A steaming cup of coffee warmed my hands. My husband lifted his tiny Italian espresso cup in salute. Outside the patio doors, cement like layers of snow-ice, shone so bright, we squinted as we chatted.
Scenes played out in my mind, a head-throbbing jumble of news reports and political shouting. It mixed with my morning reading in Isaiah. I interrupted our coffee to grab my Bible and share with him the words I’d read.
“…truth has stumbled in the public squares…” (Isaiah 59:14b ESV)
“…truth has stumbled in the public squares…” (Isaiah 59:14b ESV) Share on XPhil’s eyes lit up because he knew the passage well, so well in fact, that I asked him to share with you what he’d written in his journal several years ago. Layered with thoughts from various readings and re-reading, the journal he adds to year by year, is a rich source of commentary.
From a study of the original Hebrew words, concordance numbers included, Phil used their original gender noun classification in his notes over six years ago.
This is what Phil wrote and if you follow along, you will see not just a world once upon a time, but also our world today:
“This passage, from the very first verse of Isaiah 59, is a description of a society that has turned it’s back on God, on absolute truth. It’s a society totally sold out “itself,” for “self,” to be clothed in iniquity. This is a society that can no longer discern error from truth.
‘Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.’ (Isaiah 59:14-15 ESV)These two verses, Isaiah 59:14-15, make an interesting personification. The characters (actors are):
– Mr. Justice (mishpat H4941[Strongs Concordance number])
– Ms. Righteousness (tsidquah H6666)
– Ms. Truth (emeth H571)
– Mr. Uprightness (nekochah H5228)
– Mr. and Mrs. Evil (ra`ah H7451)
– YHWH (Yhvh H3068)
As the play unfolds, and actually begins in Isaiah 59:1, YHWH is looking for someone to intervene and rescue Israel from a dark moment, from a deep time of need. Everyone, instead of coming to rescue, responds in this way:
Mr. Justice, when he is needed most has slinked back into the shadows, away from rescuing. Ms. Righteousness doesn’t come close. She stays far away. Ms. Truth is drunk and stumbles in the street, totally incapable of rescuing someone else, much less rescue herself. Mr. Uprightness doesn’t dare get involved. Mr & Mrs. Evil are the only ones responding to the great need, and they are taking advantage of it for their own benefit, for their own appetite. YHWH watching this unfold is displeased and heartbroken and sad that no one responds to rescue Israel in their time of need.
How do I allow these characters to work and respond in my own life?” —Philip Schroeder
As I read my husband’s little play on Isaiah’s words written thousands of years ago, I recognized once again that God’s Word stands firm when truth stumbles in the public squares. I see how repeatedly in history, evil steps in when Justice, Righteousness, Truth and Uprightness step back.Evil steps in when Justice, Righteousness, Truth and Uprightness step back. Share on X
A society no longer able to discern error from truth is a society that turns its back on God. My husband’s question, one he asked of himself, is one we all should contemplate. Who is stepping up in our lives? Which character?
Do we work and respond with Justice, Righteousness, Truth, Uprightness, Evil, and most of all the Lord, YHWH, when things become confused within society? Are our hearts drawn to His Word? To Him?
God’s people had a problem in the book of Isaiah, and the prophet definitively tells us that the problem was not God Himself. God is faithful and true. He is righteous and good.
The dates of my husband’s journaling, his reading and re-reading of this passage, his layered noting and re-noting, reminds me that a world falling apart still continues to go on, to repeat its cycles. There will be new crises. New, old problems.
We live in the chaos and confusion of today. We don’t actually need to scramble for truth in the face of our world’s problems. God has already provided it. He gives us the grid of His Word through which all the craziness must be filtered.
A disciple of Jesus, named Thomas, unsure, not understanding what Jesus was saying, found himself confused about what Jesus meant when He promised to prepare a place for them. Thomas asked;
“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5 ESV)
Jesus answered Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV)
Truth may have stumbled in the public squares, but to all the questioners, the confused, doubters and wandering, the answer is the same.
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