Isaiah 48 · a question people ask
Why doesn't the LORD cut Israel off (48:9)?
The chapter gives its own reasons, and each is the LORD's own: his name, his praise, his own sake. It has just said, "for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb" (48:8). Then: "For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off" (48:9), and "For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another" (48:11) (tap glory). Between the two stands 48:10: "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction" (48:10). Isaiah has for my own sake in two other verses, of the city he will defend (37:35) and of transgressions blotted out (43:25), and 48:11 is the only verse that says it twice. The verb of cut you off comes once more in the chapter, in what would have been if they had listened: "His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me" (48:19).
The verses
“Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.”
“Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.””
“‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’””
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”