God Is Good
Let the wicked abandon his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7 NASB
Abundantly pardon – “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath,” says Lamentations 3:1. Oh, there’s plenty of affliction going around. Too much for most of us to bear. But this is a special kind of affliction. It’s affliction from God’s wrath. You might think that this means divine punishment, horrible calamity, death, and destruction. The “day of the Lord” kind of stuff. End of the world. Fire and brimstone. You know, the kind of images painted on the walls of Catholic churches in Italy.
But I think that kind of imaginative interpretation misses the real torture of God’s wrath—silence! What could be worse that God’s absence? A night of weeping without an answer. A day of sorrow without a word. A year, or two, or three, hoping waiting—and no response. The Bible speaks about this kind of wrath probably more often than the end of the world apocalypse. This kind of wrath is the gnawing reality of daily despair—and, of course, despair is forbidden.
Why? The theological answer is that as long as God is, despair isn’t. But Isaiah gives us another answer, a more practical, experiential one. God abundantly pardons. Robert Alter’s translation keeps the same words but changes the verb tense. In the NASB, the tense is future. God will abundantly pardon—some day. But Alter sees this as a presentreality. God abundantly pardons now—today! And not just a little. The Hebrew phrase begins with yărbĕh from rābâ (many, great, much, numerous). A lot! A whole lot! More than even that! This is really good news!
The phrase continues with the verb sālaḥ. This is very important. As we’ve noticed before:
“This verb, together with a few others, such as bāraʾ ‘to create,’ is used in Scripture solely of God. sālaḥ is used of God’s offer of pardon and forgiveness to the sinner. Never does this word in any of its forms refer to people forgiving each other.”[1] Remember what only God can do? sālaḥ is one of those God-only divine acts. And Isaiah tells us that He does it over the top today.
It’s enough to make you sing a song, converting ʿŏnî into ānâ.
The only reason I can sing Standing in the Need of Prayer is because God yărbĕh selolâh (abundantly forgives). If I didn’t know that, my song would be useless. My prayer would be useless. In fact, if God didn’t abundantly forgive, my life would be useless. The answer to Lamentations is Isaiah. And it’s my answer too.
Topical Index: yărbĕh, rābâ, abundantly, sālaḥ, forgive, Lamentations 3:1, Isaiah 55:7
[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1505 סָלַח. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 626). Chicago: Moody Press.
