Isaiah 1:4-9

Isaiah 1:4-9

[4] Ah  sinful  nation,  a people  laden  with iniquity,  a seed  of evildoers,  children  that are corrupters:  they have forsaken  the LORD,  the Holy One  of Israel  unto anger,  they are gone away  backward.  [5] Why should ye be stricken  any more? ye will revolt  more and more:  the whole head  is sick,  and the whole heart  faint.  [6] From the sole  of the foot  even unto the head  there is no soundness  in it; but wounds,  and bruises,  and putrifying  sores:  they have not been closed,  neither bound up,  neither mollified  with ointment.  [7] Your country  is desolate,  your cities  are burned  with fire:  your land,  strangers  devour  it in your presence, and it is desolate,  as overthrown  by strangers.  [8] And the daughter  of Zion  is left  as a cottage  in a vineyard,  as a lodge  in a garden of cucumbers,  as a besieged  city.  [9] Except  the LORD  of hosts  had left  unto us a very small  remnant,  we should have been  as Sodom,  and we should have been like  unto Gomorrah. 

What does Isaiah 1:4-9 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The prophet amplified God"s charge and proved it by referring to Israel"s condition. He lamented that Israel"s state was the logical outcome of her behavior.
"The interjection "ah" [1] (the Hebrew word [2] is sometimes translated "woe") was a cry of mourning heard at funerals (see 1 Kings 13:30; Jeremiah 22:18-19; Amos 5:16). When Isaiah"s audience heard this word, images of death must have appeared in their minds." [3]
God"s people had forsaken the Holy One of Israel, "the transcendent God, who is wholly separate from the frailty and finiteness of Creation (his majesty-holiness), and wholly separate from the sinfulness and defilement of man (his purity-holiness)." [4] Israel was consequently experiencing the destructive results of her sin in national disease and in political and social catastrophes ( Isaiah 1:5-6; cf. Isaiah 53:4-10; Deuteronomy 27-30). It was customary in Isaiah"s day for people to squeeze the puss out of a wound, to pull a cut together with a bandage, and to pour olive oil on sores to aid healing. [5]
Isaiah moved from describing Israel as a sick and injured body to a desolate, conquered land ( Isaiah 1:7-9; cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28-29). The description "daughter of Zion" ( Isaiah 1:8) emphasizes that God feels about His wayward people as a father feels about his daughter. He loves her, has committed himself to protecting her, and takes pains to guard her from all evil and danger.
Many Israelite families lived in villages but built little shelters in their fields and camped there during the harvest season. After the harvest these little shacks looked pitiful, abandoned, useless, and deteriorating. Unless the LORD of armies had preserved a few faithful in Judah, as He preserved Lot and his family, He would have destroyed the nation as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah ( Isaiah 1:10; cf. Genesis 19; Romans 9:29).
All the writing prophets except Ezekiel ,, Joel ,, Obadiah , and Jonah used the title "LORD of Hosts" ("LORD Almighty") to stress that Yahweh has numberless assistants who are ready and able to carry out His bidding (cf. 2 Kings 6:15-18). This is also the first reference in Isaiah to the remnant, the faithful few in Israel who formed a distinct group within the apostate nation. This remnant constitutes a significant group and motif in the book.