The theme of Isaiah 55:1-9, part of a segment that continues to verse 13, is the eternal covenant of the Lord. This passage provides me an opportunity to reflect upon the emptiness and fullness of a human life.
Isaiah 40-55 often receives the title from scholars of the Book of the Consolation of Judah, written in 545-539. The focus of this larger work is the promise of a joyful return of the exiled people of Judah to a restored and purified homeland and temple. However, throughout Isaiah we find the unifying themes of the sanctity of the city of Jerusalem and the intention of God reside there in the temple dedicated to God. The fate of Jerusalem, the fate of those who would fight to protect the city, the fate of those who long to return to the city, and the fate of those who struggle to rebuild the city, are themes throughout the book.
Chapter 55 forms the conclusion of the Book of Consolation of Judah, with virtually every major theme of chapters 40-54 appearing. The oracle follows four servant songs (the last of which is at 52:13-53:12) and an oracle of salvation directed specifically at Jerusalem (54:1-17). The chapter forms an inclusio with chapter 40, repeating important key themes and ideas found in that chapter, as in the new exodus in 40:1-11 and 55:12-13, heaven and earth in 40:12 and 55:8-11, and forgiveness in 40:2 and 55:6-7.[1] The final four verses of the chapter are a concluding oracle of salvation (vv. 10-11) in the form of a repetition of the omnipresent theme of the new exodus (vv. 12-13).
Isaiah 55: 1-2 might remind one of Proverbs 9:1-6, in which Wisdom has sent out servant-girls, inviting the simple to turn in here and to come and eat of her bread and drink of her wine. In both cases, we find the invitation to a banquet. She also invites them to lay aside immaturity and live, walking in the way of insight. Both passages have a definite concern for people who listen to turn from what they are doing. In turning away and thus toward the banquet, listeners will attain life. For some scholars, this oracle speaks of a new social and moral order for the returned exiles that is the result of the gracious transforming power of the Lord. 1Ho,an interjection[2] used to get attention, everyone (exiled Judah) who thirsts, come to the waters, the waters mentioned here (with the definite article) are the life-giving waters that will allow the restored Israel to flourish in all aspects of its natural and social life;[3] and you that have no money (literally silver), come, buy and eat! Hunger and thirst refers to basic human needs, but suggests spiritual hunger and thirst. It reminds us of the hunger of the Hebrews in the wilderness, and the provision of manna and quail that God offers. People need spiritual direction and nourishment. The invitation is to the exiled people of Judah, which remains the particular object of the Lord’s concern even as the edges of that concern broaden and become less sharply defined in Second and Third Isaiah. (See, for example, the arresting oracle for eunuchs and foreigners that follows immediately in 56:1-8.) The question of who, exactly, constituted biblical “Israel” is by no means closed. The term not infrequently appears to mean only adult males; in other passages, it appears to include women and children. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. The references here to buying and spending money suggest, at a minimum, only adults and very possibly only adult males. The Lord urges those who thirst and have no money to come and “buy” wine and milk, a literal contradiction until one realizes that we are to understand the buying, the wine and the milk literally. While it was doubtless true that the exiles (or exiles at some stage of return) found Israel’s economy in shambles and their resources painfully stretched, the prophet here is nonetheless urging the attention of his compatriots beyond their understandable concern for basic material security and to their deeper need for spiritual direction and nourishment. While the religion of ancient Israel, as preserved in the Hebrew Bible, was profoundly materialistic in its recognition of the good of basic human needs such as for food, clothing, shelter, companionship and security, that religion never granted those basic needs or their satisfaction a status independent of the deity who created both. Human beings are fully satisfied — indeed only fully live — when they meet their spiritual needs as well as their physical needs. Deuteronomy 8:3, quoted by Jesus in the New Testament at Matthew 4:4 and parallels, provides an example. The verse speaks of a transformed social order, in which those “that have no money” are able to secure not only life’s essentials, such as water, but also the rich abundance of wine and milk, the latter a luxury item that would ordinarily be available only to the privileged few. During such times of unrest as the Israelites were experiencing in the waning days of their Babylonian captors, such richness for the ordinary Israelite would have been even more exotic. In verses 2-3, the influence of the wisdom schools on this portion of Second Isaiah continues. It would show wisdom on the part of those who hear to do what the prophet urges. The prophetic tradition understood itself to be of the second order of Israel’s religious institutions, relying on the first-order foundation of Mosaic legislation as the source of its instruction and admonition. While prophets such as Second and Third Isaiah were clearly concerned with Israel’s future (e.g., vv. 12-13), they were simultaneously grounded in Israel’s Mosaic past, which became the almost mythical point of reference to which they urged Israel to return (as in v. 7). 