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Agape Bible Study
Isaiah 63-64
Chapter 63: Judgment on the Nations and a Meditation on the History of Israel
Isaiah 63 recounts God's vengeance on the Gentile nations for their cruel treatment of Jews during the period of the Babylonian Exile, the vindication of the people of Zion/the old covenant Church, and the glorification of the holy city of Jerusalem. The key elements in the text of this chapter are:
- The judgment against the Gentile nations that surrounded Israel and contributed to her suffering in a "day of Yahweh's vengeance."
- The future of Israel, God's Covenant people.
- The faithfulness of the God of Israel who will come as His people's Redeemer.
Isaiah 63:1-6 ~ Yahweh's Judgment on the Nations
This part of Isaiah's oracle is written in the form of a dialogue between Yahweh and the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah describes Yahweh in two ways:
- As a warrior coming from Bozrah, the capital of Edom, with crimson stains on his garment.
- As a grape harvester who had tread the grapes in the winepress.
The territory of Edom was to the south of Judah at the southern end of the Dead Sea. These people were the descendants of Jacob's twin brother Esau, and Edom is used symbolically as a Biblical "type" for Israel's traditional enemy. Yahweh is also described as a grape-harvester whose garments are stained with the red juice of crushed grapes. The "winepress" in Scripture is usually a symbol of divine judgment. Yahweh has trampled the "winepress" of judgment alone because there were none to help Him obtain justice for His people.
Question: What has Yahweh been trampling in the "winepress?"
Answer: He has been trampling Israel's enemies.
The historical context is important for without it as a guide Biblical interpretation can be arbitrary and manipulated by the commentator. However, the historical context is not the only category. And the context should not be restricted to only what sequence of events happened earlier, for it is only as events unfold in God's ordained plan of history that the full interpretation of events can be determined. For example, the interpretation of the past in our own lives is influenced by our continuing life experience. It is in this light that Jesus taught "everything written in the Law and Prophets and Psalms is about me" (see complete quote in Luke 24:44), and St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:12 that the events of the Old Testament were to instruct us about the past and be applied to present and future dangers to our salvation.
Looking at this passage from the Passion and Resurrection side of salvation history, it was the interpretation of the Church Fathers that it is God the Son whose garment is stained with the blood He shed to save mankind. There was no one who could save Zion except God Himself. He came Himself, as He promised in Ezekiel 34:11-16. He came as God enfleshed to fight mankind's greatest enemy, Satan, and He defeated Satan with His own blood shed on the altar of the Cross.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (375-444), Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, wrote on Isaiah 63:1-6 and the allegorical connection to Christ's Resurrection and Ascension in his commentary on the Book of Isaiah. Cyril linked this Isaiah passage to 1 Timothy 3:16 "manifested in flesh...seen by angels" and Ephesians 3:10. He wrote, "This prophetic oracle wisely and artfully gives a true to life portrayal of Christ, the Savior of all, as he makes his return to heaven...He was seen by the powers above in the form which he had among us, that is, as a man, and displayed to them the signs of his passion. This passage teaches not only that the perforations from the nails and the other marks remained in his holy flesh after he rose from the dead, it also gives us to understand that as he showed the nail wounds and his side to Thomas...by ascending into heaven with the signs of his passion so Christ also showed to the heavenly powers what he had accomplished that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places' (Ephesians 3:10)." Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Isaiah 63:1-6.
Isaiah's Prayer for Yahweh's Intervention
Isaiah 63:7-64:11/12 contains Isaiah's prayer for God's intervention on behalf of His people. Isaiah describes Yahweh's faithful covenant love (hesed) and compassion toward His covenant people in the past despite Israel's stubborn rebellion and betrayal. He pleads for God to remember His faithful covenant love (hesed) for His people, and he asks for Yahweh to come again Himself, as the divine Shepherd of His flock, to redeem His covenant people. It is a petition that will be answered in the Incarnation of the Christ.
