Page 117 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Chapter 57
V. 1-2 Back to the wheat, or the righteous: this is marked in my Bible as ‘funeral passage’ although I’m
not sure I’ve ever used it. It offers comfort to those whose believing loved ones have passed away. ‘He
shall enter into peace’ when peace is a pretty rare commodity in the world today. ‘They shall rest in
their beds’…heaven is pictured as a place of peace and rest.

In the US, people mourn greatly when loved ones pass away, even when they are believers. Of course it
is a sad time, but when I think of those who’ve gone on to heaven, it makes me a little bit jealous…

We return to the weeds.

V. 3-6 Those who don’t believe are called offspring of the adulterer and the harlot. In V. 5, the green
tree refers to a fertility rite done by certain pagans.

Slaying their own children was another pagan practice. Idol worship is the ‘lot’ of these non-believers
when it could have been the Lord.

V. 7-10 The high mountain: many times in the Old Testament, it refers to bad kings who ‘built up the
high places’ and good kings who ‘tore down the high places.’ The pagan rituals were often high up in
the mountains, where they offered sacrifices.

References to the bed and nudity show a sexual component to the worship practices.

V. 11-13 God challenges the pagans to cry out to their false gods and see if they deliver you. This calls to
mind Elijah and the 400 prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 18: 20-40.

The outcome is predictable. The cries to the false gods will be carried away by the wind, even a normal
‘breath’ will cast them aside.

As is so common in Isaiah and other prophecies, God always extends His hand…even those who have
worshiped the false idols, if they put their trust in the Lord, will still inherit His ‘holy mountain’, or
heaven.

Back to the righteous.

V. 14 The translation that results in ‘heap it up!’ can also be interpreted ‘Every valley shall be exalted’. It
is a message of praise. Prepare the way, take out the stumbling block refers to removing the false
worship in the preceding verses.

V. 15 One of the commentaries I used called this ‘one of the greatest verses in the book of Isaiah’, and
we have seen that there are many incredible verses. It once again spells out the requirement for a
believer: a contrite, or repentant and humble spirit. God’s promise is to revive the heart of the contrite
and the humble.

V. 16-19 when people offer up a humble and contrite spirit, God’s anger at our sin is removed. Despite
our ‘backsliding’ he will heal him and lead him and restore comforts. This is another beautiful promise.

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