How does Isaiah 5:25 connect with God's judgment in other Old Testament passages? Isaiah 5:25—The Verse Itself “Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them. The mountains trembled, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.” Key Ideas in This Verse • Burning anger • Outstretched (upraised) hand • Visible devastation (trembling earth, corpses) • Judgment not yet finished A Repeated Picture: God’s Outstretched Hand in Judgment • Exodus 9:15 – “For by now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague…” • Deuteronomy 4:34 – God acts “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” in signs and judgments. • Jeremiah 21:5 – “I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, in anger, wrath, and great fury.” Isaiah taps a familiar covenant image: the same hand that delivers (Exodus) also disciplines. Covenant Framework: Blessings or Curses • Leviticus 26:14-33 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 spell out escalating curses for rebellion—disease, defeat, famine, exile. • Isaiah 5:25 echoes that escalation: the people have crossed line after line, so God’s hand stays raised until every warned-of curse falls. Historic Snapshots of the Same Judgment Pattern • Genesis 7 – The Flood: global judgment after long-suffering patience. • Genesis 19 – Sodom and Gomorrah: sudden fiery overthrow when sin became “very grave.” • Exodus 7–12 – The Plagues: Egypt trembles, corpses lie everywhere (Exodus 12:29-30). • Numbers 16 – Korah’s rebellion: earth trembles and swallows the guilty. • 2 Kings 17:7-18 – Northern Israel’s exile: the LORD “removed them from His presence.” • 2 Chronicles 36:15-17 – Babylonian invasion of Judah: “He gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.” In each case: 1. Persistent sin 2. Divine warning 3. Visible, often national-scale devastation 4. Surviving remnant or future promise Isaiah’s Fourfold Refrain Isaiah repeats the closing line of 5:25 three more times: • 9:12 – “Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.” • 9:17 – same wording • 9:21 – same wording • 10:4 – same wording The repetition underlines that God’s judgment progresses through stages; if hearts stay hard, the hand stays raised. Why the Hand Remains Upraised • Unrepentant hearts (Isaiah 5:20) – calling evil good • Social injustice (Isaiah 5:8) – devouring houses and land • Drunken leadership (Isaiah 5:11-12) – ignoring the deeds of the LORD The connection to earlier judgments shows that God’s character has not changed; He still judges the same sins in the same covenant faithfulness. Judgment Paired with Mercy Even in the darkest scenes, God keeps a remnant: • Isaiah 6:13 – “But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps… so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.” • Amos 9:8 – He “will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.” The hand eventually lowers when repentance or the completed penalty satisfies divine justice. Takeaway Thread Through the Old Testament • God’s hand rises in righteous anger whenever His covenant people persist in sin. • He warns, waits, then acts—exactly as promised in the Law. • The pattern remains consistent from Genesis to Isaiah and beyond, proving that His judgments are neither random nor unfair but are the outworking of His unchanging holiness and covenant truthfulness. |
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