Isaiah 29, 30, 32, and 59

1. Chapter 29
I. “This people has drawn close to Me, with its mouth and with its lips it
has honored Me, yet it has distanced its heart from Me - their fear of
Me is like rote learning of human commands.” 13.
What does this mean? What’s the problem?
(The people act outwardly, and speak, as if they long for closeness to
God to obey, but that’s not what’s in their heart. What they do is rather
for show. They’re insincere. It’s as if it’s the artificial customs of family or
country.
Do you recognize such a thing? Isn’t it a weakness in religion, family, a
nation, or in ethics? How?
Discussion.)

2. II. One consequence will be that “the wisdom of its wise men will be lost
and the understanding of its sages will become concealed.” 14.
When we lose a true commitment to God and God’s way (or even those
ethics that were dear and fundamental to our society), isn’t a lost touch
with the wise of such traditions inevitable? Do you see any likeness to
decline in other institutions?
(Do we also see this outcome at least somewhat in a loss of awareness
or understanding of our Founders and their teachings, key figures in our
history, literature, and traditions? This was a complaint of Aristophanes
in his time, as well as that of cultural critics throughout time.
People lose their way when they lose the guidance of the words of the
wise. Is their loss of access to the wise God’s doing, or was it theirs in
the first place? Perhaps God is just “finishing the sentence” that the
people began by losing touch with the wise. Also, perhaps those who
appear on the scene as the new “wise,” if some indeed appear, aren’t
wise at all.)

3. III. “Woe to those who try to hide in depths to conceal from God, and
their deeds are done in darkness.”
What’s the concern here?
(People in a corrupt society typically think that “no one is watching” and
they can get away with whatever wrongdoing is done in hiding or cover
of night. They think even God doesn’t see or take note. They don’t want
to change and think they don’t need to because the wrong they do
“isn’t seen or known.”)
Chapter 30
I. “For it is a rebellious people, children who deny; children who are
unwilling to hear the word of God; who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not see true visions for us! Speak smooth
words to us; see fantasies for us.” 9-10.

4. We’ve seen evidence of this problem before. What’s wrong with the
people’s behavior here?
(Whether it’s perhaps with a teacher, the police, a clergy person, a
member of our family, a person in a position of authority, a government
official, or perhaps a newsperson, we don’t want certain people who can
hold us accountable to see what we do when it may lead to tough
consequences for failing to hold up our end.
We rather hope such people will either “not see” in the first place or
lower the high standard to which we should be held to account but
failed to do so. We typically want to hear “smooth words” that make us
feel good and “see fantasies for us” instead of the honest truth.
I have all sorts of examples of this in the education arena. Do you have
examples in your study or experience?)
II. With respect to trusting in the wages of robbery and waywardness,
and depending upon it, “this sin will be for you like the breach of a

5. fallen wall, like a bulge in a lofty wall, whose collapse comes with quick
suddenness.” 13.
I like the metaphor for punishment here because it reminds me of the
price a community sometimes pays for being flagrantly negligent in
maintaining essential infrastructure (whether physical or otherwise) by
cutting corners and “robbing” the needed resources and using them for
other (politically favored) things. Often, when needed resources are
“diverted” elsewhere, the “bridge will collapse,” with severe
consequences. Their “security” is bogus.
Chapter 32
I. A. We get a sense of a troubled society when we learn about
improvements Hezekiah put in place during his reign to effect change:
1) “the eyes of seeing people will no longer be closed;” 2) “the ears of
hearing people will pay heed;” 3) “the heart of the impetuous will
understand knowledge,” and 4) “the tongue of the stammerers will
speak fluently.” 3-4

6. B. Also, “a vile person will no longer be called generous.” “It will not be
said that a miser is magnanimous.” A real vile person “speaks villainy
and his heart plans iniquity, to act with hypocrisy…to empty the soul of
the hungry and to diminish the drink of the thirsty.” 5-6
“As for the miser, his vessels are evil; he plans schemes to destroy the
poor with words of falsehood and when the destitute speaks justly.” 7.
What interests me most about these verses is to ponder the practices in
the corrupt society Hezekiah reformed, in which people were dishonestly
praiseworthy of the vile person and the miser. What’s going on with
that?
(The verses in A help us. The people don’t see things as they are or hear
what’s true, and the heart is false. Why? Are they paid off? Do they have
a stake in protecting the system? Are they fearful of being hurt by the
powerful for seeing and being honest? Do they just not know and not
care to know?

