A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 68: A Prayer for Repentance

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 68: A Prayer for Repentance

Even with a three-and-a-half page, twenty-five hundred word introduction, this will be one of our shorter presentations in Isaiah, as this chapter represents a prayer of Isaiah made on behalf of the children of Israel, and in which Isaiah portrays the children of Israel themselves as praying to Yahweh their God for mercy, which does not become completely apparent until verse 5. Chapter 55 contains the response of the Word of Yahweh to this prayer, so we stopped short of entering that chapter. Our commentary on Isaiah is drawing to a close, so we are not trying to rush to the end. 

There is a pattern in the history of the children of Israel which emerges in the historical narrative of Scripture soon after the Exodus from Egypt. When the children of Israel follow after their God, they are blessed and they prosper as a nation. If there is war, those who turn to obedience are victorious, and may even overcome death, as Paul had written in Hebrews chapter 11 where he had spoken of men whom Yahweh had raised to deliver the children of Israel from such turmoil, and we read in part:

32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.

While it seems not to have worked out well for Samson, he had been blinded, it was inevitable that he was about to die, and upon his final prayers, Yahweh had given it to him to be avenged in his death, so in his end he had also experienced the mercy in vengeance. However each of those ancient deliverers of Israel had rather unequivocally understood that their deliverance had come from Yahweh their God, and it was not of themselves.

But deliverance is only necessary when the children of Israel turn to sin, and because they sin, Yahweh their God neglects them, so that their enemies prevail to rule over them and oppress them, until they repent of their sins and cry out to their God for deliverance. In the days of Barak it was the Canaanites, in the days of Gideon it was the Midianites, Jephthah was called by Yahweh to deliver Israel from the Ammonites, and in the days of Samson, Samuel and David it was the Philistines. Now here in the days of Isaiah, it was the Assyrians, and the Babylonians are prophesied to follow. However today, it is Esau-Edom, as the prophecy which Isaac had uttered in his having blessed Esau is now fulfilled, where in Genesis chapter 27 we read, in part:

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

It has been asked, when did Esau ever serve Jacob with his sword? So we shall have a digression so as to address that question. In Isaiah chapter 10 it is made evident that Yahweh had used the Assyrian in order to punish Israel for their sins, and to execute His will for Israel in moving them to A Place of Their Own, as he had promised David through the mouth of Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel chapter 7:

10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more…

So serving Yahweh in the deportations of the Israelites, along with much of Judah, the Assyrians had served Israel also, as they were the unwitting vehicle by which that prophecy and others related to it had begun to be fulfilled. So what had seemed to be the end of Israel, was actually just a new beginning, and had worked out for their good. Later, however, although Yahweh had described Assyria as The Rod of My Anger, He had nevertheless punished Assyria for their treatment of his people, and their arrogance in having done so, where in Isaiah chapter 10 we read:

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

So just like the Assyrians of ancient times, in these recent centuries Esau, represented by the Edomite Jew, is serving Jacob with the wars that he instigates, in which the true Israel of God is involved, which is Christendom, and by which Israel is unwittingly being punished for their sins. The children of Israel, who have turned to secular humanism, to the ideals of liberalism, to accepting feminism, divorce, abortion of children, sodomy, miscegenation and other sins, all at the behest of Esau, or modern Jewry, will not escape the consequences of these sins. They can deny that God is real, but that will not make Him go away. They can claim that Jesus loves everybody, but that is not what Jesus said. They can insist that the law is abolished, but He insisted that they keep His commandments. All of these false doctrines and abominable sins have come into Christian society through Esau, where on account of The Controversy of Zion and the fact that Israel had been sent into The Way of the Blind on account of their sins, the Edomite Jews, the eternal enemies of Christ, the people of Yahweh’s curse, have even vaunted themselves as the arbiters of Christianity. So Christians have relinquished Christianity to devils, and it is no wonder that Peter had written admonishing his readers, in 2 Peter chapter 3:

2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

The internal evidence in the rather short Book of Obadiah informs us that Obadiah had written when Jerusalem had already been destroyed by the Babylonians. Therefore his prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Upon examination, it is parallel to what we had seen of the ultimate destruction of Edom in Isaiah chapter 63, and also to the Camp of the Saints prophecy of Revelation chapter 20.

