I Have Refined You in the Furnace of Affliction
1 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness— 2 for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name. 3 I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened. 4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’ 6 You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another. 12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I am also the last. 13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together. 14 “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he shall make his way prosperous. 16 “Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me with his Spirit. 17 Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19 Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.” 20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21 They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out. 22 “There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
God explains why he told them in advance, and says what their peace would have been like if they had listened.
“Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness—
The chapter is addressed to people whose religion is entirely in order and whose hearts are not, and it is the last word to the exiles before the Servant Songs begin.
I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.
4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’
The reason for prophecy, and it is unflattering. Predictions were given in advance because these particular people would otherwise have credited the outcome to something else — lest you should say, "My idol has done them". The whole apparatus of foretelling exists to close off an excuse.
A stiff neck is one that will not turn to look; a bronze forehead is one that pushes through.
For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
The qualification is the most interesting phrase in the chapter and its sense is disputed. Silver is refined until it is pure, and the process is repeated until nothing but silver remains. Whatever was done here was not that — either because the fire was reduced, or because the yield would not have justified it. Either reading concedes that the refining was moderated.
And the choosing happened in the furnace, not before it.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.
Said twice, and it removes the last possible ground for supposing the deliverance was earned.
“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me with his Spirit.
A sentence that breaks the pattern. The speaker through the chapter has been God; here someone says he has been sent, by the Lord Yahweh, with the Spirit. Three parties in one clause, and the book offers no explanation.
Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
The most wistful verse in the book. Two images of something inexhaustible — a river that does not stop and surf that keeps arriving — and both are stated as what would have happened. It is God describing an alternative history, and grieving over it.
Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
“There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
The line closes this section and recurs to close the next Isaiah 57:21, dividing the last twenty-seven chapters into three.
settled What this mark means