From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment. (Isaiah 1:6)
It is interesting to note that Isaiah first mentions Judah’s sufferings in order that she may then hear a statement of the cause of those sufferings, namely, her guilt. Thus he seeks to gain Judah’s ear. She has had no alleviation from her tragic condition and, in speaking of this condition, Isaiah seeks for a sympathetic response.
What is here for us is the picture is that of a people completely under the rod of punishment, yet receiving no relief from that punishment. There is a real sense of the bewilderment of the nation that would have accompanied that nation’s state. The reference therefore is not primarily to the moral character of the nation, although that moral character is reflected upon, inasmuch as it was the basic reason for the chastisement. The emphasis, however, falls upon the chastisement which, because of that moral character, has come upon Judah.[1]
They have only wounds and welts and open sores, from which diseased matter continually flows, as if some concealed fountain were supplying endless venom. It is as if, at this point, their condition was feeding itself. By this metaphor he shows that their wound is incurable, since the supply of venom cannot be stopped. All this is greatly heightened by saying that no remedies have been applied. He uses three metaphors that he links together: They have only wounds and welts … not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. Each metaphor has the same meaning: The nation, without any hope of relief, without comfort, without remedy, is reduced to a state of distress, in which the utmost severity of God is openly displayed.[2] He will build this metaphor until, as he will again and again, he will supply the solution in the form of the external Messiah Who will come and rescue them from themselves; being to them what they are unable to be for their own welfare.
And so Isaiah’s image of Judah as a sick nation, debilitated by injury and disease, raises the question of the relationship between sickness and sin. On the one hand, the two are linked by their impact on our lives. Each weakens us. Each makes it impossible for us to enjoy life as God intended. But Isaiah’s image also mirrors a fact of O.T. covenant life. God promised to keep an obedient people “free from every disease” (Deut. 7:12, 14–15).
12 “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.
14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
But disobedience made His people vulnerable to “severe and lingering illness” (Deut. 28:58-59).
58 “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
Sickness was one of the rods of discipline God used to warn and correct His people. It would surely be an oversimplification to assume that all sickness is punishment. But it is certainly true that sins affect us psychologically and make us vulnerable to physical ills. And also, sickness often leads us to reevaluate the quality of our relationship with the Lord.[3] This is especially true in the circumstance of the covenant relationship that Israel had with God where there where promises of health and welfare made for persistent national obedience. While this does not rule out personal sickness, it does speak to the kind of national calamity that the nation faced in Isaiah’s time. God is faithful to His promises and thus He does what He has said He will do.
The world is not haphazard. It is not abstract and things are not at the mercy of chance. One can depend upon God and His faithfulness, if one looks to God as more than simply a talisman to be used for one’s personal benefit and at one’s personal convenience. Israel had made that mistake on more than one occasion. They had allowed themselves to slip into the view that God was their God. He was there for them to make use of, for their benefit. They made Him like the other gods all around them. And thus, He did to them what He did to Dagon when the Philistines placed the Ark in Ashdod in 1 Samuel 5:3-8:
3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. 4 And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” 8 Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”
God disfigured the idol and beat the people of Ashdod. It is hard not to be cynical about this when we read verse 7-8. The people of Ashdod, unredeemed, ultimately unrepentant idolaters, immediately get the message concerning who they are dealing with and want no part of the “the ark of the God of Israel”. They knew that they were fighting something bigger and stronger than they and that they had to submit to it and were willing to what was needful to do so. The passage following records that submission.
Yet, Israel, who ought to have known far better than they, knew far less! They take a far worse beating and come up with a more rebellious answer – they would only turn back to their rebellion!
Really, such is the state of all of our hearts isn’t it? We are rebellious to the core, and given every opportunity, we would turn ourselves to wickedness despite God’s gracious goodness toward us. Thanks be to His graciousness on our behalf!
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[1] Op Cit, Young.
[2] Calvin, J. (2000). Isaiah. The Crossway classic commentaries (18). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
[3] Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (412). Wheaton: Victor Books.
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