His watchmen are all of them blind, they are without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber
Earlier in Isaiah 56, God promises to bring foreigners and eunuchs — the people furthest outside Israel's life — into His house. Then the same chapter turns on the men who were meant to guard that house, and finds them blind, silent, and asleep.
The chapter breaks in two at verse 9. The promise stops and the charges begin. One writer traces both halves to a single principle.
The second part (from Isaiah 56:9 to Isaiah 57:21) looks at first like a startling contrast. But it flows, without doubt, from the same principle as the first. The grace which goes out so actively to the most miserable is of all things the most intolerant of evil. It always deals most carefully and jealously with those who are near enough to be all the more responsible to reflect Jehovah brightly.
The verse piles up pictures, and each one names a separate failure. One commentator takes them in order — the eyes, the voice, the posture — and shows how they build.
Their leaders are "blind" to their own condition, and "ignorant" of the grace of God. Like "dumb dogs, they cannot bark," and so are unable to warn others. Like sleeping dogs they love to slumber, and so seek their present ease. Like greedy dogs, they seek their own gain. They live only for the present and have no thought for the future.
(Where the older translation says "dumb dogs," the ESV reads "silent dogs.")
Verse 10 charges the watchmen. The next verse charges the shepherds. Their failures are not the same: a watchman who will not bark leaves the camp unwarned, while a shepherd chasing profit leaves the flock unfed.
The prophet now turned suddenly to condemn the state of the people, above all those who held the place of watchmen and shepherds. The watchmen were both blind and silent. The shepherds were greedy for their own gain, and cared nothing for the welfare of the sheep. As a result the beasts of the field would break through and devour. This warned of oppressing nations about to attack them from outside. Meanwhile those who should have warned and defended them were like drunkards, filled with false optimism.
The silence of verse 10 does not stand alone. In verse 9 God calls wild animals to come and eat. Those animals stand for something else.
Once the nation's guilt has been proven, the beasts — the Gentile empires — are summoned to avenge God's quarrel against it.
Earlier in the chapter, God promises blessing to everyone who takes hold of His covenant. These watchmen held a post instead, and one writer weighs what a post is worth.
Such men have neither the faith nor the moral qualities of those who "take hold" of the covenant. As the next chapter shows, their official position gives them no part or share in the blessings of the covenant of the Lord.
Sleep is not the whole story. These men do wake up, and what they wake for is worse than the sleep. One writer traces the same mindset far beyond Isaiah's time, into a later group inside Israel.
Those who should have watched and tended the beautiful flock of Jehovah did more than sleep. They woke up to their own greed for gain and their love of present comfort. They cared as little about God as they did about His people (verses 10-12). It is a vivid picture of living for self and for the things that can be seen. That same spirit later marked the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, and denied angels and spirits as well… And this terribly evil state is here said to have stood out among the watchmen and shepherds of the chosen people. As the next chapter shows, such corruption left the people and their leaders open to something worse still, and nothing sinks lower than this — idolatry leading the way.
- Grace watches. One chapter opens God's house to the outsider and exposes His own watchmen. Being near God raises responsibility; it never lowers it.
- Blind first. The failure starts in the eyes. Leaders are blind to their own state and ignorant of God's grace. Then voiceless, then asleep, then greedy.
- Silence costs. A dog that will not bark leaves everyone unwarned. God has already called the beasts — the Gentile powers — to devour.
- Position saves no one. These men held the office but not the covenant. Their title gave them no share in the blessing promised earlier in the chapter.
- Sleep ends worse. They wake up — not to duty, but to profit and comfort. Living for self opens the door to the idolatry of the next chapter, and nothing sinks lower.
and the dogs are greedy, they know not to be satisfied, and these are shepherds that know not how to discern they all turn to their own way, every one for his gain, even to the last of them
Isaiah 56 opens God's house to the foreigner and the outcast. Then it turns to the men whose job was to guard that house, and finds them asleep, blind and feeding themselves. Our verse names what drove them, and it leaves no one out: an appetite nothing could satisfy.
The chapter's two halves feel like different sermons, yet one principle runs through both. Kindness toward the outsider and severity toward the careless leader come from the same heart.
The second part (from Isaiah 56:9 to 57:21) looks at first like a startling contrast. But without doubt it flows from the same principle as the first. The grace that reaches out so actively to the most miserable is, of all things, the most intolerant of evil. It deals most carefully and jealously with those who are near enough to carry all the more responsibility to reflect the Lord brightly.
A watchdog is meant to see, to bark and to stay awake. These leaders do none of it. Hunger has taken the place of duty.
Their leaders are "blind" to their own condition, and ignorant of the grace of God. Like dogs that cannot bark, they are unable to warn others. Like sleeping dogs they love to slumber, and so seek their present ease. Like greedy dogs, they seek their own gain. They live only for the present and have no thought for the future.
Sleep alone would be bad enough. What makes the charge worse is what these men woke up for.
Those who should have watched and cared for the beautiful flock of the Lord did not only sleep. They woke up to their own greed for gain and their love of present ease. They were as indifferent about God as about His people.
Verse 9 has already called the wild beasts to come and eat. The failure of the shepherds is not a private fault; it leaves the whole nation exposed on every side.
The watchmen were both blind and silent; the shepherds were greedy for their own gain and not for the welfare of the sheep. As a result the beasts of the field would break through and devour. This was a warning of oppressing nations about to attack them from outside. Meanwhile those who should warn and defend were like drunkards, filled with false optimism.