Isaiah 63:7-14 ~ Isaiah Recounts Yahweh's Acts of Covenant Love for Israel
Isaiah contrasts God's faithful covenant love with Israel's stubbornness and rebellion. The covenant people continually responded to God's acts of grace on their behalf with complaints and with the rebellion of sin. Notice the use of the Hebrew word hesed in this passage. It is a word used in the context of the kind of love bound by a covenant relationship. The first place the word hesed is found in Scripture is in Genesis 24:49 when Abraham's servant, sent to find a bride for Isaac, asks Rebekah, "Now tell me whether you are prepared to show constant and faithful love (hesed) to my master..." The word hesed is also used by Isaiah in 54:8, 10, and 55:3.
Question: What did Isaiah say Yahweh looked for in His covenant children in verse 8?
Answer: Because of the closeness of the covenant relationship where Yahweh became their divine Father, God looked for loyal children. Their loyalty and obedience was to be the sign of their love.
In Isaiah 63:1, 11, 13, 15 and 17 the prophet asks God series of questions intended to motivate God to take action in saving His people. In verses 11-13 Isaiah asks where is the God who saved His people in the past and recounts the way God worked to save His people in the Exodus liberation in the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, leading them like a shepherd guiding his flock, and tending to them on every step of their journey (Ex 14:19-31). It was an act of God says Isaiah that won Him the admiration of the surrounding nations.
Israel 63:15-19a ~ Isaiah's Petition for National Restoration
Isaiah continues to plead with the Lord for His help by asking Him more questions:
- Isaiah asks the Lord to look down from Heaven to see the plight of His people, and He urges God to show them His zeal and His might (verse 15a).
- He then asks the Lord why He withholds his mercy from Isaiah, and by inference also from the people (verse 15b).
- Finally Isaiah implores God to remember that He is their divine Father and Redeemer. He asks why God has allowed them to separate themselves from Him and for their hearts to grow cold and hard until they have become so estranged that they have lost their reverent fear of offending God (verse17).
Isaiah is begging for God's divine intervention (63:17b-19). He wonders why God will allow the destruction of His holy Sanctuary (the Jerusalem Temple). A distraught Isaiah must be wondering what is the purpose of the extended exile in Babylon where the covenant people will become like the other Gentiles? "like "those you do not rule, people who do not bear your name." It is a question God will answer in the return from exile and in the Advent of the Redeemer-Messiah.
Chapters 64 ~ The Call for Yahweh's Display of Divine Judgment
Isaiah has come to the end of his ministry, and he is growing weary of only giving warnings of what is to come. He confesses the people's deep need for God and pleads with God to act now to restore the nation. He begs the Lord to come in His terrifying divine judgment to wake-up the people and make them realize the necessity for repentance and restoration. Then, the people would fear Yahweh like the fear they felt after the Theophany at Mount Sinai, and they would respond in repentance that leads to the restoration of fellowship with the God of Israel and make themselves ready for the rejoicing that is promised in the coming kingdom.
Isaiah 63:19b/64:1-4 ~ Isaiah's Petition for Judgment and Divine Revelation
Isaiah's appeal for Yahweh to come down in judgment is described in terms of other theophanies in verses 1-2, like the events of the Exodus liberation (similar to those same works recalled in Ps 18:7-8l; 144:5):
- Like the quaking of the mountain in the theophany at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16; 20:18).
- Like the holy fire in the theophany of the burning bush (Ex 3:2-6).
- Like the workings of God's other miracles that the people saw in the Exodus liberation (Ex 13:15-31; 15:11; 34:10; Dt 10:21; 2 Sam 7:23; Ps 106:22).
Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down...
A similar event as described by Isaiah in this verse took place at Jesus' baptism when St. Mark writes that the heavens were torn apart at the coming down of God the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:10).
... as fire sets brushwood alight, as fire makes water boil...
