Isaiah 9 · a question people ask
"neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows" (9:17). Doesn't God care for widows and the fatherless?
The verse gives its own reason: "for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly" (9:17). The same book speaks for widows and the fatherless again and again. In chapter 1 the LORD says, "Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17), and of the princes of "the faithful city" (Isaiah 1:21) the chapter says, "They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them" (Isaiah 1:23). And the next chapter opens with woe on those who decree "that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!" (Isaiah 10:2). A psalm calls God "A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows" (Psalm 68:5). The chapter doesn't set these verses side by side or say how they fit with 9:17, and these notes don't either. They apply 9:17 to no one today.
The verses
“Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
“Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.””
“How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.”
“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”