life of careless or deliberate sin. May God have mercy on us to keep us so we walk as children of the light! If you have not a desire to glorify Christ Jesus in your body, cry out for mercy and grace to do so. Do not be deceived, nothing done in the dark will remain hidden.

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