The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from before the evil.
The chapter opens on a death no one notices: a righteous man dies, and the nation goes on as before. Isaiah reads that indifference as a warning sign, and the death itself as mercy.
The nation noticed nothing. One commentator points out that God did not sleep, and that the deaths no one noticed were His own doing:
On the other hand, the Shepherd of Israel neither slumbered nor slept. If the righteous man perished and no one took it to heart, it was still His hand taking the righteous away from the evil to come.
Long life was a promise for obedience, so an early death needed explaining:
Judah's growing turn away from God meant that a long life on earth was no longer something to want, though normally long life was a special promise for those who obeyed the law. Now the prophet says that the righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart, and that merciful (or godly) men are taken away, with no one considering that the righteous is taken away from before the evil.
"Merciful men" carries the sense of godly men. The righteous is taken away from before the evil — moved out of its path before it arrives.
Seen from the outside, an early death can look like God's displeasure. The prophet says the opposite is true, and a later king proved it:
The time had come when God would remove the righteous and the merciful from among them. It might look as though these people were under His judgment. In fact it was better for them to be taken away by death than to live and share the judgment that would fall. A striking example came later, when God took away God-fearing Josiah so that his eyes would not see the disasters that were coming.
Josiah was a king of Judah. His death spared him the sight of what came after.
One writer gathers the examples that make the pattern unmistakable:
Still, if the godly are taken away it is a solemn sign that judgment is about to fall, for "the righteous man is taken away from calamity." It has always been so in the history of the world. As one writer said: "When Lots are taken out of Sodom, it points to a coming shower of wrath. Methuselah was taken away a year before the flood. We may conclude that when Noahs are brought into their arks, it is a sign of a coming flood, and that God gathers His harvest before the world's storm, and calls His workers home before the dark night comes on."
Lot was the man led out of Sodom before God destroyed it. Methuselah died shortly before the flood.
Some treat death as simple extinction. One writer holds the prophet's promise up against that idea:
Now I ask: does this encouraging revelation, "he shall enter into peace," mean that he will be extinct? No. It is not as clear as the New Testament; of course it is not. How could it be as clear as when Christ had lived through death, and risen out of it? But while the general subject is the government of this present world, as it always was among the Jews, it comforts the righteous with the thought that in dying he would enter into peace.
One writer traces the same pattern past Isaiah's day, from the flood to a promise still ahead:
He could not stay in Israel. God would take him out of the scene of judgment to have him with Himself. He was righteous. In the same way, before the flood God gathered up the righteous people of Noah's day. In the same way He will gather up the saints at the approaching day of the Lord's coming: "I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth" (Rev. 3:10).
- Taken. The righteous man does not just die. God's hand removes him — "it was still His hand taking the righteous away from the evil to come."
- Spared. The removal looks like judgment but is shelter. God took Josiah away "so that his eyes would not see the disasters that were coming."
- Signalled. Each such departure is a notice to those left: "if the godly are taken away it is a solemn sign that judgment is about to fall."
- Ignored. The tragedy of the verse is not the death but the deafness — no one lays it to heart, no one considers.
- At peace. For the one taken, the end is not extinction but rest: the prophet "comforts the righteous with the thought that in dying he would enter into peace."
He entereth into peace they rest in their beds, [each one] that hath walked in his uprightness.
In verse 1 the righteous die and no one takes it to heart. This verse answers that scene. What the nation shrugged off is, for the one taken, an entrance into peace and rest.
The verse follows a warning. Judah's condition had grown so corrupt that living on was no longer the blessing it once was.
The growing apostasy of Judah made it no longer a desirable thing to live long on the earth, though normally it was a special promise for those obedient to the law.
So the death of a godly person here is not a sign of God's displeasure, even though it can look that way.
The time had come when God would remove the righteous and the merciful from among them. It might look as though these people were under His judgment. In fact it was better for them to be removed by death than to live and share the judgment that would fall. A striking example came later. God-fearing Josiah was taken away so that his eyes would not see the disasters coming. It could then be said of him that "he enters into peace."
Their removal is mercy to them. To everyone left behind it is a warning, and the pattern runs right through Scripture's history.
If the godly are taken away, it is a solemn sign that judgment is about to fall, for "the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." It has always been so in the history of the world. As one has said: "When Lots are taken out of Sodom, it foreshadows a shower of wrath. Methuselah was taken away a year before the flood. So when Noahs are taken into their arks, we may conclude that a flood is coming. God gathers His harvest before the world's storm, and calls home workers before the dark night comes on."
One writer traces the same pattern forward to the saints who await the Lord's coming.
In the same way, the righteous of Noah's day were gathered up before the flood. In the same way the saints will be gathered up as the day of the Lord's coming draws near: "I also will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
The phrase has been used to argue that death simply ends a person's existence. One writer pressed hard against that reading.
He has done with the trouble of this world, and in that sense he is at rest. But is that all the prophet tells us? … Now I ask: does this encouraging revelation, "he enters into peace," mean he will be extinct? No. It is not as clear as the New Testament, of course. How could it be as clear as when Christ had lived through death and risen out of it? The general subject here is God's government of this present world, as it always was among the Jews. Even so, it comforts the righteous with the thought that in dying he would enter into peace.
Another put the same objection more bluntly: if peace means nothing at all, then words have stopped meaning anything.
If being nothing at all counts as "rest," then it may count as "peace" too. But some people cannot give up the language of Scripture as meaningless, or call bitter sweet and darkness light. They will not be able to accept such a conclusion. You might as well say that the "second death" itself is everlasting peace.
Isaiah sets two destinies side by side. This verse belongs to those who walked in uprightness, and Luke 16 confirms the difference.
Isaiah had contrasted what happens to the righteous dead with what happens to the ungodly dead. The first group, he wrote, rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness (Isaiah 57:2). For the second group, the wicked, there is no peace, as he has said twice over (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21). In Luke 16 the rich man speaks after death, without his body, and in the most awful way confirms what the prophet said… Physical death, it is plain, is not the end of human existence. It is not the end of the creature's consciousness either.
The last clause identifies who lies down in that rest. One rendering makes the past tense visible: it describes a life already lived.
He enters into peace: they rest in their beds, each that has walked in his uprightness.
- Unnoticed — the righteous die and no one takes it to heart. The world misses what the funeral means.
- Removed — what looks like judgment is mercy. God took Josiah by death so that he would not live to see the disasters coming.
- Warning — when God calls His people home, the storm is near. Lot, Methuselah and Noah all left before the wrath came.
- Peace — "he enters into peace" cannot mean he stops existing, or the words lose all sense. In dying, the righteous man enters rest.
- Divided — rest in their beds belongs to those who walk in uprightness. Twice Isaiah says there is no peace for the wicked, and Luke 16 confirms it.