““Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food! Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. Look, I made him a witness to nations, a ruler and commander of nations.” Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans. The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat. In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands. Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes, firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, a permanent reminder that will remain.”
— Isaiah 55:1-13
YHWH makes an offer Israel can’t refuse here. They are stuck in exile, and He is offering restoration. Food and water that they didn’t earn or labor for in the field. They don’t own any fields.
NET has 3-4 options on how to interpret “Davidic covenant” here, whether this is simply extending the covenant made to David to the entire nation or talking about the new covenant. Hebrew is unclear and needs more study. They use context to conclude the translation they have here.
“Seek Lord while he is available.” I thought God could always be found… “If you seek him, you will find him,” etc. I don’t think there’s a window of opportunity to repent or receive forgiveness per se. God is more than willing to extend grace. So this could be referring to a national window for Israel, or it could be just the natural cycle of life that people die. Window closed.
We love several verses in this chapter…God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts…word does not return void. But this is again, another passage of promises to Israel in exile that God will bring them home.
There’s actually weird promises about not paying for food and enemies coming to serve them. If/when Israel would repent, God would restore them. And God’s plans would be fulfilled. A new covenant would be inaugurated.
Israel would find joy again…but it would not be the same as before. They actually have a hard time recovering from exile. But God does allow many of them to return home (those willing to return), and Messiah does come, and the kingdom expands to include Gentiles.
This is cause for joy, and it’s certainly not what they were expecting. God’s plans were far more and far better.
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