Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

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Chapter One CONTEXT: Judah’s sins, 1–4; her judgments, 5–9; her worship is rejected, 10–15. Exhortations to repentance; promises of grace and mercy; threatenings of sore judgments; and complaints by reason of their backsliding, 16–31.

Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 326.

At first, glance when we read, “and let us reason together” it seems as though God is saying ‘okay let’s work this out between you and me.’ However when we read it in CONTEXT:

¹⁷Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

1:18 let us argue The Hebrew verb here carries the sense of “to argue” or “to prove” in a legal context (see Job 23:7). It does not carry the sense of rational logic implied by the English “reason.”

scarlet The colors scarlet, red, and crimson call to mind the blood of Isa 1:15. The contrast with the white of snow and wool (symbolizing purity) reinforces the status of the people as impure and unclean because of their sins, which included injustice, bloodshed, and improper sacrifice.

John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Is 1:18.

We see that there is no real discussion here, God is just saying, to chosen people then (and now) ‘Come now, I will prove to you that though you be woefully sinners I am a just and merciful God.’ To believe that God needs to discuss or reason with his own creation is to deny the Almighty Sovereignty of God.

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SERMON

The Silver Trumpet

Charles Haddon Spurgeon March 24, 1861
Scripture: Isaiah 1:18
From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 7