Commentary - Isaiah 59:9-21

Bird's-eye view

This latter half of Isaiah 59 presents one of the starkest and most glorious before-and-after pictures in all of Scripture. It begins with a raw, unflinching confession of national sin and its devastating societal consequences. Justice, righteousness, and truth are not just absent; they have been actively exiled from the public square, leaving the people to grope in a self-inflicted darkness. The diagnosis is terminal: the nation is spiritually dead, and there is no human remedy. But precisely at this point of absolute human helplessness, God intervenes. The passage pivots dramatically from the people's sin to God's sovereign action. Yahweh sees the utter vacuum of righteousness, and He Himself puts on armor as the Divine Warrior to bring salvation. This is not a rescue the people deserved, but a unilateral act of grace and power. The result of His intervention is not just a restored Israel, but a global fear of His name and glory. The passage culminates in the promise of a Redeemer for the repentant in Zion and the establishment of an everlasting covenant, sealed by God's own Spirit and Word. In short, this is the gospel in miniature: man's total depravity, God's righteous wrath, His sovereign intervention in Christ, and the eternal covenant He establishes with His redeemed people.

We see a pattern here that is foundational to biblical reality. First, a clear-eyed recognition of the depth and breadth of our sin, both individual and corporate. Second, the understanding that our condition is utterly hopeless from a human standpoint. Third, the glorious truth that God does not leave us in that condition but acts decisively on our behalf. And fourth, the result of His action is redemption and a covenant relationship that endures forever. This is the story of the cross, prefigured in the language of a holy warrior God stepping into the breach that no man could fill.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

Isaiah 59 is situated in the third major section of the book (chapters 56-66), which deals with the glorious future of God's people after the exile. However, this future glory is not automatic. This section begins by addressing the persistent problem of sin within the covenant community. Chapter 58 was a blistering critique of false, external religion, contrasting their hypocritical fasts with the true fast of justice and mercy. Chapter 59 continues this theme, moving from God's indictment to the people's own confession. This chapter serves as the dark, velvet backdrop against which the brilliant light of chapter 60 ("Arise, shine, for your light has come") will be displayed. You cannot appreciate the glory of God's salvation until you have first reckoned with the utter darkness of the sin from which He saves. This passage provides the theological foundation for the coming of the Redeemer, showing precisely why such a radical intervention was necessary. The human situation was not just bad; it was hopeless. There was "no man" to intercede, which makes the coming of the God-man, the ultimate Intercessor, all the more glorious.

Key Issues

When Truth Stumbles in the Street

What happens when a society abandons God? It is not that they become "neutral" or simply secular. They become an anti-society. The very virtues that make communal life possible are inverted or exiled. This is what Isaiah describes with breathtaking clarity. Justice is driven back. Righteousness stands at a distance. And most tellingly, "truth has stumbled in the street." This is a picture of a public square where lies are normative and the very concept of objective truth is treated as a public nuisance, something to be tripped over and kicked to the curb. When a culture gets to this point, it is not long for this world. All transactions, from commerce to courts to basic conversation, depend upon a shared commitment to the truth. When that goes, everything unravels. Isaiah shows us that the rejection of God is not a private, spiritual affair. It has immediate, disastrous, and public consequences. The chaos in the streets is a direct result of the idolatry in their hearts. And when truth has fallen and cannot get up, the man who tries to live righteously becomes a target. "He who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder." In a world of lies, the honest man is a fool to be fleeced. This is the end state of all rebellion against God: a society that devours its own.

Verse by Verse Commentary

9-11 Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope along the wall like blind men; We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us.

The confession begins with the consequence. The word "Therefore" links this condition directly to the sins described earlier in the chapter. Because of their sin, the foundational pillars of a healthy society, justice and righteousness, are gone. They are not just weak; they are "far from us." The people live in a state of perpetual disappointment. They look for light, for a breakthrough, for some sign of hope, but all they get is deeper darkness. The imagery is potent: they are blind, groping along a wall, unable to see the path. They stumble in broad daylight as though it were night. This is not a physical blindness, but a profound moral and spiritual confusion. Even among the living and strong, they are like the dead, cut off from the source of life. Their prayers and complaints are not articulate words, but the frustrated growling of a bear or the mournful cooing of a dove. They are reduced to animalistic expressions of pain. They long for justice and salvation, but their sin has pushed it out of reach.

12-13 For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins answer against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know our iniquities: Transgressing and denying Yahweh, And turning back from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.

Here we get to the cause, and it is a model of true confession. There is no blame-shifting, no excusing. It is a corporate "we" and "our." They acknowledge that their sins are not minor or occasional, but "multiplied." Their sins testify against them like a hostile witness in court. And they are not ignorant of them; "we know our iniquities." The prophet then itemizes the sins, starting with the root of it all: "Transgressing and denying Yahweh." This is high treason. All other sins flow from this fundamental rebellion against their covenant Lord. They have turned their backs on Him. Their speech is filled with oppression and revolt, and their words are not just careless slips of the tongue. They are conceived in the heart, manufactured internally, before being uttered. This is a portrait of deep, intentional, heartfelt rebellion against God in thought, word, and deed.

14-15a Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And rightness cannot enter. So it is that truth is missing; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder.

