In one of His most intense exchanges with His enemies, Jesus says that they “do the deeds of your father” in seeking to kill Jesus. He means that the devil is their father (John 8:39, 44). They protest that they are children of Abraham and sons of God (vv. 39, 41). “We are not born of fornication,” they insist (v. 41).
Jesus here reapplies the condemnation of Isaiah against the people of Judah: Jews who pride themselves on being children of faithful Abraham and Sarah instead have a different parentage. They are the product of a union of an adulterer with a prostitute (Isaiah 57:3).
The whore is presumably Judah herself, or Jerusalem, considered as a mother of her offspring (cf. Isaiah 1:21). But who is the adulterer who is Judah’s father? He is unspecified, but the following verses describe Judah’s attachment to idols (vv. 5-8). When mother Zion uncovers herself and spreads her legs to idols (v. 8), the product is mockers, children of rebellion, a seed of deceit (v. 4).
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
