When I began my study of Isaiah several months ago, I quickly became uncomfortable. This reaction surprised me because previously I’ve found this book to be comforting and encouraging. But this time it seemed all judgment and punishment. For instance:

• Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised. (Isaiah 5:25)
• Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated. (Isaiah 13:4)

What? Really? I get it when I hear people say that God is vengeful and mean. I see why it looks like God manipulates humans by creating disaster just to “make” them follow him. So I began to investigate how to process difficult passages of God’s judgment.

First, I admit I don’t have a Phd in Biblical studies (I do have a MA in Christian Education) but I try to apply good hermeneutics (the interpretation of Biblical texts) and learn from experts. I’m an ordinary woman who loves studying scripture.

Second, I confess that I don’t understand all the words of the Bible, nor do I like the image of God that seems to be depicted in passages like Isaiah’s oracles (weighty messages) to the nations surrounding Israel (chapters 13–23). I squirm a bit when reading that people will be wiped out and God plans the destruction of nations. But I want to understand.

Third, I pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help. I know I’m not capable of finding the solution to questions theologians have debated for centuries. I don’t believe I’ll ever totally resolve this but I’m okay with that.

While I hope my thoughts aren’t simply accepted as “the right answer,” I share them because I’m sure others have these same queries and uncomfortable feelings. With these caveats, I humbly offer some principles that help me:

1. Start with the context: Any verse must be read with the whole passage, the book, and the entire Bible in mind, not as a single, separated verse. Therefore, I try to learn as much about Isaiah’s culture, time period, writing style, themes, and his audience as possible. I examine all the verses surrounding the troublesome one and I read ALL of Isaiah, not just the hard parts.

2. Determine the author’s intent: Isaiah did not write to me in the twenty-first century but to people in a time and place long ago in very different circumstances than mine. Isaiah wants to call his audience back to God, to repentance and restoration (1:18, 25–26), NOT to revel in the punishment of his people or gloat over the destruction of his enemies. I accept that Isaiah does not mean for every passage to apply to me right now.

3. Consider literary devices: Sometimes Isaiah uses hyperbolic language (13:19–20, 30:17, 33:23, 53:7), not to be taken literally (like a sports team that threatens to “kill” their opponents). Much of his text is poetic language filled with metaphors (such as calling Jerusalem an “unfaithful prostitute” in 1:21).

4. Take a macro, not micro, view: Because of the repetition and literary styles Isaiah incorporates, I look at the big picture, the major themes, and the main point of the passage, rather than getting bogged down in specific words.

5. Understand how bad it was: Isaiah’s audiences were incredibly evil and corrupt. They practiced incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution, child sacrifice, and greatly oppressed the marginalized (57:5). I realize that because I have not experienced true evil and injustice first hand, I do not understand how comforting it is to learn that God will punish evil. So when I read passages of judgment, I try to put myself in the place of an innocent sufferer.

To a victim long abused by those with power, the perfect judgment of God is a comforting and beautiful thought.

Skye Jethani ¹

6. Remember this world is not God’s ideal: God’s ideal is shalom—complete thriving—like it was in the Garden of Eden and will be again “in that day.” (2:4) What we see in the book of Isaiah is God responding to Judah’s (and surrounding nations’) sin and triaging their self-inflicted wounds (1:5–6).

7. Realize that God is parenting disobedient children (1:2): Experts tell us that both total permissiveness and extreme authoritarianism are detrimental to children. Discipline and correction with unconditional love help shape our children into mature adults who benefit society and don’t harm others. But God doesn’t simply want behavior modification, he wants heart change (29:13). Therefore, he allows the natural consequences of his children’s choices to help them learn not to repeat bad behavior, even to the point of great pain. Other times he restrains, corrects and disciplines them to prevent them from hurting themselves and others. However, even as I compare God to a parent, I am careful to remember that he is not human so he can parent perfectly in love (unlike me).

“Sometimes we take God’s judgment as he’s being so terrible but in reality, he’s just limiting how terrible we can be.”

Skye Jethani ²

8. Know that God loves justice and hates injustice: And I’m glad he does. God actually delights in justice and righteousness (Is 61:8, Jer 9:24). [Note that the Hebrew word mispat is translated as both judgment and justice.] But he hates pride, bribery, exploitation, prioritizing gain, abuse of power, murder, and oppressing widows and orphans (1:21–23, 5:11–25). Therefore, he directs his anger at these things with judgment/justice that is always perfectly right and fair. He never gives more (or less) than people deserve because he is just (11:4).

Our abandonment of God kindles his anger not simply because our rejection grieves him, but because he knows it will do incalculable harm to others—especially the weak and vulnerable.