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? The invitation to the Lord’s transformed economy is followed by a rhetorical question functioning as a mild rebuke , viz., why do the people squander their precious resources for “that which is not bread” and “that which does not satisfy”? The prophet’s criticism presumably is leveled against those who, in captivity, are trading on a black market for nonessentials while ignoring the basics that would restore a legitimate economy and society back in Israel. He is really asking, “Why waste your industry, your wealth and your life’s work in a place which will never be your home?” If you are thirsty, if you are hungry, all you have to do is return to the place the Lord has set aside for you and there, even if you are poor and have no money with which to make a living, the Lord will sustain you. The Lord will provide you with the necessities of life from the land, just as in olden times. Listen carefully (wisdom school) to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear (wisdom teacher), and come to me; listen, so that you may live. The Lord reminds them of the covenant with David. I will make with you an everlasting covenant (berit `olam, appearing only here in II Isaiah), my steadfast, sure love for David. The eternal covenant is the covenant of unconditional grace with David, of which we read in II Samuel 7:4-17. The covenant with David is one of four prominent covenants, the others being the Noachian (Genesis 9:1-17), the Abrahamic (Genesis 11:31-12:7; 15:1-21; 17:1-22), and the Mosaic (Exodus 19:1-6). Scholars have traditionally seen in these four covenants the two principal modes of divine-human relationships: one of unconditional grace (Noachian, Abrahamic and Davidic) and one of conditional election (Mosaic), in which the conditions of the covenant depend upon Israel’s response to the gracious overture from the Lord. Some scholars think that the promise of the Lord to David was that a descendant of the house of David would sit on Israel’s throne forever, despite possible chastisement for unfaithfulness. This theme of unbroken divine faithfulness the prophet here both takes up and expands. The prophet now applies the everlasting covenant to Israel. The covenant formerly made only with the royal line now applies to the entire nation of Israel. The idea of Israel as prince and ruler applies titles that the Lord gave to David to restored Israel. A psalmist looks to a time when kings from Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba will render tribute to the king of Israel (72:9-11). Another psalmist envisions a time when the king will call the Lord “Father” and become the first-born of all kings (89:24-27). This rule of Israel consists of being a mediator between the Lord and the nations. The Lord reminds the Israelites that they once lived in the land in a covenant relationship with the Lord, and therefore they could have that relationship again. Just as the Lord established an eternal covenant with David, signified by divine chesed, or “steadfast sure love” for David (II Samuel 7), the Lord will now fulfill that covenant by restoring exiled Israel to its land and glorifying the fallen nation once again.[4] 4 See, I made him a witness (designating the mission of Israel)[5] to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. The comparison to David’s kingship may also include an oblique reference to David’s fugitive period during his struggles with the declining Saul, Israel’s first king, when David gathered about himself “everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented” (I Samuel 22:2). The reference to “the peoples” (plural) may also refer to David’s mercenary service to the Philistine king of Gath during the same period (1 Samuel 27:1-28:2). 