Religiosity Makes God Ill
Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow. - Isaiah 1:10-17 (NRSV)
In reading through Hebrew covenant law (and later revisions), it is quite obvious of the emphasis on an egalitarian society. Throughout the laws it is repeated over and over again that the Israelites are to show mercy on the marginilized because they themselves were once in that position. However, it is also repeated over and over throughout the Tanak that they turn their back on YHWH and his teachings.
The setting for this excerpt from the introductory poem of Isaiah is sometime after the Assyrians have begun to attack the Northern kingdom (referred to interchangeably as Israel, Ephraim, and Samaria) in the 8th century BCE. The prophet is doing his usual job of condemning the Israelites for turning their back on God. While they continue to worship, the rituals and outright religiosity of the entire spectacle has begun to make God sick. He is tired of the animal sacrifices and incense because they have lost all meaning that they had previously...he doesn't even want it any more! And why? Because the Hebrews have failed to do the one thing that God values over all else: social justice.
Isaiah uses an image of ritual purification (washing sacrificial blood from hands) to symbolize the necessary return to the type of society that was laid out in the covenant code. To God, true religion isn't going through the motions. It lies in defending the defenseless. As the spokesperson for the LORD, Isaiah continues to criticize the Hebrew people for creating a huge gap between the impoverished and the wealthy. And this argument can easily be carried over into modern times.
♥K
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation--
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow. - Isaiah 1:10-17 (NRSV)
In reading through Hebrew covenant law (and later revisions), it is quite obvious of the emphasis on an egalitarian society. Throughout the laws it is repeated over and over again that the Israelites are to show mercy on the marginilized because they themselves were once in that position. However, it is also repeated over and over throughout the Tanak that they turn their back on YHWH and his teachings.
The setting for this excerpt from the introductory poem of Isaiah is sometime after the Assyrians have begun to attack the Northern kingdom (referred to interchangeably as Israel, Ephraim, and Samaria) in the 8th century BCE. The prophet is doing his usual job of condemning the Israelites for turning their back on God. While they continue to worship, the rituals and outright religiosity of the entire spectacle has begun to make God sick. He is tired of the animal sacrifices and incense because they have lost all meaning that they had previously...he doesn't even want it any more! And why? Because the Hebrews have failed to do the one thing that God values over all else: social justice.
Isaiah uses an image of ritual purification (washing sacrificial blood from hands) to symbolize the necessary return to the type of society that was laid out in the covenant code. To God, true religion isn't going through the motions. It lies in defending the defenseless. As the spokesperson for the LORD, Isaiah continues to criticize the Hebrew people for creating a huge gap between the impoverished and the wealthy. And this argument can easily be carried over into modern times.
♥K