The sentimental picture of a mother comforting her child belies what goes before Isaiah 66:13 — a message of warning towards the haughty, the hypocrite. Isaiah 66:13 follows the bad news with an offer of comfort to those who are childlike towards God Almighty.
He has told his people that he will not stand for religiosity. He has warned them of the consequences of their meaningless rituals. Who is the “mother” in this verse, and whom will this mother comfort?
A Summary of Isaiah 66
According to Dr. Peter Pett, Isaiah 66 returns to many themes featured in the book as a whole. These include warnings against religiosity, Christ’s arrival as King and Savior of the Jews, “the establishment of the new Jerusalem, the judgment of the unrighteous, the condemnation of Canaanite religion, the gathering of the Gentiles, the return of the exiles, the new heavens and the new earth and the universal worship of Yahweh Who reigns overall, both the living and the dead.” Isaiah 66 points to Jesus.
Yet, much of Chapter 66 is far from comforting. Isaiah prophesies against those who use religious forms such as ritual sacrifice in order to try and manipulate God as a way to appear righteous on the outside without truly worshiping him.
“Your acts of worship are acts of sin: Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox is no different from murdering the neighbor” (Isaiah 66:3, The Message).
Their religion does not appease Yahweh — it angers him further because Israel does not love him. Israel should be afraid of the Lord’s wrath when he comes.
On the other hand, His coming will bring comfort to authentic believers, “those that trembled at God’s word,” as Matthew Henry explained. His coming will bring “joy [to] the humble believer, and [...] confusion [to] hypocrites and persecutors.”
Love and Wrath of the Father
“Heaven is my throne, And the earth is my footstool,” says the Lord (66:1). He rules the whole world, and his judgment is righteous.
What his people have feared (being cast off and forgotten), he will fulfill because they walked away from their God. “I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen” (v. 4).
His role as Father is to lead his children away from the ways of a world that despises and rejects God.
The Lord as Father is also tender and loving. He who is “separate and far beyond us, who is high and lifted up, who created all things and needs nothing . . . that glorious God also chose to become our Father, lovingly adopting us as his own children forever,” wrote Ray Ortlund.
He could have remained remote, but he came close. God holds these two parts of himself together in love and in truth.
He warns the people of what he will do if they continue in their prideful self-exaltation, their independence from him, which masks as religious good behavior.
His wrath can be avoided: there is pity and peace from the Father, available to the people who “tremble at his word” but who are hated by others “for my name’s sake” (v. 5).
Role of the Child
If they want him to know God as Father, his people must be his children. Their lineage as Jews was not their salvation.
We are all made in his image, but we are not his children unless we obey and follow God as sons and daughters. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
An earthly child should obey his parents according to Scripture. “A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent” (Proverbs 15:5).
Children need direction — grown-ups need it too. Following God is simply wise, although children (and grown-ups) also need comfort and understanding.
Children are weak and vulnerable; they are small and afraid. Israel is humbled by the Father’s discipline and then turns to God’s comfort and assurance as though to a mother. God’s people will find comfort in her “consoling breast” (v. 11).
A baby nurses at the breast of his mother, not at a stranger’s breast: Israel is being counseled to do the same. Do not turn to the idols of other nations, and do not reject the mother’s nurturing care. What would happen to a baby refusing to suckle nurturing food designed for her?
Motherhood Imagery in Isaiah 66
The Lord possesses these qualities, yet the image of “Father” might evoke respect for his discipline more than the assurance of his tenderness.
Charles Spurgeon compared the Father’s love with that of the mother. “A father can comfort, but I think he is not much at home in the work. When God speaks about his pity, he compares himself to their father: […] But when he speaks about comfort, he selects the mother.”
Such a comforting image in verse 13 begins earlier in the chapter, where God talks about two “births.” One is painless and takes place before the mother even experiences labor pains; the other is a terrible trial.
Pett explained that the unusual nature of the first birth tells us that it is “of God,” so, consequently, one can expect the baby to also be out of the ordinary. Isaiah asks of Immanuel. “Shall a nation be born in one day?” (v. 8).
God is pointing to the birth of one nation under Christ, Jew, and Gentile. “Once He came to His government and peace would increase and there would be no end [...] but its birth would be through suffering.”
It is essential that Christ comes first to bring redemption and comfort (Pett). In earthly terms, “birth” would involve the trials of labor, which can be considerable.
In this case, Scripture is foreshadowing the cross through which Christ would destroy the power of sin and raise up all repentant believers as one nation under His authority.
At first, Jerusalem appears to be the one giving birth: “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her” (v. 10). Jesus’ message spread outward from Jerusalem.
Matthew Henry explained that Jerusalem is the source from which “the Spirit was poured out, and the gospel went forth from Zion, multitudes were converted in a little time.”
The gospel brings good news to all who hear and will listen. The gospel, like a mother, provides comfort.
Such imagery depicts maternal qualities in the Lord. “The Bible contains many feminine images for God,” argued Richard S. Briggs. The imagination of human beings, trying to grasp the fullness of God’s character, is aided by visual associations from daily life.
He is not literally a mother or a father but embodies the best characteristics of both, plus more, because the best qualities of mothers and fathers are reflections of the greater, more glorious features of Almighty God.
Our Father, Not Our Mother
God is not female, or one part female, one part male. To call his “comfort” a feminine quality helps us to grasp the fact that God is everything to his people, as though he were both mother and father.
In reality, “God is king, father, shepherd and warrior. God is husband, judge, and many others” (Ibid.). For every piece of Scripture that seems to say that God might be female, there are many more which depict him as male.
We pray “our Father,” and Christ came to earth in the form of a man. Christ is our Shepherd and God’s Son.
Wayne Martindale offered this compelling insight: “To the returning Christ, we all have a feminine relationship: we are His bride. The implications of such language include the following: He is our protector; He initiates the relationship; He provides for our needs.”
For further reading:
Why Do We Use Masculine Pronouns for God?
What Pronoun Is Used for the Holy Spirit: He, She, or It?
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