Compared to Sodom - Isaiah 1

Isaiah 1:10 "Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah."

When Isaiah, stepped up and told Judah and Jerusalem that they were like these two cities, it must have made them turn and listen if but for a moment. The story was surely passed down directly from Abraham after his nephew Lot was rescued by the angels.

Ezekiel 16:49 "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. v50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good."

I believe the daughters referred to those surrounding communities.

Sacrifice without obedience was not acceptable. They were going through the motions of obeying the law but after the ceremonies, it was the same out in their regular life. They were going through the motions at the temple but their heart was not in it and they left off service to the poor and needy and built up themselves.

v11 "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?..."

v13 "Bring no more vain oblations; ..."

v15 "...I will not hear, your hands are full of blood."

So, if it is not the sacrifices and the motions of worship, then what is the correct thing for Judah and Jerusalem to do.

v16-17 "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."

The Lord has told them what was going to happen to them if they persisted in evil, yet he still reaches out and pleads with them to return to him with their heart.

v18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

From here the Lord talks of the cleansing process that will go on in Judah.

v25 "And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin; v26 I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, the faithful city."

This preaching was going on during the reign of the kings. Apparently, the inhabitants did not want to hear it for judgment was carried out.

I Samuel 12:6-7 "And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers."