For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on backslidingly in the way of his heart.
God names the reason for His blow here: greed. Yet the man He struck kept going his own way, which leaves one question — what can change a heart that punishment could not bend?
The chapter opens on days when God seems to have forgotten. One writer traces its movement, and shows that the striking is not God's last word.
Isaiah 57 goes on to what seems forgetfulness on God's part in the latter days. The righteous perishes, but this does not wake up the careless — they mock at the righteous, going on with their idols. Their wickedness is then set out. The Lord challenges the things they trust in, and declares that those who trust in Him will possess the Land. He had struck them, but now would heal; but "for the wicked" there would be "no peace."
Older translations call this sin covetousness — greed. From the inside it looks small and respectable.
Covetousness involves no dishonesty. It is not even hard or sharp dealing. It is nothing more than the desire for more. That desire is the driving force behind modern effort. Everyone, from the workman to the millionaire, is urged to better himself. So the creature becomes the object, not God, and that is why covetousness is called idolatry. It is man looking down, not up in dependence on God.
The verse names two different actions of God, and both met the same response. One writer separates them, and points to a third way God acts.
He had been justly angry for the iniquity of their covetousness, and had struck them. Again He had been angry, and had hidden Himself, and they had gone on in waywardness of heart. So He had seen Israel's sin, and struck him for it. Again He had seen it, and had held back from striking. But He still had to be angry; for Israel had only taken advantage of His hiding Himself, and their waywardness went unchecked. Yet again God will act, and in a new way. "I have seen his ways, and will heal him." He does not shut His eyes to his sin, but He adds, "I will heal him." Marvellous grace! So we see God's three ways of acting. (1) Seeing sin, angry, and judging the sinner. (2) Seeing sin and angry, but hiding Himself. (3) Seeing sin, and healing the sinner; leading him also, and restoring comforts to him. The first is seen in the world before the flood, and in the judgment of the flood. The second, in the law. The third, in the gospel of our salvation.
The blow did not restore the man. One writer explains why.
How little we still understand that righteous dealing on its own — as fully righteous as it may be — will not restore souls. Judgment may be measured and true, yet it will not touch, soften and subdue such hearts so that they take instruction. The facts themselves show that these hearts are not in their true place with God. Man is not all conscience. Reach the conscience while the heart stays away, and it will do what it did with the first sinner — drive him among the trees of the garden to escape the unwelcome voice.
Some have quoted these verses to prove a point about hell. One writer answers that use.
It is plain that the Lord is speaking of men on the earth. If He contended with them continually — did not stop and spare them — they would perish as living men. The stumbling-blocks were to be taken out of the way of His people... "For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him... I have seen his ways and will heal him." Now what has all this to do with hell? Just nothing at all. Let me advise the simple reader, when a quotation is made, always to read the context before he accepts a new doctrine.
- Seen. God names the exact cause of His anger. The same eye that saw the sin later says, "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him."
- Struck. The sin He names is greed — the desire for more. It looks like ordinary ambition. It is idolatry, because the creature becomes the object instead of God.
- Hidden. God's second action was to hide His face rather than strike. It worked no better. The man took advantage of the silence and kept his own course.
- Unmoved. Righteous dealing on its own restores no one. Reach the conscience while the heart stays away, and a person runs and hides, as the first sinner did in the garden.
- Healed. God's third way changes the story. He sees the sin, and still heals, leads, and restores comfort. Read in context, this is God's dealing with living people on earth, not a statement about hell.
I have seen his ways, and will heal him; and I will lead him, and will restore comforts unto him and to those of his that mourn.
Just before this, God spoke of His anger at Israel's greed. He struck them, He hid Himself, and they went on in their own stubborn way. Then the verse turns. The same eyes that saw the sin now promise healing, leading, and comfort. What moves God from striking to restoring?
God had already judged Israel, and then hidden Himself. This verse shows a third way of acting:
He had been justly angry over their greedy sin, and had struck them. Again He had been angry, and had hidden Himself, and they had gone on stubbornly. So He had seen Israel's sin and struck him for it. Again He had seen it and had held back from striking. But He still had to be angry, for Israel had only taken advantage of His hiding Himself, and their stubbornness went unchecked. Yet once more God will act, and in a new way. "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him." He does not shut His eyes to the sin, but He adds, "I will heal him." Marvellous grace! So we see God's three ways of acting. (1) Seeing sin, angry, and judging the sinner. (2) Seeing sin and angry, but hiding Himself. (3) Seeing sin, and healing the sinner; leading him also, and restoring comforts to him. The first is seen in principle in the world before the flood and the judgment of the flood. The second, in the law. The third, in the gospel of our salvation.
The same writer then makes it personal, and names what this healing rests on:
The One who knows, as no one else does, the sin of my greed and the stubbornness of my heart, is the One who says, "I will lead him and restore comfort to him." Adorable, matchless grace! And all of it rests, we need hardly say, on the blood of Christ.
Earlier the chapter says where this God chooses to live:
He is high and holy, and He dwells in the high and holy place. But He dwells also with the one "that is of a contrite and humble spirit," for He finds there what suits Himself. His presence gives the highest place in heaven its dignity, and He still stoops to make the lowly heart His throne… The God whom the highest heavens cannot contain is the God we may have as our Guest. But we get Him only by going down ourselves into the lowest and lowliest place. So if we have never met Him, it is because we have never gone down that low — to the self-judgment where we find Him in grace.
One writer places the promise in Israel's future, after judgment:
The One who inhabits eternity can stoop to revive a contrite and humble soul of earth… The result will be this. After judgment has done its work, God will lead the godly back into their Land and bless them with comforts. He will bring peace not only to the godly remnant – those who are "near" – but to the Gentile who is "afar off". But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. For such, there is "no peace."
The comfort goes to "his mourners". The chapter's closing words draw a line:
The promise to the feeble remnant is full of grace — to those who are contrite and humble… "But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." … Comfort and peace for all, except for the wicked. It is a complete answer to a false teaching common today: that God will save all Israel, including the wicked dead, and give them a share in the Kingdom of Peace.
The One who promises to heal was Himself wounded:
And so the voice of the smitten Sufferer comes to us, "I am the LORD, your healer" (Ex. 15:26). He who was wounded for our transgressions "binds up the brokenness of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow" (Isa. 30:26; Isa. 57:17-18).
- Seen. God does not close His eyes to the sin before promising the cure; He sees the ways, and heals anyway.
- Healed. Judging, then hiding, then healing — the third way is the way of the gospel, and it is the way God acts now.
- Led. Healing is not the end. God leads Israel back to their Land once judgment has done its work.
- Comforted. God restores comfort to "his mourners" — the contrite and humble, the very people the high and holy One lives with.
- Except. Peace reaches far and near. But not all: the wicked are the restless sea, and for them the chapter ends with no peace.