Biblion Bible Commentary
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Their Fear of Me Is a Commandment of Men
Isaiah 29:13-24
13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; · WEB
Worship learned by rote, a plan made in the dark, and clay explaining to the potter that he does not understand.
Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught Isaiah 29:13.
Jesus quotes this verse against the Pharisees, in a dispute about tradition Matthew 15:8–9, and it is the sharpest analysis of dead religion in the Old Testament. Three things are said, and the third is the one usually skipped.
The mouth draws near; the heart has moved away; and the reverence itself has become a commandment of men which has been taught — learned behavior, correctly performed, passed on by instruction. The problem is not insincerity in the ordinary sense. These people are doing what they were taught, and what they were taught was a human procedure.
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people... and the wisdom of their wise men will perish Isaiah 29:14.
Paul quotes this when arguing that the message of the cross destroys the wisdom of the wise 1 Corinthians 1:19.
Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us?" and "Who knows us?" Isaiah 29:15.
Policy made in a back room, and the two questions are the same ones the psalms keep quoting from the wicked. What is being hidden is almost certainly the Egyptian negotiation of the next chapter.
You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay, that the thing made should say about him who made it, "He didn't make me;" or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? Isaiah 29:16.
The potter and the clay, used here for the first time in this book and taken up twice more Isaiah 45:9 Isaiah 64:8. The absurdity is stated in two stages: a pot denying it was made, and a pot conceding it was made and doubting the maker's competence. The second is the more common position and the more foolish.
In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness Isaiah 29:18.
The sealed scroll of the previous paragraph is opened, and the two men who could not read it are given what they lacked — hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind. Jesus lists both when John's disciples ask whether he is the one Matthew 11:5.
The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel Isaiah 29:19.
Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for one who reproves in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony Isaiah 29:21.
The men removed are described by what they did in court, and the middle charge is the telling one: they set traps for whoever objected. A society that punishes its critics is the one the whole chapter has been describing.
They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction Isaiah 29:24. The chapter ends with the complainers being taught rather than removed.
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