5 “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And seek in her open squares,
If you can find a man,
If there is one who does justice, who seeks [a]truth,
Then I will pardon her.
2 “And although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Lord, do not Your eyes look for [b]truth?
You have smitten them,
But they did not [c]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.4 Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they do not know the way of the Lord
Or the ordinance of their God.
5 “I will go to the great
And will speak to them,
For they know the way of the Lord
And the ordinance of their God.”
But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them,
A wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.7 “Why should I pardon you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They committed adultery
And trooped to the harlot’s house.
8 “They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not punish [d]these people,” declares the Lord,
“And on a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?
There is plenty at which to shake our heads here, for as God points out, “their apostasies are numerous.” God uses the analogy of adultery, but that was only one of their sins. In truth, their real sin was that they were not faithful to God. And in that is the sum of this passage.
If we go back to the first few verses, we see “If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her (them).” It is eerily similar to the story of Sodom and Gomorra, where Abraham asked God if He would not spare the city for the sake of only ten righteous people, and not one was found. Not even Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family were enough to spare the city–or perhaps they were not righteous either.
At any rate, the prophet follows up v. 1 with this is in v. 3, “O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?” It’s interesting that the word “truth” could also be translated “faithfulness”, because they go together. When we hold fast to God’s truth instead of trying to weave our own thoughts into it, then we are indeed faithful to God.
In our youth Bible study, we’ve just started a series on truth, what it is, how to define it, and where it comes from. Ultimately, we can make up our own truth, or we can put our hope in the fact that God is truth. There is no error in Him, no changing with the seasons, no wishy washy theology.
I was reminded of 2 Timothy 4, where Paul wrote that, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
There is plenty of that going around our world today, both inside and outside “the Church”. Just as Isaiah noted the faithlessness of his day was not just in the poor, but in the wealthy too. So what do we do? As noted, we will hear all sorts of teaching, some true, and much that is not. I tend to think we know in our hearts when we hear the truth, as all of our efforts to explain away God’s truth end up contradicting themselves.
It is easy to choose a lie or even a “half truth”, if we are not grounded in God’s Word. So again, what do we do? You can’t be grounded, or be faithful, and find God’s truth if you don’t read it. Simple, but we put it off so many times. Read it, study it, store God’s truth in your heart. Let it sink in and shape your mind, instead of trying to shape God’s words into something that suits your fancy.
God alone is the source of what is true. Many say we can’t know the truth for sure, and though there is plenty we don’t know or understand, God has given us “everything (we need) pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us [d]by His own glory and [e]excellence.” More than His word, God’s Spirit is alive and active in this world, calling to us, and speaking to our hearts. Listen, read, and trust His faithfulness and truth.