6“THIS IS WHAT the LORD says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
7Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let him foretell what will come.
8Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
9All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame.
10Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit him nothing?
11He and his kind will be put to shame;
craftsmen are nothing but men.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and infamy.
12The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
13The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in the form of man,
of man in all his glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
15It is man’s fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
17From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me; you are my god.”
18They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
19No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
20He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
21“Remember these things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.
22I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”
Original Meaning
THIS PASSAGE, THE ultimate accusation against the idols, concludes the unit of 42:10–44:22. While one further passage will address idols (46:1–7), it lacks the intensity and the air of judicial challenge that comes to its climax here. The diatribe here reflects the trajectory that has developed in the earlier ones. Initially, the case against the idol gods was focused on their inability to explain the meaning of the past and tell the future (41:21–29). In the second presentation of the case (43:8–13), another element was added: their inability to save their people or prevent Yahweh from saving his people from them. Now in this third presentation, although their inability to predict the future takes first place (44:7–8), it is quickly succeeded by their inability to save, and that issue takes up the rest of the case.
The statement of the case begins in 44:6–8 with another claim to absolute uniqueness by God. The body of the charges is presented in 44:9–20. Finally, 44:21–22 forms the conclusion by issuing a call for Israel to take to heart all that this means for what their God can, and will, do for them. Like the other presentations of the case against the idols, this one has an “evangelical” function. It is not a cool philosophical discourse but attempts to convince apathetic, discouraged people not to put their hopes in things that will ultimately fail them; they must wait confidently and expectantly for what the one God, the Creator, their Holy One, will do for them.1
God’s Absolute Uniqueness (44:6–8)
IN WORDS AND phrases that are now familiar to anyone working straight through the book, Yahweh declares his absolute uniqueness. But he first identifies himself inextricably with Israel. Although he is the only God, “the first and the last,” he is also the One who has made himself known in the context of a relationship with a small, insignificant people. The gods cannot explain why he has done this nor where the relationship is going to go in the future. But God has, and the people of Israel are “witnesses” to that fact (44:8). In an always changing, unstable world, there is One who does not change, a “Rock” to which beaten, battered people may cling.
Charges Against the Idols (44:9–20)
IN CONTRAST TO this Rock, what do the other peoples of earth have to cling to? Nothing. They “treasure” worthless things, trash, and as a result have become “nothing” themselves (44:9).2 This thought is developed further in a general way in 44:10–11. The gods are nothing because they are made by human “craftsmen.” Such gods must fail their worshipers, putting them to “shame” and thereby making the worshipers as valueless as the things worshiped. Once again (see comments on 40:18–20 and 43:8–13) the question is: How can something made by humans ever save humans?
In 44:12–17 the prophet describes the process of making idols in great detail, showing how difficult it is to make one’s own gods when the true God can be so easily found. Isaiah takes us backward through the complex process, beginning with the last step of plating the wooden form with precious metal (v. 12). Then he describes how the carpenter made the wooden form (v. 13). Next he describes the process of choosing the wood for the form (v. 14). In all of this he describes the difficulty and the complexity of the process.
In 44:15–17 Isaiah comes to the heart of his argument. When the idol maker cuts down a tree for the form of his god, he also uses some of that same tree for firewood! How in the world, the prophet asks, can a piece of wood, another part of which has been used to cook food and supply warmth, ever be expected to save a person, especially when so much human effort has had to be lavished on it to make it what it is?3 The answer is, of course, that it cannot do so, and anyone who thinks it can has been mentally and spiritually blinded (44:18).
The ultimate seriousness of paganism and its consequences is seen in 44:19–20. God hates the thing that has reduced humans to “nothing,” that has destroyed their power to think logically. So it is not mere hyperbole when he calls the idols an “abomination” (NIV “detestable thing,” v. 19). In the Old Testament an “abomination” (toʿebah) is a violation of God’s creation order.4 It is to use a created thing in a way that violates its character. That is surely the case with idolatry. God has given all of nature to humans to care for in a way that will produce blessing (Gen. 1:28–30). For us to elevate nature to the place of God and bow down to that which was made for us is just such a violation. Spiritually speaking, it is to feed “on ashes” (Isa. 44:20).
