קיום המצוות באופן חיצוני

(13)The Lord said: Since this people approached Me in apparent prayer, and yet only with its mouth and with its lips it honored Me, but it distanced its heart from Me, their reverence of Me has become a commandment of men learned by rote. The people come to the Temple and recite prayers, but only as a superficial ritual, as a social norm, or as part of a duty imposed by the government, acting as though the commandments of God were merely given by men. (14)Therefore, behold, I will continue to bewilder this people, which will astonish them, bewilderment upon bewilderment; and the wisdom of its wise will be lost, and the understanding of its understanding ones will be concealed. Just as the people observe God’s commandments only superficially, God will grant them only superficial understanding of the events that will occur. Even the wise and prudent among them will not grasp their meaning. (15) The prophet rebukes those who employ artifice to do evil: Woe, those who hide from the Lord, as it were, in the depths in order to conceal a schemethey are hatching. Their actions are in the dark, and they say: Who sees us and who knows of us? Just as no person sees us or knows our actions, God does not see us either. (16)On the contrary, your assumption is the opposite of the truth. Will the potter be considered like clay? Do you think a potter is comparable to the material he uses to create the vessel? Do the laws that limit the material apply to its creator as well? Furthermore, will the product say of its maker: He did not make me, or the craft say of its craftsman: He did not understand? A person cannot hide anything from his Creator, nor deny His presence. This fundamental idea is expressed in several places in the Bible. (17)Is it not that in a very little while Lebanon, which was heavily forested, will be transformed into farmland, an easily accessible region of fields and vineyards, and the farmland will be a place regarded as a forest (see 32:15)? There will be great changes in the status and capacities of various creations, for better or for worse. (18)On that day, the dayof the redemption, the deaf will hear the words of a scroll, and from blackness and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Human restrictions will be removed, and people will develop new capabilities. This is meant either literally or as a metaphor for the revelation of the truth. (19)The destitute will increase joy in the Lord, in the end of days, and the indigent among men will be happy in the Holy One of Israel, (20)for the powerful aggressor is no more, and the evil scoffer, who seeks to cause harm with plots and ruses, willcease; all who actively and excitedly pursue evil will be eliminated:(21)Those who cause people to sinthrough speech, those who entrap one who rebukes at the city gate, where people would gather for commercial, political, or judicial reasons, and where the leaders and prophets would issue declarations, execute judgment, and reprimand people, and those whosubvert the righteous with emptiness. All these people will be eliminated, and nothing will remain from those evil and deceitful individuals. (22)Therefore, so says the Lord to the house of Jacob that redeemed Abraham. Were it not for Jacob’s family, Abraham’s legacy would have been forgotten.Alternatively, God is referred to here as the one who redeemed Abraham, specifically from Ur of the Chaldeans and in the War of the Kings. Not now, at the time of the redemption, will Jacobbe ashamed, and not now will his face pale in embarrassment, (23)for upon his seeing his children, My handiwork, in his midst, they will sanctify My name, rather than worshipping Me superficially as before; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will venerate the God of Israel. (24)Those of straying spirit who have not yet found a path to God will learn understanding, and the grumblers, who are never satisfied, will learn a lesson and no longer complain.