Isaiah · chapter 56 of 66
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Isaiah 56 calls the people to keep justice and do righteousness and to keep the Sabbath, and promises that the foreigner and the eunuch who join themselves to the Lord will not be excluded: they will have a name and a place in his house, which will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The chapter ends with a harsh rebuke of blind watchmen and shepherds without understanding who seek only their own gain.
Isaiah 56 begins the third part of the book (chapters 56-66), which addresses a community that has returned from exile and must live faithfully in the land. After the chapters of comfort, the prophet asks what a redeemed people should look like and who has the right to belong to it.
The Lord commands them to keep justice and do righteousness, for his salvation is about to come and his righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and keeps the Sabbath without profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Verses 3 through 5 anticipate an objection: let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say that the Lord will separate him from his people, nor the eunuch say that he is a dry tree. To the eunuchs who keep his Sabbaths, choose what pleases him and hold fast his covenant, the Lord will give in his house and within his walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
Verses 6 and 7 address the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love his name and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and hold fast his covenant. The Lord will bring them to his holy mountain and make them joyful in his house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on his altar, for his house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Verse 8 says that the Lord, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, will gather yet others besides those already gathered.
The second half changes tone. In verses 9 through 12 the Lord summons the beasts of the field and the forest to come and devour, because his watchmen are blind, all of them without knowledge; they are silent dogs that cannot bark, dreamers lying down, lovers of slumber. They are greedy dogs that never have enough, and shepherds without understanding. Each turns to his own way, each to his own gain. Come, they say, I will bring wine and we will drink our fill; tomorrow will be like today, or even greater.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord commands them to keep justice and do righteousness, because his salvation is near. The life of the redeemed people shows in how they treat others, not only in what they believe.
To the eunuch who keeps the covenant the Lord promises within his house a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. God's community does not exclude those who seemed to be left out because of their condition.
The Lord will bring the foreigners who join him to his holy mountain, and his house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Jesus quotes this verse when he cleanses the temple, in Mark 11:17.
The shepherds without understanding are greedy dogs, each turning to his own way and his own gain. The text condemns leaders who use their office for personal benefit instead of caring for the people.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To keep justice and do righteousness, because his salvation is about to come. — Isaiah 56:1
Answer: The one who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing evil. — Isaiah 56:2
Answer: A monument and a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name. — Isaiah 56:4-5
Answer: To his holy mountain, where he will make them joyful in his house of prayer. — Isaiah 56:6-7
Answer: A house of prayer for all peoples. — Isaiah 56:7
Answer: As blind and without knowledge, silent dogs that cannot bark and love to slumber. — Isaiah 56:10
Isaiah 56 challenges congregations to ask whom they consider outsiders. The text opens the door to those whom the law could exclude, and promises that no one will be set aside because of origin or condition. A class can talk about how to welcome visitors, foreigners and people who feel they do not fit.
The second part addresses those who lead. Pastors, teachers and group leaders receive their role to care, not to profit. It is useful to ask whether we are attentive to the needs of the flock and whether we speak clearly when a warning is needed. And the call to keep the Sabbath reminds us of the value of rest as a sign of trust in God.
Isaiah 56 shows a community open to all who hold fast to the covenant but demanding of its leaders. Chapter 57 continues with the contrast between the righteous who disappear unnoticed and the idolaters who persist in their way.
A eunuch could not have children of his own, so he felt like a dry tree without fruit. The text answers that if he keeps the covenant the Lord will give him a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. Some Old Testament laws limited the participation of eunuchs in the assembly (Deuteronomy 23:1); this text announces that in the time of salvation that barrier disappears.
Jesus quotes the verse when he drives the money changers out of the temple, in Mark 11:17, and recalls that God's house was meant to be a house of prayer for all nations, not a place of trade. The passage shows that openness to the peoples was part of God's plan from the Old Testament.