God’s
desire to purify his people was made clear to Isaiah when Isaiah witnessed God’s
holiness in Isaiah’s vision. Thereafter, Isaiah was called to help his people
become exposed to this same holiness. As Haughey observes, Isaiah understood
that H[oly]O[ne of]I[srael] was initiating his holiness toward Israel, but also
realized that this holiness is “short-circuited when Israel is unjust.” God’s
holiness is intrinsically linked to justice [צדקה], therefore Israel’s
relationship with HOI is dependent on her people doing justice to one another. Israel
becomes clean in God’s eyes not just through ritual cleansing, but by
practicing justice (ceasing to do evil, and learning to do good, 1:15-17). (Tony T. K. Chen, “The
Relationality of the Holy One of Israel in the Book of Isaiah” [Asbury Theological
Seminary; PhD Dissertation, October 2013], 48, emphasis in bold added)