In Yeshayahu's famous prophecy which we read on Shabbat Chazon (the Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av), the Almighty laments to the prophet, "I have raised and exalted children – but they have betrayed Me!" (Yeshayahu 1:2).
Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch explains this declaration to mean that the Torah has not denied the Jewish people anything that would necessitate or even justify in any way their preference for other lifestyles and modes of worship. The Torah does not demand, encourage or even sanction a life of self-inflicted poverty and suffering. It requires not that we withdraw from worldly pursuits, but that we sanctify them through the observance of the Torah's guidelines, obligations and restrictions. If a child betrays a parent who imposes overbearing responsibilities, treats him abusively or denies him his basic provisions, we could easily justify and support the child's decision. God here emphasizes that this is not the case with Benei Yisrael. God has "raised and exalted" them; He has brought them to a fertile land and encouraged them to till its soil and tap its resources to the very best of their ability within the guidelines of Torah law. He had not denied them anything that would justify their abandonment and rejection.
This verse thus serves as an appropriate preface to the harsh condemnation that follows (1:3): "An ox knows its owner – a donkey, its master's trough; Israel has not known, My nation has not understood." Animals instinctively show loyalty to those who care for and feed them, if for no other reason than the innate desire to survive. But Benei Yisrael have shown no such loyalty to their "owner," to God, and have instead acted towards Him as though He has not provided them with their needs. Rather than knowing their "master's trough," they have rejected their Master as if He had never given them water.
In this sense, these verses also serve to introduce the prophet's description of the devastation that the kingdom has endured, the destruction of entire cities by enemy nations that has left Jerusalem as "a hut in a vineyard" (verse 1:8; as the Radak notes, Yeshayahu here likely refers to the period of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Chizkiyahu). God wishes to emphasize that this devastation resulted not from His abandonment of the people, but rather from the people's abandonment of Him. Before the nation's betrayal, He had "raised and exalted" them, caring for them and providing them with all their needs. It was only because of their rejection of the Almighty and the preference they showed for other faiths and religious practices that He has subjected them to foreign rule and denied them the delights of the land.
Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il