A Call to Take Heart (44:21–22)
THESE TWO VERSES give us God’s appeal to his people on the basis of what he has just said. They have not made their God; rather he has “made” them. Therefore, he is no prisoner of creation, and they need not be either. If they will “remember” all that he has been, is, and will be, they need not fear that he will “forget” them. Nor do they need to fear that their sins have become irremovable aspects of their fate. God is not bound by fate; if he determines to forgive their “offenses” and to redeem them from their captivity, he will find a way to do those things. There is nothing that can stop him (cf. 43:13).
Bridging Contexts
ACCESS TO TRUTH. The forcefulness of the language used here and elsewhere in Isaiah in reference to idol worship strikes our modern ears harshly. This is because we have come to the place where harsh language is tolerated only when it is directed against intolerance. In the modern West, intolerance and politically incorrect speech are the only sins left. And intolerance is defined in the widest terms possible: believing that someone else is wrong. We have lost all confidence that anything is true in the realm of ultimate meaning. What you believe is just as likely to be true as what I believe; therefore, how dare either of us criticize the other? I may adhere to any strange creed I wish as long as I do not insist you should believe it.
What has happened is this: For the first fifteen hundred years of Christendom the church maintained the authority to determine what was right and wrong. Then for the next three hundred years the Bible was the authority. Then the Enlightenment replaced the Bible with reason. Now we have lost faith in reason’s ability to show us the truth. This means that each person now determines truth for himself or herself, but with one major caveat. Anything that society determines demeans the absolute worth and freedom of any individual will be attacked with draconian energy.
So, to use modern parlance, where is Isaiah “coming from”? How can he speak so forcefully about someone else’s cherished beliefs? He can do so because he believes that he has access to “the truth.” That is the critical question. Does he have access to such truth, or is his “truth” of no more value than that of the Canaanites or the Babylonians? If the latter is true, then we must hang our heads for him and tell him to “pipe down.” If, however, he does know the truth, then he must not keep silent. Should a person who knows that a highway bridge has collapsed a few miles ahead keep silent? That would be criminal neglect. Such a person has an obligation to warn everyone he can of the danger they are facing.
So the overriding issue in all of this is whether the “truth” about life, its meaning, and its purpose can be known. And if so, by what means is that knowing possible? If, however, life is without meaning, then that is the end of the discussion. “Right” and “wrong” are meaningless terms that should be expelled from our vocabulary. Yet the most avid secularist is not willing to give up such terms, especially when he or she feels “rights” have been violated. We do think some things are so, so the question is: How do we know them? The answer given everywhere today is: experience. Our experience, individual and collective, teaches us that certain things are so. However, beyond some broad generalities, everyone’s experience is different. So it is impossible to say that there are particular principles that are true for everyone.
But before we go very far down that road, we should look at the five thousand years of human history that have preceded us. When unaided human experience has been made the means for discovering “truth,” the results have been markedly similar around the world. I have already talked about them at various places in this commentary, but let me recap them briefly: The world is divine; all physical-psycho-social forces are gods; conflict is eternal; sexuality is the life force; sympathetic magic is the means of manipulating and identifying with the gods; all ethics are relative (though since no society can exist for long without certain ethical norms, the ethics a given society deems effective will have to be enforced with coercion); all time is cyclical; progress is an illusion; individuals are only of value as they are a part of the larger whole of humanity, but humanity itself is of no particular value. The history of the human race tells us that this is where the theory of knowledge the Western world now espouses will lead us. Is that really where we want to go?
The only viable alternative to that theory of knowledge is the one offered in the Bible. Again we have talked about it elsewhere: It is the principle of revelation. Truth is mediated to us from beyond ourselves. It is mediated by both language and action as God, who transcends us in every particular, intersects us in our own context.
