Isaiah 1 Footnotes

1:11-15 The Lord directed the people of Israel to build the tabernacle (Ex 26–31), established the theological significance of the sacrifices (Lv 1–6), and appointed the nation’s festivals (Ex 34:18-26; Lv 23). But here Isaiah, speaking in the Lord’s name, appears to condemn these God-ordained institutions. Israelite prophets typically expressed themselves in extreme language, so attuned were they to the Lord’s sense of betrayal by the people he had chosen. The institutions of Israelite worship were designed so that the people could sense God’s presence in their midst, confess their sins, and renew their covenant relationship. They were to participate in these festivals in a heart-felt celebration of his past acts of grace. But the nation had grown careless; its worship had become shallow, carried out as popular custom—a casual “trampling” (v. 12) of the courts of the Lord. There was a profound disparity between the people’s professed loyalty to the covenant and the “iniquity” (v. 13) and injustice (v. 15) they tolerated in violation of that very covenant’s precepts. Under such conditions, it is hardly surprising that the Lord found their offerings “useless” (v. 13) and was disgusted by their prayer, incense, festivals, and other religious practices. God does not condemn the practices of worship that he, himself, has instituted, only the false motivation that distorts them. He welcomes worship from those who repent of their sins and come to his house to glorify his name.