No turning

Isaiah 57:17 is structured chiastically:

A. Because of his unjust gain

B. I was angry

C. I struck him

C’. Having hid

B’. I was angry

A’. And he went turning in the way of his heart.

The “he” could be Israel, or Israel’s king, or even, given the allusions to Genesis (“dust” in v 15, “breath” in v 16), Adam. Whoever the offender is, Yahweh takes severe action to turn him from his way. But it doesn’t work. At the end of the verse, “he” is doing just what he was doing at the beginning, following the way of his own greedy, unjust heart. The verb “turn,” often used for “repent,” gives the verse a bitterly ironic tone: He turned, but not from his way. He turned from me, and kept on going.

Which makes the chiastic structure of the verse ironic as well. A chiasm is a structure of inversion, which often gives formal reinforcement to a story of change and renewal. But here there is no change; God is angry at the beginning and end, because “he” has not responded to Yahweh’s punishment and withdrawal. That stroke should be a moment of recognition and repentance. It should be, in reality and in literary structure, a turning point. It’s not. And instead of chiastic reversal, the text gives us a repetitive cycle of disobedience, God’s anger, discipline, following by further anger and disobedience, on and on.

And the only thing that arrests the cycle is a further, gratuitous intervention from God. Verse 17 leaves “him” walking in the way of his heart. Yahweh sees those ways, sees where they lead, and yet decides to heal. He will soften those who harden themselves. He determines to turn those who refuse to turn.