Isaiah 57:1

This is the final chapter (the 9th) in Section B of Division VI of Isaiah's prophecy; and it is composed principally of a series of severe warnings to God's people (the Jews) that nothing but disaster awaits them because of their turning away from God, their unspeakable ungodliness, idolatry, and hypocritical wickedness.

There is no doubt whatever of its having been authored by Isaiah, and the time envisioned in the chapter is that of the times of Isaiah himself, and the times immediately afterward and reaching down to the captivity, all of the sins and idolatries mentioned here being historically identified with that particular period, and to no other. This was not written by some later Isaiah in Babylon, because the geographical features (the high mountain in Isaiah 57:7) and the trees mentioned were not in Babylon, but in Judah.

The critical allegations that began in the eighteenth century to the effect that the things condemned here pertained to the post-exilic period are ridiculous and unintelligent, because only the times of Manasseh exhibit the sacrifices of children to Molech, and the gross, sensuous worship of the Canaanite Baals, with their shameless fertility rites. It has been an axiom of Biblical interpretation for ages that, The Jews never again resorted to idolatry, after their return from Babylon.

We are positively certain, therefore, that such postulations as those of Wardle that, "This chapter is an invective against the pro-Samaritan party,"[1] after the return from Babylon, are absolutely untenable and incorrect, being unsupported by any evidence whatever, and contrary to the known facts of history. It is distressing to see alleged "scholars" of our own times still parroting such old, discredited, and ridiculous shibboleths of the critical community of perverters of God's Word.

In this chapter, "The prophet proceeds to describe the national character of the Jews in his own day, and down to the time of the captivity."[2] The chapter may be divided thus: (1) the public indifference to the death of the righteous (Isaiah 57:1,2); (2) their mockery of God (Isaiah 57:3,4); (3) the practice of the grossest idolatry (Isaiah 57:5-8); (4) the extent of their seeking self-gratification (Isaiah 57:9,10); (5) Jehovah's warning to them (Isaiah 57:11,12); (6) deliverance promised to the penitent (Isaiah 57:13-18); (7) announcement of the Gospel to be preached in the Messianic age (Isaiah 57:19); (8) obstinate transgressors to be deprived of every blessing (Isaiah 57:20-21).

Isaiah 57:1-2

"The righteous perisheth, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness."

These verses refer to the fact that from the times of Isaiah and afterward to the captivity, "Most of the few godly persons left, perished, partly through vexation at the prevailing ungodliness, partly by the horrible persecutions under Manasseh,"[3] of whom the Scriptures say, "Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah" (2 Kings 21:16). We call on the critics to produce anything whatever that fits these words in that post-exilic period which they vainly assert was described by these verses!

"The righteous is taken away from the evil to come ..." (Isaiah 57:1). God here gave the reason why many of the righteous perished during those dreadful years. By their death, the righteous would escape the temptations of their godless environment, and they would not have to witness the awful punishment that would fall upon the godless nation. Thus, "Abijah's death is represented as a blessing conferred upon him by God for his piety (1 Kings 14:10-14)";[4] and the prophetess Huldah likewise promised Josiah that, "Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eye see all the evil which I will bring upon this place" (2 Kings 22:20).

"Those martyrs in the times of Manasseh were actually saved from the horrors of Judah's approaching siege and captivity; and they entered into the peace of `Abraham's bosom' (Luke 16:22), there to await Christ's resurrection."[5]