Choosing to Sit in a Theological Prison of Your Own Making

"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness." Isaiah 42:6-7 ESV

Throughout Isaiah 42 God speaks as if to an individual person. The word "you" in verses 6-7 is singular and verses 1-4 define the object as God's chosen servant. While this prophecy is ostensibly about the nation of Israel, it also seems to be addressed to the Messiah, and, in fact, the aging prophet Simeon alluded to this passage when he met the infant Yeshua for the first time:

"Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;  for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." Luke 2:29-32 ESV

However, prophecy frequently has dual meanings, even dual subjects. Since the roles of Israel and the Messiah are parallel in some ways, it isn't surprising that many prophecies use the same words to address both subjects. While Simeon (and many teachers throughout history) applied Isaiah 42 to Yeshua, Yeshua himself applied it to his twelve disciples, perhaps as a proxy for the twelve tribes of Israel:

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

Bible commentators like John Gill, a 19th century English theologian, (and myself too) often forget this principle of dual application and latch onto a single possible interpretation of a prophetic passage, sometimes even excluding the plain and most obvious meaning. Concerning Isaiah 42:6, Gill wrote,

'"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness..." Not the Prophet Isaiah, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra (two medieval rabbis) interpret it; nor the people of Israel, as Kimchi; but the Messiah, whom Jehovah called to the office of Mediator, in a righteous way and manner, consistent with his own perfections.'

Gill recognized the reference to Messiah, but dismissed the possibility that the same prophecy could apply to Messiah, Elijah, and the whole nation all at the same time. He was a very intelligent and thoughtful man, but I think this is a typical error of people used to more binary, Greco-Roman patterns of thought.

Think of prophecy as a gem with multi-dimensional images embedded below the surface. The very same stone could present a very different picture depending on how you turn it and on what light you place it under. Even while I offer possible interpretations of some of the elements of this prophecy, keep in mind that these are only possible interpretations and possibly only one of multiple completely valid interpretations.

Isaiah 42:7 talks about three different kinds of people who need to be freed by the light.

1. The blind - As in Isaiah 29:18, these are people who are ignorant of the truth through unfortunate circumstances. They were born to a pagan nation or unbelieving parents who never taught them, etc.
2. Those chained in prison - These are people who have been restrained from finding the truth by unjust rulers, such as the people of North Korea.
3. People who sit in prison - These are people who have rejected the truth in favor of lies, who wilfully remain in darkness. They are atheists and people who attend church and hear the word--at least in part--but refuse to believe it or to put it into practice.

The tragic mistake that many make shows clearly in John Gill's comments to this verse:

'"and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house": of sin, Satan, and the law; being under which, they were in a state of darkness and ignorance as to things divine and spiritual. The allusion is to prisons, which are commonly dark places. Vitringa [a 17-18th century Dutch theologian], by the "prisoners", understands the Jews shut up under the law; and by those in "darkness" the Gentiles, destitute of all divine knowledge.'

In other words, rather than being a light to the world, Vitringa, Gill, and many Christians believed that the Jews are imprisoned in darkness by God's Law, the very Law about which God said "YHWH was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his Law and make it glorious," just 14 verses later in the same chapter of Isaiah.

Keeping the Law doesn't keep a person in prison. Quite to the contrary, God's Law is a source of light and understanding.

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. Psalms 19:7 ESV

How can the Law keep its adherents in a prison of darkness even while keeping it revives the soul and makes the simple to be wise?

Gill wasn't entirely incorrect. The Law can be a prison to those who use it wrongly, but it can be a liberator if it is used as it was intended. Many of the Sadducees, Pharisees, and others were (and still are) trapped in a rigid system of obedience to a set of rules that are based on the Torah, but are actually contrary to it. Like so many Christians today, they believed that if you obeyed God's Law perfectly, then you would earn a certain place in God's affections. To keep from breaking one rule or another, they added more rules on top of Torah like fences around a cliff's edge. If you can't get close to the edge, you can't fall over!

Such rules are fine if they really help you to stay on the straight and narrow and as long as you remember that they themselves are not God's Law. Unfortunately, by overemphasizing one rule, the Sadducees forgot or misinterpreted a host of others, and by adding more and more fences, the Pharisees ended up fencing off large portions of the Law itself. In their zeal to prevent people from breaking the Law, they prevented people from keeping it!

Because of his antinomian preconceptions, John Gill took one possible interpretation of Isaiah's prison of darkness and dismissed all others, thereby missing a very important message that was repeated throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-19 ESV  

Yeshua anticipated and refuted John Gill's rejection of Torah 1700 years before he penned it. Unfortunately for Dr. Gill, he turned away from the light that was offered, choosing instead to remain sitting in his prison, writing about how unfortunate those Jews are because of the prison that God so lovingly imposed upon them.