Fire is a re-occurring image of the mighty works of God; especially as the manifestation of His divine presence, as a sign of purification, and a sign of divine judgment. For example:
- God set angels with fiery swords to close the entrance to the Garden of Eden after the fall of Adam (Gen 4:23-24).
- God destroyed the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire (Gen 19:23-25).
- God led the Israelites in the Exodus liberation in the manifestation of the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex 13:22).
- God descended on Mt. Sinai in the form of fire and appeared to the Israelites as fire (Ex 19:18; 24:17; Dt 4:12, 15, 24, 33, 36).
- God destroyed the sons of Aaron who defiled their priestly obedience with fire from heaven (Lev 10:1-3).
- God destroyed the Levites who rebelled against Moses and Aaron with fire from heaven (Num 16:35).
- God the Holy Spirit descended upon the first community of Christians praying in the Upper Room on the Feast of Pentecost in the image of tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-4).
- The judgment at the end of time will come in unquenchable fire (Mk 9:43-49; Lk 12:49; 2 Pt 3:7, 12; Jude 7; Rev 20:9-15; 21:8).
Fire being associated with the presence of God is especially true in the Book of Isaiah (see Is 4:5; 6:6; 9:4/5; 10:16; 29:6; 30:37, 30; 31:9; 33:12, 14; 66:15, 16, 24). Also see CCC 696, 1031, 1147, 1189 concerning the symbolic imagery of fire in Scripture.
Just as fire burns away undesirable debris and purifies water in boiling away impurities, so can the fiery love of God purify the souls of men and women, just as He purified Isaiah when God called him to his prophetic ministry in Isaiah 6:6-7. His fiery love can purify unclean lips and soften hardened hearts. Isaiah says that the manifestation of God's glory would then alert the nations and they would know the power of Israel's God and the nations would tremble at your presence, 2 at the unexpected miracles you would do. This is always the goal of God's self-revelation "that the world might come to know Him. And knowing Him the world would be terrified of His power over them and the peril in which they stand in His presence so that in the end they might kneel before Him to receive both His mercy and His grace.
Prior to the coming of Christ all souls, whether righteous or wicked, went to Sheol, the abode of the dead. The righteous waited for the coming of the Redeemer in the company of father Abraham, but the wicked suffered fiery purification in atonement for their sins (see Wis 3:1-19; Lk 16:19-31 in Jesus' description of Sheol and the condition of the righteous versus the sinner). Jesus released the prisoners from Sheol when He descended to the dead to preach the Gospel of salvation (Apostles' Creed, 1 Pt 3:18-29; 2:6).
Question: According to the teaching of the Church, when is it that the fiery love of God purifies the residue of sin left in the souls of men and women who are destined for Heaven in this the final age of man? See 1 Cor 3:11-15; CCC 1030-32, 1472.
Answer: Jesus rescued those who accepted Him as their Redeemer from Sheol and from that point the righteous that died in a state of grace went immediately to Heaven while the wicked that died in mortal sins that were not repented went to the Hell of the damned. All professing baptized Christians who died with some unconfessed venial sins or with mortal sins that had been forgiven but for which fill penance had not been made, suffer in God's fiery love in a state that the Church now calls Purgatory. Those purified souls will be saved, but as St. Paul wrote, "...as someone might expect to be saved from a fire" (1 Cor 3:17).
Isaiah 64:5-11 ~ The Need for Confession and Dependence on God
In these verses Isaiah describes the hopeless condition of the people as he cries out in what is both a lament and a complaint ""there is no one to invoke" God's holy name "no one is even concerned about the hopelessness of their condition to call out to God for help. But Isaiah acknowledges the cause of their condition is not from external sources "their suffering is because of their persistent sins and their inability to find a remedy for their sinning. Isaiah's point is if God doesn't do something drastic to reconciling the sinning then the exile and the return will have not solved anything.