Kelly traces where such greed ends.
Such corruption left the people and their leaders open to something worse still, as the chapter that follows will show. Nothing lies lower than this — idolatry leading the way.
Earlier in the chapter, God promises blessing to anyone who takes hold of His covenant, even the foreigner and the outcast. These watchmen held the office and had no share.
Such men have neither the faith nor the moral qualities of those who "take hold" of the covenant. As the next chapter shows, despite their official position, they have no part or share in the blessings of the covenant of the Lord.
The words "each to his own gain" reach past Isaiah's day. Writers apply them to the everyday chase after our own advantage.
Another form of seeking our own is chasing some worldly advantage, ignoring right and wrong in the way we make money, or being keen to save it. All this becomes much worse, terribly worse, if hypocrisy comes in to help our selfishness… Isaiah 56:11 describes this way of living with force: "They have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain."
Hamilton Smith carries the same warning over to Christian leaders.
What the leaders in Israel did, leaders in the Christian assembly could also do, if not for the grace of God. In later years, the apostle Paul warns us against men with corrupt minds coming into the Christian circle who treat godliness as a way of making money (1 Timothy 6:5). The apostle Peter also urges leaders to beware of feeding the flock of God for dishonest gain (1 Peter 5:2)… So we learn that the sinful nature never changes.
- Grace first. The same chapter that welcomes the outcast is hardest on the men closest to God. Grace toward the miserable is the most intolerant of evil in those meant to reflect Him.
- Blind, silent, greedy. They cannot see their own condition, cannot warn anyone, love their ease — and the one thing they wake for is gain.
- Appetite replaces understanding. These are shepherds who fed themselves and left the flock unfed, as indifferent to God as to His people.
- The flock pays. With no watchman barking, the beasts break in. The greed that started it opens the door to idolatry, and nothing lies lower than that.
- Office is not enough. Position did not save them. Whatever their office, they had no share in the covenant blessing promised to anyone who takes hold of it. The same appetite still tests leaders today.
Come, [say they,] I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, [and] much more abundant.
Isaiah 56 opens with God promising foreigners and outcasts a place at His house. It then turns to the men who should have guarded His people, and verse 12 is the last line of that charge: the leaders themselves, inviting each other to a drink.
The invitation comes from Israel's watchmen and shepherds. They had a job — to keep watch over God's flock. One writer describes what they did with it instead, and where it led:
Those who should have watched over and cared for the beautiful flock of the Lord did not only sleep. They woke up to their own greed for gain and their love of present ease. They were as indifferent to God as they were to His people… Such corruption left the people and their leaders open to something even worse, as the next chapter shows — idolatry leading the way, and nothing goes lower.
The words are a plan for the evening and nothing more. One writer lists what they reveal about the men who spoke them:
Like sleeping dogs they love to slumber, and so they look for their present ease. Like greedy dogs, they seek their own gain. They live only for the present and have no thought for the future… They are blind to their sin and ignorant of the grace of God. They are given over to present ease and money-making. They have no thought of coming judgment, and are indifferent to the needs of His people.
Verse 9 has already called the wild beasts to come and devour. So the men in verse 12 drink with the enemy at the gate:
The beasts of the field would break through and devour. This was a warning of oppressing nations about to attack them from outside. Meanwhile those who should have warned and defended were like drunkards, filled with false optimism.
Isaiah uses drunkenness as a picture more than as a charge. Writing on the same picture earlier in the book, one writer explains that it means more than literal drinking:
Drunkenness here does not mean only literal drinking. It stands for the state they were in: worked up, dazed and senseless. They gave themselves up to their own pleasure and self-indulgence, to the shame of the true God.
That widens the warning. Ordinary things can numb a person in the same way:
It is the business of each one of us to know what acts on him as "wine and strong drink." What is it that produces excitement, that blunts his spiritual perception or dims his priestly vision? It may be an auction room, a cattle show, a newspaper. It may be the smallest thing. But whatever it is, if it tends to excite, it will disqualify us for priestly service. And if we are disqualified as priests, we are unfit for everything.
The boast in the second half of the verse is that nothing will change. Tomorrow will run on the same lines, only better. One writer sets out what is wrong with that assumption:
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring." He does not forbid all thought about tomorrow. He condemns the spirit of those who plan without God and forget how uncertain everything here is: "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." He is condemning the spirit of self-confidence, which boasts of what it can do without God.
The chapter's warmth and its severity come from the same source:
The grace that goes out so actively to the most miserable is of all things the least tolerant of evil. It deals most carefully and jealously with those who are near to Him. They are the ones who are all the more responsible to reflect the Lord brightly.
- Who speaks. The toast belongs to the watchmen and shepherds. They woke from their sleep only for their own gain and ease, indifferent to God and to His people alike.
- What deadens. "Wine and strong drink" pictures a dazed state given over to self-indulgence. Anything that excites and blunts spiritual sight does the same work, however harmless it looks.
- What blinds. Deadened men turn cheerful at the wrong moment. The beasts are already called in verse 9, and the appointed defenders are the last to notice.
- What presumes. "Tomorrow will be like this day" is planning without God. It is the self-confidence that forgets life is a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
- Why it stings. Grace that reaches the outcast is the least tolerant of evil. It is most searching with those nearest to God, because they are the ones meant to reflect Him.