Season 6, Podcast 118, Isaiah 59:1-21, “The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion.”

Season 6, Podcast 118, Isaiah 59:1-21, “The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion.”

As with so many other chapters of Isaiah, Chapter 59 teaches of Christ 700 years before his birth. Isaiah often uses poetic license and speaks as if an event had already occurred. Antithetical Parallelism is another rhetorical device Isaiah often uses. Antithesis means opposite or contrasting imagery. For example, verses 1-15 condemn the people of Israel for their apostasy and their sins. Verses 16-21 speak of the redemption of Christ if they repent. It is, like so much of Isaiah, a chapter of hope. 

Isaiah, a visionary prophet comparable to John and Daniel, is also a master poet. He uses the language of poetry to communicate the importance of his visions. He wants his readers to experience what he experienced, and he does not hold back. 

An English writer and critic, Sir Arthur-Quiller Couch, observed that a poet uses the language of poetry to communicate the high moments. He uses the language of ordinary prose to communicate the low moments. 

That fits Isaiah beautifully because his poetry is highly elevated.  Notice, for example, the following verse, “They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.” 

To the Jews a cockatrice was a viper or adder, a venomous snake. Most snakes lay eggs. Some have eggs break inside the body so that the snake appears to give live birth. Isaiah, of course, uses a figure of speech. He compares those who are evil to a cockatrice or adder. Just as an adder’s egg would produce a venomous viper, an evil person produces consequences that are compared to a venomous viper in that they inject poison into their victim. It is a striking image. But Isaiah extends his image. “He that eateth of their eggs—in other words, those who are influenced by evil people who imitate their ways. They die, whether physically or spiritually, and their fruit breaks out into a viper. Evil perpetuates evil and the fruit is death to the soul. 

A thousand years later, writers, perhaps influenced by Isaiah, elevated the cockatrice to mythological status. In the Middle Ages a cockatrice was described as a two-legged dragon or serpent-like creature, perhaps symbolic of the devil. The cockatrice had a rooster’s head, hence the word cockatrice. It was believed to have the power to kill with a glance, breath, or touch. One can see how craftily medieval writers extended Isaiah’s image. They too used poetic license to create highly figurative imagery. 

Sometimes Isaiah creates the image, and he expects you to create the interpretation. Often, however, he does both. He gives you the image in very stark terms and then gives the interpretation. 

Some find the language of Isaiah difficult. It is helpful to visualize the image for that is precisely what Isaiah must have seen and felt during his visions. It is also helpful to examine the words of Isaiah to our own day and time and culture. Isaiah is speaking of the latter days just prior to the Second Coming of Christ. He communicates both the visual and the emotional impact. Highly specific and colorful language often begs for interpretation. It is like a seed that contains all the information of the fruit. Isaiah gives you the seed, but you must plant it, nourish it, and bring it to fruition to see what fruit it bears. It places a great burden on the reader. Scripturally imagery is particularly challenging because it is given by revelation and can often only be understood by revelation. In other words, one must have the same spirit or inspiration in interpreting the image as Isaiah had in describing the images he saw in vision.