Deeper Commentary
Isaiah 55:1 Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price-
"Come!" [AV "Ho!"] recalls how the exiles in Zech. 2:10 are bidden flee from Babylon: “Ho! Ho! and flee from the north land”. But just as Is. 51:1 addresses those who "seek righteousness", here those who are spiritually thirsty and hungry are addressed. Perhaps the Lord perceived the connection between Is. 51:1 and Is. 55:1 when He spoke of the blessedness of those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness". And His offer to all men to come to Him and drink surely suggests that He saw these things as reapplied to Himself, seeing Israel had refused God's offer at the time of the exiles (Jn. 7:37-39). Jerusalem was always known for its lack of water, and that water had to be bought in Jerusalem. Previously God had judged Zion by taking away her water (Is. 1:30; 3:1; 50:2). The Lord presents Himself as the source of spring water in Zion, freely available to all. The water in earlier Isaiah had been representative of salvation: "With joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation" (Is. 12:3). And the free nature of this water [when water or usage of wells usually had to be paid for] is alluded to in Rev. 21:6; 22:17: "He that is thirsty, let him come. Let him that desires take the water of life freely". The key qualification is to want it, to be thirsty for it- and to have the faith to take. Wanting and taking salvation are the key issues.
LXX "wine and fat", associated with the offerings. No longer would poverty or lack of resources mean that sacrifice could not be offered. One by one, every possible excuse in the minds of the exiles was dealt with. God would provide all and overcome every possible fear and imagined problem in responding to the call of the Kingdom, just as He does today. Cyrus even decreed that he would meet the costs of all sacrifices; he let the people go "without price" (s.w. Is. 45:13), for no personal reward. The same phrase "without money and without price" is found in Job 28:15 regarding the value of wisdom; see on :2. The book of Job is full of connections to Isaiah, as it was rewritten to encourage the exiles in captivity. The greatest wisdom was to leave Babylon / Persia and return to Judah, with all the inversion of values this required. But this appeal to the exiles wasn't responded to. And so these ideas were reapplied to the Lord Jesus, in His appeal to us: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me" (Jn. 7:37,38).
Is. 55:1-6 bids Israel seek the Lord, and then comments that His word
will accomplish what He wants it to achieve; the earth / land will respond
to the rain of His word which He sends upon it (:11). This seems to be
saying that somehow there will always be response from Israel to the
Gospel. And the following verses hint that this may be specifically so in
the last days, for :12 says that the result of the land’s response to the
word will be that “ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing”.
Their response to the word in the last days ushers in the Kingdom.
The idea of buying without money in Is. 55:1 connects with the
entire theme of Yahweh being Israel's "redeemer", their go'el, the One who
would pay the price of their debt, rather than them having to work as
slave labour for a period. They were thus redeemed without money. Clearly
the link is to Is. 52:3 "you shall be redeemed without money". God would
pay, not them. This is why Is. 55:11 will go on to talk of how God's word
shall achieve His intention- and the "word" immediately in view is the
word of restoration of the Kingdom and eternal salvation of God's people.
Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?-
Again, the Lord clearly had this in view when He challenges the
people not to labour for the bread that perishes, but to accept His offer
of eternal life (Jn. 6:27). LXX
"Wherefore do ye value at the price of money?". This invites them to a
radical revaluation of life and the things which comprise it. The
monetization and capitalization of everything was going on even in
ancient societies. God's people are asked to a radical revaluation of all
things.
And your labour for that which doesn’t satisfy?- But they continued to do so; they were as greedy dogs who could 'not be satisfied' (Is. 56:11 s.w.), obsessed with personal gain. Again we detect that it was a love of the soft life of materialism in Persia which was the root cause for the exiles not responding to the invitation, and the book of Esther therefore has a sad ending, portraying the Jews as wealthy and popular.
Listen diligently to Me- I noted on :1 an allusion to the appeal of wisdom in Job 28, and this here is a repeat of wisdom's call in the Proverbs. The way of wisdom was to accept the invitation to the free feast of fat things which Yahweh had prepared in Judah for those who quit Babylon.
And eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness- This refers to the banquet awaiting them on return to Zion, the feast of fat things of Is. 25:6- if they would say "Yes" to the Kingdom program. The Messianic banquet could then have come. It has now been reapplied, to our experience in the breaking of bread now, and ultimately to the marriage supper of the lamb when the Lord returns.
Isaiah 55:3 Turn your ear, and come to Me- "Come to Me 'Go
away from your place toward me', can be read in the spirit of :1, where as
noted there, the exiles in Babylon are bidden leave and come to God, who
in that sense is located in Zion.
The invitation therefore was to the great feast of :1,2- all for free. The parable of the great supper therefore alludes to Is. 55:1-3; and thereby would suggest that we can interpret the call to the supper as the call of the Gospel, and the hungry people sitting down to a fine meal as our ecclesial experience now (although this isn't to say that we can't read it as concerning the future Kingdom too).
Hear, and your soul shall live:
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David- This everlasting covenant refers to the new covenant offered
to the exiles in Jer. 31 and Ez. 20, but it would only be given if they
'heard' in obedience and repentance.
Isaiah 55:4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a
leader and commander to the peoples- LXX understands "the peoples"
here as "the Gentiles". As noted on :3, the "him" is the "sure mercies of
David", an intensive plural for the great mercy shown to David, which was
in the promise of his Messianic seed, the Lord Jesus. The eternal covenant
offered to the exiles was also going to be offered to the Gentiles, who
would form a new multiethnic people of God (:5). Israel were God's
intended witness to the nations of God's grace and power to save (Is.
43:10; 44:8). They failed in that; but the Messiah figure, the servant
called "Israel", was to be and do what Israel failed to. By being in Him,
we are all that we were intended to be.
Isaiah 55:5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know- As
explained in :4, a new multiethnic people of God was to be formed around
the new covenant being offered to all. The Jews would "call" the Gentiles
by the name of their own nation, Israel. They would 'know' them in the
Hebraic sense of knowing, i.e. having a spiritual relationship with them.
And a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you- Again, the Hebraic sense of 'knowing' includes the idea of having a spiritual relationship with the other party. The remnant of the Gentile nations in the land would see how Yahweh had glorified the returned exiles, and would eagerly ["run to..."] wish to accept this God as theirs. But in reality, the exiles returned to the land and mixed with the Gentiles, worshipping their gods and marrying their women as they had done in the lands of their exile.
If these words are addressed to "David" and this name refers to Messiah (:3), then the "He" who has glorified "You" [God] would be the Lord Jesus, who did so supremely (Jn. 17:5).
Isaiah 55:6 Seek Yahweh while He may be found; call you on Him while He is
near-
"While He is near" refers to how salvation was "near" to the exiles: "I bring near My righteousness... My salvation... My righteousness is near, My salvation is gone forth... My salvation is near to come (Is. 46:13; 51:5; 56:1). Hence we could render with Rabbi Kimchi: "because he may be found: call upon him, because he is near". But there was only a window of opportunity, which would close. And it did close, hence the more angry and judgmental tone of later Isaiah, and the possibilities of salvation and redemption were reapplied to a newly defined Zion, the Christian church. "Call upon him" has been transferred to the Christian era in the invitation to call upon the Lord in baptism (Rom. 10:13).
The offer of the Messianic banquet (:1-3) and new covenant (:3) was not going to be on the table for ever. The exiles had to repent, leave exile and return to the land in order to reestablish and rebuild the things of God's Kingdom. There was no such repentance. And those who did return were motivated by personal gain and were not spiritual people, as the restoration prophets and the historical records in Ezra and Nehemiah make clear. So the window of opportunity closed, and the things of the new covenant, Messianic banquet and restored Kingdom became reapplied and deferred. The offered salvation was "near" to them, about to come (see on Is. 46:13; 51:5); but it swooped close to them, but they refused to catch it. But the same Hebrew word for "near" is translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our representative, of our nature. See on Is. 49:26. The appeal is therefore urgent, because for the exiles, the amazing offer was time limited. It is therefore an appeal for repentance, hence LXX: "Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, let the ungodly leave his ways...".
