Why are your clothes red?
1 ① Who is this coming from Edom, majestically arrayed in crimson garments from Bozrah, marching in great strength? “It is I, proclaiming justice, I who am powerful to save.” 2Why are your clothes red? Such garments have those who tread the winepress.
3“Alone I have trod the grapes;
not one of my people was with me.
I trampled them in my anger,
I trod them down in my wrath, their lifeblood spattering my garments, staining with crimson all my raiment. 4For I had set a day of vengeance and my year of redemption had come. 5I looked about: there was no one to help. I was appalled: there was no one to give support. My own arm, then, brought about the victory, and I was supported by my own fury.
6I crushed the peoples in my anger,
I trampled them down in my wrath, and on the earth I poured their lifeblood.”
Rend the heavens and come down
7I will sing in praise of Yahweh and recall his kindness, according to all that he has done for us, his great goodness to the family of Israel. He has granted us mercy in the abundance of his blessings.
8For he said: “Surely they are my people, children who will not be disloyal.” So he proved himself their Savior 9in all their trials.
It was not a messenger or an angel but he himself who delivered them. Out of his love and mercy, he redeemed them, lifting them up and carrying them throughout the days of old.
10Yet they rebelled, giving grief to his holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, fighting against them.
11His people then remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is he who brought them out of the sea, the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who in the midst of them poured out his holy Spirit, 12who sent his own power to accompany Moses, who divided the waters before them, winning for himself eternal renown, 13who made them go through the depths as easily as a horse in the wilderness? 14Like cattle going down into the valley, they did not stumble.
The spirit of Yahweh led them to their rest; you guided your people, winning for yourself glorious renown.
15Look down from heaven, look down from your holy and glorious throne. Where is your zeal and your strength, the yearning of your heart and your compassion? How long will you ignore our pain? 16For you are our Father, whereas Abraham does not know us nor has Israel any knowledge of us. But you, O Yahweh, are our Father, from the beginning, you are our redeemer: this is your name.
17Why have you made us stray from your ways? Why have you let our heart become hard so that we do not fear you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
18Why have irreligious people invaded your sanctuary? Why have our enemies trampled it down?
19For too long we have become like those you do not rule, like those who do not bear your name.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.
- Is 63,1 The poem beginning here is wildly beautiful. The neighboring people of Edom took advantage of the ruin of Jerusalem to join its wreckers and take part in the looting. So, the simple mention of it was enough to arouse a desire for revenge in the Jews. The prophets wanted the destruction of a nation in which sin was obvious and which had no mission in God's plans. This poem imagines God relating his victory over the pagans. Believers reading this poem in early Christian times understood it in another, figurative sense: in the hero rescuing his people, they saw Christ covered with his own blood (see Rev 19:13). This was God's real victory and his way of restoring justice. Is 63,7 This passage 63:7-64 is a psalm asking the forgiveness of Yahweh. The wonders of the past are recalled, and an anxious expectation of new blessings is expressed. Note especially 63:19-64:3 which would be understood later as asking for the coming of Christ.
