The vision (chazon) of Isaiah son of Amotz ...Hear O Heavens and Listen O Earth for G‑d has spoken. I have raised children and elevated [them] and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding-trough; but Israel does not know, my nation did not contemplate! (Isaiah 1:1-3)
These words open the Haftorah for Shabbat Chazon, after whose opening word this Shabbat is named. R. Meir Leibush Malbim - following his general approach that parallel stanzas in the works of the Prophets are not just poetic doubling but that each stanza lends additional meaning - explains these opening passages as follows. There are two sources for the gratitude a child should feel for his parent. The first is the very fact that he brought him into the world and raised him. Even if he did not grant the child anything more than the absolute minimum required of a parent, the child should still feel grateful toward the parent. The second is when the parent endows the child with special gifts above and beyond that granted to his other children. In the words of the prophet, G‑d has granted both to the children of Israel. He both raised them as His children and elevated them over all the nations of the world. Even members of the animal kingdom, bound by natural law, instinctively follow these two paths of recognition of their benefactor. The ox recognizes its owner just by virtue of the fact that he acquired it. The donkey, of lesser intelligence, at least recognizes the place where it is fed. But "Israel", a term indicating G‑d's King-servant relationship with the Jewish people, did not follow the example of the ox in recognizing its owner. And "my nation" did not follow the example of the donkey in recognizing the extra kindness granted them by G‑d through their being elevated over all the nations.
Many central themes emerge from these few passages. The notion of gratitude as a primary catalyst toward Divine service and the need for extra gratitude for extra gifts received are themes developed at length by R. Bachya in his classic philosophical-ethical work, Chovot HaL'vavot, as noted here by Malbim. Non-Jews are obligated in commandments not just because G‑d is their master but also because their Creator has granted them life. Jews are obligated in more commandments than non-Jews because they received more from G‑d. Kohanim are obligated in more mitzvot than other Jews because they in turn received more. Hence, the prophet's rebuke: how could you not fulfill this most basic of obligations, the debt of gratitude required to be paid to your Creator!
Several commentaries question the analogy to the animal kingdom. Animals operate on an instinctual level. It is therefore no surprise that they "express gratitude" which is nothing more than an enactment of a mechanical urge. Human beings, by contrast, operate through free will and therefore are less prone to follow the correct approach of expressing gratitude.
Two complementary answers can be offered to this question. Contrary to what we might think, the notion of gratitude is an instinctive quality implanted within mankind by its Creator.[1] I believe what R. Bachye means is that our Creator endowed us with a natural tendency to express gratitude to our benefactors much as the animals do. However, unlike the animals, people have the ability to suppress this natural tendency. The most common way to do this is to suppress the knowledge of the good bestowed on the individual or by mentally overshadowing it by magnifying the perceived evil received from the benefactor. Tanach and Midrashim are replete with examples of both the nations of the world and B'nei Yisrael's attempts at suppressing knowledge of the good that G‑d had done for them. In the words of the Midrash, the generation of the flood tells G‑d: "Do we need you for anything other than a drop of rain which you provide; we have rivers and streams instead!" (Yalkut Shimoni Noach 58). K'lal Yisrael tells G‑d "because of G‑d's hatred for us He took us out of Egypt!" (D'varim 1:27). Here, the prophet tells us: "Israel did not know, my nation did not contemplate." In other words, Hashem tells us: "You, my people, do not stop to contemplate the enormous good I have done for you. You refuse to contemplate this fact!" This is much as children, when confronted with a demand from their parents after hearing the "Look at all I've done for you!" speech, will often respond, "but what about this or that which you didn't do for me!" Of course this does not change the power of the parental argument but allows the child to suppress this awareness since he can hide behind his perception that the parent could have done more, and therefore he need not express gratitude for that which was done. The Malbim refers to this notion of expressing gratitude to Hashem by attaching ourselves to His Will as something which should "resonate in the depths of Man's heart."
Malbim comments further that, on a deeper plane, Man is a microcosm of all of the creations of the Universe. Hence, any quality that is found in the animal kingdom, by definition, Man possesses in even greater measure. If the animals express gratitude and knowledge of the source of their pleasure, Man must be able to do the same in a greater fashion. (See The Human Microcosm in the archives of TorahWeb for further elaboration of this theme.) It is for this reason that Isaiah uses an analogy from the animal world.
As we enter the final stage of the period of mourning over the havoc our lack of gratitude to our Creator wrought culminating in the destruction of the physical resting place of the Divine presence in the world, let us heed the words of Isaiah and recommit to express our gratitude toward Hashem placing His Presence at the center of our entire lives. May we merit seeing the return of the revealed Sh'china in our days!
[1] The idea developed here is based on something I heard quoting the writings of either R. Gedalyahu Schorr or R. Eliyahu Lopian . I did not succeed in locating the source and would be indebted if a reader could provide it.