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“Let Us Set Matters Straight”Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for All Mankind I
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1, 2. To whom does Jehovah compare the rulers and the people of Jerusalem and Judah, and why is this valid?
THE inhabitants of Jerusalem may feel inclined to justify themselves after hearing the denunciation recorded at Isaiah 1:1-9. They no doubt would like to point proudly to all the sacrifices they offer to Jehovah. However, Isa 1 verses 10 through 15 give Jehovah’s withering reply to such attitudes. It begins: “Hear the word of Jehovah, you dictators of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.”—Isaiah 1:10.
2 Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed not only for their perverted sex practices but also for their hardhearted, haughty attitudes. (Genesis 18:20, 21; 19:4, 5, 23-25; Ezekiel 16:49, 50) Isaiah’s audience must be shocked to hear themselves being compared to the people of those accursed cities.a But Jehovah sees his people just as they are, and Isaiah does not soften God’s message in order to ‘tickle their ears.’—2 Timothy 4:3.
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“Let Us Set Matters Straight”Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for All Mankind I
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a According to ancient Jewish tradition, wicked King Manasseh had Isaiah executed, sawn asunder. (Compare Hebrews 11:37.) A source says that in order to bring on this death sentence, a false prophet used the following charge against Isaiah: “He has called Jerusalem Sodom, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem he has declared (to be) the people of Gomorrah.”
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