Isaiah 3

The LORD of hosts judgment

The New American Commentary: Isaiah 1–39 (3) Removal of Judah’s Male Leaders (3:1–15)

HISTORICAL SETTING. R. E. Clements thinks this passage refers to the incompetent leaders who let the nation become an Assyrian vassal during the Syro-Ephraimite War (734–732 BC), while Childs prefers a time after the fall of Jerusalem (587 BC). Although the date of this message is not exactly signaled in the text, its structural and thematic integration into the larger unit in 2:1–4:6 implies that it comes from the time of Uzziah, just like 2:6–22. The political setting precedes a major decline in military and economic status (3:1–5, 8–9); there were still many wealthy women in Jerusalem (3:16). The era of Uzziah was a time of wealth and pride in Jerusalem that fits the cultural setting of chap. 3. Dating this event during Uzziah’s reign also could suggest that the judgment predicted in chap. 3 was fulfilled a few years later during the Syro-Ephraimite War.

Chaos and the breakdown of government

There will

Support and supply Lack of food and water

Things they were trusting in

The means to sustain life will be taken

The whole supply of bread and water

The people with capable military and civil authority expereience will be taken

Allowed: The strong man (physically strong) and military man, the judge and the prophet (spokes person), the elder, the captain of fifty, the honorable (famous and respected) man, the counselor (advice)

The judge and the prophet, the elder

Popular but not allowed: The diviner (fortune-teller), the skillful artisan (magician) the expert enchanter

The diviner and the elder

Hunger and thirst

The absence of capable authority

Will lead to boys (immature) and babes (capricious ones = given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior) leading the government

Will lead to discord and oppression in the neighborhoods and disrespect and disdain for authority

The Prophecy of Isaiah The Actual Jerusalem

In society as a whole there is divisiveness and ruthless self-advancement (the ‘rat-race’) and within society’s natural groupings, teenage rebellion. Rise up speaks not just of revolt but also of its arrogant, loud-mouthed spirit (it comes from √rāhaḇ, ‘to storm against’). In the moral order, honour is accorded without consideration of worth. The base is lit. ‘the one who ought to be thought nothing of’ and the honourable, the one ‘who merits honour’.

Will lead to anarchy and desperation in seeking someone to lead; finding no one capable or willing to lead

No one able or willing to rescue

Strong men and those with skills

The cause of their fall

Sin in word and deed openly witnessed by the glory of the Lord

Sin so openly known it is written all over their face and brings self-infliction to their soul

Reaping what you sow

The righteous will bear fruit

The wicked will receive just do

Galatians 6:7 NKJV

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Galatians

The self-centered leaders made God’s people vulnerable

The self-centered leaders left them open to be oppressed by juveniles and ruled by women

The Prophecy of Isaiah The Actual Jerusalem

Women possibly refers to the royal harem. If the king was a spoiled brat then likely enough his wives were numerous and manipulative, fitting what we sense of the reign of Ahaz (but cf. Am. 4:1). The reference may be to dominant and demanding women, the ‘power behind the throne’ and not only in the palace!

Jezebel would be a good example

They led God’s people astray and confused them about God’s directions for life

The self-centered leaders will be judged by God, Himself

The Lord stands to contend and judge the people

The Lord begins with the leaders

He charges them with destroying or taking the source of nourishment found in the vineyards

Leviticus 19:

Leviticus 19:9–10 NKJV

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

He charges them with plundering the poor in their own houses

He charges them with crushing God’s people and grinding the face of the poor

Judgement on the Elite women of Jerusalem

Their ego craves attention

The Prophecy of Isaiah The Actual Jerusalem

Everything is designed to attract attention—posture, demeanour, movement, ornament.

Their appearance and behavior openly and willingly disobey the Lord

Their ego and efforts are noticed by the Lord

Scabs or sores on their heads, possibly made bald through leprous sore

Leviticus 13:2 NKJV

“When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.

Stripped and embarrassed

The Prophecy of Isaiah The Actual Jerusalem

Thus sin and its due reward frustrate all life’s ambitions and would-be fulfilments.

Their fine things will be taken away

All that they desired will be reversed

Stench replaces sweet smell

Rope replaces sash

Baldness replaces well-set hair

Sackcloth replaces rich robe

Branding (burning scar) replaces beauty

Those she sought to attract will be killed in war

Her gates will be a place of lament and mourning

Her desolation will cause her to sit on the ground in sorrow

Lamentations 1:4 NKJV

The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness.

The absence of men will lead a woman bargaining for a husband