The Witnesses Called…

Continuing our study of Isaiah 1 and verses 2 and 3, “God’s Appraisal of His People”, we come to the actual text of verse 2 having considered some preliminary ideas.

Hear, O heavens – Remember that this is actually and properly the beginning of the prophecy. It is a sublime commencement; and is of a highly poetic character. The heavens and the earth are summoned to bear witness to the apostasy, ingratitude, and deep depravity of the chosen people of God. The address is expressive of deep feeling - the bursting forth of a heart filled with amazement at a wonderful and unusual event. The same sublime beginning is found in the song of Moses, Deut. 32:1:

“Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.”

Compare Ps. 4:3-4. The prophets often invoke the hills and mountains to hear them; Ezek. 6:3 tells us:

‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the words of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the rivers, and to the valleys;’

Compare what Ezekiel says in Ezek. 36:1.

‘Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord,’

Jeremiah says much the same thing in Jer. 2:12.

Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,” says the Lord.

The call to hear is both common and necessary in a culture that grown deaf to the voice of God.  It is a call that our culture needs both to hear and to heed!

“Hear” is a reference to the physical ability to hear a voice but is most often, in this context used metaphorically to refer to the ability to understand a thing. It is used at times of calling one group to bear witness against another. The implication here is that this is an appeal to an unbiased jury so to speak. It is interesting to note that there is no human jury to which he can appeal, and so he appeals to the creation itself!  Any human jury would be biased against the claims of God because of human depravity and in favor of the defendant (Judah). 

It is clear that the call is symbolic anyway!  By the heavens therefore, in this place, we are not to understand the inhabitants of heaven, that is, the angels, anymore than by the hills we are to understand the inhabitants of the mountains. It is high poetic language, denoting the importance of the subject, and the remarkable and amazing truth to which the attention was to be called. Isaiah is simply calling upon the highest hears, the most lofty to witnesses, to underscore the importance of the matter.

This is carried on by the next line, “Give ear, Oh Earth”. It was common to address the earth in this fashion on any remarkable occasion, especially anyone implying warm though definite disagreement, (Jer. 5:19; 22:29; Mic. 1:2; 6:2; Isa. 34:1; 49:13). The implication here is that of the calling, officially, of the entirety of creation to bear witness at the bar of God’s justice. It confirms for us that this is a kind of legal witnessing going on here. It is as if the world will be the jury to hear the case God is bringing against the people He has called and blessed.

There was no jury system in Israel as we think of it today. There were judges who heard matters in all forums from the gate of each village to seat of the nation. Witnesses were called and the judge heard their testimony and then made his decision. The witnesses here then, are not the jury, but those who would testify against the indicted one!  It is important for us read these words in the context historically in which they were uttered, not in the context in which they are being read.  We will misunderstand them otherwise, dramatically so!

There is a finality here. When a matter gets before the court and the witnesses are seated, then the time for judgment, and thus for verdict and the infliction of penalty is at hand. This is the undercurrent that is present here. Israel stands in grave danger of being convicted by God as sinners and being sentenced to the full penalty demanded by His wrath!

Make no mistake – this is not a thing that God does lightly. He has pleaded with Israel time and again through the ages and it has fallen on deaf ears. Nor should we think that the testimony or the opinion of the “witnesses” would be in doubt – the case is so strong and so secure that there could be no doubt as to its conclusion. Even the very creation will bear witness that Israel’s rebellion was heinous and profound and condemn them for it!

There are actually two ways of looking at this. It might be that Isaiah sees an absurdity to the situation that confronts him. God has brought forth, from nothing, the nation of Israel, and they have, against all reason, rebelled against Him. The evident truths that even the very insensate heavens and earth would recognize and readily affirm, the “God-hood” of God and the “subject-hood” of His created children, is being denied by this rebellious nation.

A second possibility is that the scene being created for us is to be seen as a kind of cosmic courtroom where all of creation (which obeys the slightest whim of God’s command) comprises the “jury” so to speak (though we would readily affirm that God needs no Jury to affirm His authority and His “verdict”. A sub-theme that appears to be present here is that of the righteous character of God in calling His people to judgment. Here the heavens and the earth are called to bear witness to the truth and to the justice of what God, through Isaiah is to proclaim.  One would be hard pressed to choose between those two possibilities!