5 See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,[6] for he has glorified (pa’ar) you. Israel becomes a mediator of the grace of God to the nations. This role for Israel is not because Israel is so pure, but because the Holy One of Israel is in its midst. Grace singles out Israel for election, and not any intrinsic superiority to other nations. Despite its contentious history, the theme of Israel’s election never asserted Israel’s superiority in any way over other nations; Israel never merited chosenness. Only Yahweh’s inscrutable grace singled Israel out for election (to which the oracle refers in following verses). In all of this, we can see the basis in the New Testament for Jesus replacing Israel as mediator of the grace of God to all people, Jew and Gentile alike, and the importance of the mission of the people of God to bear witness to what God has now done in Christ. In verses 6-7, the prophet urges the people to change their ways and seek the Lord. 6 Seek the Lord while you may find him, call upon him while he is near. This phrase reflects the common theologoumenon of the hidden God or the God who, because of sin or unknown reasons, has turned away (the divine face or divine favor. We can see this thought as well in Isaiah 49:14; Joshua 24:20; II Chronicles 12:5. We can especially see the theme in such psalm references as 13:1; 22:1; 27:9; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14. The exhortation also reflects the prophetic insight that people as individuals and as groups are more apt to recognize God’s presence in times of brokenness and vulnerability than when they feel themselves to be at the height of their (own) powers. 7 Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 40:2, the beginning of II Isaiah, says Jerusalem has served her penalty for her sins. The prophet concludes with the assurance that God will pardon. Thus, to seek the Lord in this context means to seek forgiveness and to abandon a way of life. The people have not learned their lesson from judgment. The dominant school of theological thought during the biblical period understood the exile, like all of Israel’s misfortunes to be the result of Israel’s wicked and unrighteous behavior, from which the prophet again urges the nation as individuals, the substantives and verbs in v. 7 being singular. The people were in exile because of their wickedness. In exile, the people continued in their wickedness. They needed to repent and to turn to the Lord. The vision of restoration in this passage has as its foundation the one thing that Israel seemed unable to accomplish in the days just prior to their exile. They must turn to God with all their hearts. They must repent of their wickedness. Only then will God be able to pardon them and show them mercy. Now is the time, declares the prophet. A door is open. God is near and inviting the Israelites to return. God is allowing Israel to find God, God is coming near to restore Israel. Now is the time to turn to God and expect restoration. Verses 8-9 often receive the interpretation that the ways of God are incomprehensible. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. II Isaiah began with the Lord marking off the heavens with a span and enclosing the dust of the earth in a measure (Isaiah 40:12). The prophet concludes with further evidence of the vast difference between the Lord and human beings. While the point is that the thoughts of the Lord are higher than are human beings, they are still manifest to human beings. The incomprehensibility of the divine will may refer to God’s decision to rescue Israel from exile, despite the evidence of continued unrighteousness referred to in verse 7.[7] For those who think it is foolish to believe that God would restore Israel after all of their failures of faithfulness in the past, the prophet insists that God does not decide on such issues the way human beings do. Ezekiel ponders a similar issue when he notes that people were saying the Lord is unfair when the Lord forgives the wicked who repent, while the Lord asks Israel if it is not its ways that are unfair (Ezekiel 18:25-29). God’s ways are higher than human ways. It is not logical that God would forgive Israel. At least, it is not logical from a human point of view. However, the prophet reminds us, God is a higher order of being who is capable of a greater degree of compassion. People cannot grasp the saving purpose of the Lord totally, nor can revelation disclose everything. The prophets do not know the providence of God. The manner in which the Lord restored Israel is not the way Israel expected the Lord to act.
At this point, let us begin by reflecting upon the notion that the mercy, grace, and love of God are truly amazing. It seems to keep overruling what would be justice, from a human point of view. Justice would have said that the Israelites had rebelled so terribly that God would justly punish them and leave them. Mercy invited the Israelites to receive their spiritual direction and nourishment from the Lord. Mercy invited the exiles to return to their homes in Israel. God did not forget them, no matter what they had done. Justice and mercy are often opposing forces for human beings. We must decide to be one or the other. God is both, equally, and all the time. In all of this, the way God related to Israel in justice and mercy is a pattern of the way God deals with all humanity in Jesus Christ.