Like Israel we can seek God daily, taking delight in approaching unto Him; and yet need the exhortation to urgently seek Him (Is. 55:6 cp. 58:2). We can appear to seek unto Him in prayer and attendance at our meetings, and yet not seek Him in the real sense at all. Likewise men came to Jesus physically, at quite some effort to themselves, and yet He tells them that they have not truly come to Him at all (Jn. 6:24 cp. 35-37). We can draw near with our mouth, honour Him with our lips, “but have removed [our] heart far from me” (Is. 29:13).
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh- We note that the way of a man is his thoughts. The appeal for repentance was and is essentially a call to change our thinking, our self talk; and to adopt God's thoughts, which at that time were not Judah's thoughts (:8). The return to Yahweh was to be reflected in a return to the land. We might have expected a call to forsake idolatry and other specific sins, but the appeal is to change their thinking. For that is the essential issue. We note the same juxtaposition of ideas in Is. 57:15- the exalted lofty one, dwelling in the hearts of men.
And He will have mercy on him; and to our God- "Mercy" is s.w. "compassion". Unlike the stone faced gods of the Gentiles, Yahweh had emotion and passion, and internal conflicts. And His word reveals them to us. This "compassion" was only to be shown when Israel repented (s.w. Dt. 30:3) and would not be shown if they were impenitent (s.w. Is. 9:17; 27:11; 55:7). But although they had not repented, Yahweh still felt that fatherly "compassion" toward them (Is. 49:15 s.w.). He is unafraid of appearing to contradict His word, such is the passion of His love.
For He will abundantly pardon- This is the same word as often used in the law; when sacrifice was offered, "it shall be forgiven him" (Lev. 4:31,35 etc.). But in exile there was no opportunity to offer acceptable sacrifice. A forsaking of thoughts was what was required; for our hearts are the essential sacrifice. This "pardon" would have been given had the exiles had accepted the new covenant (s.w. Jer. 33:8).
The Hebrew for "abundantly pardon" is better rendered "Multiply to pardon". The encouragement is to every individual, that God's pardon is as it were multitudinous. All our many sins, of omission and comission, can be eagerly forgiven. His pardon is of an altogether different nature to our experience of forgiveness at the hands of others. Often they have some vested interest in granting the pardon. Or they will pardon once but not if we repeat. Or they will pardon one or two things, but not many things. And they give our sins against them a weighting, some they can forgive others they cannot. At least, not more than once. And their pardon may be time limited. God pardons "abundantly", and multiplies that pardon.
Isaiah 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
My ways, says Yahweh-
This is a criticism of the people at that time, not a general musing about man. The thoughts and ways of God were to be those of God's people, whose current thoughts and ways had to be forsaken (:7). This is not a general statement that God's ways are unreachable by man. Quite the opposite. But God's thoughts and ways are as high as Heaven is above earth (:9). And so our minds are to be in heavenly places. This is possible through the Spirit: "Things which eye saw not and ear heard not and which did not enter into the heart of man, whatever things God prepared for them that love Him, God revealed them to us through the Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:9,10). This is not a statement about the inability of humanity to think as God does. Rather is it a lament that Judah didn't do this, when they could have done (:7). Note the parallel between the wicked's "way" and "his thoughts"; they are unrelated to God's thoughts/ ways (Is. 55:8). Is. 55:7 is therefore saying that after conversion there must most importantly be a change of mind, an aspiring after God's unattainable thoughts / ways.
Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways
higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts- This is
not to say that His thoughts are unattainable. The whole idea of :7,8 is
that Judah could have God's thoughts. They are here being inspired to
touch the sky, to rise above the mundane, earthly thoughts of the flesh. Is. 55:6,7 implies that we can find God in this life, we can return to
Him. But Is. 55:9 then says that "as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are (God's) ways higher than your ways" . This seems to be one
of the many Isaiah allusions to the book of Job: "Can you by searching
find out God?", the answer being 'No'. This shows that although
ultimately we cannot find God by our searching, such is His moral
infinity, yet if we seek to find Him, He will count us as if
we have found Him; and we can think His thoughts (:7). Thus God will impute complete forsaking of
human thinking to us. Our least response is to impute forsaking of sin to
our brethren, and to think as Yahweh does.
Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky and
doesn’t return there but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and
bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater-
The rain does return to God in the water cycle, as various Bible verses state. So we need to translate to the effect that it doesn't return "until it waters the earth" etc. "Bring forth" is a word typically used of a woman bringing forth a child. We have just read God's promise to make the barren Zion bring forth children (Is. 54:1). This was to be performed by His word, the same word that they saw making the earth and natural creation 'bring forth'. The exiles refused this, and so this promise of seed and bread is applied to Christian believers (2 Cor. 9:10).
This statement about the power of God's word is in the context of urging Judah that they can in fact repent, and think God's thoughts (:7-9). The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God's restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on Is. 44:3) to "spring up" on what had previously been dry ground (Is. 44:4). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word (Is. 55:10 s.w. "bud", "spring up"). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to "spring up" (s.w. Gen. 2:5). This springing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s.w. 2 Sam. 23:5; Ps. 132:17). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were "in" the singular Messianic seed, who would think God's thoughts (:7). And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (Gal. 3:27-29). It is "righteousness" which would "spring up" (s.w. Is. 61:11); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their mental, spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as "in" the "branch of righteousness" which will "spring up" (Jer. 33:15). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine 'causing' us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.
Repeatedly, later Scripture alludes to the fact that it was by the word of
God that the world was created; and that same powerful, re-forming, saving
word was and is that heard by His people still (Ps. 33:6,9; 104:7;
147:15-18; 148:3-5; Is. 40:26; 44:23; 48:13; 50:2; 55:10). A. Heidel
comments: “The word of the Babylonian deities was not almighty. On the
contrary, the word of the creator in Gen. 1 is almighty. He commands and
the result is in perfect conformity to his command…there is a profound
difference between the Bible and non-biblical religions” [on this point of
the word being the agency of creation] (Alexander
Heidel,
The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1963), p. 126).
Isaiah 55:11 so shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall
not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do- In the immediate context
of the exiles, the LXX seems to suggest that God's word of judgment on His
people would not end until that word had produced the required response,
which was repentance: "It shall by no means turn back until all the things
which I willed shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy ways
prosperous, and will effect my commands". The prospering of the prophetic
word of restoration was certain, if they accepted it; see on Is. 54:17.
But the context here is of thinking God's thoughts, even if His thoughts
are higher than the earth (:7-9). It was His word of promised restoration
which could achieve that; if they believed they would and could be
restored to God, then this would affect their thinking.
We put God to endless pain and labour in order to fulfil His wish to save men, if we don’t fulfil what in prospect we could fulfil. In the context of the restoration, Yahweh truly said that “...so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (AV). His word will have fulfilment in the end, but it can have its fulfilment in us, here and now. Nehemiah twice stated that Yahweh was prospering him in his work of restoring Zion [Neh. 1:11; 2:20 s.w.]; but generally, the word of prophecy was deferred in its fulfilment. Let’s not be satisficers as Israel were, minimalists happy so long as we have our bit of land to live on, our cieled roof to dwell under... and neglect His house.
The RV translates the parable of the sower as if the seed sown is the
convert: “he that was sown…” (Mt. 13:19 RV). And later on in Mt. 13:38 we
are told so again: “the good seed are the children of the Kingdom”. Yet
the seed was a symbol of the word of God. The parallel between the seed
and the convert is such as to suggest that the word of God will produce
converts in some sense; it will not return void (Is. 55:11). The apparent
dearth of response to some preaching therefore poses a challenging
question. Are we preaching the word of God alone, or our own ideas? Does
God withhold blessing for some reason unknown to us? Is this parable only
part of a wider picture, in which somehow the word does return void due to man’s rejection? Thus
the word of God was ‘made void’ by the Pharisees (Mk. 7:13 RV- a conscious
allusion to Is. 55:11?)…. This is perhaps one of the most defiantly
unanswerable questions in our experience. As an aside, one possible
explanation is that “the word” which is sent forth and prospers, achieving
all God’s intention, is in fact Messiah. The same word is used about the
‘prospering’ of the Servant in His work: Is. 48:15; 53:10 cp. Ps. 45:4.
