Chizuk Emunah Under the Microscope: Chapter 23

You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls upon your name,

who rouses himself to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.. (Isaiah 64:5-7)

In this passage, Isaiah is lamenting the sins of his people. He states that even the righteous deeds are like filthy rags, and that all of Israel has been wicked and refuses to call upon the name of God.

Troki admits that we depend upon God's righteousness to deliver us. He then argues that this means that salvation does not depend solely upon our imperfect individual merit and righteousness, but upon the mercy of God.

He states that "all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" means that religious works which are performed out of wicked motives. He cites other verses which state that God hates it when we do the right things for the wrong reasons. There is not a hint of this in the context, immediate or otherwise.

The term "polluted garment" is (עִדָּהבֶּגֶד) meaning a menstruated rag. The imagery makes a powerful rhetorical point on just how much God hates such acts. The term for righteous deeds is (צְדָקָה)(Strong's H6666), which generally means "righteousness." It is used 167 times in Tanakh:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H6666&t=ESV

In Isaiah, it is used 12 times, and never used to describe doing the right things for the wrong reason.

Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.(Isaiah 56:1)

I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you. (Isaiah 57:12)

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. (Isaiah 58:2).

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. (Isaiah 59:9)

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. (Isaiah 59:14)

He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. (Isaiah 59:16)

He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. (Isaiah 59:17)

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. (Isaiah 60:17)

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." (Isaiah 63:1)

Instead, the word always means being morally good. Hence, even the righteousness of Isaiah and his people was like the filthiest rags before God.