The Response That God Requires (Isaiah 1:16-20).
What God requires of them is a complete change of heart and a renewing of their lives.
Analysis.
a “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes” (Isaiah 1:16 a).
b “Cease to do evil, learn to do well, Seek justice, restrain the oppressor, Obtain justice for the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17)
c “Come now and let us reason together,” Says Yahweh, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18 a).
c “Though they are red like crimson, they will be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18 b).
b “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19)
a “But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it” (Isaiah 1:20).
Here again we have a chiasmus. The call to put away evil in Isaiah 1:16-17 contrasts with the refusing and rebelling in Isaiah 1:20. Learning to do well parallels being willing and obedient in Isaiah 1:19, and in Isaiah 1:18 we have two parallel descriptions of cleansing.
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean,
Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes,
Cease to do evil, learn to do well,
Seek justice, restrain the oppressor,
Obtain justice for the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
This is not urging them to take part in the ritual washings and cleansings of the cult ritual but is a contrast to them. They are not in themselves to be seen as sufficient. The actual carrying out of the literal rituals is not what is being required here. They would be lumped with the sacrifices, incense and feasts as fruitless ritual. It is the moral application that is required. In order to be truly clean the people must become morally clean. Using later terms they must repent and believe, receiving God's mercy and forgiveness. They must wash themselves by their repentance towards God and cleanse themselves by claiming His mercy. (Washing was always preparatory, cleansing what necessarily followed) This will then result in positive living, by putting away their evil behaviour totally so that God could see it no more, by ceasing to do what was wrong, by learning to do well and seeking for the application of true justice, by restraining (or reproving) the oppressor and acting in defence of orphans and widows.
Note that it is not enough just to behave well personally, that behaviour must overflow into acting against oppressors and reaching the needy in society, showing concern for the poor and helpless. It must be full-orbed righteousness.
This is not just an emphasis on good works, it is a stress on covenant righteousness, on the righteousness that should result from their compact with God. Their response is to be response to the covenant. Morality without religion was unknown in Israel. The point is that they have been concentrating on the ritual ordinances of the covenant (although somewhat perfunctorily) while ignoring its essential moral demands, they have not revealed righteousness in response to the Great Deliverer. Thus they have been missing its essence, God's gracious deliverance of them and His righteous requirements in the light of it, which were to result in a transformed people. The ten commands and their later exposition lay at the heart of the covenant.
‘Wash -- cleanse.' This is a process. They are not describing the same thing. Washing with water is never said to cleanse in the Old Testament ritual, it was preparatory to cleansing. It washed off the filth of the flesh (including the body odours) prior to an approach towards God, or to waiting in the presence of God. The only water that ‘cleansed' was that mixed with the ashes of the heifer, ‘the water for purification' (Numbers 19:17; Numbers 19:20-21; Numbers 31:23 compare Isaiah 8:7). Constantly the one who has washed in ordinary water is regularly informed that he will not ‘be clean until the evening' (Leviticus 15:2-24). It is the period of waiting before God in humble dependence subsequent to washing that cleanses. Thus steady progress in becoming clean before God is in mind here, although in this case not by ritual but by repentance, response and behaviour.
“Come now and let us reason together,”
Says Yahweh,
“Though your sins be as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be as wool.”
The contrast is between before and after. The scarlet and the red have especially in mind the ‘bloodiness' of Isaiah 1:15. By repenting and becoming renewed in accordance with the covenant their bloodstained hands and clothing will become transformed so that they are as white as snow, as white as wool. They will be forgiven and transformed from being those who approve of, and gain by, violence, by the way of harshness and self-gain, to being those who follow God's non-violent ways, the way of compassion, and this will be true both without and within. Thus will they become acceptable to God and clean before Him (Isaiah 1:16).
‘Come let us reason together.' This is probably intended to have a forensic sense, like pleading in a court of law. The Great Judge reminds them that they are in court before Him and pleads with His people that he might restore them to His mercy.
“If you are willing and obedient,
You will eat the good of the land,
But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword.
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
The choice is laid before them. They must either be willing to respond to His covenant and become obedient to His instruction, in which case their inheritance will be theirs, and ‘they will eat the good of the land', or they can continue refusing to respond to the covenant, and continue their rebellion, in which case they will be devoured by the sword, that is, the sword will ‘eat them' instead of them eating the good of the land.
So the stark choice is that they can choose to eat or be eaten. They can either have blessing in the land by loving God and walking in His ways (Deuteronomy 30:15-16), in fulfilment of the covenant, or they can receive judgment by the sword, and be devoured by it.
‘For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.' Isaiah wants them to be in no doubt that this is the solemn word of Yahweh. He has said it and they can be sure that He will do it, either the one way or the other (compare Isaiah 1:2).
For the whole passage from Isaiah 1:2-18 note the progression. In Isaiah 1:2 the heavens and earth were called on as witness to what Yahweh has declared and determined on His people, in Isaiah 1:10 the rulers and the people of the wicked city were themselves called on to consider their ways, and in Isaiah 1:18 all who will hear are called on to be willing to respond God's appeal. Again, in Isaiah 1:4-9 their state is revealed, in Isaiah 1:11-15 they are assured that no vain ritual can cleanse them because of the state of their hearts, and in Isaiah 1:16-20 they are called on to receive the new cleansing and new hearts that they need by response to Yahweh and His covenant.
In some ways this call to repent comes to us also, day by day. We need constantly to consider our ways, not morbidly but sensibly; to wash and cleanse ourselves by repentance and reception of forgiveness; to ask ourselves whether our worship is becoming stereotyped and formal, or whether our worship is still heartfelt and true. Thus will we retain a genuine relationship with God and avoid His chastisement.