Sin's Curse
3:1–7. God would take away from … Judah any semblance of good government and replace it with a sense of futility. Because of her sin the LORD would take away all the supplies and people on which she relied: food and water (v. 1), soldiers (v. 2), civil (judge) and religious (prophet) leaders (v. 2), wise people (v. 2), military leaders (v. 3a), and skilled workers (v. 3b). The fact that Isaiah included the soothsayer (v. 2) and the clever enchanter (v. 3) in this list does not mean he was endorsing them. He was merely noting those on whom the nation was depending for survival and security. The Mosiac Covenant prohibited involvement in soothsaying and enchanting (Deut. 18:10–14). Isaiah himself wrote about Babylon trusting in this kind of activity (Isa. 47:12).
In contrast with these people who were considered wise and mighty the Lord would raise up foolish, weak leadership. Inexperienced boys and children (3:4; cf. Ecc. 10:16, NIV marg.) would be unable to stop oppression and conflict (Isa. 3:5). Anybody who could be grabbed would be placed in charge of the people, his only qualification (v. 6) being that he owned a cloak. But the only thing over which he would rule anyway would be a heap of ruins. The leaders would have no solution to the problem shortages the people would face (v. 7). Isaiah was speaking of the coming devastation of Judah by the Babylonian army.
I. The effects of sin
A. Crumbling of society
a. Good food and water
b. Soldiers
c. Civil and religious leaders
d. Wise people
e. Military leaders
f. Skilled workers
Thus we are led to the root cause of social breakdown. It is both spiritual (against the LORD), evidenced verbally (their words), and practical (their … deeds). Jerusalem’s guilt is compounded by the fact that it is not regarded by the people as their guilty secret and they have no sense of guilt. Sin is no longer sin, it is the new morality. Thus it is that societies collapse.
B. Loss of quality of life
a. Stench replaces sweetness
b. Self-image is loss
c. Shame replaces glory
d. Poverty replaces wealth
e. Branding replaces beauty
f. Safety is replaced by service
II. The installation of poor leaders.
A. Children
B. Babies
C. Women
Because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD: The pronoun their refers to the people and especially to the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. Both their speech (or, “all that they say”) and their deeds (or, “all that they do”) are against the LORD. Speech and action together are a summary for a person’s whole way of being. The people and their leaders are fundamentally opposed to Yahweh. Are against may be rendered “defied” (REB) or “are an affront to.”
III. The Source of sin.
A. Wicked tongues.
B. Evil deeds
a. Self-gratification
b. Neglect of the poor
Their partiality witnesses against them: This is an idiom, the sense of which is not obvious. It only occurs here in the Bible. The Hebrew says literally “The appearance of their faces answers against them.” This could refer to the evil expression on their faces, implying a defiant attitude against God (so NRSV, REB, NIV). REB has “The look on their faces testifies against them.” Instead of “The look on their faces,” RSV says Their partiality, which is the interpretation also accepted by FRCL, NJPSV (“Their partiality in judgment”), and GNB (“Their prejudices”). Translators may choose either interpretation. If partiality is chosen, it should be clear that it refers to a basic perversion of justice; when judgments are made, one person is favored over another. Many languages may have a special idiom for this, but if no precise expression is available, a longer rendering may be used; for example, Their partiality may be rendered “The way they judge unjustly” or “Their crooked judgments.”
The sense of the verb phrase witnesses against them is “shows what they really are like.” GNB has “will be held against them,” which may be a simpler way of rendering these words. NJPSV and FRCL say “accuses them.”