Agape Bible Study
Ezekiel 21-22
Chapter 21: The Sword of Yahweh
Chapter 21 contains three oracles that begin with the phrase "The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows." The oracles describe Yahweh's sword of judgment unsheathed. The word "sword" links all three of the oracles (repeated fifteen times in verses 8, 9, 10, 14 twice, 16, 17, 19 three times, 20, 24, 25, 33 twice).
- Oracle #1: Yahweh unsheathes His against the land and the people (verses 1-12).
- Oracle #2: The sword placed in the hands of the Babylonians against the people and their leaders (verses 13-22).
- Oracle #3: The sword of the King of Babylon against Prince Zedekiah and the Ammonites (verses 23-37).
Ezekiel 21:1-12 ~ Oracle #1: The Sword of Yahweh
This oracle is an allegory of a forest fire kindled by God. It will be a work of destruction that "all humanity shall see" (verses 2-4). The allegory opens with God addressing Ezekiel as "Son of man" and closes with "All humanity will see..." In verses 2-4, God tells Ezekiel to turn towards the south in the direction of southern Judah and the desert of the Negeb and speak of the unleashing of God's sword of destruction. The destruction will begin in the southernmost region of Judah in the Negeb and spread north to Jerusalem. When Ezekiel protests that the people do not understand his "riddles," Yahweh recasts His message in plain language in verses 6-10.
Question: In verse 11, what symbolic act is Ezekiel to perform while giving the oracle and why?
Answer: He is to perform a symbolic act of the city's fall. He is to groan as though his heart is breaking, and when the people ask why, he is to tell them it is because the destruction "is coming now."
Ezekiel 21:13-22 ~ Oracle #2: The Song of the Sword
Question: Into whose hand will God place His sword of divine judgment?
Answer: Into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.
19 So prophesy, son of man, and clap your hands! Let the sword pass three times, that sword for victims, that sword for a great victim, threatening them from every side!
The new command to prophesy in verse 19 is a signal that the oracle is entering a new phase. The new phase is in three parts:
- God commands Ezekiel to perform another symbolic act by clapping (verse 19).
- God calls for the sword to perform its deadly work (verses 20-21).
- The oracle discloses that Yahweh is the one clapping His hands (verse 22).
Ezekiel is to "clap" his hands in approval of the coming judgment. The sword will pass three times or be redoubled from south to north, from the Negeb in the south, then north to Jerusalem and beyond, slicing one direction and then back and then forward again.
Ezekiel 21:23-32 ~ Oracle #3 ~ The King of Babylon at the Crossroads
Following the formula saying in verse 23, this oracle divides into three parts:
- The action in marking out the two roads (verses 24-25).
- The interpretation of the act (verses 26-29).
- The judgment against the prince (verses 30-32).
We first heard of the "King of Babylon" in 17:12 and his part in the destruction of Jerusalem and the capture of Zedekiah (also in 19:9, 23, and 26). Now we are told that it is into his hands that Yahweh will place His sword of divine judgment. Nebuchadnezzar will not be identified by name in the Book of Ezekiel until 26:7.
Ezekiel 21:33-37 ~ Oracle #3 Continued: The Punishment of the Ammonites
Ammon was a partner in Judah's revolt against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar will turn take his army to attack Jerusalem, but that doesn't mean the Ammonites should gloat and jeer over the destruction of Jerusalem because they will not escape "the sword."
In verse 35, the command is to put the sword back into the scabbard. The Ammonites betray their former allies and take pleasure in Jerusalem's destruction. the covenant with Christ Jesus and His Kingdom of the universal Church.
