Commentary - Isaiah 29:17-24

Bird's-eye view

This portion of Isaiah is a glorious pivot from judgment to grace, from stupor to sight. The chapter begins with a woe upon Ariel, Jerusalem, describing a people who draw near to God with their mouths while their hearts are far from Him, resulting in a deep spiritual sleep. But God does not leave His people in that drunken darkness. This passage, beginning at verse 17, describes a great reversal, a total transformation brought about by the sovereign grace of God. The world is about to be turned upside down. What was once a barren wilderness will become a fruitful field, and what was considered a fruitful field will be seen as a mere thicket in comparison. This is the advance of the gospel.

This transformation is not merely agricultural; it is profoundly spiritual. The deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the afflicted and needy, those who have no hope in themselves, will find their joy in Yahweh. This great work of salvation is accomplished by the removal of the proud and the scoffer, those who twist justice and trap the innocent. The passage concludes by grounding this promise in God's covenant faithfulness to His people, going all the way back to Abraham. The result of this redemptive work is that Jacob will no longer be ashamed. His children, the work of God's hands, will sanctify the Holy One of Israel, and those who were once lost in error will finally come to understand the truth. This is a prophecy of the New Covenant, a promise of the work of Christ who opens blind eyes and unstops deaf ears.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

Isaiah 29 is situated within a larger section of woes and promises concerning Judah and its relationship with the surrounding nations. The immediate context is a "woe to Ariel" (Jerusalem), a city that has become spiritually blind and deaf (Isa 29:9-12). The people perform their religious duties by rote, their hearts far from God. Because of this, God has rendered their wise men foolish and has hidden His face from them. This passage, then, is a direct and startling answer to that spiritual condition. It is a promise that God Himself will intervene to reverse the curse. The prophecy looks beyond the immediate threat of Assyria to a future day of radical spiritual renewal. It is a classic Isaianic move: to pronounce a devastating judgment and then, right on its heels, to declare an even more astounding promise of restoration. This pattern shows us that God's judgments serve His ultimate purpose of redemption.

Key Issues

The World Turned Right Side Up

When the gospel comes in power, it does not merely tidy things up. It does not simply apply a fresh coat of paint to a rotting structure. It brings about a fundamental, tectonic shift in the way things are. Isaiah here uses the most vivid imagery to describe this. Lebanon, a majestic but largely uncultivated forest, will become a Carmel, a fruitful orchard. And the previously fruitful orchard will seem like a wild forest in comparison to the new, cultivated glory. This is what happens when the kingdom of God breaks in.

The Gentiles, who were a spiritual wilderness, are brought into the cultivated garden of the Church. And the old garden, Israel according to the flesh, which had grown proud of its cultivation, is shown to be a wild place in need of the same grace. This is a revolution. It is a reordering of the world. And this reordering happens on every level. The senses are reordered: the deaf hear and the blind see. The affections are reordered: the meek and poor rejoice in God, not in themselves. Society is reordered: the tyrants and mockers are brought to nothing. And at the root of it all, God's covenant people are reordered, brought from shame to glory, from error to understanding. This is not a minor adjustment. It is the world being turned right side up by its Creator.

Verse by Verse Commentary

17 Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard, And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?

The prophet begins with a rhetorical question that carries the force of a certain promise. The transformation is coming, and it is coming soon, "in just a little while." The imagery is one of total reversal. Lebanon, known for its magnificent but untamed cedar forests, represents the wild, the Gentile world outside the covenant. This wilderness will be cultivated, tamed, and made to bear fruit. It will become a "fruitful orchard" or, as the Hebrew can be translated, a "Carmel." At the same time, the existing "fruitful orchard," representing the nation of Israel which prided itself on its spiritual cultivation, will be demoted. In light of the massive ingathering of the Gentiles, its former glory will look like a wild, unkempt forest. This is a prophecy of the Great Commission. The gospel will go out and tame the nations, bringing forth fruit where there was once only barrenness.

18 On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of darkness and thick darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

This is the spiritual reality behind the agricultural metaphor. The "day" spoken of is the day of the Messiah's visitation. The central problem of fallen man is that he is spiritually deaf and blind. He has God's word available to him, but he cannot hear it. He lives in a world full of the light of God's glory, but he cannot see it. This was the specific charge against Jerusalem earlier in the chapter. But God promises a miracle. The deaf will hear the words of a book, the Scriptures. The ears that were stopped up with pride and tradition will be opened by the Spirit. The eyes that were shrouded in the "darkness and thick darkness" of sin and ignorance will be made to see. This is nothing less than the miracle of regeneration. It is what Jesus came to do, as He Himself said, quoting Isaiah, to recover sight for the blind (Luke 4:18).

