Isaiah 27 · a question people ask
"by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven" (27:9). What is this?
The verse says it in its own words: "this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more" (27:9). It sets the forgiving of Jacob's iniquity beside the end of the altar's stones and of the Asherah poles and the incense altars, and it calls that "all the fruit of taking away his sin" (27:9). It says he and doesn't give a name. The same four Hebrew words, iniquity, forgiven, taking away and sin, are in the seraph's words to Isaiah, "your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven" (6:7) (tap forgiven), and the chapter on Isaiah 6 sets the two verses side by side. Chapter 17 names them too: "In that day" (17:7) people "will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the incense altars" (17:8). The verse doesn't say more about how the forgiving is done, and these notes don't add to it.
The verses
“Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more.”
“He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.””
“In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the incense altars.”