I Am Found by Those Who Didn't Seek Me
1 “I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. 2 I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 4 who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5 who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day. 6 “Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom 7 your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.” 8 Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. 9 I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there. 10 Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. 11 “But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; 12 I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” 13 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed. 14 Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit. 15 You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, 16 so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.
God answers the prayer about his silence by saying he has had his hands out all day, and a cluster is spared for what is in it.
“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.
The answer to the prayer that ended the previous chapter, and it is not the answer that was asked for. The complaint was that God had been silent; the reply is that he has been speaking to people who were not listening for him. Paul quotes the verse of the Gentiles Romans 10:20.
I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;
The gesture is the open-armed posture of invitation, held out all day. The stretched-out hand of the earlier refrain Isaiah 9:12 turns out to have been this.
who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day.
The sentence is quoted from men who have just been described sitting among graves and eating forbidden meat. Ritual superiority claimed by people doing the opposite of what the ritual required — and the response is the driest in the book: these are smoke in my nose.
Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.
The remnant explained by a vineyard worker's judgment. A bunch of grapes that looks past saving is not thrown out if there is juice in it, and the reason for sparing the whole is what is in part of it.
“But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
Two deities of luck, with meals laid for them. The gods people actually serve are named as Fortune and Destiny, which is as true now as it was then.
Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed.
Five contrasts in two verses, and each is a pair of people in the same room getting opposite outcomes.
I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
The reason given, and it answers verse one exactly. He was found by those who did not seek and not answered by those who were called.
You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,
so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.
The title used twice here is the God of truth — literally the God of Amen, which is the name the risen Christ takes in the last letter to the churches Revelation 3:14.
settled What this mark means