Thursday, September 7, 2023

Tony T. K. Chen on צדקה (justice/righteousness) in Isaiah 5:16

  

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)