Why were the people of Isaiah’s day so evil? Why were they bent on doing wrong? Isaiah 9:16 gives a reason, “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” They had evil leadership. The leadership caused them to err, and the people just went right along with it.
How extensive was the wickedness? It affected everyone – from those at the top, all the way to the fatherless and widows. God would not have mercy on any particular group because they all were bent on doing sinful things. “Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly.” (Isaiah 9:17) Usually, God takes special care of the fatherless and the widows, especially those who have no family to care for them. However, In Isaiah’s day, even the fatherless and widows were evildoers and hypocrites, and their mouths spoke folly. The sins of the people affected everyone, from the highest to the lowest. These things led to the sad remark from God in the last part of verse seventeen, “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
Wickedness was running so rampant that it devoured the land. “For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.” (verse 18) Because of all this wickedness, God would pour out His wrath upon the land. They would have dark times in their country, and their minds and hearts would be darkened too. People would turn against each other, even against those in their own families. “Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.” (verse 19)
One effect of the sin of Isaiah’s day is that there would be hunger, unsatisfied hunger. Also, people would turn against each other and against the people of their own lands. For example, Ephraim and Manasseh would not get along with each other, and they would fight against Judah as well. “20) And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: 21) Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah.” (verses 20,21a)
The sad conclusion of all these things was spoken in the last part of verse twenty-one, “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
This is not a happy post. It is a very sad post. But, it describes what happens when a people forget their God, when their heart is set on doing evil and wickedness, when they follow after wicked leaders. The leaders were wrong, and the people were wrong too, because they followed after whatever their leaders told them. Things do not have to be this way. They can be prevented if a people will humble themselves and seek to God and fear Him. What will we choose as a nation today?