Isaiah 63:8

My Notes

What Does Isaiah 63:8 Mean?

God recalls his original expectation of Israel: "Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour." The word "surely" (ak — certainly, truly, without doubt) expresses God's confidence: of course they're my people. Of course my children won't deceive me. The confidence is followed by the commitment: because he expected faithfulness, he became their Saviour.

The phrase "children that will not lie" (banim lo yeshaqqeru — children who won't be false, who won't act deceptively) reveals God's expectation before the disappointment: God expected his children to be honest. The relationship was built on anticipated trustworthiness. God entered the covenant expecting fidelity and received betrayal.

The saving followed the expectation: "so he was their Saviour" (le-moshi'a — he became their deliverer). God's saving of Israel was motivated by his expectation of their faithfulness. He saved them because he believed they would be what he called them to be. The salvation preceded the failure. The deliverance was prompted by trust that would later be violated.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What does God expecting faithfulness ('surely they won't lie') teach about the basis of the covenant relationship?
• 2.How does the saving being motivated by trust (he became their Saviour because he expected honesty) change your understanding of grace?
• 3.Where has God's expectation of your faithfulness been met — and where has it been betrayed?
• 4.What does the grief between expectation (children who won't lie) and reality (they rebelled) reveal about God's emotional investment?

Devotional

God said: surely they're my people. Children who won't lie. And because he believed that — because he expected faithfulness from the people he chose — he became their Saviour. The saving was motivated by the trust. The trust would later be betrayed.

The 'surely' (ak — certainly, without doubt) reveals God's pre-disappointment confidence: he entered the covenant relationship expecting the children to be honest. The expectation wasn't naive (God knows human hearts). It was the appropriate stance of a Father who has every right to expect faithfulness from the children he redeemed.

The 'children that will not lie' is the expectation that makes the subsequent failure so painful: God didn't expect rebellion. He expected honesty. The baseline of the relationship was truthfulness — children who keep their word, who don't deceive, who honor the covenant. The lying (yeshaqqeru — acting falsely, being deceptive in conduct, not just in speech) that Israel eventually practiced was the violation of God's specific, voiced expectation.

The saving following the expectation means the deliverance was an act of trust: God saved Israel because he expected them to be faithful. The Exodus, the wilderness provision, the conquest, the kingdom — all of it was the Saviour's response to the expectation of honest children. The investment of divine salvation was made on the basis of anticipated covenant fidelity.

The verse's grief is in the gap between the expectation (children that will not lie) and the reality (verse 10: they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit). God expected honesty. He got rebellion. God saved them because he trusted them. They betrayed the trust that motivated the saving.

Has God's expectation of your faithfulness been met — or has the Saviour's trust been betrayed?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture