Isaiah 57 Study Notes

57:1-2 Retribution does not always happen in this life. Good things happen to bad people and, as these verses point out, bad things happen to good people. Even so, v. 2 hints at future resolution of this problem when it talks about death for the righteous as an entering into peace.

57:3-13 In this section God blasts those who practice idolatry and warns them of coming judgment. In the last half of the final verse of the section, he affirms the righteous.

57:3 God addresses those of his people who cannot be counted among the “righteous” (v. 1) and speaks of them in the harshest terms.

57:4 This verse addresses those whose “grand speeches, long prayers, and many words of appreciation they give to another god” (Gary Smith).

57:5 In ancient Israel illegitimate worship took place under trees, perhaps suggesting a fertility religion and sexual rites (Dt 12:2; Jr 2:20; 3:6,13). At times during the OT period, gruesome acts like child sacrifice were also included among the false religious practices of Israel (2Kg 23:10).

57:6-10 These verses describe idolatrous rituals, many features of which are obscure (e.g., the smooth stones of the wadi). Even so, the sexual nature of these practices comes through clearly at points (see references to bed and genitals), suggesting a connection with the fertility religion of ancient Canaan from which the Israelites were supposed to separate themselves.

57:11-12 Such idolatrous behavior was a result of a lack of fear of God, perhaps encouraged by his silence. He would be silent no more as he exposed his people’s righteousness, which was no righteousness at all.

57:13 God warned his people that if they worshiped idols, they would have to depend on those idols in times of trouble. But the idols were not substantial, so the wind would blow them away. They will be of no help. On the other hand, God himself is a refuge in trouble. The section ends with the promise that the truly righteous will possess God’s holy mountain, Zion, in Jerusalem. This contrasts with the first part of this section that describes those who performed sexual rituals “on a high and lofty mountain” (v. 7).

57:14-21 Reversing the proportions of the previous pronouncement (vv. 3-13), this section has a long statement about God’s good intentions toward the righteous, with a brief statement about the fate of the wicked at the end (vv. 20-21).

57:14-15 Again, Isaiah used the theme of removing obstacles between God and his people in order to describe a restoration of intimate relationship (see note at 40:3-4). In this instance the road leads to God who lives in a high and holy place, so the road is one that goes up (build it up). God may live in a high place, but the lowly of spirit, not the exalted, are with him.

57:16-18 God’s punishment of his people’s sins has a limit. He will not completely destroy them, but will punish them in a disciplinary way. He removed his presence from them, but still they continued to sin. Psalm 30 describes a person who grew presumptuous in his success and forgot about God. God turned his face from him, and he came running back. Here God’s people do not break their sin pattern, but God in his grace still promises to heal them.

57:19-21 There is a distinction between those to whom God grants peace and those who remain wicked. The wicked will have no peace but will be like the turbulent sea. The sea is commonly a symbol of chaos and wickedness in ancient Near Eastern literature, including the Bible.