Did Isaiah 1:13 change or abolish the law about animal sacrifice?
Robert Sungenis answers no: in Isaiah 1:13 God is not abolishing sacrifice but refusing the sacrifices of hypocrites who come to Him in unrepented mortal sin. He holds that God accepts sacrifice from those who are sincerely trying to be good, as the chapter goes on to call Israel to wash, do right, seek justice and defend the fatherless and the widow.
A viewer asks whether Isaiah 1:13, where God says He cannot bear the people's offerings, new moons, and feasts, changed the law about animal sacrifice.
Answer
No, no, no. It is exactly the opposite of what you might think. God is not doing away with the sacrifices; He will take every sacrifice you give as long as you have a clean heart. It is very simple. He wants you to do good, and then come and offer your sacrifice for the sins you have not yet remembered or conquered, giving Him a pure vessel to look at, so He can say, they are really trying to please me, they are really trying to be good; I can forgive those things that still pester them. That is what He wants. But if you come to Him with mortal sins all over your soul and offer Him sacrifice, that is when He says, I hate your sacrifices, because you are a hypocrite: you dare come before your God, who knows your every move and the very hairs on your head, in that state. That is the point of the passage. Read on and He tells them to wash and make themselves clean, take their evil deeds out of His sight, learn to do right, seek justice, and defend the fatherless and the widow. He is not abolishing sacrifice; He is refusing the sacrifice of the unrepentant.