NOTES for Isa 44:1-28
Today's reading continues the theme of merit and achievement in the context of God's relationship with His people. Running through it like a red thread is the thought that, from the very beginning, the Jewish people are wholly and entirely God's creation, whether the subject is the days of Moses or Isaiah of Babylon, individuals or the people as a whole (verses 2, 21, 24). This is precisely what makes possible both the people's very existence (verses 3–5) and their redemption (verse 22). Against this background the polemic against paganism seems somewhat exaggerated (verses 9–20), especially if we remember that in the days of Isaiah of Babylon paganism was no longer an issue within the Jewish community itself.
Yet the example of pagan religiosity reveals with special clarity what recedes into the background or assumes veiled forms in monotheistic religiosity and therefore is not always noticeable. Above all, it reveals what immediately strikes anyone who has seen craftsmen making sacred statues or images: paganism always presupposes that it is the human being who creates gods for himself, and precisely the sort he wants to see. The reverse is also true: whenever a person wants to create gods or God in the form in which he wishes to see them—or Him—he falls into paganism, even if formally he continues to be a monotheist. Such a person, though absolutely convinced that he worships the One, actually begins to worship his own idea of Him, which becomes an idol for him.
This happens, evidently, because a person views his religion as one of the many parts that make up his life. It is no accident that the prophet mentions how wood that is thrown into the fire to cook food is then used to make an idol (verses 14–17). A person needs religion in the same way as food and warmth, no more and no less. He seeks ways to satisfy this need just as he satisfies all the others, using every means at his disposal.
At that point it no longer matters whether this need takes a pagan or a monotheistic form: both are equally far from God. The issue is not that God lacks either the power or the desire to satisfy any human need, provided there is no sin in it. The point is that abiding in the Kingdom cannot in principle be reduced to the satisfaction of needs. The Kingdom is first and foremost relationship: relationship with God and with people, relationships that a human being can never build without His help.