Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
Isaiah has now laid out for us a pretty plain picture of incorrigibility. Israel has brought themselves to a place where they are unable to change, unable to extract themselves from the predicament they are in, at least humanly speaking! They will revolt more and more, the spiritual head of nation is desperately sick so that they cannot think rightly. They are at the place where, as we will see, they are just one big mass of welts and bruises from the beatings (metaphorically speaking) God has given in chastisement. Now He will say that their spiritual heart is failing them.
“The whole heart” - The heart is here put for the whole region of the chest or stomach. As with the above we ought to refer this to the physical part of man, but understand it as a metaphor the center of the “being” of the nation. The word is actually used in at least 19 distinguishable fashions in the Bible, believe it or not! It can, of course, refer to the heart, mind, soul, spirit, self, i.e., the source of the life of the inner person in various aspects, with a focus on feelings, thoughts, volition, and other areas of inner life (Dt 2:30). Abstractly, then, it can refer to the middle, center, midst of a person or place or thing, formally, heart, i.e., a position among or in the middle, relatively to other points of space (John 2:3).
It can speak of the ability of one to be deceived, formally, to steal the heart, i.e., to cause one to hold a wrong opinion or belief (Ge 31:26+). One can have a rebellious, or formally, uncircumcised heart, i.e., pertaining to rising up in open defiance to authority (Lev 26:41+).
It can also refer to conscience, i.e., the psychological faculty to distinguish right and wrong (Ge 20:5). It can speak of the chest, formally, heart, i.e., the thorax cavity of a creature (Na 2:7). The Bible speaks often of being discouraged or losing heart, i.e., have a feeling or attitude of loss of hope and so of being in emotional distress (Dt 1:28; 20:8+). There are also times when the Scripture sues the term “heart” to speak of “you”, formally, of your heart, a reflexive reference to receptor, as a figurative extension of the heart as the inner self (Dt 7:17). It can use the term to speak of integrity, sincerity, of straightness of heart, i.e., honesty as a moral quality (Dt 9:5).
The “faints” speaks of the heart being enticed, of something seducing the heart, i.e., lure or coax one into sin (Dt 11:16+). Similarly, one can be hardhearted, or strong of heart, i.e., pertaining to being unresponsive or stubborn (Dt 15:7). It is possible to be proud, to consider oneself better, to lift high the heart, to have an improper haughtiness and arrogance, or to ascribing high status to oneself falsely (Dt 17:20). One can think in one’s heart, i.e., process information (Dt 29:19).
The Bible teaches us that it is possible to be fainthearted, i.e., be afraid or distressed (Dt 20:3). Conversely, we can be good of heart, i.e., a joyful, happy feeling or attitude (Dt 28:47+). A person can be downhearted, or bad of heart, i.e., be in a feeling or attitude of depression or discouragement (1Sa 1:8). Two or more people can be united, be of one heart, i.e., be in an association with another (1Ch 12:17+). Lastly, the heart can be encouraged, one can speak to the heart, i.e., cause another to be consoled or courageous.[1]
Here we would suggest that it is referring to the center of the nation, the essence of what makes Israel what Israel truly is. That intangible center that “is” the nation. It is that which is “faint”.
Again, the expression is emphatic. A common noun is associated with phrase here that means all the thing, every part, every part, the totality, it’s completeness with nothing left out. It can refer to every and any kind of the thing. It was used, for instance to refer to the offerings at the alter that were to be burned and nothing left of them (Ex. 29:18f). God used this term when he gave Adam dominion over all of the creatures of the creation (Gen. 1:26).
So as when the head is violently pained, there is also sickness at the heart, and as these are indications of entire or total prostration of the frame so the expression here denotes the perfect desolation which had come over the nation. Isaiah is here saying that that facility which normally would rise to the occasion and do justice to God and to His leading has failed and has fainted – and cannot and will not do what is needful.
“Is Faint” or “Faints” – the word refers to that which pertains to being afflicted with sorrow or other emotional injury. It can refer to internal sickness, cramps. It is used to speak metaphorically a heart of affliction, i.e., to have internal cramping and sickness.[2] We should note that the word is a noun and not a verb. It is referring to a state, not to an action. Literally, “the whole head is sick and the heart faint”.
Using much the same analogy, in Jer. 8:18 Jeremiah says: ‘When I would comfort myself in my sorrow, my heart is faint within me;’ (see also Lam. 1:22). When the body is suffering; when severe punishment is inflicted, the effect is to produce languor and faintness at the seat of life. This is the idea here. Their punishment had been so severe for their sins, that the “heart” was languid and feeble - still keeping up the figure drawn from the human body. Not only was their no motivation and movement for obedience, but there was no prospect that any would arise either. Thus, he pictures a sickness of soul as the real cause of Judah’s impending political collapse.[3]
This is the cause of all of the problems, in the cases of all men everywhere, in all times. Men’s souls are sick with sin and that sin drives them to reject and rebel against the Lord God of heaven. Modern man is no different than ancient Israel. They rebel against God at every turn. God seeks to turn them to godliness, calling them again and again in His mercy. He weeps over them in His love for them as He watches them spurn Him in their hardness and rebellion. But note that, in the case of the Israelites, this was not so much because of the affliction, but in spite of it!
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[1] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.) (DBLH 4222, #19). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] Ibid, DBLH 1868, #2.
[3] KJV Bible Commentary. 1997, c1994 (1301). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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