Israel’s Need For Repentance:
They Have Forsaken Their Heritage

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 2:6a

“6 For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,…”

Therefore - The prophet proceeds in this and the following verses, to state the reasons of their calamities, and of the judgments that had come upon them. Those judgments he traces to the crimes which he enumerates - crimes growing chiefly out of great commercial prosperity, producing pride, luxury, and idolatry.

Thou hast forsaken - The speaker or subject is changed from the exhortation to the house of Jacob (Isa. 2:5) to God, as is frequently the case in the writings of Isaiah. It indicates a state where the mind is full of the subject, and where it expresses itself in a rapid and hurried manner.

Hast forsaken - Hast withdrawn thy protection, and given them over to the calamities and judgments which had come upon them. One writer suggested this could be understood as: “Thou has given up thy nationality;” which suggests some interesting ideas that are sobering when considered.  You’ll note that in this first phrase he speaks of them as the “House of Jacob”, a reference that often in the Scripture is a familial kind of reference, calling to mind the long heritage and history of Israel with God.  This relationship was not one that had simply sprung up over night, nor was one that had been casually entered into or was the result of happenstance.  God had chosen Israel from eternity past and had moved deliberately and purposefully to bring them into being and to preserve their existence through the years.  He had provided for them, protected them and nurtured them through the ins and outs of their experience.  They had a history with God that they were now casting away, and in fact, had already cast away!

There is a stark contrast, in the Bible, between the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of men.  It is that contrast that Isaiah is calling to our minds here.  Ultimately, the relationship of Israel to their God was the result of God proactive initiation of that relationship – He chose them!  Further, He had maintained that relationship and had seen to it that it persisted for as long as it had.  He had been faithful to them.  They, however, for their part, had been nothing but unfaithful.  They had forsaken God at every turn.  Now, Isaiah protests, God has forsaken them.

These are His (God’s) own people that He is forsaking.  To Isaiah’s mind, this was a contradiction, or at the very least, a matter deserving of the gravest of consideration.  What could possibly cause God to forsake His very own people?  Their sin must have been heinous and horrible indeed to warrant such a result.  Their spiritual state must have been truly horrendous to bring forth this degree of judgment.  their need for repentance so severe and so incredibly profound as to prompt God to do something that He had never yet done in all of history – forsake the apple of His eye and send them off into chastening and horror!

“Forsaken” implies an utter turning away.  It speaks of putting away or casting away an undesirable or unclean thing.  The concept was used often of the condition that touching unclean things resulted in – a condition that prevents approach to God and the reaping or realizing of the benefits of a salvific relationship with Him.  This is precisely what is in view here and it is precisely what Isaiah is reacting so strongly against.  He is horrified that God has turned away from His people.  There is no implication here that this turning away was unjustified or unwarranted – in fact, the fairly clear implication of the passage is that it was, indeed warranted because of Israel’s sinful character. 

The point is that Israel had forsaken her heritage, and that, in turn, had finally brought down the terrible wrath of God in that He would deny His own association with them and send them into judgment.  Oh the terrible price that sin requires and exacts from those who stubbornly practice it!  Behold the awful price of treason against the one true and living God Who, in beneficence and grace, has granted men mercy and opportunity, common and special graces and has patiently waited for response to His invitation.  How terrible the loving face of God, now turned angry and vengeful, yet sorrowing and reluctant as He judges!  How eloquent Isaiah as he intercedes and proclaims the terrible message God has given him.  How sinful the people who turn from their family heritage and their historic relationship with the God of their Fathers to follow after idols!