—Skye Jethani ³

9. Look at the full picture of God’s character: Remember that God is rich in kindness, compassionate, and long-suffering (30:18; 43:25). In the middle of judgment verses, I take special notice of God’s forbearance, mercy, and forgiveness (which is unique to the God of the Bible).

He wanted … his covenant people to understand that his mercy far, far outweighs his wrath, and that his primary posture toward us is love, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

Skye Jethani ⁴

10. Notice glimpses of the Messiah: No view of God is complete without Jesus—the final and fullest revelation of God (Col 1:15–20). And Isaiah paints some of the clearest pictures of the Messiah in all of scripture (9:6–7, 11:1–10; 53:2–12). So as I study the Old Testament, I highlight any mention or allusion to Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior. I rejoice that he always saves a remnant—those who faithfully follow him (11:11, Romans 11:5).

Isaiah is looking ahead to God’s determined plan to bring Jesus into the world.

JoAnn Hummel ⁵

11. Recognize God is slow to righteous anger: Since I’m a human, I cannot fully grasp how God can be angry and not sin. But unlike me, God does not strike out of frustration or exasperation, or fly off the handle in vengeance. He is not angry because he has been offended or rejected, but because he hates any form of evil. His actions are determined by his full character (described above) and thus he gives opportunity after opportunity—with ample warning—for his children to turn around (48:9). It helps to know he doesn’t get pleasure in judgment or gloat when someone is hurt, even if justly.

I like how my friend Mike Erre defines God’s wrath. He says it is God’s “unrelenting, unremitting, uncompromising and steadfast antagonism towards evil in all its forms.” Isn’t that precisely the kind of God we want and need?

Skye Jethani ⁶

12. Be aware judgment has a purpose and a limit: The Apostle Paul says that “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). But even when God gives grace and shows patience, over and over, still people do not repent (26:9–10). So when he resorts to judgment, it is purposeful, restrained, and limited. He judges in order to prune, purge, and remove impurities (1:25) and restore his children to faithfulness and righteousness (1:27) with the goal of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration (1:18, 2 Peter 3:9).

God is slow to anger in order to give us every possible opportunity to turn from our evil. In other words, we are the ones needing time to come to our senses, not God. [God] is “slow to anger” because he knows we are slow to repent, and his compassion grants us every possible chance to return to his love.

Skye Jethani ⁷

Even with all these helpful principles, I still have questions. I still wish God would intervene sooner and stop crime, war, genocide—the deplorable stuff. I also feel like God seems over the top in his retribution at times. Some of the things God calls evil don’t seem bad enough to warrant such harsh punishment.

So I keep pondering. Perhaps the world would be worse if God did not retrain evil as much as he does. Perhaps I give God too much responsibility. Perhaps he wants me to do “something about it” instead of throwing up my hands in despair and blaming him. Perhaps the problem of why evil remains lies with humankind. Perhaps…

Studying these hard passages requires work. Compiling this list has taken months and I know it’s still incomplete and flawed. But I’ll keep trying to think critically and nuanced, while admitting my inadequacy to fully understand. I will continue to seek God’s perspective, not my own, and trust that he knows best how to handle the problem of evil and the need for justice. And I’ll keep asking him to show me how he wants me to change or to act.

God is not “an angry, faraway, law-obsessed King” but “a loving Creator who would go to any length to restore relationship with his sons and daughters and to make the world right again.”⁸

How might you adjust your view of God?

How might God want you to play a part in stopping evil?

PRAYER

Lord, enable me to see you as you portray yourself, not as I wish to see you. But as I get more glimpses of you, I am delighted to learn how good, loving, righteous, and just you are. Teach me by your Spirit to understand your ways but also to trust you when I don’t understand.

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¹ Skye Jethani, “Psalm 7: Celebrating Judgment,” With God Daily, May 9, 2023

² Skye Jethani, from a podcast

³ Skye Jethani, “Injustice and the Anger of God (Part 1),” With God Daily, November 9, 2022

⁴ Skye Jethani, “Copy God’s Mercy, Not His Wrath,” With God Daily, March 17, 2023

⁵ JoAnn Hummel, sermon for Tuesday Morning Bible Study, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, October 3, 2023

⁶ Skye Jethani, “God’s Wrath Isn’t What You Think,” With God Daily, March 14, 2023

⁷ Skye Jethani, “The Wisdom of Cooling Off,” With God Daily, November 21, 2022

⁸ Jessica Nicholas, God Loves Justice: A User-Friendly Guide to Biblical Justice and Righteousness (Los Angeles, CA: S & E Educational Press, 2017), 16.

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