Chapter 22: The Sins of People of Jerusalem
Chapter 22 contains a series of three oracles that concern the men and women of Ezekiel's generation. Each oracle begins with the formula statement: "The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows":
Oracle #1 (verses 1-16)
Oracle #2 (verses 17-22)
Oracle #3 (verses 23-31)
In this series of oracles, Yahweh paints a picture of a corrupt Jerusalem from the top of society to the bottom: from princes to commoners. God repeatedly recounts how the Jerusalemites defile themselves with idols, shed the blood of the innocent, practice robbery, persist in promiscuous adultery, and profane the Sabbath. In addition to the crimes of her citizens, her princes, priests, and prophets behave as ravenous wolves, seeking dishonest gain.
Ezekiel 22:1-5 ~ The Order to Judge Jerusalem's Crimes
In 16:41, God defended Himself, saying He will give the failed covenant people the just judgments they deserved (16:41, 59) so that, through their suffering, they will repent, renounce pagan idols, and return to their covenant relationship with Him (16:61-63). Yahweh made the same defense of His judgments in 18:25-29. But now, this oracle begins with Yahweh's announcement that Ezekiel should take God's place and judge the sins of Jerusalem while Yahweh will act as the prosecutor, presenting the evidence in the case against Jerusalem. The first oracle is in five parts and announces the general indictment, the city's doom, and public disgrace:
- The call for Jerusalem's arraignment in a covenant lawsuit (verses 1-2).
- The summons to Jerusalem to face her indictment (verse 3).
- The announcement of the charges (verses 4-5).
- The presentation of the evidence (verses 6-12).
- The pronouncement of the sentence (verses 13-16).
Question: The summons announces what principal charge against Jerusalem? How is it delivered? The main charge is mentioned three times in verses 2, 3, and 4.
Answer: Ezekiel delivers the summons to face judgment in a "woe" judgment against the city for shedding innocent blood.
Ezekiel 22:6-16 ~ The Leaders' Sins
In verses 6-12, God tells Ezekiel to give a detailed indictment, listing the charges into groups of three clusters of social and cultic sins, each beginning with an offense calculated to "shed blood" in verses 6-8, 9-11, and concluding in verse 12:
- Verses 7-8: furthered their own interests at the cost of bloodshed by despising the law to honor one's parents, ill-treated aliens, oppressed widows and orphans, treated the Sanctuary with contempt, and profaned the Sabbaths.
- Verses 9-11: In you informers incite to bloodshed by eating sacred meals and practice ogres dedicated to false gods, committing sexual sins including incest, forced sex with menstruating women, practicing adultery.
- Verse 12: In you people take bribes for shedding blood by ill-gotten profit like usury and extortion, and forgetting covenant obligations to Yahweh.
The list of charges includes:
- Three charges of cultic offenses: holy things (verse 8), Sabbaths (verse 8), eating sacred meals on mountains (verse 9).
- Five charges of sexual immorality: father's wives (verse 10), menstruating women (verse 10), adultery (verse 11), daughter-in-law (verse 11), paternal sister (verse 11).
- Eight charges of social injustice: bloodshed (verse 6), parents (verse 7), foreigner (7), orphans and widows (verse 7), slanderers (verse 9), bribes (verse 12), interest (12), extortion/ill-gotten profit (verse 12).
Ezekiel 22:17-22 ~ The Impurity of Israel
This passage is the shortest oracle in the Book of Ezekiel. The metallurgical imagery in the second oracle occurs five times in the books of the prophets in Isaiah 1:22-25; Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:17-22; Zechariah 13:9 and Malachi 3:2-3. The refining fire is a metaphor for the destruction and purification of the city of Jerusalem. In the refining process, when the metal is melted down, the impurities or "dross" float to the surface. The purity that was once Israel/Jerusalem has become filled with impurity. The four base metals mentioned in verse 18 are usually alloyed with silver. Jerusalem will be purified in her fiery destruction when all the "dross," a symbol for sin, is burned away.
"Fire" is a keyword in Chapters 22-24, repeated seven times in 22:20, 21, 31; 23:47; 24:3, 9, 12.
