NOTES for Isa 63:1-19
The theme of God's nearness—and of the human person's nearness to God—is one of the most important themes of the prophetic message. If through Moses God gives a moral law and a liturgical rule for the right conduct of God's people and the right worship of God, then through the prophets revelation grows beyond these limits. It turns out that God Himself transcends the law He has given, showing mercy to those condemned to death by their own unfaithfulness, and that love for Him cannot be contained within the sacrificial regulations. Israel learns that God is altogether above law, whether divine or human. Those who have renounced the faith of Abraham and Jacob feel that their election has thereby lost its meaning and that “Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us as his own.” But God is different. He is not only a party to the covenant—that is, to an agreement, a union that has now been broken—but also the Father for whom children remain children.