ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Tu’apulelulu ‘Okatopa 26, 2023

Rebellious Rulers

Hou’eiki Angatu’u

ISAIAH 1:21-23

HOW THE FAITHFUL CITY HAS BECOME A WHORE, SHE WHO WAS FULL OF JUSTICE! RIGHTEOUSNESS LODGED IN HER, BUT NOW MURDERERS. YOUR SILVER HAS BECOME DROSS, YOUR BEST WINE MIXED WITH WATER. YOUR

PRINCES ARE REBELS AND COMPANIONS OF THIEVES.

‘Aisea 1:21-23

21 ‘Oiauē, ‘a e hoko ‘a e kolo alafianga ko e pa‘umutu! ‘a e kolo na‘e fonu ‘i he fai fakakonisitūtone–ne me‘a mo toka ai ‘a Totonu ‘e ia–ka ko eni ko e koto fakapō. 22 Ko ho‘o siliva kuo tolosia, ko ho‘o kava kuo talovai. 23 Ko ho hou‘eiki kuo hoko ko e angatu‘u, mo e tākanga ‘o e kau kaiha‘a; ‘oku nau manako me‘a‘ofa kotoa pē, ‘o muia ki he fakakoloa: ko e me‘a ‘a e tamai mate ‘oku ‘ikai te nau fakatonutonu, pea ko e faka‘ilo ‘a e fefine uitou ‘oku ‘ikai ke a‘u kiate kinautolu.

Isaiah is the king of Hebrew wordsmithing. He weaves in puns, tinkers with names, winks with linguistic sarcasm. He's cooked up a rhyme in this law-heavy sermon against his people and their leaders. The four-word phrase "Your princes are rebels" is but two words in Hebrew: sarayik sor'rim (Say it slowly aloud: saw-rah-yik sow-re-reem). The simple form of the two Hebrew nouns, sar ("ruler") and sarar ("rebel"), is just begging for them to be paired. But that's not all. The word sarar carries baggage; it describes the rebellious son who earned the death penalty (Deut. 21:18-21) and rebellious Israel who earned forty years of wilderness wanderings (Ps. 78:8). Isaiah pulls no punches: the whore-like nation (v. 21), full of murderers (v. 21), has the lowlife leaders they deserve.

Like Isaiah, Jesus sugarcoated nothing. When he verbally whipped the religious leadership of his day, he drew on images of graves, snakes, and dirty dishes to characterize their hypocrisy. What Israel needed-and what we need-is a ruler who is true, gentle, just, merciful, and righteous. And that's precisely what we have in our Lord, the truth-telling, anointed King.

Holy Father, break our stubborn hearts and rebuild them in the shape and texture of your own.