Question: What is the symbolic image of fire in the Old Testament? What does fire represent in the New Testament? See Lev 13:52; Num 31:23; Mal 3:2-3; Jer 23:29; Is 33:14; Gen 19:24; Ex 9:24; Ps 66:12; Is 43:2; Is 66:15-16; Ex 3:2; 13:21-22 and Lk 3:16; Acts 2:2-3; Mt 13:49-50; Lk 3:9; 9:54.
Answer: In the Old Testament, fire is a symbol of:
- Purification (Lev 13:52; Num 31:23; Mal 3:2-3)
- Discernment (Jer 23:29; Is 33:14)
- Judgment (Gen 19:24; Ex 9:24; Ps 66:12; Is 43:2; Is 66:15-16)
- A manifestation of the presence of God (Ex 3:2; 13:21-22)
- In the New Testament, fire is a symbol of God in the manifestation of the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16; Acts 2:2-3) and Divine Judgment (Mt 13:49-50; Lk 3:9; 9:54).
Ezekiel 22:23-31 ~ The Crimes of the Civil and Religious Leaders
This passage is the third oracle judging the sins of the current generation. Yahweh says He has enacted the covenant curse of no cleansing rain (Lev 26:18; Dt 28:22-24). He directs this part of the indictment toward the sins of five groups of people: the Davidic princes, civil leaders, religious leaders, prophets, and ordinary people. God compares the Davidic princes, civil and religious leaders are compared to predatory animals feeding on the people:
- The Davidic princes, whose duty is to protect the people like a lion defending its pride, are instead devouring their people, especially the disadvantaged, causing them misery and bloodshed (verse 25).
- The priests are guilty of six sins (verse 26):
- Violated God's laws
- Desecrated God's Sanctuary
- Failed to make the distinction between what is sacred and what is profane
- Failed to catechize the people concerning ritual purity
- Neglected the Sabbath laws
- Dishonored Yahweh
- The civil leaders/elders take advantage of the people, taking possession of their material wealth and shed the blood of the innocent in unjust verdicts (verse 27).
- The prophets use their empty visions and false prophecies to excuse the bad behavior of the leaders and to give the people false hope (verse 28).
- The ordinary people practice extortion and theft, oppress the poor and needy, and unjustly treat the resident aliens (verse 29).
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A Daily Defense
DAY 221 Born Atheists?
CHALLENGE: “Babies don’t believe in God. They are born atheists. So atheism is the natural condition of mankind.“
DEFENSE: This claim is based on a misunderstanding of what atheism is.
People can have a number of attitudes toward any proposition:
• They may never have considered the proposition.
• They may have considered it but neither affirm nor deny it.
• They may affirm the proposition.
• They may deny the proposition.
More specific attitudes are also possible based on how strongly one affirms or denies a proposition (e.g., holding that it is certain, all but certain, very likely, likely, somewhat likely, equiprobable, somewhat unlikely, unlikely, and so on), but these four general attitudes are sufficient for our present purposes.
If we relate them to the proposition “God exists,” the following positions emerge:
1. Those who have never considered whether God exists (alogism)
2. Those who don’t know whether God exists (agnosticism)
3. Those who affirm that God exists (theism)
4. Those who deny that God exists (atheism)
When these distinctions are made, it’s clear to which category babies belong. They have never considered whether God exists—a position we may call alogism (Greek, a, “not” and logizomai, “consider”). Indeed, they belong to the category of alogists by necessity, for they don’t have the conceptual apparatus needed to understand the proposition “God exists.” Even if someone explained the concept of God’s existence to them, they wouldn’t understand what was being said.
Atheism involves the denial of God’s existence. Therefore, it is a category mistake to claim that babies are atheists. They aren’t even agnostics but “alogists.”
The claim that atheism is mankind’s natural state is also undermined by the fact that religion is a human universal (see Day 313). Historically, there have been no non-religious societies. Indeed, recent research indicates that, as children’s cognitive powers develop, they are predisposed toward religious faith.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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