Biblion Bible Commentary
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We All Are Like an Unclean Thing
Isaiah 64:1-12
1 Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— · WEB
A prayer for the sky to be torn open, and the most unsparing thing any people ever said about their own goodness.
Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence Isaiah 64:1.
The prayer's one request, and the verb is violent. Not open the heavens — tear them, the word used of clothing ripped in grief. Mark uses it of the sky at the baptism Mark 1:10.
As when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil Isaiah 64:2.
Two domestic comparisons for the arrival — dry sticks catching, and a pot coming to the boil. Both are quick and both are ordinary, which is a strange way to describe a theophany.
When you did awesome things which we didn't look for, you came down Isaiah 64:3.
The precedent cited is Sinai, and the detail noted is that nobody expected it.
For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him Isaiah 64:4.
Paul quotes this verse of what God has prepared for those who love him 1 Corinthians 2:9. The three senses are ruled out in turn, and the last clause names the one qualification: waiting.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved? Isaiah 64:5.
The question at the end is genuine and the prayer does not answer it.
For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away Isaiah 64:6.
The most unsparing sentence any nation has ever said about itself, and its severity is in the noun. Not our sins — our righteousness. The best of it, the part that was offered, is compared to a rag nobody would touch.
The two images that follow are of things with no weight. A leaf browns and detaches; the wind takes it, and the wind here is their own iniquities.
There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you Isaiah 64:7.
The verb describes rousing oneself from sleep to grab something. Nobody is doing it — said, remarkably, in the middle of a prayer that is doing exactly that.
But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand Isaiah 64:8.
The potter returns for the last time Isaiah 29:16, and it is now the ground of the appeal rather than a rebuke. Clay has no standing except that somebody is working it.
Your holy cities have become a wilderness... Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire Isaiah 64:10–11.
Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely? Isaiah 64:12.
The prayer ends on a question about silence, and the next chapter opens with God answering it.
settled What this mark means