Before I'm ready to discuss Isaiah, Chapter 50, this must be said: 1 Peter 1:10,11."Of which salvation the prophets have INQUIRED AND SEARCHED DILIGENTLY, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: SEARCHING WHAT, or what MANNER OF TIME, THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THEM DID SIGNIFY, when it testified beforehand the suffering of Christ, and the glory that should follow."
They did not search merely concerning the "manner of time", the character of the times, during which these things should transpire. They searched and inquired diligently to discover "WHAT...the Spirit...did signify,", what HE MEANT, "when He testified beforehand the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow." And the next verse goes on to explain that GOd revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to THOSE OF A FUTURE TIME.
So we know that the OT prophets wrote, without understanding exactly who or when, to a future generation of people about future events.
So it is with Isaiah 50. It was Judah that God said He would divorce. Because of the people selling themselves to commit sin (v1), the Babylonian captivity of the kingdom). He says that Judah is hopeless to try to be redeemed by man. He makes it clear that only He and He alone could redeem, and confirming it with what He had done by His power in the past (v2-3)
All of this prophecy is future when Isaiah wrote it. The divorce between God and Judah took place over 100 years in the future, when the Babylonians took captive the kingdom.
>> “So we know that the OT prophets wrote, without understanding exactly who or when, to a future generation of people about future events.” <<
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Is that not always the case?
Samuel wasn’t even aware that Yehova was talking to him, he thought that the voice was coming from another room.
Prophet is not an easy assignment. Yet Paul said that was the job to apply for above all.
Accepted, and true - but we cannot parse the prophets on that basis - THEY didn't know what they were talking about, but YHWH did. The testimony of Yeshua the Messiah IS the spirit of prophecy(Rev 19:10). Since the entirety of Scripture, the whole of it, is prophetic, then the whole of Scripture IS the Testimony of Yeshua. It cannot be double-minded, but always pointing the same way, because the author and witness of the Prophecy is Yeshua. HE said every word of it.
So it is with Isaiah 50. It was Judah that God said He would divorce. Because of the people selling themselves to commit sin (v1), the Babylonian captivity of the kingdom). He says that Judah is hopeless to try to be redeemed by man. He makes it clear that only He and He alone could redeem, and confirming it with what He had done by His power in the past (v2-3)
Then there should be a bill of divorcement - But there is no evidence thereof - YHWH has never said to Judah, "You are not my people, and I am not your God." The good news set aside for a moment, the Bible is also a very legal document, spanning every and all 'contracts' between YHWH and Man. I find it hard to believe that He would not include the very specific language that requires (He DID do so once, and only once, and not against Judah).
And Is 54 makes a specific distinction between the 'wife' and the 'barren woman' - The barren woman would have way more children than the married wife - so they specifically cannot be the same entity. The wife admittedly has children, the barren woman does not (at the time of the prophecy). They are two different things. One WAS a wife in her youth, acted shamefully, and was rejected. The other, the married wife, still IS married.
All of this prophecy is future when Isaiah wrote it. The divorce between God and Judah took place over 100 years in the future, when the Babylonians took captive the kingdom.
No, He never has divorced her, and could not divorce her, because the Promised One had to come through Judah. Don't get me wrong, Judah did poorly, and was sorely punished more than once, but the scepter and the rod could not be taken away... Hence never divorced. The rod and the scepter were declared ALWAYS to reside in Judah, and that can't have changed.
Judah is the wife, not the barren woman.