The Theology of the Book of Isaiah by John E. Goldingay

Author:John E. Goldingay [Goldingay, John E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2014-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

True Religion

The major sections outside the two prayers focus on the nature of true religion. It has two main aspects. True worship needs to be offered to Yahweh alone and offered in a way that recognizes who Yahweh truly is. The reason for Yahweh’s snorting response to the people’s prayer is that this prayer is accompanied by abhorrent religious practices (Is 65:1-12). People take part in worship that involves seeking the help of gods other than Yahweh, and they are even prepared to sacrifice children in the course of doing so (Is 57:3-13). Quite likely they saw themselves as still committed to Yahweh; they would see the other deities as Yahweh’s underlings or agents, and they would see their sacrifices as offered to Yahweh indirectly if not directly. But they have continued the assimilation to the traditional religion of Canaan that commonly characterized Israel. They need, therefore, to turn back to Yahweh as the one who dwells “on high and holy” but also “with the crushed and low in spirit” (Is 57:15).

The other aspect of true religion is that it needs to be accompanied by right living outside worship, but alongside apostate faith is social breakdown. The prophecy’s critique grievously parallels the critique from two centuries ago—in other words, the last part of Isaiah corresponds to the first. We have come full circle. People with power in the community focus on doing well for themselves and on indulging themselves, and they ignore (or encourage) the way faithful people become the victims of oppression and lose their lives one way or another (Is 56:9–57:2).

Indeed, it is possible to be faithful in living by Yahweh’s religious expectations yet to discover that this kind of faithfulness does not count. Once more the prophecy parallels the critique near the opening of Isaiah, which condemned heartfelt, sacrificial, prayerful worship that was unaccompanied by mišpāṭ and ṣĕdāqâ (Is 1:10-20). In Isaiah 58, people are committed to fasting, which can have a number of significances. One is that fasting can back up prayer, but people are finding that it does not work, and the reason is that at the same time as fasting they are involved in the exploitation and ill treatment of their employees. There is thus a further parallel with Isaiah 1, in that the prophecy is not suggesting that there is a mismatch between people’s outward practice and their inner attitude; they are quite sincere in their seeking God. The problem lies in the mismatch between two aspects of their outward lives. They are looking for Yahweh to act with mišpāṭ and ṣĕdāqâ, but they are not acting in that way themselves (Is 58:2). In a further parallel with the earlier polemic, the prophecy is not concerned with the theoretical question of whether a particular form of religion is proper or necessary, but with a practical question about this particular community’s fasting. Raising the question issues in the prophecy’s turning fasting into a metaphor for a different form of self-denial and self-giving (Is 58:6-12), action that is an expression of mišpāṭ and ṣĕdāqâ.

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