Another is to accept the LXX reading of this passage: “…until whatsoever I
have willed shall have been accomplished”. Here at least is the
implication that something happens and is achieved when we preach
God’s word. The same idiom occurs in Ez. 9:11 AVmg., where we read that
“the man clothed with linen”- representing Ezekiel or his representative
Angel- “returned the word, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me”.
The word ‘returned’ in the sense that someone, somewhere, was obedient to
it even if others weren’t.
Isaiah 55:12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and
all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands-
Leaving Babylon with a voice of singing / joy is in view in Is. 55:12: "For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace". But this was a commandment in Is. 48:20, which the exiles generally disobeyed. They returned hardly with joy, but with nervousness and expectation only that there might be some material benefit for themselves.
The immediate possibility was that the exiles would leave Babylon in peace, after "the servant" negotiated their release from there with full blessing and no violence; and the natural creation would as it were burst into applause as they journey to Zion. Thus GNB "You will leave Babylon with joy; you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy".
But this could have had a yet earlier fulfilment in Isaiah's time. As the Jews of Hezekiah's time went out of Jerusalem to a revitalized land and started to receive the tribute of the surrounding nations (the primary application of Isaiah's Kingdom prophecies), so the saints will pour forth from Jerusalem to establish the Kingdom worldwide. "Ye shall go out (from Jerusalem) with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and hills shall break forth before you into singing..." (Is. 55:12). After the surrounding of Christ in Jerusalem and the defeat of Gog, Ps. 2 describes the establishment of the Kingdom worldwide: "I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance... kiss the son, lest He be angry " (:8,12).
Even as late as the time of Esther, this could have had a fulfilment. For the same word for "gladness" is used of the joy of the exiles when they were saved from Haman's destruction (Esther 9:17). The subtext to the otherwise positive picture of good triumphing over evil at the end of Esther, with a day of feasting and gladness proclaimed, is that their day of feasting and gladness was prophetically intended to be in Zion (Is. 25:6 s.w.). They went into exile exactly because they had days of 'feasting' and didn't respond to the prophetic message (s.w. Is. 5:12). It was in Zion that they were to experience "gladness" (Is. 35:10) when they returned (Is. 51:11). They were to leave the lands of their captivity in "gladness" and thus come to Zion (Is. 55:12 s.w.). But they didn't return. The "day of gladness" was to be accompanied by the blowing of trumpets (s.w. Num. 10:10), summoning them to Zion. But there is no mention of this; because they didn't want to return there, but to remain in prosperous Persia.
Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead
of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to Yahweh for
a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off-
This could literally refer to the transformation of the desert before the exiles as they returned from Babylon to Zion, as discussed on Is. 41:19. This marvellous vegetation springing up as the redeemed passed by would remain throughout the future ages as a monument to God's grace.
They refused to believe and leave, and so the far grander fulfilment will be in the day when the curse [thorns] will be removed from earth. We can also simply understand these trees and plants as representative of people; the rough and useless thorns would be transformed into the beautiful and useful fir / cypress and myrtle. Which is the work of the Spirit.
The myrtle (= "Esther") was a native of Persia and not Palestine. The idea is that the captives would return from Persia and be planted in the restored kingdom. The curse of thorns and thistles placed upon the eretz in Eden would then thereby be removed. But the book of Esther has a sad ending, in spiritual terms; for God's people were prosperous and accepted in Persian society, and preferred to remain there rather than do the work of the Kingdom and allow its restoration.
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