This mode of knowledge has led to some startlingly different conclusions about reality. There is one transcendent Creator of the universe, who is a personal Spirit. He created the universe freely and joyously as an expression of his own creative love. Humans, and indeed, individual humans, are an expression of his character and nature and are thus of the highest value to him. Since he is transcendent, he cannot be manipulated by sympathetic magic. He can only be identified with through the means of personal relationship he makes available to us. Since he is the one Creator and is utterly consistent, the world has a purpose and a goal. That in turn means it is possible to determine what is effective in reaching that goal and what is not effective. This also means that it is possible to keep track of progress toward that goal. There is thus an absolute ethic that is rooted in the very nature of things, which, when followed, brings blessing to the human race and which, when denied, brings disaster.
This is where Isaiah is coming from. And it is the same place that Jesus Christ was coming from when he said to Nicodemus, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man” (John 3:12–13). Jesus was claiming to have direct access to the truth. More than that, he was claiming to be the means of that truth’s being revealed to the world. This is where the passion of an Isaiah and a Jesus come from: the conviction that the truth about nature and life has been revealed to us and that we can then speak with assurance about the right ways to live and the wrong ways. That is what is at issue in a passage like this.
Contemporary Significance
CONFRONTING AND SHAPING OUR AGE. The challenge that a passage like this places before contemporary Christians, especially young Christians, is whether we will confront our age as directly as Isaiah and the rest of the prophets of Israel did. Young people are under terrific pressure to conform to the dominant culture of the day. Part of that pressure comes from within. How do I differentiate myself from my parents (a necessary step if maturity is to occur)? The immediate tendency is simply to reject everything about my parents—the way they think, the way they dress, the preferences they have—and to adopt whatever is new and current.
But this internal pressure has been dramatically reinforced from outside by the collapse of American culture that has occurred with increasing speed since the 1960s. Young people have been encouraged to look at the past, and particularly at their parents, with contempt. They have been encouraged to flaunt their defiance of all authority as though authority in itself is an evil. The ethics without which no society can exist (as best epitomized in the Ten Commandments) are consciously attacked in popular music, and music critics rush to laud the “provocative honesty” of the “artists,” while all the time the “artists” are laughing. All they intended was to be outrageous and shocking in as rude a fashion as possible.
In this atmosphere, it is imperative that Christian young people be willing to be marked men and women. On the one hand, they need to temper the internal pressure to negate everything of their parents. They need to look critically and yet appreciatively at these persons who gave them life. This is surely why the fifth commandment was given in the first place. If it was the easy, natural thing to honor one’s parents, no commandment would have to be given. It is because it is so easy to dishonor one’s parent that a commandment was necessary. So if the Christendom of one’s parents is full of inconsistencies, that does not mean the whole thing should be dispensed with. Do it better by the grace of God. Bring it back to the Bible and to the authority of God. The children of the exiles in Babylon had the opportunity to trust God in ways that would put their parents’ little faith to shame, and by the grace of God they did it. Let the children of Christian parents today do the same thing and go beyond their parents’ faith.
On the other hand, let Christian young people today refuse to bow to the false gods of this world just as believers did in Babylon 2,700 years ago. The meaninglessness and pointlessness of life in a world where the transcendent God has been shut out is vividly portrayed in all the media today. We are already reaping the bitter fruits of the view that this world is all there is. Can things made with human hands save us from ourselves today any more than they could then? Not in the least. So the god and goddess of unlimited sex, the god of power through wealth, the god of alcoholic gaiety, and the goddess of beauty must all be rejected by Christians today as we seek the face of the one God more than anything else. He alone can redeem us from the dungeons in which those other gods will abandon us at the end of the day.
This will require increasing courage and the willingness to be rejected and ultimately disenfranchised. Unless our society undergoes a major revival, Christians will soon be seen as the enemy of the state. But God is writing our history and no one else, so we can dare to be different, and in so doing continue to be lights for the truth so that others lost in the dark can find their way home to the Father.