By Carlos Enrique Espinosa
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for June 5–11, 2004, on Isaiah 55 and 58
Concentrating on Isaiah 55 and 58, this week’s lesson jumps from the time of captivity in Babylon to the time after the return of the remnant from the land of exile. According to scholars, there is a gap of about twenty years between the end of chapter 55 and the begining of chapter 56. The second section of Isaiah (40–55) starts with the statement that Jerusalem’s "hard service had been completed, that her sin had been paid for, that she had received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins" (Isa. 40:2 NIV). The time to return from exile had come. This section of Isaiah is full of promise and assurance: "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back" (Isa. 54: 7). At the end of this second section, the prophet gives God’s people assurance about their peaceful departure from Babylon: "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace" (Isa. 55:12), for "you will not leave in haste or go in flight. The Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isa. 52:12). Chapter 55 contains an invitation to the Israelites who still lived in Babylon to listen to the Lord (55:2), to make an "everlasting covenant" with him (55:3), and to "buy without money" the blessings he had for his people in their own land by "the waters" (55:1). These words form a metaphor for God’s "free pardon," mercy, and grace (Isa. 55:7). At the outset, chapter 55 presents God’s grace. Those who don’t have money can still obtain water freely and food without paying for it. Second, there is a call to seek the Lord while there is time (55:6). Then comes an appeal to forsake evil thoughts and ways (55:7). According to the Bible and Ellen White, God’s grace is always first. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). When received, God’s forgiveness transforms hearts. His grace comes first, then there is victory against evil in a life full of love and gratitude.1 In the context of the offering of God’s mercy and free forgiveness, Isaiah says "his ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts our thoughts" (Isa. 55:7–8). God’s grace is totally different from what we experience in this world. We usually get what we deserve, but through God’s grace we receive gifts we do not deserve.
God also invites us to "listen to him" and "give ear" (Isa. 55:2–3; compare 1:1). Human communication has two dimensions: speaking and listening. Usually, we think speaking is more important than listening because it is the active side of communication. In contrast, listening is considered passive. However, in recent times a new understanding has emerged. If we pay careful attention to the phenomenon of communication, we realize that the key element is not speaking, but listening. Effective speaking happens when effective listening follows. Listening validates speaking. Thus, listening leads the whole process of communication.2 "Give ear and come to me…that your soul may live," says the Lord (Isa. 55:3). Listening is not a passive attitude; it is active. It is something we do. Life depends on it! Contemporary specialists in human communication point out that a "critical gap" exists between saying (or speaking) and listening. Listeners fill that gap with personal judgments so that "they understand what they understand" (sometimes what they want to understand), not necessarily what the speaker actually says. This causes breakdowns in communication. Says biologist Humberto Maturana: "The phenomenon of communication between human beings does not depend on what is transmitted but in what happens to the person who receives what is transmitted."3 What happened to God’s people when Yahweh spoke to them? It seems that in many ways they didn’t understand his mind, so they didn’t live in accordance with true religion. What happens to us today, are we any better? As mentioned above, listening to God is a matter of life. Listening to God correctly speaks to our mission as "witnesses to the peoples, leaders and commanders of the peoples" (Isa. 55:4). The Lord preserved a remnant of Judah for two reasons. First, because of his "faithful love promised to David" (Isa. 55:3). Thus, the survival of a remnant was the result of God’s faithfulness, not the consequence of the people’s faithfulness. This statement may shock Seventh-day Adventists because we are "culturally conditioned to think in terms of remnants" and we have a tendency to feel superior rather than thankful.4 Second, God preserved a remnant that returned to Jerusalem so it could accomplish a mission as "witnesses to the peoples." This condition should have motivated their hearts to evangelize, but the sad fact is that those who returned did not listen to God in a manner that helped them understand the true meaning of religion.5 They developed a spirit of arrogance and sectarianism; instead of loving other people, they despised them.
This remnant showed lack of love not only toward "outsiders," but also toward others in the community of saints: "Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists," was the charge of the prophet (Isa. 58:4). Religion had become a matter of warfare and contest! What an unfortunate mode of witnessing! What a distorted way of listening to the Law of God! God’s criticism of the remnant in Isaiah 58 is daylight clear: Theirs was not true religion. They were proud of their pretense of piety and humility (58:3a). They seemed "eager for God" (58:2), but still did "as they please[d]" (58:3). They were faithful to devotional practices —"day after day they seek me out" says the Lord (58:2)—but they didn’t love their neighbors, so their religion was void of meaning. They kept the Day of Atonement and the Sabbath, but they didn’t live in harmony with the spirit of those days. They were not merciful, nor did they reflect God’s character. Isaiah’s charge against the remnant of his day was that "they did as they pleased" in their fasting on the Day of Atonement (Isa. 58:3). They did not follow God, instead "bowing [their] head[s] like a reed and lying on sackcloth and ashes" (58:5), while quarreling over theology, engaging in strife, oppressing the weak, acting with injustice, exploiting their workers, turning away from their brethren, and failing to address the needs of the hungry, naked, and poor (Isa. 58:3–7). In short, they were strict about externals, but cared nothing about righteousness in society and kindness. Furthermore, the remnant of Isaiah’s day did "as they pleased in God’s holy day," thus breaking the ceremonial rest of the Day of Atonement (58:13). Not only did they disregard God’s instructions—for both ceremonial and weekly Sabbaths—they also burdened others with unnecessary human rules.
If we Seventh-day Adventists think of ourselves as the remnant people who live in the antitypical Day of Atonement, perhaps we should give ear to Isaiah’s prophetic critique and check our own spiritual condition. God’s love must be our source of power, and loving all human beings should be our goal. Only then will "our light will break forth like the dawn and our healing will quickly appear, then our righteousness will go before us and the glory of God will be our rear guard" (Isa. 58:8).
1. I owe credit to William Johnsson for this idea. See The Fragmenting of Adventism (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press, 1995), chap. 10.
2. Rafael Echeverria, About Listening: The Hidden Side of Language (San Francisco, Calif.: The Newfield Group, 1990).
3. Quoted in Ibid., 4. See also, Humberto Maturana, Emociones y lenguaje en educación y politica (Santiago, Chile: Hachette, 1992); and Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, El arbol del conocimiento (Santiago, Chile: Editorial Universitaria, 1990).
4. David A. Pendleton, "Defeat of the Assyrians," Sabbath School Commentary, May 8–14, 2004, on Isaiah 36–39, Spectrum online.
5. Isaiah’s third section (chaps. 56–66) is addressed to the remnant that had already returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon.
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