3. Isaiah Chapter Three
Isaiah Chapter 3
Judgment must begin at the House of God. Israel would suffer almost immediately at the hand of the Chaldeans, and the chapter gives warning of this. The people had provoked the Lord. Cruelty and oppression were practiced by their rulers (Isaiah 3:14-15) and godless gaiety and luxury characterized the ways of the "daughters of Zion" (Isaiah 3:16-23). In the future the nations cannot be blessed till divine judgment has been wrought upon God’s earthly people in "the time of Jacob’s trouble"; and upon their Gentile aggressors. The opening verses give a testimony to the effects of national sins. The divine titles "the Lord, Jehovah of hosts" combine the supreme and absolute authority and power of God as Ruler and Judge. "Stay" and "staff" are different forms of the same Hebrew word, and denote every sort of support. The removal must produce famine conditions, natural and spiritual, and not only so, it would mean the removal of every kind of national leader and official, every counselor and guide, as well as every skilled laborer (Isaiah 3:2-3). The nation would be stripped of all organization and power. Inexperienced youths and babes (lit., childish things, or puerilities) would govern (Isaiah 3:4).
Utter confusion must result. Men would ask for help from one another, but all would be helpless, unable to provide remedies or sustenance, or to rule (Isaiah 3:6-7). A few faithful men would remain, and acknowledge that the whole situation was the result of iniquity and provocation of the Lord (Isaiah 3:8). In Isaiah 3:9 "the shew of their countenance" means their glaring effrontery (cp. Hosea 5:5; Hosea 7:10). They openly avow their sin, as the people of Sodom did. But like them they must bring retribution upon themselves (cp. Amos 5:10-20).
Amidst it all there is a word for the godly by way of a contrasting parallel: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him [lit., "it is good," the same phrase as in Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:10, Genesis 1:18, etc.]; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." What seems so terrible for the godly will be found to be for their eternal good. The apparent prosperity of the wicked will eventuate in his own destruction: "the reward of his hands shall be given him" (Isaiah 3:10-11).
Isaiah 3:12-16 describe further the degraded condition of the people. Mere youths, with all their inexperience, governed them with oppression, and women ruled over them, as had Maachah (1 Kings 15:13) and Athaliah (2 Kings 11:1, 2 Kings 11:13). These leaders did nothing but mislead; they destroyed (lit., "swallow up," cp. Job 39:24) the paths appointed for Israel, obliterating and hiding them. Therefore Jehovah would interpose to judge the peoples (the word is plural in Isaiah 3:13), the nations in general and especially the rulers of His own nation, dealing with them for crushing His people and "grinding the face" of the suffering, a vivid metaphor, not found elsewhere, taken from the action of the millstone and describing unmerciful severity. The general worldliness found its great expression in the ways and doings of the females, in their luxurious style of dress, and adornment, adopted partly by imitating the priestly vestments and partly from idolatry. Dire retribution must ensue. The "scab" (Isaiah 3:17) is a word connected with leprosy. The word rendered "discover" is used in Psalms 137:7 of razing a city. The men (civilians) would fall by the sword and the mighty men (lit., "might," i.e., the entire military body) would perish in war. The gates, places where worshipers thronged and ceremonies were held, would become scenes of mourning, and the city being "desolate" or purged (the word is rendered "be free" in Numbers 5:19, Numbers 5:28, in connection with the water of jealousy), would sit upon the ground, a phrase expressive of utter humiliation, used in Isaiah 47:1 and Job 2:13. When worldliness comes into a church, the Lord has to administer rebuke and chastening and takes an outside place (Revelation 3:19-20). Let the individual backslider repent with earnest zeal, and the Lord’s desire to re-enter will be fulfilled.