Isaiah Chapter 54; Awakening An Empathic Heart

The Yetzer ha Ra and the Yetzer ha Tov Chakras
 

In Chapter 53 Isaiah introduces the mysterious unnamed anointed one as he who will bring in the Messianic Age of peace, but will human nature have evolved enough to “make war no more?” What preparation is needed to be ready for this coming Golden Age? Well, Isaiah has stated that ritual performed without a charitable heart is not acceptable to God; the bar has been raised. Are we/humans capable of conquering our animal drives or will these drives be tolerated in the Messianic future? Despite our faults, we are redeemed in Chapter 54. God assures us that our time of punishment has ended in exile and we will be brought back to Zion in peace.

Carl: In response to 54:1 – 4 “Shout, O barren one…Do not cringe, you shall not be disgraced.”

Is God saying that this is the reason the nation of Israel  gets to go back?

Bob: No! This represents a fresh start.

Carl: Is God saying forget your difficult past?

All: Yes!

Carl: We broke all the Commandments and we were in a downward spiral. So why do we deserve to go back? Are they going to displace the non-Israelite occupants of Israel?

Bill: Carl, if you were taken from your home and others moved in… don’t you have the right to take it back?

Carl: This is not what it says!

Rabbi: It is saying, you suffered and now you can go back, but this is not the reason they are able to go back. This is the fulfillment of God’s promise. The power is God’s here.

Joel: If you want to see it in a more secular way, legally Cyrus owns the land and he decrees that the Jews can leave and take possession of the land as a vassal state.

Ellen: By the sword?

Carl: Referring to 54:4 “For you shall forget…” This is saying something different.              

Joel: They are not about being allowed to return because they suffered in captivity. This is merely a by- product. The analogy is similar to what happened in Europe after a pogrom. Survivors may have made a decision to leave for Israel but it’s not simply a matter of suffering. They are allowed to leave Babylon due to God’s promise to the people; their historical destiny.

Carl: Foreigners were occupying the region.

Bob: Are you saying this is a bad thing that they went back?

Carl: Because they weathered bad experiences they get to go back?

Rabbi: God has kept his promise and he is wiping the slate clean.

Paul: Who‘s land is it – God’s or Cyrus’?

Rabbi: Isaiah is telling us that it is God’s land.

Bill: The first time in Joshua, we got the land by force.

Joel: Yes, but all ancient peoples got their land by force and that continues till this day.

Carl: In response to 54:4 “For you shall forget/ The reproach of your youth”

Is this referring to our past sins?

Ellen: Wow, once they go back, they will do everything right and sin no more!  (Humorous sarcasm)

Ceil: And they will live happily ever after!

Julie: In response to 54:7 “For a little while I forsook you, / But with vast love I will bring you back. / In slight anger, for a moment, I hid my face from you”

This reads as almost comical.

Rabbi: How so?

Julie: God is basically telling them to get over it – walk it off.

Bob: All the Messiah talk is gone.

Ceil:  Well, this is a time to be practical. They are going to get the nuts and bolts of leaving Babylon.

Bob: God knows the people can’t live up to his expectations.

Ceil: Maybe this time it will stick.

Julie: Oh Ceil, you are forever hopeful!

Paul: Is the poem in Greek pentameter?

Joel: I don’t think so. This was before the Greek influence.

 The Rabbi reads some of the lines in Hebrew so we can hear how it sounds.

Ellen: This sounds like it was written before it was told. The older stories feel they were preserved by oral tradition then committed to writing.

Julie: I feel there is something deliberate at work here. The style is used for the purpose of illuminating a prophetic state.

Ellen: Like a horoscope, it is kept generic so it can appeal to the different needs of the people. Whatever works.

Rabbi: Referring to 54:13 “And all your children shall be disciples of the LORD,/ And great shall be the happiness of your children:”

This quote is inscribed on the walls of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It is one of the most quoted sayings from Isaiah.

Bob: referring to 54:14 “And shall have no fear:/From ruin, and it shall not come near you.”

They are being guaranteed protection.

Bill: This is like the movie My Bodyguard. You can achieve a lot more with the big guy behind you.

Carl: referring to 54:15 “Whoever would harm you/Shall fall because of you.”

Joel: Keep reading Carl. God is saying you will win because of me. I will protect you.

Rabbi: Since the time of the Torah we have fought with God behind us. We must do the fighting with our own hands, but our hands succeed with God. God is pumping them up.

Carl: We are finite and God is infinite. There must be some degree of distortion when Isaiah gets messages from God.

Jane: When will we listen and learn?

Joel: We (modern readers of Torah) are like Monday morning quarterbacks. We have the hindsight of history. Those Jews didn’t. Of course we never learn, but some day we might.

Carl: The soul is put into an instinctual body which has drives. We seek out pleasure, but it is always short lived.

Rabbi: Yes, but we are capable of controlling our impulses.

Carl: Pleasure is short lived and so appreciated, but if the Messiah comes who would want bliss all the time?

Ellen: God doesn’t really have that many restrictions. It would not be difficult to follow the laws. We are not required to be perfect. We can’t change what we think, but we can change what we do. You can be a really bad person and follow the laws.

Joel: I think you are missing the point. In Isaiah God says that he is disgusted by our empty ritual. We must let God into our hearts. It is exactly the opposite of what you are saying.

Julie: I think if we do what’s right in a repetitive way, change occurs from the inside.

Rabbi: Doing good deeds doesn’t necessarily guarantee one is a good person.

The issue that Isaiah is talking about is the future of human nature. When the Messiah comes, can human nature change in a God- centered, God- driven era of peace and plenitude, or will our animal drives gobble us up?  Isaiah implies that human nature will change when the Messiah comes. Do we believe that in this day and age, with all that we know human nature can actually change for the better? Isaiah’s new “heart centered” action is in fact preparation for the new Messianic age. It’s that thing “We shall do and We shall hear” as the Israelites said at Sinai, (Exodus 24:37). As in Mitzvot, when the action is completed the process begins to change us from the inside.