7. When one point of view is pushed by the forces of the status quo or
even by one’s favorite group, a person tends not to “have eyes open”
enough or “have ears open” enough to hear the truth when it goes
against his/her interest and becomes difficult/painful.
This is at the heart of corruption. It causes a person to be unable to tell
the difference between a vile person and a generous one. It also
welcomes hypocritical flattery, especially in an environment of fear of
telling the truth.
Chapter 59
I. In recalling the wicked times, Isaiah speaks fist of palms “stained with
blood,” fingers “with iniquity.” Lips “speak falsehood;” tongues “utter
falsehood.” “No one calls out in righteousness and no one is judged

8. truthfully: trusting in emptiness and speaking vanity, conceiving
wrongdoing and giving birth to wickedness.” 3-4.
I want to focus on the image that is painted next: “They hatch adder’s
eggs and weave spider-webs: Whoever eats of the eggs will die, and
when they are squeezed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not become
a garment, and people will not clothe themselves with their work…” 5-6.
What do we learn from these graphic, literary images?
(A. Their misconduct has birthed harm just as does the hatching of the
eggs of poisonous snakes. They “gave birth” to wickedness. (Rashi)
Alternatively, the wicked thoughts were like the material inside the eggs.
Unborn adders strike at the shell until it breaks and they can emerge to
do harm. When people harbor wicked thoughts it corrupts them, until
they “emerge from the shell” and turn into wicked deeds. (Radak)

9. Eating an egg of a poisonous snake is dangerous, as is pressing it to
crack, opening up a young viper. So would be “eating” the product of
wickedness or being near it when it “hatches.” (Radak, Rashi)
B. Weaving spider-webs or “garments” of webs produces nothing
permanent of value; so, too, the wicked and the world gain nothing
lasting from their deeds. (Radak and Ibn Ezra)
Webs are snares, too, for others, catching them in their ways.)
II. Isaiah turns next to these observations: “Their feet run to evil…their
thoughts are thoughts of wickedness, plunder and calamity are in their
roads. They know not the way of peace and there is no justice in their
circuits; they have made their paths cooked; all who walk them do not
know peace.” 6-8.
I’m interested in the pace and place of action. What do you see?

10. (It’s not just the doing of evil. The people ran to do it, leaving little time
for them or others to correct it or stop it. Their evil must, also, be
especially powerful, if the doer has the energy and urge to run. Further,
it’s unlikely the evil will be stopped or even later atoned for, given the
limited time for reflection at any stage of the action.
Their “paths” and “roads” are crooked and full of bad deeds and
calamity. It’s their way, and while wrong, it may provide for their short-
term benefit. It’s even inside of them, in “their circuits.” This is not
incidental or something they just do “in Vegas.” They are inured to it at
all times, in all places, especially at home, on their ways. It reflects in
calamity and appears permanent. Further, it appears infectious. Others
who walk with them will not know peace either.)
III. These ways, Isaiah says, have made it so “justice has become distant”
and “righteousness has not reached us.” “We walk in deep darkness.”
“We grope the wall like the blind; and like the eyeless, we grope; we
stumble at noon as in the dark of night; as if in graves, like the dead…”
9-10.
I’m curious about the image of blindness. Thoughts?

11. (The consequences of waywardness (without the acts of repair,
repentance, and redemption) for both the victimizer and the victimized
are likened to the forlornness of being sightless. All appears dark,
especially where there is no justice and righteousness. One isn’t sure of
where one is or where one is going. It may be in the middle of the day
or the middle of our lives, but all is dark as if at night or in death. Our
only contact with the world is to grope what we can touch and hold on
to, as the blind do, say, a wall. That has a despairing feel, to be sure,
and the verses convey it powerfully.
This spiritual desolation is a cause of profound helplessness, in which we
may indeed be as helpless as the dead.)
IV. “Justice has been withdrawn and righteousness stands at a distance;
because truth has stumbled in the street, and integrity cannot enter.
Truth became lacking, and refraining from evil became foolish.” 14-15.

12. A. What does it mean when “truth has stumbled in the street?” This is
significant because it has caused justice and righteousness to depart
and impairs integrity from entering.
(There was no truth in public. Perhaps it existed in private, but people
were ashamed or fearful or weak to display it in public. It may have
been that the bad guys would have punished them, or they feared they
would. Perhaps they were complicit with the bad guys, or benefited
from them in some way, and thus didn’t want to confront them with
truth in public and jeopardize their status or position.
When society is immoral, otherwise good people are on the defensive
and don’t want to incur the wrath of the powerful. But when people act
in this fashion, truth stumbles; justice and righteousness depart; and
integrity no longer can enter.
Another idea is that it is no longer shameful to lie. Once done only
secretively, now lying in the open is commonplace. This is how bad
things have gotten. There’s no conscience.)
B. Refraining from evil seemed foolish? How?

13. (With truth gone and immorality reigning, one’s left with the temptation
to do evil. It’s easy and seemingly rewarding. Why not? You’d be foolish
not to.
Alternatively, there will be no one left who refrains from evil. They will
have been removed from the world, along with truth.)