I’ve always read Isaiah 50 and 51 almost like a series of proverbs. Individual verses or small groups of verses have coherent messages, but the transitions between them have not been clear to me, and I haven’t detected a single message or argument running through the two chapters.
But the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob quotes them as a single unit in 2 Nephi 7 and 8, and he adds the first two verses of chapter 52, implying that the chapters belong together and that they do carry a unified message.
In order to read these chapters as a single message, I reviewed each of the groups of verses which I have studied before. I noticed that the chapters can be read as a dialogue between God and Israel, with Isaiah cheering Israel on:
- The Lord speaking to Israel: I haven’t abandoned you. You abandoned me by choosing to sin, but I still have power to redeem you (50:1-3).
- Isaiah reporting on his prophetic calling: God called me to speak “a word in season.” I trust Him to bless me, even if people reject my message and persecute me (50:4-9).
- Isaiah’s challenge to Israel: If you obey God’s servant, you will have light. If you try to create your own light, you will fail (50:10-11).
- The Lord to Israel: You are the beneficiaries of the covenants I made with Abraham and Sarah (51:1-3).
- The Lord to Israel: My salvation is durable. It will outlast the heavens and the earth. It will outlast the people who persecute you (51:4-8).
- Israel pleads with God to wake up and to rescue Israel as He has in the past (51:9-10).
- Isaiah testifies that the people God redeems will experience joy and gladness and will come to Zion singing (51:11).
- The Lord’s reassurance: I am the One who comforts you. Don’t be afraid of other people. I created the earth, and you are my people (51:12-16).
- Isaiah’s invitation to Israel: Wake up and stand up. You have drunk the cup of God’s fury, but He is taking that cup out of your hand (51:17-23).
- Isaiah’s invitation continues: Wake up. Put on your beautiful clothes. Remove your shackles: you are free (52:1-2).
So the overarching message is that God has power to save us. We have turned away from Him by our sins, but His prophets invite us to return to Him and to receive the joy and the freedom He offers. Our Creator is both willing and able to save us.
Today I will trust God’s ability to help me overcome every obstacle. I will follow Isaiah’s admonition to wake up, to set aside the things which are holding me back, and to experience the joy which comes to “the redeemed of the Lord.”
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