We’ve seen six condemnations of God’s people expressed in no uncertain, even brutal terms thus far.
- Israel is a sinful Nation
- A Nation Laden with Iniquity
- A Seed of Evildoers
- Children of Evildoers
- They have forsaken the Lord, and
- They have provoked the Holy One of Israel
Combined with two verses prior, this makes the first three verse of Isaiah virtually cruel by human standards. But we need to take the book as as a whole and remember from what God is seeking to spare Israel. Perspective is a wonderful thing, in history and in personal life as well.
The sum of all what Israel had done was no minor sin. they had, ultimately, turned their backs on their Lord.
‘They have turned their backs upon him.’ The word rendered “they are gone away,” means properly, to become estranged or to be a stranger; to be alienated. Job uses the word in Job. 19:13:
“He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
It refers, in the Bible, especially that declining from God, or that alienation, which takes place when people commit sin; (Ps. 78:21-31, esp. v30.)
21Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel,
22Because they did not believe in God,
And did not trust in His salvation.
23Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,
24Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven.
25Men ate angels’ food;
He sent them food to the full.
26He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.
27He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
28And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.
29So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.
30They were not deprived of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,
31The wrath of God came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.
David makes reference to Israel’s fall in the wilderness after leaving Egypt and uses this idea. Note especially verse 30. When Israel turned their backs on God in the wilderness, God’s wrath came against them and they became as strangers to Him. We tend to think of “abandonment” as a negative idea, but this underscores the truth that it is not negative in every context. God abandoned Israel in the Wilderness, at least He “abandoned” the generation that sinned, leaving them to die there, and raised up another generation to the into the Promised Land. Thus He remained Holy and still fulfilled His promises.
Just as a side note, the word back is emphasized in the text. They “turned away back”. Turned away” is one word and “back” is another. It is as if the writer wanted us to know that Israel deliberately chose the direction of their turning and, in fact, we know that to be true! After the congregation left Egypt, they consistently complained about how “nice” it had been there and how terrible conditions were in the desert. Exodus 17:3:
And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
They frequently besieged Moses with petitions to take them back to Egypt! Numbers 14:3-4:
Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
It was the frequent desire of unregenerate Israel In the wilderness to return Israel. They did not merely turn away from their God, they turned back to Egypt. That is really quite fascinating since their reception back in Egypt would have been, no doubt, quite harsh. Given all of the plagues, the death of the born of Egypt, and the death of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Given the collapse of the Egyptian economy and all of the resulting hardship on the Egyptian people (Egypt is not heard from again on the world scene for some numerous decades). Given the evident animosity with which the Israelite people were treated in the final years of their captivity and all of the stuff, gold and silver, articles of clothing and other things they took with them when they left their Egyptian masters (Exodus 11:2, 12:35). Given the fact that there was not a single first born left alive in Egypt and that in the eyes of the people of Egypt this was the “fault” of the Israelites, There could not be anything but animosity and hatred waiting for them back in Egypt.
Add to that the fact that we’re talking about going back to the place where they just spent 400 years in hard bondage! Slavery! They weren’t just second-class citizens or denied their rights. They were the worst kind of slaves. It was to this kind of experience, and worse, given the above, they desired to return. This, because they had a skewed remembrance of their experience there. The hardship in the desert plagued them and they remembered the few fleshly pleasures; leeks, cucumbers, fish and garlic, they had freely in Egypt (Numbers 11:5) and forgot the harsh pain and agony of slavery that made them cry out for deliverance made God “hear their groaning and remember His covenant” with them (Exodus 2:24).
The pleasures of the flesh always overpower the realities of history if we are not careful to remember rightly. We’ll “reimagine” as the modern term is and redraw history to suit our modern needs. We see this occur with alarming regularity in our own day. Men do not like what history tells them, they do not care for what their current situation is and so they “reimagine” what history and the Bible mean to suit what they want it to mean and are more comfortable with it meaning. Then everyone is happier!
Sadly, this does not get the job done as far as God is concerned. It is turning away and turning back to our ungodliness and the only solution is to repent and to do as God has commanded. This Isaiah’s counsel to Israel and it is God’s counsel to us.
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