Isaiah 56

This chapter opens the section of Isaiah comprising chapters 56–66. Isaiah 55 ends with a call to salvation addressed to all who thirst. This chapter declares that the call extends even to foreigners and eunuchs, and it then rebukes the leaders of Israel. Scholars commonly group chapters 56–66 together as "Third Isaiah" (Trito-Isaiah). The traditional view, by contrast, holds that the entire book was written by the prophet Isaiah.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Because salvation is near, the people are commanded to keep judgment and do justice. Blessed is the one who keeps the Sabbath and refrains from evil.
• Verses 3–5 The eunuch is told not to call himself "a dry tree." To eunuchs who keep the Sabbath and take hold of the covenant, God promises a memorial within His house better than sons and daughters, and an everlasting name.
• Verses 6–8 God will bring the foreigners who have joined themselves to the Lord to His holy mountain and will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices. His house will become a house of prayer for all people. God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares that He will gather still others besides those already gathered.
• Verses 9–12 After summoning the beasts of the field to devour, the passage rebukes the leaders. They are portrayed as blind watchmen, dogs that cannot bark, and shepherds who seek only their own gain and fill themselves with strong drink.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 56:7 "For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people" — the verse Jesus quoted at the cleansing of the Temple.
• Isaiah 56:3 "Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree" — a declaration welcoming those who had been excluded from the congregation.
• Isaiah 56:10 "His watchmen are blind" — a censure of the ignorance and negligence of the leaders who ought to guard the people.

People and Places

• Foreigners: People who do not belong to the nation of Israel. In this chapter the term refers to foreigners who have joined themselves to the Lord.
• Eunuchs: Men who have been castrated and cannot father children. The term can also refer to officials of a royal court.
• Watchmen and shepherds: Commonly understood as figures for the leaders responsible for caring for Israel.
• Holy mountain and "mine house": Mount Zion and the Temple in Jerusalem upon it.

Points for Reflection

• Deuteronomy 23:1 excludes eunuchs from the congregation of the Lord, so verses 3–5 are interpreted in light of this regulation.
• Denominations differ in how they apply the passage's emphasis on Sabbath observance. The Seventh-day Adventist Church cites this chapter as one basis for its teaching that Gentiles also should keep the Saturday Sabbath. Most Protestant churches read it as a call to covenant faithfulness and understand it in connection with Sunday worship. For further discussion, see Sabbath and the Lord's Day.
• Verse 7 is quoted in the accounts of the cleansing of the Temple in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Only Mark 11:17 includes the words "of all nations."
• Parts of the chapter are also read in connection with the New Testament. Some interpreters read this chapter alongside the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, a Gentile eunuch, in Acts 8. Verse 8 is likewise sometimes linked to the "other sheep" of John 10:16. Neither text, however, directly quotes this chapter.

In the Korean Church

The phrase in verse 7, rendered in the New Korean Revised Version as "a house where all peoples pray," is frequently cited in sermons on the cleansing of the Temple. It is also often used in sermons on the meaning of the church sanctuary and of prayer.