Intervention

Time after time the Old Testament shows up justice as the key issue of the day. The poor and oppressed seem to be keenly on God's heart, looking for ways to bring them justice.

It seems obvious that God is looking for people, especially 'His people', to ensure this justice happens, i.e. to work for a just & fair society. Of course in many cases in the Old Testament the issue is highlighted because that is precisely what His people were not doing.

Isaiah 59 is no exception. Look at v15-16. There was no justice, and no-one to intervene.

So what does God do? He steps in and intervenes Himself.

Note the choice of words (at least in the NIV): 'achieved salvation for him'. The concept of salvation is tightly coupled to the whole deal of justice, and thus presumably social justice across society.

Begs the question: how narrow have we made 'salvation' in our understanding?

Another interesting snippet: 'his own righteousness sustained him'. God had to intervene and go it alone. One can infer, from this, that God had originally expected a community of people (who could encourage and help sustain each other) to be working justice at street level.