19 The afflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Who benefits from this great reversal? Not the proud, not the self-sufficient, not the ones who think they can already see and hear. The beneficiaries are the afflicted and the needy. The Hebrew words here, anawim and ebyonim, refer to those who are humbled, poor, and oppressed, those who have no resources in themselves. Their gladness will increase, and their joy will be located in the right place: "in Yahweh," "in the Holy One of Israel." This is the blessedness of the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When God opens your eyes to see your own spiritual bankruptcy, it empties you of all self-congratulation and fills you with a joy that is fixed on God alone. True Christian joy is the joy of the humble.

20 For the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished, Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;

The joy of the righteous is directly connected to the judgment of the wicked. The party for the afflicted begins when the reign of the bullies is over. Isaiah identifies three types of people who will be brought to nothing. First is the "ruthless," the tyrant who uses his power to crush others. Second is the "scoffer," the arrogant intellectual who mocks the things of God. Third are "all who are watching out to do evil," which literally means those who are "wakeful for iniquity." These are the schemers, the plotters, the ones who burn the midnight oil thinking up new ways to be wicked. The promise is that their time is short. The coming of the kingdom means the end of their influence and power. They will be "finished" and "cut off."

21 Who cause a person to sin by a word, And ensnare him who reproves at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

Here the prophet gives specific examples of the evil that will be judged. These are sins of the tongue, sins of corrupt justice. They make a man out to be an offender for a single word, a form of malicious legalism. They lay a trap for the one who "reproves at the gate," meaning they target the righteous man or the prophet who stands for justice in the public square. And they "defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments." The Hebrew for "meaningless arguments" is tohu, the same word used in Genesis for the formless void. Their arguments are empty, chaotic nonsense, sophistry designed to cheat a just man out of his rights. This is a perfect description of the scribes and Pharisees who tried to trap Jesus with their words, and it is a perennial description of all who use language not to find truth, but to win power.

22 Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

The word "Therefore" grounds everything that has been promised. Why will all this happen? Because of the covenant-keeping character of God. He is Yahweh, the one "who redeemed Abraham." This is a fascinating phrase. It likely refers to God calling Abraham out of the paganism of Ur of the Chaldees, redeeming him from a world of idolatry. The God who began this good work with Abraham will be faithful to his descendants, the "house of Jacob." The promise is the removal of shame. For centuries, Israel's sin had brought them shame and disgrace among the nations. Their faces had turned pale with fear and humiliation. But in the coming day of salvation, that will be reversed. God will vindicate His people, not because they deserve it, but because He is faithful to His promise to Abraham.

23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob And will stand trembling before the God of Israel.

"He" here refers to Jacob, the patriarch, personifying the nation. When he sees his children, the new generation of redeemed Israelites, he will see that they are the "work of My hands." Salvation is a creative act of God. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. And what is the chief work of these new creations? They will "sanctify My name." To sanctify God's name means to treat it as holy, to set it apart, to honor and revere it in all of life. It is the opposite of the blasphemy of the hypocrites mentioned earlier in the chapter. This sanctification is not a stuffy affair; it is accompanied by trembling, by a holy awe and fear before the majesty of the God of Israel. True revival always produces a profound reverence for God.

24 Those who err in spirit will know discernment, And those who criticize will gain learning.

The final promise is one of intellectual and spiritual renewal. Those who were "erring in spirit," lost in a fog of theological confusion and rebellion, will be given a heart of "discernment." They will be able to distinguish truth from error. And "those who criticize," or murmur and complain, will accept instruction and "gain learning." This is the gift of a teachable spirit. The proud murmurer, who thinks he knows better than God, will be humbled and become a student. This is the end result of the gospel's work: a people whose minds and hearts are transformed, who no longer wander in confusion but walk in the light of God's truth, revering His name.

Application

This passage is a potent tonic for a discouraged church. We look at the world and see a wilderness. We see Lebanon, with its proud, untamed cedars of secularism and paganism, and we think it is impenetrable. But God says, "Is it not yet just a little while?" The gospel is the power of God for salvation, and it is fully capable of turning the most desolate wilderness into a fruitful field. We must not lose heart. Our task is to be about the business of cultivation, planting the seed of the word, trusting that God will bring the growth.

This passage also forces us to ask which group we belong to. Are we the afflicted and needy, who rejoice in God because we know we have nothing in ourselves? Or are we the scoffers, the ruthless, the ones who use clever words to trap others and avoid the plain truth? The gospel comes to comfort the afflicted, but it also comes to afflict the comfortable. If you find yourself among the proud, the self-righteous, the murmurers, then this passage is a dire warning. But it is also an invitation. The same grace that opens blind eyes can soften a hard heart. The same God who redeemed Abraham can take those who err in spirit and give them discernment.

Finally, we must see that the ultimate fruit of our salvation is the sanctification of God's name. We are saved for a reason: that we might treat God as holy. Does our worship, our family life, our work, our speech, all serve to set God's name apart as glorious and worthy of all praise? Are we living in holy fear and awe of Him? God saved us from shame so that we might live for His glory. That is the point of the great reversal.