Text: Isaiah 56:1-8
The prophetic book of Isaiah that we have is not the work of a single author. Modern scholarship assigns the first 39 chapters to an 8th century BCE prophet. The remainder of the book is a collection of writings divided into two periods. Chapters 40-55 is known as Deutero-Isaiah, or Second Isaiah, and these chapters come from the exilic period of the Jews in Babylon. The last portion, chapters 56-66 known as Trito-Isaiah or Third Isaiah, is best ascribed to the post-exilic period, after the Jews returned to Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
Our reading this morning is from the beginning of this third
section. Why is understanding this important? Because during this period, it is
hypothesized by scholars that there were competing ideas among the Jews about
what it means to belong to God, what it takes belong to the community of God,
what faithfulness to God looks like, and why God allowed them to be exiled in
the first place.
On one side were those who believed their exile was because their
ancestors hadn’t followed closely enough the commands given to them by God and
Moses. The remedy and restoration back to God’s favor was recommitting
themselves to careful and even rigid obedience to the law. The law proscribed
foreigners and those whose reproductive capabilities were compromised (such as
eunuchs). Of particular importance was keeping the Sabbath sacred and not
profaning it.
On the other side were those who believed their exile was
due to their ancestors breaking the covenant. In this respect, and on the
surface, this seemed nearly identical to the other side. But the similarities
end there. Those in this second group saw that one could keep the law and simultaneously
violate its intent. For this group, the keeping Sabbath was critical, but for
different reasons.
Let’s look at the two Sabbath commandments. The first is
found in Exodus and the second is found in Deuteronomy.
8 “Remember the Sabbath
day and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your
work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you
shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female
slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For
in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and
consecrated it.[1]
In the commandment found in Exodus, the reason given for the
Sabbath is creation.
12 “ ‘Observe the
Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13
Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14 But the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your
son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey,
or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your
male and female slave may rest as well as you. 15 Remember that you
were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from
there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God
commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.[2]
In the version found in Deuteronomy, the reason given for
the Sabbath is deliverance and freedom from slavery.
Now, I want to re-read portions of Isaiah 56 from the English
Standard Version, which translates a key word consistently. Notice the
repetition of the word keep (Hb. Shamar) in the following verses.
1
Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation
will come, and my righteousness be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man
who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not
profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
4 For thus says the
LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please
me and hold fast my covenant…
And the foreigners who join
themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and
to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and
holds fast my covenant…[3]
Taken together, according to Third-Isaiah, keeping the
Sabbath and holding fast to the covenant is synonymous to keeping justice and
righteousness. The point of Sabbath is not the day or arguing and debating what
“work” means or does not mean. Rather, it is about caring for all creation with
justice and right-relationships (Exodus) and relating to all human beings with
justice and equality (Deuteronomy). It is about ensuring that earth is cared
for so that it can provide all humanity with its needs. It is about not abusing
the earth of its inhabitants. It is about fair distribution of resources so
that all can thrive. No one should be overworked and exploited for the benefit
of another. No one should have ownership over another.
There are two covenants that pre-date the covenant at Sinai.
The earliest is found in Genesis 9, after the Flood event, where God makes a
covenant with all life on earth that God will not repeat the destruction of the
world through a flood.
The second covenant is made with Abram/Abraham where he is
promised land and descendants. The purpose underlying the covenant harkens back
to Genesis 12 where God tells Abraham that he will be a blessing to all
families of the earth.
The earliest covenants God made included care for all
creation and all humans, beginning with Abraham and spreading to all.
Jumping forward to the gospels, we read of several instances
where Jesus and the religious interpreters were at odds on the meaning and
purpose of the Sabbath.
1
At that time Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. His disciples
were hungry so they were picking heads of wheat and eating them. 2
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are
breaking the Sabbath law.”
3 But he said to them,
“Haven’t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4
He went into God’s house and broke the law by eating the bread of the presence,
which only the priests were allowed to eat. 5 Or haven’t you read in
the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any
other day and are still innocent? 6 But I tell you that something
greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means,
I want mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn’t have condemned the innocent. 8
The Human One is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Jesus left that place
and went into their synagogue. 10 A man with a withered hand was
there. Wanting to bring charges against Jesus, they asked, “Does the Law allow
a person to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 Jesus replied, “Who
among you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath and will not take
hold of it and pull it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person
than a sheep! So the Law allows a person to do what is good on the Sabbath.” 13
Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did and it was made
healthy, just like the other one. 14 The Pharisees went out and met
in order to find a way to destroy Jesus.[4]
In this story we can see once more that care for creation,
its creatures, human beings, and human relationships are the reasons for the
Sabbath. The Sabbath is supposed to be the embodiment and enlivenment of
salvation and restoration.
What Third-Isaiah tells their reader is that this care and
concern for creation and created beings is what identifies those who are part
of the covenant community and belong to God. Those whose concerns are for
social, economic, and environmental justice are already on their way to finding
God and entering God’s community.
The Isaiah text highlights the immigrants and the eunuchs as
“outsiders” who might be more in tune with God’s ways than the “insiders” who think
they know God’s ways.
This challenges us to consider who the “outsiders” might be
in our lives whose hearts are turned toward God in the way they relate to the
world. They may not profess Christianity; they might not even believe in God.
But Isaiah’s text tells us that God is already at work in their lives, leading
them toward God’s community.
On the other hand, through the condemnation of pre-exilic
prophets and through the experience of Jesus with his contemporary religious
leaders, professing beliefs, practicing religious observances, and displaying
religious icons has no value if they are not accompanied by justice and actions
that promote right-relationships.
I conclude today’s sermon with a few sentences from John Van
de Laar in his meditation on today’s passage.
The lives and world we long for are
waiting for us if we will only learn the wisdom of the sabbath and allow it to
save us. Ultimately, the sabbath is not a religious ritual. It is not a “day of
rest” or a quaint, outdated obstacle to our capitalist dreams. It is a way of
being that embodies the just, compassionate, and life-giving rhythms of God’s
reign.[5]
In the name of God, the Creator,
In the name of God, Incarnate,
And in the name of God, who discomforts our insular and
narrow vision of the kingdom of heaven, Amen.
References
Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting
on the Word: Year A, Volume 3. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press.
Kim, H. P. (2016). Reading Isaiah: A Literary and
Theological Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys.
Oswalt, J. N. (1997). The New International
Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66.
Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Van de Laar, J. (2026, August 10). More Than a
Day Off. Retrieved from Sacredise Your LIfe!:
https://sacredise.substack.com/p/more-than-a-day-off
William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary
on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.
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