So we read in the opening verses of Obadiah:

1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Here we would insist that the her in verse 2 is a reference to Israel collectively. Then where Obadiah continues, there is a reference to the pride of Edom which evokes the same reasons for which Yahweh had issue with the Assyrians:

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? 4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

Further on it speaks to Edom of “all the men of thy confederacy”, which is a reference back to the sending of an ambassador amongst the heathen in verse 1, and evidently Esau sent ambassadors among the heathen nations to encourage them to join in battle against Israel. Now we shall compare this to a passage from Revelation chapter 20:

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

We have already discussed this prophecy concerning The Camp of the Saints at length in a recent commentary on the Revelation, and we cannot possibly repeat it all here. However when Satan, the Adversary, is loosed out of his prison following the thousand years of the Church Age, at that point the prophecy of Isaac had begun to be fulfilled where he had spoken to his son Esau concerning his brother Jacob and said “… and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.” So returning to Revelation chapter 20, Satan has broken that yoke by having been let loose from the pit:

8 And [he] shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Satan, the adversary of Christ, is represented by Edom in Revelation chapter 20, just as Herod the Edomite had represented Satan in Revelation chapter 12, and just as Paul of Tarsus had described the high priests in the temple in his own time in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. So this is what we see also in Obadiah, where Edom would send ambassadors to the heathen nations to gather them against the children of Israel for battle. Another prophecy parallel to these is found in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, but we will reserve commentary on those for another time, Yahweh God be willing.

This invasion of the Camp of the Saints need not be an actual military invasion. But with the constant lobbying and politics of World Jewry, today all of the nations which have formerly been known as Christendom have open border immigration policies, allowing themselves to be flooded with aliens, and the true children of Israel are suffering and being killed at the hands of aliens within their own nations in a war where the offensive is disguised with labels such as immigration and crime. The victims rather unjustly suffer accusations of oppression which are used as an excuse to protect the criminal invaders, while cries of “social justice” and “equality” and alleged Holocaust® atrocity victimhood also protect the Devil who brought them. The stupidity of Christians is the primary vehicle through which they are unconsciously being punished for their sins.

So going back to Obadiah, there is a denouncement of the sins of Esau against Jacob which fits both the time when Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians, an event in which Edom had an active role, and also fits this very time, wherein Esau rules over Jacob and does everything in his power to ensure that Jacob suffers at the hands of the heathen nations. While in those days the intervention of Esau was military, as the Edomites were under tribute to Babylon, it need not be military today, in spite of the fact that the Jewish Antifa movement and other organizations, such as “Black Lives Matter”, often act as quasi-military enforcement armies for World Jewry. However today in America there are also hordes of Jewish lawyers and organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, or carpetbagging jewish law firms such as Kaplan, Hecker & Fink LLP of New York City, which lie in wait, ready to pounce on any White Christian who justly seeks to advocate for the survival of his own people.

However there is Mercy in Vengeance, and further on in Obadiah there is a promise of that mercy. So where we read in Revelation chapter 20 that “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them”, in Obadiah we read:

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. 17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

The holy mountain here is Zion, the collective of the children of Israel who are often described as Yahweh’s holy mountain. The nations which oppose Israel at the behest of the Devil shall be as though they had not been, and in the end there shall be nothing left of World Jewry, since there shall be none remaining of the house of Esau. This is the vengeance of which Paul had spoken in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, for which he advised Christians to prepare themselves and be found:

6 … having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Throughout the book of Judges, it is apparent that whenever Yahweh God had mercy for Israel, while there was some element of repentance on the part of Israel, He took vengeance upon His enemies and released Israel from their oppression. In Isaiah chapter 10, we saw that when Yahweh God took His vengeance upon the Assyrians, that there would be mercy for Israel. Now we pray that Yahweh takes His vengeance upon Edom, and that shall also bring mercy for Israel.

So in Isaiah chapter 63, at first the chapter opened with a prophecy of Yahweh Himself Settling the Controversy of Zion, and that was followed by descriptions of The Mercy in Vengeance. So now as we proceed with Isaiah chapter 64, it is apparent that the prophet portrays Israel as crying out to God for that very vengeance, as he offers a prayer for repentance, which reflects the repentance on the part of Israel which is necessary in order for Israel to have an expectation of mercy, and as it becomes apparent later, this prayer is actually placed in the mouths of the children of Israel by the prophet:

1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

Often in Scripture, as well as in some ancient Mesopotamian inscriptions, heavens are an allegory for the seats of power and government within a society. This use of heavens is apparent in Ephesians chapter 3, where Paul wrote:

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the [Nations] the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Later in chapter 6 of the same epistle, he used the same term, but for some strange reason, in the King James Version it was translated differently:

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The word translated as high places there is ἐπουράνιος, which means in heaven or heavenly. It is the same word translated as heavenly places in chapter 3. The word οὐρανός is commonly heaven and the prefix is from the preposition ἐπί which is upon or on, but sometimes in English, in. Paul was under house arrest in Rome, and he had already been heard in the palace before Nero Caesar when he wrote those words, which he had stated in chapter 1 of the epistle (1:13). So he evidently also had accusers there, and that was his very struggle at that time.

