Isaiah 59 reminds us that although we petition Yahuah for help in these disgusting times, we ourselves, the petitioners, are equally guilty of transgressions of the instructions of Yahuah. He highlights the lies in our courts, and the blood on our own hands. That said, there is refreshing hope for those who are His and a promise that His Words will always be in our mouths.
That is a fine blessing.
Podcast: Isaiah 59
Evil and Oppression
Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
Isa 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Isa 59:3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
Isa 59:4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
Isa 59:5 They hatch adders’ eggs; they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
Isaiah 59:5-6. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs — They contrive and execute wicked purposes and practices, whereby sure and sudden destruction is brought upon themselves and others. Of the cockatrice, or basilisk, as it should rather be rendered, see on Isaiah 14:29. One kind is put for any venomous creature. The speech is proverbial, signifying, by these eggs, mischievous designs, and by hatching them their putting them in practice. And weave the spider’s web — Another proverbial speech, whereby is signified, both how by their plots they weaved nets, laid snares industriously with great pains and artifice, to entrap or entangle others; and also how their designs would come to nothing, as the spider’s web is soon swept away. He that eateth of their eggs — That converses and joins with them in their mischievous designs, and partakes of the fruits thereof; dieth — Is seduced into destructive errors and vices, or involved in ruin. And that which is crushed — In order that it may be eaten; breaketh out into a viper — A poisonous viper proceeds from it. The more any one partakes of their counsels, the more he is infected, such a deadly poison lies imbodied in them. Their webs shall not become garments — Though they are finely wrought, yet they are too thin and weak to be of any use; that is, their contrivances and deep designs shall not advantage them. Neither shall they cover themselves, &c. — Their works shall neither cover nor defend the actors. Their works are works of iniquity — Of injustice, whereby they grieve, vex, and injure their brethren. And the act of violence is in their hands — They exercise themselves in all acts of violence and oppression.
Isa 59:6 Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Isa 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.
Isa 59:8 The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
Isa 59:9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
Isa 59:10 We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
Isa 59:11 We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
Isa 59:12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
Isa 59:13 transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
Judgment and Redemption
Isa 59:14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
Isa 59:15 Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
Isa 59:16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
Isa 59:17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
Isa 59:18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.
Isa 59:19 So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.
Isa 59:20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
Isa 59:21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.”