NOTES for Isa 57:1-21
Once again the prophetic word denounces wicked deeds, and once again we see how sharply the righteous and sinners are contrasted. This contrast does not contradict what the Bible says about every human being’s nature being damaged by sin; on its pages we read of the falls of even the worthiest people. Nor does the denunciation of sinners “get personal.” It is not people who are contrasted with one another here, but the paths they have chosen. And however we look at it, paths inevitably affect the travelers who walk them, just as road dust inevitably settles on their clothes.
The wicked have no peace not because someone deprives them of it on the basis of rules whose foundations no one understands. No; we were created in such a way that departing from the Creator’s design does not benefit us. The very paths and deeds of the wicked are such that they inevitably deprive those who follow and perform them of peace.