Isaiah 43:1-19, Kadosh Yizrael, The Holy One of Israel

The name of the LORD is holy and awesome (Ps. 111:9).  Actually, His name literally is, The Holy (One; e.g. Isa. 10:17; Hab. 3:3)) or The Holy (One) of Israel (e.g. Isa. 1:4).  The term “holy” refers to purity and cleanliness.  But fundamentally, it is “to be set apart.”  One antonym for holy is “profane” or “common.”  God is anything but common; He is in no way ordinary.  For that reason He is the “Holy One of Israel.”

This name is almost exclusively the domain of Isaiah in Scripture.  Of the forty times the name appears in the OT, thirty-two are by Isaiah.  The first use comes in 2 Kings 19:22 where Isaiah tells King Hezekiah that God will deal with the King of Assyria who reproached … blasphemed … raised (his) voice … and lifted up (his) eyes against the Holy of Israel.  He had spoken of the LORD as if He were just like all the other gods whose nations and armies he had defeated.

This name for God is powerful, given the nature of the relationship between God and Israel.  The first occurrence of the term kadosh (holy) is in Ex. 19:6, at Mt. Sinai.  At the time of the birth of Israel, the whole point was that God, possessor of all the earth (19:5), would make one people to be His special treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  They would be wholly set apart to the LORD; and the LORD would be set apart to them (their Holy One).  Perhaps it is no surprise that this word became so prominent with Isaiah, at a time when Israel was being warned that she would soon experience the fury of the LORD, because she was not keeping her end of the bargain (covenant) established at Mt. Sinai.

In today’s passage this name is associated with the LORD our Savior (43:3), Redeemer (43:14), Creator (43:15) and King (43:15).  The name is also associated several times with the LORD of hosts (YAHWEH Tsaveot).  Hear the words of Isa. 54:5: For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.  There is no God like the Holy One of Israel.

Israel struggled from the beginning of her nationhood in how she profaned the name of the Holy One.  In their wilderness wanderings they tempted and “limited” Him (Psalm 78:41).  Then she struggled when the Messiah came offering Himself to Israel.  Israel denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead (Acts 3:14-15).  Ezekiel, who was in Babylon with the captives, wrote hopeful words from the LORD concerning Israel: So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore.  Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel (Ezek. 39:7).

The things from former times are written as examples and admonitions for us (1 Cor. 10:11).  We need this one.  We too are holy to the Lord, saints, set apart for the Son of God.  Let us not consider Him to be common or ordinary.  Let us think and speak and walk in a way that exalts our risen and coming Lord Jesus Christ.