THE SABBATH OF VISON AND TISHA B’AV

The shabbat before Tisha B’Av ,which commemorates the loss of the Temple, is called the Shabbat Chazon or Sabbath of Vision . Its name comes from the opening verse of the haftarah* reading Isaiah 1:1-27 (The *haftarah reading comes from the prophets and accompanies the weekly reading from the first five books of Moses, known as the Torah portion)

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The reading begins with the word ‘vision’ and this is why it’s called the Sabbath of Vision. It is the third of a series of three rebukes which are found in the haftarah readings which precede Tisha B’Av, which is a solemn day of mourning  and fasting. over the loss of the Temple.

The Shabbat before Tisha B’Av provides the Jewish community to reflect not only on the rebuke that Isaiah brings from the Lord but on the hope the Lord offers at the end of the passage.

​Isa 1:27  Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

It is a shabbat when Jewish people are encouraged to envision the fulfilment of this promise, which includes the restoration and redemption of the people of Israel and the  establishment of the Third Temple.

It’s worth considering not only why this passage is read but what the message of the vision is. I came across a powerful comment about this portion of Scripture that really struck me:

“This haftarah is not about worshiping false gods, but about worshiping God falsely—by following the ritual forms without obeying God’s commandments”

The Haftarah reading of Isaiah 1:1-27 which follows a similar theme to the prophet Jeremiah in Chpt 8:13-9:23 t where the Lord opens with a judgment and expresses His rage. Modern translations convey the idea that the Lord goes to gather grapes for the harvest and there are none or that what He finds he sweeps away in rage and then His judgment comes.

Jer 8:23 “I will utterly consume them,” says Adonai. “There will be no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither, and what I gave them will pass away.”

The Lord says He will remove their fruitfulness and then Jeramiah tells us of the fear that overtakes them as they hear the war horses from Babylon coming to destroy them. And poor Jeremiah weeps and finally explains what the Lord is doing and why as he records what the Lord says:

Jer 9:13-14 And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it,  but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.

Jer 9:11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

This not only occurred when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem but was repeated in AD 70 by the Romans.

Is 9:7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?

We are reminded that the reason our people have suffered is because of unfaithfulness not just in worshipping God falsely but in fallowing after other gods and as a people we need to remind ourselves not to follow the gods of this world, the age old one mammon, the cult of the personality be it film or rockstar or the loss of morality. There are false gods all around us that deprive God of the worship of our hearts. Anything that deprives God of our worship, or that takes up space in our hearts that rightly belongs to him is ultimately idolatry.

So, while the Haftarah reading from the prophets in the weeks running up to Tisha B’Av focus on the cause of  the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonian armies and that how the people forsook God and His ways, following after false gods, the passage in Isaiah which is read on the Sabbath of Vision deals with the false worship of God.

When you read through Isaiah Chpt 1 you can hear the tone of God voice change. He opens with an indictment: He is the angry and disappointed Father who calls His children to account and calls the heavens as His witness. And he describes His children as being more stupid than an ox or a donkey. An ox knows its owner and a donkey knows where its feeding trough is; but Israel knows neither. And moreover, is sick with sin; Isaiah says: quote from a modern version so that you get the impact of what he days:

Is 1:6 From your head to your toes there isn’t a healthy spot. Bruises, cuts, and open sores go without care or oil to ease the pain. (CEV)

God moves from the His opening statement using  a metaphor to describe and explain their state. He wants them to understand the damage that sin causes. The sinfulness of God people is so bad that God even addresses them as Sodom and Gomorrah

Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

In the following verse God says:  listen,  in other words sit up and pay attention, because your offerings are worthless! Instead of being acceptable and fragrant they have become stench to God . And as for prayer is concerned; they can forget it God is no longer listening.( Is1:15) Then God begins to make His appeal:

Isa 1:16-17 “Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean; remove your evil behaviour from my presence; stop practicing what is evil. Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow’s case

He tells them what is need is a change in their behaviour and then comes the invitation in Is 1:18 “Come let is reason together”. He is telling His People that if they are willing, He will release blessing but be warned there are consequences for refusing His offer.

When we look at scripture to learn from it, we see eternal principles at work. Principles that remain true in the New Covenant as well as in the Torah and Tanach. Paul says in Rom 3:23 that “all have sinned and fallen short pf God’s glory”. And that that eternal life belongs only to those who choose the Messiah. In  Johns’ Gospel we read:

Joh 3:14-15  Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Back in Isaiah 1, the Lord invites His people to come and talk with Him; to return to Him and He will cleanse them.

Is 1:18  “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

There is a play on words here because the word crimson שׁנים shanim which is connected to the verb shanah which means to double or do something twice. So, first, he says your sins scarlet like a cloth that has been dyed twice to ensure  the colour is permanent. This dye comes from the ‘coccus ilicis’  which is a grub The Lord is explaining the nature of sin: it’s an indelible mark on the soul. Then he says they are red; a warm red whose Hebrew root is ‘adam’; perhaps because Adam was made from the red earth. And finally, the Lord calls sin crimson again but this time God uses a different name for crimson ‘tola’ which is the grub  known as the coccus ‘ilicis’ but this time he explains that the sins which stain you can be washed away leaving you white and pure as wool. 

There is a Messianic connection to this promise in Isaiah that found in Psalm 22  a messianic Psalm, in which we hear the prophetic voice of the Messiah say that He is a worm:

​Psa 22:6  But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

He who was sinless become becomes the sin bearer and becomes the red worm and it is His shed blood that will cleanse us and make us white as snow.

​Rev 7:14 They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So, perhaps we can be encouraged by being reminded that the Lord invites not just the Jewish people but all people to come to Him for forgiveness and to have the stain of sin cleansed.

So as Tisha B’av approaches may we pray that the Jewish people will come to know the Yeshua (Jesus)and be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.(1Pet 1:18-19)