Isaiah 50:1-3 (ESV Strong's)
Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience
1 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
God’s Hand is Not Short to Save!!
Israel is being punished for their sins. The book of Isaiah is a prophetic book to tell the nation why they are being punished (disobedience to God); how the punishment will take place (taken captive by a strange nation ... Babylon); and, how a remanent will be saved and, out of that remanent the Messiah will come to save them. To understand the above verses we have to reflect upon the culture of the day. In those days a man could divorce his wife for no reason other than he was bored with her. He could say she overcooked the lamb and she would be gone. A father, in those times, could also sell his children to pay for his debts. If he made a bad business move and had to pay a price for it, he would simply sell little Joesph or Malachi and call it good. The nation of Israel had become a cruel culture and not unlike most of their neighbors. They would have “fit right in” with the other nations of the day. With that in mind, God is saying, “I did not put you into servanthood to another nation because I had a “whim” as your Husband, or, because I had a “debt” as your Father. He is saying to them, “I did not come up short and that is the reason for your punishment.” He is saying, I could have saved you, would have saved you and wanted to save you. But, your discipline is because of your own disobedience.” God goes on, through the voice of Isaiah, to remind them of His power and of His might. He could have done anything they wanted in regard to redemption, but their own transgressions kept Him from saving them. For us, the lesson is easy. God wants to give us power in our lives. His hand is not short to do so. We must believe that power is available to us today and that we are free from sin and unbelief, which choke off God’s power. God’s hand is not short to save.
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