Isaiah 1:5 - No Soundness Head to Foot
ISAIAH 1:5-6 Why
should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more; the whole head is
sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head
there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores;
they have not been closed; neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
For those still living under the belief that Isaiah's writings are for some distant people in an age long past, you may be able to read this passage with pleasant curiosity and wonder how ancient Israel could have been so naive to forsake the Lord. But those of us who realize that all the words of Isaiah are pointedly glaring at us start to squirm under his descriptive and poignant symbolism. We begin to wonder how in the world we as a people degenerated to this level of condemnation.
This analogy could also include our nation as a whole, having political and religious connotations. "Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail" (Isaiah 9:14-15). And so, if the heart is faint, or rather sick or ill according to the Hebrew text (דוי), the nutrients of life that are pumped through the body becomes insufficient to nourish to body, or contaminates the body with impurities, and begins affecting – or infecting – the entire body. If we as a nation or a church are taught diluted truths, it is not long before we become faint in our faith, too, and consequently our obedience.
The Heart
The heart is the core of the body, from which flows all blood to feed and nourish the rest of the body. As Paul spoke about the church being one body (1 Corinthians 12:12), so here Isaiah also personifies the church and the house of Israel. How do we know he is speaking to the church? Because it is the covenant body of Christ in our day; it is filled with the descendants of Ephraim, but also intermingled with many Gentiles who are not of direct descent from Abraham but adopted into that lineage. This is why Nephi so often refers to the church in our day as the Gentiles, the Gentile nation, or the Gentile church.This analogy could also include our nation as a whole, having political and religious connotations. "Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail" (Isaiah 9:14-15). And so, if the heart is faint, or rather sick or ill according to the Hebrew text (דוי), the nutrients of life that are pumped through the body becomes insufficient to nourish to body, or contaminates the body with impurities, and begins affecting – or infecting – the entire body. If we as a nation or a church are taught diluted truths, it is not long before we become faint in our faith, too, and consequently our obedience.
The heart often refers to the intent or conversion of a
person, or in this symbolic personification of the house of Israel, the
conversion and condition of the collective hearts of the covenant children of God. “Hearken
unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness; I bring near my
righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I
will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” (Isaiah 46:12-13).
Symbolically throughout scripture, the heart is often also a reference to or
symbol of “the seat of knowledge, receipt of revelation, omniscience, true
inner man, and so on.”[1]
The Head
The head is likewise sickened or diseased. The head
represents the seat of power or influence. It is what turns the body in the
direction it should go. This could refer to a political head, a religious head, or some other leading power. The head also contains the mouth, eyes, and ears. Therefore, if
the head is contaminated, does that not also suggest the mouth, eyes, and ears
are also affected; that with which we speak, see, or hear? The mouth is that which
we use to speak the truth, the words of God; the eyes are the light of the body, but “if
thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light which is in thee be darkness, how great shall that darkness be” (Matthew
6:23); the ears are where we hear the word of the Lord so that we can “live by
every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 4:7 [84:44]).
If the head is sick, then consequently the rest of the body suffers. Since the head represents our spiritual leaders as well as secular or political leaders, then the eyes, ears, and mouth could represent prophets (those who speak the words of God), seers (those who see with a spiritual eye), and revelators (those who hear the voice of God). Isaiah foresaw this condition in other words: “His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” (Isaiah 56:10).
If the head is sick, then consequently the rest of the body suffers. Since the head represents our spiritual leaders as well as secular or political leaders, then the eyes, ears, and mouth could represent prophets (those who speak the words of God), seers (those who see with a spiritual eye), and revelators (those who hear the voice of God). Isaiah foresaw this condition in other words: “His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” (Isaiah 56:10).
Though we all hope that body is healthy and whole,
we cannot discount the great prophet Isaiah's vision of our time. "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it" (Isaiah 1:6). If we are to avoid this condemnation, we need to not only hope, but work toward soundness as one body. May we as individuals and as an entire body speak the words of truth, seek to see the face of Christ, and listen to hear the voice of the Lord. When we stray from that path, when our mouths distort the truth or speak deception, or our eyes seek after the things of this world, or we listen to the voices of men, then we start along the dark path of apostasy, or separation from God. Let us commit our hearts to seek after purity and truth and never settle for anything less. Let us bandage up our wounds, bruises, and sores, and let the mollifying ointment of the Savior's atonement begin to heal our souls.