Isaiah 50:1

A husband in Israel could divorce his wife, if she did not remain true to him (see Deuteronomy 24:1-4). This was well-known. The Bible often refers to the *Lord’s relationship to Israel as that of husband and wife. And people could understand that picture in words. But the relationship had broken down, because Israel did not carry out its promise to obey the *Lord. However, there was no legal evidence that the *Lord had in fact divorced Israel.

• Nor had the *Lord sold Israel. This uses another picture in words. An extremely poor father, who was desperate to pay a debt, might sell his children to be slaves (see Exodus 21:7). The *Lord created the world and everything in it. He cannot owe anything to anyone!

• ‘Mother’ and ‘children’ form another picture in words, to refer to the entire nation of Israel. Israel had continued to refuse to obey the *Lord (see Isaiah 43:23-24). So he sent them all away to a foreign country where they were *exiles.

• The people could not blame God for their troubles. They themselves were responsible for their own evil deeds. Their troubles were the result of those evil deeds.