Replies

From: Isaiah 48:17-19

A Lesson About History

[17] Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
[18] O that you had hearkened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
[19] your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

48:17-19. Now, by way of conclusion, the text deals with a theme closely con-
nected with listening to the Lord’s message (cf. 48:16). It is the theme of divine
instruction: the Lord “teaches you to profit,” that is, for your benefit, and “leads
you in the way you should go” (v. 17) — words reminiscent of Deuteronomy 8:2.
Divine “teaching” is not something purely abstract: it is based on real-life expe-
rience, on salvific events in the history of the chosen people, especially from the
exodus from Egypt onwards. Just as liberation from Egypt carries a message
for Israel, so too does this new exodus from Babylon.

The passage goes on to warn Judah that its punishment was due to its having
closed its ears to the Lord (vv. 18-19). Leaving aside the historical context of the
exile, this oracle is a “teaching” that applies in every age, and is valid for all na-
tions and every individual: everyone must be converted and follow the way of the
Lord.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.