Isaiah 55

Chapter Fifty-five:

v. 7:  I wonder exactly who the “our” here is.  It could be the Jews in general addressing the Gentiles; this would fit nicely with the calling of the nations in v. 5.  It might also simply be the faithful Jews and Gentiles together (Spiritual Israel) addressing the unfaithful Jews and Gentiles.

v. 8:  Let the wicked return to God, and he will pardon them because his thoughts are not our thoughts.  Our thoughts find it difficult to imagine that forgiveness could be so freely given (and acquired).  And the way he forgives us (through the suffering and death of Christ) is still more incomprehensible.[1]

v. 10:  I can imagine some skeptic pointing to this verse to demonstrate that the ancient Hebrews did not understand the cycle of water and the process of evaporation, but I think interpreting the verse in this way would be taking the analogy too far.  Besides, I do not believe the writer is saying that the rain and snow will not return to the sky in any form, simply that they will not return in the form in which they fell to earth.  Rain does not return to heaven as rain, nor does snow as snow.  Both fall to the earth, accomplish their purpose in watering the earth, and then return as gas.

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[1] See 53:1 note.

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