How will we respond to the invitation the Lord offers through this prophet?
The prophet has aready joyfully accepted the invitation. And why not? Look at all the benefits:
Free food! “You that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (v. 2). If something is offered to you, and you don’t need money, and it has no price tag, it’s free, right? Why would you not want to accept this offer?
Free booze. “Wine … without money and without price” (v. 2). Again, what’s not to like about this party?
Guaranteed entrance. To get into this party, all you need to do is show up at the door! No bouncers are going to turn you away. “Come!” This word is used four times in the first three verses of the text. If you answer God’s call, accepting the divine invitation, you will not be turned away!
This invitation of amazing grace is far-ranging, casting a big, divine net of mercy and forgiveness. For we all are sinners, we are all thirsty, we are all in need of divine food, and God is ready and willing to satisfy our need.
Of course, we might decide that we are not interested. True, you may forever regret the decision. But, you say in your heart, right now it is not convenient. It is not the right time. We might “Regretfully Decline” because we have “other engagements.” We are really a little too busy right now to get serious about faith and the practice of faith. Everyone wants a piece of you, and there is not enough “you” to go around. This sounds like the invitation of a lifetime, but it comes at a really bad time. “I’ll have to take a raincheck. Sorry.”
“Other engagements” is a big problem, especially for those in the middle years of their lives. This is a time for sowing the seeds of future financial security; this is a time to be in the fields from dawn until dusk. This is also when family obligations are the most demanding. Marriages are contracted, relationships formed, children are raised and enrolled in school, music lessons, T-ball, ballet classes and swimming lessons. On top of this, everyone needs some “me time” to relax among friends, or enjoy a pickup basketball game or a girls’ night out.
Let us be clear. Things that seem critical can distract us. We can give ourselves to meaningless spending that brings us into a dangerous debt problem. We can easily lose a sense of time doing trivial things. We can sit in front of computer screens, television screens, and game screens endlessly. Money and time can be good indicators of our spiritual poverty. We have become thirsty and hungry, but we are not sure how to fill the need. We are lovers of our technology, but it can be nothing more than an expression of our emptiness.
It is normal to be cautious when making new commitments or accepting invitations. At the same time, any stage of life requires that we step outside the safety of living on autopilot, assuming that the previous stage of life had sufficient insight for the next stage of our lives. We need to wrestle at each stage with who we are, why we believe what we profess to believe our lives, and what we do to provide meaning and structure to our daily activities and relationships.
We work for that which does not satisfy. We spend money, time, talent, and passion, on that which does not satisfy. God wants us to lead full lives. We can do so by prayerfully considering our families and work as part of the calling or invitation God extends to each of us. The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we have responded to the divine call upon our lives. In theology, we call this our vocation. Family and work do not have meaning and do not bring satisfaction in themselves. Rather, meaning and satisfaction are what we bring to them. Many people have discovered that God has provided a banquet from which they can drink and eat freely. Simple things like worship, learning in small groups, prayer, scripture, and service can lead us to the banquet.
It will take time to learn the ways of God. However, if we “come” and “buy” into a higher reasoning, a different way of doing business, a divine wisdom, we will align our lives with the divine purpose.
The first step is to come. Jesus invited the weary and those carrying heavy burdens to come to him and find rest.[8] John 1:39 has Jesus inviting two of the disciples of John to “Come and see.” Jesus invited the children to come to him.[9] The risen Lord in John 21:12 invited the disciples to “come and dine.” The risen Lord in Revelation 3:20 invites the Laodicean church to listen, for he is standing at their door knocking. If they open the door, the risen Lord will come and eat with them, and they will eat with him.
The second step is to buy. To buy is to believe. To buy is to buy in, to take ownership, to embrace, to go big or go home. To buy is to say to God, “I’m in.”