Discussing this subject in a presentation six years ago, I had cited an academic paper from the Oriental Institute Seminar titled Heaven on Earth held in 2012 at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, a center for ancient Near Eastern archaeology and related studies where many ancient inscriptions have been translated over the last century.

It is evident, wherever the presence of Yahweh God is mentioned in the Old Testament, that He really does not have to rend the heavens in order to to come to earth. But here the heavens are an allegory for the seats of government, where the mountains are an allegory for the large or mighty nations of the earth, such as Assyria or Babylon. So Isaiah is praying for Yahweh to overthrow the world order of his own time, and apparently he is also praying prophetically of the Day of Vengeance prophesied in the foregoing chapters, which may become more evident as the prayer continues:

2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

The metaphor evokes a passage in Job chapter 41 where we read “31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.” As we have also often discussed here, the sea is frequently a metphor for the mass of the world’s people. But there Yahweh is portrayed as having challenged Job, and He was speaking in reference to leviathan, where at the beginning of the chapter He had asked Job “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?” However leviathan must also have been an allegory, at least in part, because where the challenge closes we read: “33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.” Evidently, Leviathan is the dragon which gives its power to the beast, as we read in Revelation chapter 13, of a later time. So Yahweh was apparently describing Leviathan as the ruler of His enemies, and asking Job if he could overcome him. Within the discourse of that chapter, there are also promises of the ultimate vengeance of God. Returning to the prayer of Isaiah:

3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

There is a parallelism here, where the nations which tremble in verse 2 are the mountains which flow down here in verse 3, and that helps serve to substantiate the observation that mountains are often an allegory for large nations.

Here Isaiah admits that often, at least, the judgment or the deliverance of Yahweh is not anticipated by His people, or it had come in unexpected ways. In Judges chapter 3, Othniel son of Kenaz was not expected to be able to defeat Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia. In chapter 7, the victory of Gideon over the Midianites was effected by three hundred men with lanterns and trumpets, contrary to all popular worldly wisdom. Then Jephthah defeated the Ammonites with only a portion of the tribes of Israel, which was nevertheless unlikely. David’s victory over Goliath was even more unlikely, and some of his own brethren had even scolded him merely for his having come to the camp. So in all of these events, nations larger and stronger than the children of Israel had been diminished, as they had victory on account of Yahweh their God, so the mountains, those mightier nations, had melted at His presence. Among other places, the metaphor is found in the Song of Deborah, in Judges chapter 5:

2 Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. 3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. 4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. 5 The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

The mountains that melted before Yahweh were the larger nations that the children of Israel were able to overcome with His blessing. The heavens dropped as their kings had failed in their defeat. Returning to Isaiah’s prayer, which continues to the end of this chapter:

4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Paul of Tarsus had quoted this verse, or perhaps only paraphrased it, since the clauses are in a slightly different order in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, where we shall read a wider passage:

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

As Paul had said in Romans chapter 7 (7:14), the law is spiritual, so a man who strives to live in the spirit, which is according to the law, can overcome the sins of the flesh. So he also encouraged these same Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, to conform their minds to Christ by “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” so that they may learn obedience, and be prepared to judge all disobedience. So these mysteries are also revealed in the Gospel of Christ, and only the spiritual man may discover them, as it is evidently a reward given for obedience to God. For that same reason, Paul had written of Moses, in Hebrews chapter 11, citing the Christogenea New Testament:

24 By faith Moses, becoming full-grown, refused to be called a son of the daughter of Pharaoh, 25 rather preferring to be mistreated with the people of Yahweh than to have the temporary rewards of error, 26 having esteemed the reproach of the Anointed greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, since he had regard for the reward.

Evidently Moses had regard for a reward which he could not even foresee, but he sought it anyway in his acts of love for his own people and his having cared for them, which he had exemplified throughout his adult life, especially from the moment he decided to go and inspect his people and had killed the Egyptian who had been abusing them. Then, although his own brethren had shunned him for that, he had nevertheless returned to help them once again, when Yahweh had called upon him to do so. That same attitude and his willingness to please his God is also surely the reason why he had been called.

