ISAIAH
Prophecies concerning the Nations
Isaiah Chapter 3 to 4:1
The judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem (3:1-26)
The trial must start in the House of God. Israel would suffer almost immediately into the hands of the Chaldeans, and the chapter gives notice of it. The people had provoked the Lord. The cruelty and oppression were charged by their rulers (Isaiah 3:14, 15) and the joy and the luxury characterized the "daughters of Zion" (Isaiah 3:16 -23). In the future the Nations cannot be blessed until the realization of the divine judgment on the ground of God people, the "time of trouble for Jacob"; and about their attackers among the Gentiles. The initial verses give a testimony of the effects of sin.
Divine titles "the Lord" and "God of hosts" combine the Supreme and absolute and the power of God as ruler and judge. That day, which we read in Isaiah 2:20, the Lord will take away the leadership responsible for the people, of the people depended.
"The catchphrase"and"the stick"are different forms of the same Hebrew word and denote any support. Its removal should produce conditions of famine, natural and spiritual, and that also means the removal of any kind of leader and national Executive, each counselor and guide, as well as all skilled worker. Will be a time of oppression, anarchy, insolence, disrespect and insubordination. Stripped of every organization and power, the Government is in the hands of inexperienced kids and boys (literally, childish things or childish).
The result is a total mess. Men ask for help each other, but everything will be useless, no one will be able to provide medication or livelihood, or rule. Some faithful men who remain will recognize that this whole situation is the result of the iniquitous and provocation to the Lord for Jerusalem and Judah.
In Isaiah 3:9 "the semblant" means your glaring audacity (compare Hosea 5:5; 7:10). Without shame, openly declare their sin, as did the people of Sodom. But as well as they, "Ai of your soul! Because they hurt themselves " (compare with Amos 5:10 -20).
Here the Prophet started a series of eight afflictions, or "s", two in this chapter and six in Chapter 5. The second is "Woe to the wicked! Ill will; because if you do what your hands have done. " Is a reprimand by his wickedness. A result of their SIN is being driven by inexperienced and immature (children), for the weak (women) and by misleading.
In the midst of all this there is a word for the God fearing, through a parallel contrast: "tell the righteous that they will" [literally, "is good," the same phrase as in Genesis 1:4, 10, 18, etc.] "because they will eat the fruit of their works." As Galatians 6:7, "whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap". What seems so terrible for the God fearing, in due time will be seen as conducive to his eternal well. On the other hand, the apparent prosperity of the wicked will lead eventually to their own destruction: "because if you do what your hands have done. "
The verses 12 to 16 continue to describe the degraded condition of the people. A mere youth, with all his inexperience, ruling with oppression on it, such as Abião and his mother Maacá (1 Kings 15:3.13) and Subrata (2 Kings 11:1.13). These leaders have done nothing other than to induce people to error; They destroyed (literally "bought it") the paths designated for Israel, destroying and hiding. So, you're going to turn to judge people (the word is plural in Isaiah 3:13), Nations in General, and especially the rulers of Their own nation, chastising them for crush his people and "grind the face" of the poor (a vivid metaphor to make suffer, not found elsewhere, action retreat of milling and describing a merciless severity).
Then comes a scathing denunciation of women of Judah by their pride, their mannerisms, their expensive clothes and beautiful jewelry. Worldliness in General is expressed in the forms and women costumes, in their luxurious style of dress and adornment, imitating the priestly vestments and partly the idolatrous worship.
The punishment of women will be severe, as described in verse 24, men (civilians) will fall by the sword and the powerful men (literally, "power", that is, the entire military force) perish in the war.
The city gates, places where the worshipers thronged and performed the cults, will become in scenes of grief and the city will be "devastated" and sit in the dust of the ground, a figure of total humiliation, used also in Isaiah 47:1 and Job 2:13.
A calamity added will be the loss of his men in the war. The decimation of the male population will take seven women aggressively propose marriage to a man, promising to continue to sustain themselves, just to be able to introduce themselves as married and not suffer the opprobrium of spinsters (as they don't let legitimate offspring, etc.).
R David Jones
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Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem
1 For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
2 The mighty man and the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder;
3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert enchanter.
4 "I will give children to be their princes, And babes shall rule over them.
5 The people will be oppressed, Every one by another and every one by his neighbor; The child will be insolent toward the elder, And the base toward the honorable."
6 When a man takes hold of his brother In the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing; You be our ruler, And let these ruins be under your power,"
7 In that day he will protest, saying, "I cannot cure your ills, For in my house is neither food nor clothing; Do not make me a ruler of the people."
8 For Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings Are against the LORD, To provoke the eyes of His glory.
9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10 "Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, For the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths."
13 The LORD stands up to plead, And stands to judge the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment With the elders of His people And His princes: "For you have eaten up the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the faces of the poor?" Says the Lord GOD of hosts.
16 Moreover the LORD says: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And walk with outstretched necks And wanton eyes, Walking and mincing as they go, Making a jingling with their feet,
17 Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, And the LORD will uncover their secret parts."
18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery: The jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents;
19 The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils;
20 The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; The perfume boxes, the charms,
21 and the rings; The nose jewels,
22 the festal apparel, and the mantles; The outer garments, the purses,
23 and the mirrors; The fine linen, the turbans, and the robes.
24 And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war.
26 Her gates shall lament and mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground.
Isaiah 3
Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, To take away our reproach."