Isaiah 1:10

10 Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the Lord is saying to you. Pay attention to what our God is teaching you.

Isaiah 1:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:10

Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom
Not literally, but mystically, meaning the governors of Judea; they and their people having sinned in like manner, and as openly, as the rulers of Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof; see ( Isaiah 3:9 ) and so the Targum paraphrases the words,

``receive the word of the Lord, ye governors, whose works are evil like the governors of Sodom.''

These are called to attend to the word of the Lord; either the Scriptures, which should be the rule of faith and practice, from which they had swerved; or to the word which now came to them by the prophet, and is contained in the following verses; or rather to the Gospel preached to them by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) which being rejected by them as it was, it is declared that it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for them, ( Matthew 11:24 ) give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah;
the inhabitants of Judea; for as were both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers, so were the people both in Isaiah's time, and in the times of Christ and his apostles. The Targum is,

``hearken to the law of our God, ye people whose works are like to the people of Gomorrah.''

And by "the law of our God" is meant, not so much the law of Moses, which these people had not hearkened to, but had broken it, and cast it away from them, as the doctrine of the grace of God, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our God; which was first sent and preached to this wicked people, for the sake of the small remnant, according to the election of grace left among them; see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) .

Isaiah 1:10 In-Context

8 Jerusalem alone is left, a city under siege - as defenseless as a guard's hut in a vineyard or a shed in a cucumber field.

9 If the Lord Almighty had not let some of the people survive, Jerusalem would have been totally destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.

10 Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the Lord is saying to you. Pay attention to what our God is teaching you.

11 He says, "Do you think I want all these sacrifices you keep offering to me? I have had more than enough of the sheep you burn as sacrifices and of the fat of your fine animals. I am tired of the blood of bulls and sheep and goats.

12 Who asked you to bring me all this when you come to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple?