Having listed for us five different provocations thus far in Isaiah chapter 1:
- Israel is a sinful Nation
- A Nation Laden with Iniquity
- A Seed of Evildoers
- Children of Evildoers, and
- They have forsaken the Lord
Isaiah now moves on to a sixth in his seven indictments of the nation here in Chapter 1 verse 4. It is indeed a busy verse.
They have despised the Holy One;’ (compare Prov. 1:30; 5:12; 15:5). The Vulgate says: ‘They have blasphemed.’ The Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament says: ‘You have provoked him to anger.’ The meaning is, that they had so despised him, as to excite his indignation.
The verb, at its root means to despise, reject, or spurn, i.e., to feel contempt or strong dislike for an object, to rejecting as having little or no value either or both by words and actions.[1] Now, in human relationships this is bad enough.
God; called the Holy One of Israel because he was revealed to them as their God, or they were taught to regard him as the sacred object of their worship. This title is Isaiah’s “Special title for God, found 25 times in this book (1:4; 5:19,24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11,12,15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14,16,20; 43:3,14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9,14), but only 6 times in the rest of the OT (2 Kin. 19:22; Pss. 71:22; 78:41; 89:18; Jer. 50:29; 51:5).[2] Of all of the Old Testament books, we might consider that Isaiah emphasizes the holiness of God. In many of the places in which he uses the phrase, it stands in contrast with the stark sinfulness and deliberate disobedience of the nation of Israel. We would do well to note this as we move through the book. There are also various other forms of this phrase, such as “Holy One of Jacob” (29:23) and others all that also emphasize God’s holiness as well as other shades of his relationship to His people.
It is interesting that in the midst of even such a stiff and harsh rebuke as this God is still the “Holy One of Israel”. “Israel” of course, being the covenant name for the Jewish people. Having just called them practically every insulting name in the book God yet refers to Himself by what is perhaps the most reassuring name for Himself there is. He is the One Who has set Himself apart for them. It emphasizes not only His absolute sacredness and separateness from sin, holiness in the sense of sinlessness, but also holiness in the sense of consecration. He is the One Who is consecrated to Israel.
Though Israel is given over to all of this horror of sinful indulgence and has provoked their God to anger; He is still Holy One of Israel…He is still their God. Indeed, that is the story of a goodly portion of the rest of Isaiah, that God will send a Messiah who come and redeem them, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!
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[1] Ibid, 5540.
[2] MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Is 1:4). Nashville: Word Pub.
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