Isaiah · chapter 59 of 66
Updated on
Isaiah 59 explains that salvation is delayed not because the Lord's arm is short but because the people's iniquities have built a barrier between them and God. After describing their violence, lies and injustice and a communal confession, the Lord sees that there is no one to intervene, puts on righteousness and salvation as armor, and promises a Redeemer for Zion and a covenant with his Spirit.
Isaiah 59 continues the third part of the book with the question of why the promised salvation has not yet reached the community that returned from exile. The answer lies in the people's sin, but the chapter ends with a personal intervention of the Lord, who does not leave his people in their situation.
The chapter opens with a statement: the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear. It is the people's iniquities that have made a separation between them and their God, and their sins have hidden his face from them so that he does not hear. Their hands are defiled with blood, their fingers with iniquity, their lips speak lies and their tongue mutters wickedness. No one calls for justice or pleads with truth; they trust in empty words and speak lies, conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web: whoever eats their eggs dies, and from what is crushed a viper hatches. Their feet run to evil, and they do not know the way of peace.
In verses 9 through 15a the people confess. Therefore justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light and behold darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, we stumble at noon as in the twilight. Our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. Truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter.
In verses 15b through 21 the Lord sees and it displeases him that there is no justice. He sees that there is no man and is appalled that there is no one to intercede; so his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He will repay his adversaries, and they will fear his name from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. A Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression. He makes a covenant with them: my Spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouth of your offspring, from now and forevermore.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord's hand is not short nor his ear deaf: it is the people's iniquities that have made a separation between them and God. The problem is not God's ability but the sin that blocks communion.
The people confess that their transgressions are multiplied before the Lord and that their sins testify against them. Confession names the wrong without excuses, and it is the first step toward returning.
The Lord sees that there is no one to intervene and his own arm brings him salvation. When no one can save, God himself acts; Christians often connect this image with the work of Christ.
A Redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who turn from rebellion. Paul quotes these words in Romans 11:26-27 when speaking of the salvation of Israel.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Not because the Lord's hand is short, but because the people's iniquities have made a separation between them and God. — Isaiah 59:1-2
Answer: Adders' eggs and the spider's web. — Isaiah 59:5
Answer: The way of peace. — Isaiah 59:8
Answer: That they hoped for light and there is darkness; they stumble at noon as in twilight. — Isaiah 59:9-10
Answer: He sees that there is no one to intervene, and his own arm brings him salvation. — Isaiah 59:16
Answer: That his Spirit and his words will not depart from the mouth of the people or of their offspring. — Isaiah 59:21
Isaiah 59 invites honesty about what may be blocking our relationship with God. We often prefer to ask why God does not answer before asking whether something stands between us and him. A class can set aside time for confession, not only individual but communal: injustices we tolerate, words that wound.
The chapter also gives hope. When the people cannot save themselves, the Lord puts on righteousness and acts. For the believer this means salvation does not depend on personal effort. And the final promise of the Spirit and of God's words in the mouth of his children encourages families to pass on the faith from one generation to the next.
Isaiah 59 moves from accusation to confession and, above all, to the Lord's intervention, which brings a Redeemer. Chapter 60 describes the result: the Lord's light rises over Zion and the nations come to it.
In Romans 3:15-17 Paul uses verses 7 and 8 to describe universal sin, and in Romans 11:26-27 he quotes verse 20 and part of verse 21 when speaking of the Deliverer who will come from Zion. Both uses show that the New Testament reads this chapter as a diagnosis of sin and a promise of redemption.
The Lord puts on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation, images Paul takes up in Ephesians 6:14-17 and in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 to describe the believer's armor. What the Lord puts on, he gives his people to wear.