This is a description of total societal breakdown, the direct result of the sins just confessed. The abstract principles of a godly society are personified. Justice is not just absent; it is actively repelled, "turned back." Righteousness is keeping its distance, like someone who wants nothing to do with a corrupt situation. The central reason is given: "truth has stumbled in the street." The public square, the place of commerce and law, has become a place where truth cannot even stand upright. It is treated as an obstacle. Honesty, or "rightness," cannot even get in the door. The result is that truth is simply gone, "missing." And in such an environment, virtue becomes a liability. The man who tries to do the right thing, to depart from evil, immediately becomes a target, a sheep to be sheared, a victim to be plundered. A society that rejects truth will inevitably prey upon the good.

15b-16 Then Yahweh saw, And it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.

Here the scene shifts dramatically from earth to heaven. Yahweh is the subject now. He sees the situation. God is never an indifferent spectator. And what He sees displeases Him; it is "evil in His eyes." His standard is justice, and its absence is an offense to His holy character. Then comes a critical observation: "He saw that there was no man." This means there was no human being with the capacity or the will to fix the situation. There was no leader, no judge, no prophet, "no one to intercede" and stand in the gap. The situation is humanly impossible. God's "astonishment" is an anthropomorphism to express the utter moral vacuum. And because there is no human solution, God determines to provide a divine one. "His own arm brought salvation." He will not rely on any human agent. He will act alone, and His own character, His "righteousness," will be the foundation that sustains His saving action.

17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

This is the famous Divine Warrior passage. God prepares for battle. Paul later takes this imagery in Ephesians 6 and applies it to the Christian believer, but here it is God Himself who is the warrior. His breastplate, protecting His heart, is His own perfect righteousness. The helmet protecting His head is salvation itself, both the plan and the power of it. His outer garments are vengeance, which is not petty revenge but the execution of perfect justice. And His cloak is zeal, a burning passion for His own glory and the holiness of His name. This is a picture of God rising to act in holy wrath against sin and in saving power for His name's sake.

18 According to what they deserve, so He will pay in full, Wrath to His adversaries, what is deserved to His enemies; To the coastlands He will pay what they deserve.

The action of the Divine Warrior will be perfectly just. The Hebrew word here for "what they deserve" is gemul, which means a just recompense or repayment. This is not arbitrary. He will repay "according to their deeds." He will render wrath to His adversaries and just recompense to His enemies. And this judgment is not limited to Israel; it extends to the "coastlands," a term often used for the distant Gentile nations. God's justice is universal.

19 So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of Yahweh makes flee.

The result of God's mighty, warrior-like intervention will be global. His actions will provoke a right and holy fear of His name from one end of the earth to the other, from west to east. His coming in judgment and salvation will be like an unstoppable force of nature, a constricted river flooding through a canyon, driven by the very Spirit (ruach, which can mean wind, breath, or Spirit) of Yahweh. There is no standing against it. This is a picture of the victorious advance of the kingdom of God in the world.

20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh.

The Divine Warrior who brings judgment is also the Redeemer who brings salvation. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 11:26 to speak of the future salvation of Israel. The Redeemer comes "to Zion," to the covenant people. But there is a crucial qualification. He comes "to those who turn from transgression in Jacob." This is not a universal, automatic salvation for every ethnic Israelite. It is a salvation applied to the repentant. Grace is not a license to continue in sin. The Redeemer comes to save His people from their sins, which requires that they turn from them. This is the heart of the gospel: redemption is for the repentant.

21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says Yahweh: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from now and forever.”

The passage concludes with the glorious outcome of this redemption: a new and everlasting covenant. This is God's unilateral promise. The two great gifts of this covenant are His Spirit and His Words. The Spirit upon them is the Spirit of regeneration and empowerment, the promise of Pentecost. The Words in their mouth are the truth of the gospel, the Scriptures. And this is not a temporary arrangement. God promises that these gifts will be permanent, passed down from generation to generation, "from now and forever." This is a promise of the enduring, Spirit-filled, Word-proclaiming church, the new covenant people of God, secure in His promise for all time.

Application

First, we must learn to confess our sins with the same honesty and corporate solidarity that we see here. Our Western individualism tempts us to think only of "my" sins, but the Bible is clear that sins have corporate and societal dimensions. When truth stumbles in the streets of our nation, when justice is turned back from our courts, we must not stand aloof as though we had nothing to do with it. We must confess "our" transgressions and know that the darkness around us is, in part, a judgment we have invited. We must learn to say, "we know our iniquities."

Second, we must find our hope not in political solutions or human ingenuity, but in the intervention of the Divine Warrior. When we look at the state of our culture and see "no man," we must not despair. That is precisely the moment when God loves to act. Our helplessness is the stage for His glory. He has already acted decisively in the person of His Son. Jesus Christ is the arm of the Lord revealed, who put on a breastplate of righteousness He never took off and won a salvation that can never be lost. He is the Redeemer who has come to Zion.

Finally, we must live as people of the new covenant. We have been given the two things God promised here: His Spirit and His Word. Are we walking in the Spirit? Are we saturated in His Word, and is it in our mouths? This is the inheritance God has promised to us and to our children's children. The task of the church is to be the people in whom the Spirit and the Word reside, bearing witness to the Warrior-Redeemer who alone can push back the darkness and cause the fear of His name to fill the earth.