Isaiah 3

Isaiah 3:1

3:1-5 In that day of which we read in Isa_2:20, the Lord will take away the responsible leadership that the people had depended on. The loss of bread and water may refer to famine conditions, but here bread and water probably symbolize essential leaders, as suggested by the following verse. There will be a lack of capable, mature leaders in every walk of life. It will be a time of oppression, anarchy, insolence, disrespect, and insubordination. 3:6-8 People will try to draft a relative to take charge of “these ruins,” but the latter will refuse, since he has neither food nor clothing in his house. And no one is to blame for the calamity, says Isaiah, but the people themselves. 3:9-12 In verse 9, the prophet begins a series of eight “woes,” two in this chapter and six in chapter 5. The first arraigns the populace for partiality and for shamelessness. The second upbraids them for their wickedness, but promises blessing to the righteous remnant. One result of their sin is that they are being led by the inexperienced and immature (children), by the weak (women), and by deceivers. 3:13-15 In these verses the LORD summons Israel to stand trial. The charges are leveled. He takes the rulers to task for enriching themselves at the expense of the poor (through bribery and extortion, no doubt). Since the verdict is “guilty,” the sentence is announced. 3:16-24 Next comes a scathing denunciation of the women of Judah for their pride, their suggestive mannerisms, and their expensive clothing and jewelry. The faces on which they had spread expensive cosmetics will be encrusted with scabs. Their bodies will be stripped of all the finery. Instead of being elegant ladies, they will become bedraggled refugeesreeking of body odor, tied with rope, their heads shaved bald, only burlap to wear, branded for identification. 3:254:1 An added calamity will be the loss of their men . . . in war. The decimation of the male population will lead seven women to aggressively propose to one man, promising to support themselves as long as they can carry his name and thus escape the awful reproach of being unmarried and of dying childless.