This chapters starts with a statement of ownership. Israel belongs to the Lord. The Being that is both responsible for their creation and the details of that creation, He it is who also has concerned Himself with Israel’s redemption. (I am thinking of my own family formed under covenant with Him and my wife.) Is my attitude of responsibility the same as His? What is my level of commitment to those things which I have helped to create?
Again, Isaiah is returning to this theme that is continual among his writings: that besides God, there is no other God. No idols, no false gods, nothing in this world is in comparison to the Creator of all of it. So to illustrate to the people of his day, and maybe as much to our day of “political equality” for all, we find phrases like: I will give Egypt a ransom for you. Ethiopia and Seba are what I am willing to pay for you. The greatest nations of the earth are nothing in comparison to you, my tiny flock of witnesses, because you believe.
Those of us that believe, we are the chosen servants of the Lord to bear witness of Him. (See verse 10) There is no other god. There is none who can deliver me out of His hand. (See verse 13) This reminds me of my move to Marshall. Almost as it were, God was picking us up with his own hands and carrying us safely to another place, I just had to not violate the protective covenants that had brought me thus far! I remember thinking that about the Sabbath day. What a protection that has been for me. Keep the Sabbath day holy, and you will always be protected, strengthened, and empowered to do good. Why? Because God is behind it all! He’s the funding source. He’s got your back when you follow Him, because He is really there. (See verse 11)
The Lord clearly states that with Israel He is doing something new. It is uncharted territory. So though we know that we are following God into something new, something different, something not known of this world, Israel does grow weary of their constant dependence upon God. (see verse 22) The Lord ends this chapter by pointing out how we have made him to serve with our sins. There is a bit of irony in this observation because it is He that has blotted out our transgression, and declared that he will not remember our sins. Then a commandment, “put me in remembrance.” (vs. 26)
This commandment seems to me both logical and easy to observe.