Now as Isaiah’s prayer continues, a necessary step towards repentance is an admission of sins, and here he begins to portray the children of Israel as speaking in confession to God:

5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

In our discussion of the Repairers of the Breach and Isaiah chapter 58, we saw that the nation being obedient to Yahweh and seeking to walk in the Spirit and the law is considered righteous, where we read:

2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 

However they had not done that, as it was declared in the preceding verse:

1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 

Then when some of those sins were recounted in the subsequent verses, we see that they were condemned for their self-righteousness, for using their fasts and their sabbaths to fulfill their own desires, and not for the things for which Yahweh had intended those events to be utilized. So where they are informed of this, they are told how to make amends, and making those amends, which would also repair the breach, we read:

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward…

So it is not good works which are filthy rags, but the righteousness which is of men, and not of God, that righteousness is as filthy rags, where Isaiah continues his prayer and the children of Israel further confess:

6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

So the righteousness which is of men is as filthy rags, but if the nation pursues the righteousness of God, they shall take delight in approaching Him, as we have read here in Isaiah 58:2. So once they pursue the righteousness of God they are told, in that same chapter 58 of Isaiah:

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee… 

In Proverbs chapter 11, speaking of the righteousness which is of God, we read:

5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

It is sad, but I have witnessed many American denominational Christians, even of my own kin, who love to quote the second clause of this verse in Isaiah. Then on their Sunday Sabbath, they go to some church for an hour, they get lunch at a Cracker Barrel, and they watch television sports for the rest of the day, gouging themselves with goyslop and cheap beer. All of their righteousness certainly is as filthy rags, but they don’t even really know what they are saying when they recite those words. As we read in Isaiah chapter 45:

19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

No man who relies on his own righteousness shall do well in the eyes of God. Rather, men must seek to follow His righteousness. If men seek the righteousness of God, and follow it, then that righteousness shall shine forth, and they may approach Him with delight. That righteousness is His righteousness and it is not “as filthy rags”. Now the children of Israel, for whom Isaiah is speaking, are portrayed as making another confession:

7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Earlier, in Isaiah chapter 54, Yahweh Himself had said that He hid His face from the children of Israel, yet He also promised them mercy, where we read:

7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

So here the children of Israel are portrayed as having prayed, and in the far-vision, even as praying for that mercy. So they continue to confess:

8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

This is the first appearance of this metaphor in Scripture, which is later found in the writings of Jeremiah and even later, but in a somewhat different context, in Paul’s epistle to the Romans. So we read in Jeremiah chapter 18:

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

This example was fulfilled in the history of the children of Israel, as Yahweh had first formed them under the Sinai covenant, but He had marred them by punishing them on account of their sins, so He formed them anew with the reconciliation which is in the Gospel of Christ. The marred vessel is Israel in the Old Testament, and the reformed vessel is Israel under the New Testament. So where Jeremiah continues, this interpretation is substantiated, where we read:

7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

While these words were spoken concerning Judah, Judah did not repent at Jeremiah’s beckoning, so both Israel and Judah had been plucked up and pulled down in the captivities, and later, in their new homes which had been promised in the time of David, they had been built and planted.

9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

While of course the actual children of Israel who were in captivity as Isaiah had written this could not have had foreknowledge of his words. But earlier, in Isaiah chapter 57, Yahweh had already appealed to those of them who would humble themselves, and promised them that He would not be wroth forever, where we read in part:

15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

Now this prayer of Isaiah, which is still portrayed as having come from the people of Israel, becomes a near-vision prophecy, since at the time when he wrote this, the Babylonians were not yet in power, and Jerusalem would not be destroyed for at least another hundred years:

10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

The holy and beautiful house is a reference to Solomon’s temple, and although it was the Babylonians who had conquered Judah and Jerusalem, as we had explained in relation to Isaiah chapter 63 and The Mercy in Vengeance, it was the Edomites who had razed the temple, which is attested in the 137th Psalm and in 1 Esdras chapter 4 (4:45).

Now the prayer ends with a question, where the children of Israel are essentially asking Yahweh their God to refrain from His wrath. I say essentially because there are really two questions, and the second asks if it shall continue instead:

12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

It seems to imply that Yahweh, holding His peace, which is to remain silent, relinquishes His people to any chance event which may befall them as a continued affliction for their sins. But if He refrains Himself, apparently He stops their punishment by intervening on their behalf. So this is also a sort of humble admission that they recognize His control over their future, whether they prosper or whether they continue in their affliction.

In Isaiah chapter 48, the Word of Yahweh speaks of the sins and stubbornness of Israel, and we read in part, where it turns to a promise of mercy, using the same language:

9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

So this prayer has actually portrayed the children of Israel as having repented of their sins, and as asking for all of the mercies which the Word of Yahweh had already promised them in earlier chapters of Isaiah. So it almost seems to be implying that upon the repentance of Israel, then Israel is entitled to this mercy, and that is true, but only on account of the promises of Yahweh their God, and not in spite of them. So when we as a people finally repent, no matter how small our numbers are when that finally happens, we shall have this mercy, and we shall also prevail over all of our enemies.

But until then, we shall only have continued affliction.

This concludes our commentary through Isaiah chapter 64. Chapter 65 contains Isaiah’s record of the answer of Yahweh God to this prayer.