The third step is eat. You may have gone through a time in your life when you sat at another table. You thought the food it provided would be sufficient. Maybe it was politics, pleasure, or wealth. Maybe it was prestige. Maybe you thought a relationship would provide everything you needed. To eat is to receive in our hands what we have “bought.” To eat is to lift the fork and knife and dive in. To eat is to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Psalm 34:8). This is the action of faith. God sets the table, but we have to pull up the chair.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.
“Listen” (v. 2). Pay attention. Discriminate. Be attuned to the voice of God, and tune out competing voices ― whether cultural, secular or the voice of entertainment and peers.
“Hear me” (v. 3). Fix the spiritual presentation so that one can actually hear the voice of God. Get rid of the noise and interference that can drown out the voice of God. Dig out the spiritual earwax that reduces the voice of God to a muffle.
“Seek the LORD while you may find him” (v. 6). Pursue single-mindedly and search diligently for the Lord. Make the presence of God a priority. Take advantage of the opportunities to walk with God while you still have them.
“Forsake” (v. 7). Abandon whatever does not work for your relationship with God. Decide what is holding you back, and let these things go.
“Return to” (v. 7). After letting go of the bad, grab the good. Turn to what is right, good and positive. Turn to God for forgiveness and mercy.
This passage invites us to consider what we will do with our lives. A poem by Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day,” asks us an important question.
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
What will we do? We will come, buy, eat, listen, hear, forsake and turn to God.
There is an old story about the 20th-century violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler. It animates an important point. Setting out from Hamburg, Germany, one day to give a concert in London, he had an hour before his boat sailed. He wandered into a music shop, where the proprietor asked if he might look at the violin Kreisler was carrying. He then vanished and returned with two police officers, one of whom told the violinist, “You are under arrest.” “What for?” asked Kreisler. “You have Fritz Kreisler’s violin.” “I am Fritz Kreisler,” protested the musician. “No you’re not. Come along.” As Kreisler’s boat was sailing soon, there was no time for prolonged explanations. Kreisler asked for his violin and played a piece for which he had become famous. “Now are you satisfied?” he asked. The police officers let the musician go because he had done what only Fritz Kreisler could do.
Think of the time it took to learn to play the violin like that. Discipleship takes time. Come, sit at the table, buy, and eat.
We are lovers in many ways. Are we lovers of God? Do we want to spend time with God? After all, God is a lover of humanity. God spends time with humanity. Maybe the reason we seem to go anxiously from one activity to the next is that we want them to give us something they cannot give. God has made us in such a way that we will find our source of peace and strength in a relationship with God. God has invited us into that relationship. I guess the only question is whether we will say yes.
[1] See further Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., "Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah," The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. R.E. Brown, et al., [Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990], 343.
[2] “Ho” usually expresses dissatisfaction or pain, but here (and perhaps at 18:1 and Zechariah 2:10; and Jeremiah 47:6) is used to get attention with perhaps a touch of pity or sympathy (BDB).
[3] Water pervades the literature of the OT (the word occurs nearly 600 times), beginning with the waters of creation (Genesis 1:2) and continuing to figure prominently in the magnalia Dei by which God rescued the chosen (e.g., Noah from the waters of the flood, Genesis 7:7, 10, etc.; the Hebrews at the Sea of Reeds, Exodus 14:21; Isaiah 51:10; 63:12, etc.; the Israelites before the waters of the Jordan, Joshua 3:8, 13, 16, etc.; and individuals from unspecified distress, Psalms 69:1; 77:16, etc.).
[4] Other scholars think that the reference to David does not foresee a restored monarchy in Israel. However, there is no parallel in the literature about the eternity of the covenant in II Samuel 7:11-16 and Psalm 89:28-37.
[5] Isaiah 43:10
You are my witnesses, says the LORD,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me a
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
Isaiah 44:8
Do not fear, or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
[6] Found more in Isaiah than in any other in the Hebrew Bible (13 times out of 25 total occurrences).
[7]
[8] Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
[9] “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:14).
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