Hypocrisy Exposed! Chapter Nineteen

"OUTWARDLY indeed, [you] appear righteous to men," Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, "but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.'  (Matthew 23:28)  Jesus' condemnation of hypocrisy reflects the viewpoint of his heavenly Father.  Chapter 58 of Isaiah prophecy specifically focuses attention on the hypocrisy that is rampant  in Judah.  Strife, oppression, and violence are the order of the day, and Sabbath observance has degenerated  into a meaningless ritual.  The people give mere token service  to Jehovah and make a showy display of piety by insincere fasting.  No wonder Jehovah exposes them for what they are!

'Tell the People Their Sins'

Although Jehovah is disgusted with Judah's conduct, His words include a heartfelt appeal for the nation to repent.  Still, Jehovah does not want  his reproof to be indistinct. Hence, he commands Isaiah: "Call out full-throated; do not hold back. Raise your voice just like a horn, and tell my people their revolt, and the house of Jacob their sins." (Isaiah 58:1) Boldly proclaiming Jehovah's words might earn Isaiah ill will from the people, but he does not  shrink back.  He still has the same spirit of dedication that he showed when he said: "Her I am! Send me."  (Isaiah 6:8) What a  fine example of endurance Isaiah is to the modern-day Witnesses of Jehovah, who also are commissioned to preach God's Word and expose religious hypocrisy! -Psalm 118:6; 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

Ostensibly, the people in Isaiah's day seek Jehovah and express delight in his righteous judgments. We read Jehovah's words:  "day after day it was I whom they kept seeking, and it was in the knowledge of my ways that they would express delight, like a nation that carried on righteousness itself and that had not left the very justice of their God, in that they kept asking me for righteous judgments, drawing near to God in whom they had delight ." (Isaiah 58:2) Is this professed  delight in Jehovah's ways genuine? No. They are "like a nation that carried on righteousness itself," but the resemblance is merely superficial.  In  truth, this nations has "left the very justice of their God."

The situation is much like that later revealed to the prophet Ezekiel.  Jehovah told Ezekiel  that the Jews were saying to one another:  "Come, please, and hear what the word is that is going forth from Jehovah."  But God warned Ezekiel of their insincerity:  "They will come in to you, . . .and they will certainly hear your words but these will not do, for with their mouth they are expressing lustful desires and after their unjust gain is where their heart is going. And, Look!  You are to them like a song of sensuous loves, like one with a pretty voice and playing a stringed instrument well. And they will certainly hear your words, but  there are none doing them."  (Ezekiel 33:30-32)  Isaiah's contemporaries also claim to be seeking Jehovah constantly, but they do not obey his words.

Next time: Hypocritical Fasting

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001