Commentary - Isaiah 56:9-12

Bird's-eye view

In this scathing passage, the prophet Isaiah issues a divine summons for judgment. The flock of God, Israel, is left defenseless, and so the predators are called in to devour. Why? Because the shepherds, the spiritual and civil leaders of the nation, have utterly abdicated their responsibilities. This is a portrait of a leadership class that has become completely corrupt, derelict in its duty, and given over to sensuality and greed. The watchmen are blind, the dogs are mute, and the shepherds are insatiable. They have abandoned the flock in pursuit of their own appetites. This is not simply a case of incompetence; it is a picture of willful, self-serving indulgence that leaves the people of God exposed to their enemies. The passage serves as a stark warning against a hireling ministry, one that is in it for the money and the perks, and it lays the theological groundwork for why God brings such devastating judgments upon His own people when their leaders fail so catastrophically.

The imagery is potent and visceral. Beasts are summoned, watchmen are asleep, and dogs are lazy and greedy. The leaders are portrayed as drunken hedonists, concerned only with their next party. This prophetic indictment reveals a deep-seated rot at the heart of the nation. The men who were supposed to be the immune system of the body politic have become the disease. Their failure is comprehensive: a failure of vision (blind), a failure of courage (mute dogs), a failure of diligence (love to slumber), and a failure of character (greed). The result is that the covenant people are laid bare for destruction, a meal for the beasts of the field.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

This passage marks a significant shift in tone from the glorious promises that opened chapter 56, where salvation is extended to the foreigner and the eunuch who join themselves to the Lord. After that beautiful picture of gospel expansion, Isaiah turns his prophetic gaze inward to diagnose the internal sickness that threatens to nullify the covenant blessings for Israel. The leaders, who should have been facilitating this ingathering, are instead the primary obstacle. This section functions as a covenant lawsuit against the shepherds of Israel, echoing themes found in other prophets like Jeremiah (Jer 23:1-4) and Ezekiel (Ezek 34:1-10). It demonstrates that God's judgment begins with the household of God, and specifically with its leadership. The corruption described here is the reason why the glorious future promised in other parts of Isaiah requires a purging judgment first. Before the Good Shepherd can gather His flock, the false shepherds must be exposed and removed.

Key Issues

The Devouring Flock

There are two ways for a shepherd to interact with his flock. He can feed the sheep, or he can eat the sheep. There is no third way. A pastor who neglects to feed the flock, who is derelict in his duty to preach the whole counsel of God, will inevitably begin to devour the flock in other ways. He will fleece them for financial gain, or use them to build his own petty kingdom, or consume their resources for his own pleasure. The prophet Ezekiel makes this same point with brutal clarity: "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" (Ezek 34:2). Isaiah here is diagnosing the same disease. The leadership of Israel had ceased to see their position as a stewardship, a sacred trust from God to care for His people. Instead, they saw the people as a resource to be exploited for their own gain. This inversion is the very essence of ministerial corruption, and it is a stench in God's nostrils. When the shepherds become the wolves, God will call in other beasts to clean up the mess.

Verse by Verse Commentary

9 All you beasts of the field, All you beasts in the forest, Come to eat.

The chapter opens with a terrifying invitation. The speaker is God Himself, and He is summoning the instruments of His judgment. The "beasts of the field" and "beasts in the forest" are the pagan nations surrounding Israel, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who will be God's rod of chastisement. This is covenantal language. When Israel was faithful, God promised to protect them from wild beasts (Lev 26:6). But when they were unfaithful, He promised that the beasts would devour them (Lev 26:22). The flock is unprotected, the fences are down, and God Himself calls the predators to the feast. This is a picture of a nation laid bare and vulnerable because its guardians have abandoned their posts. The judgment is not an accident; it is an appointment.

10 His watchmen are blind; All of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;

Now Isaiah explains why the beasts are summoned. The problem lies with the leadership, here described as watchmen. A watchman's job is to see the danger coming and to sound the alarm. But Israel's watchmen are blind. They have no spiritual discernment, no understanding of the times. They are ignorant, they "know nothing" of the things that matter. Then the metaphor shifts. They are "mute dogs unable to bark." A watchdog that doesn't bark when a wolf approaches is worse than useless. These leaders lack the courage to confront sin and warn of impending judgment. Instead of being alert, they are "dreamers lying down," lost in their own fantasies and comforts. They "love to slumber." This is not just laziness; it is a moral and spiritual stupor. They are derelict in their primary duties of seeing and saying.

11 And the dogs have a strong appetite; they do not know satisfaction. And they are shepherds who do not know understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his greedy gain, to the last one.

Their failure is not passive; it is active and avaricious. These dogs are not just mute; they are greedy. They have a "strong appetite" and "do not know satisfaction." Their covetousness is a bottomless pit. The metaphor shifts again from watchmen and dogs to shepherds, the most common biblical metaphor for leaders. But these shepherds "do not know understanding." Their blindness is a willful ignorance. And where does this lead? "They have all turned to their own way." This is the essence of sin, as Isaiah has already stated: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa 53:6). But here it is the shepherds leading the rebellion. Each one is fixated on his "greedy gain," his own personal profit. And this corruption is pervasive, extending "to the last one." The entire leadership class is rotten.

12 “Come,” they say, “let us take wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, beyond exceedingly great.”

The passage concludes with the leaders speaking in their own voice, revealing the debauched state of their hearts. Their response to the crisis is not repentance, but hedonism. Their invitation is not to prayer, but to a party. "Come, let us take wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink." They are given over to sensuality, seeking to drown their responsibilities in alcohol. And their theology is a foolish, carnal presumption. "And tomorrow will be like today, beyond exceedingly great." This is the ancient lie of the scoffer, who says, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Pet 3:4). They believe their comfortable world will continue indefinitely, and even improve, while the judgment of God is hovering right over their heads. They are blind, greedy, lazy, and drunk. The flock doesn't stand a chance.

Application

The warning of Isaiah 56 is a perennial one for the church. The people of God are always threatened when their leaders become blind, mute, lazy, and greedy. A minister who cannot see the cultural wolves gathering at the door is a blind watchman. A pastor who sees the danger but is too afraid of offending tithe-payers to speak a hard, prophetic word is a mute dog. A man in ministry who is more concerned with his comfort, his hobbies, and his vacation time than with the souls of his people is a lazy dreamer who loves to slumber.

And perhaps most pointedly for our affluent age, the pastor who is driven by a love for money, who is always angling for a bigger salary, a nicer house, or a more prestigious position, is a greedy dog with an insatiable appetite. Such a man has turned to his own way, seeking his own gain, and has ceased to be a shepherd of the flock of Christ. The apostle Peter warns elders not to serve for "shameful gain" (1 Pet 5:2). When a church's leadership is characterized by these sins, that church becomes vulnerable, a flock waiting to be devoured.

The solution is not to despair, but to look to the Chief Shepherd. Jesus Christ is the ultimate watchman, the true shepherd who did not turn to His own way, but went the way of the cross for the sake of the sheep. He was not a hireling who fled when the wolf came; He laid down His life for the flock. He is the one who gives us undershepherds who will faithfully feed the flock instead of feeding on them. Our duty as Christians is to pray for our leaders, to hold them to the biblical standard, and to be the kind of sheep who desire solid food, not the sugary poison of a hireling's message. And for those in leadership, the charge is to take heed, lest we be found to be the blind dogs and greedy shepherds on the day of judgment.