There is an ultra-interesting Paragraph in Isaiah chapter 3 that begs for further investigation! Clearly it is a stinging denunciation directed strait at the women of Israel. (To clarify, at “some” of the women of Israel, certainly not ALL of them! There were yet many godly ladies in the Land, even in those dark days prior to the Babylonian Captivity. Isaiah’s Wife, whom he lovingly nicknames “the prophetess,” comes to mind as one example. See Isaiah 8:3 for proof.)
Still, let me show you what I mean about today’s Scripture, preaching to a group of vain women … note the vocative “daughters of Zion.”
“Moreover the LORD saith, Because the DAUGHTERS OF ZION are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.” Isaiah 3:16-24
What a writer, Isaiah the Prophet!
He begins by charging this elite group of being “haughty!” The word (“gabahh”) is translated “proud” once in the King James Version. And both “higher” and “exalted” several more times. The very opposite of being humble, lowly, or meek!
Even their demeanor, their “gait” (their “walk”) advertises their self-centeredness. “Walking with stretched forth necks!” (My Mom used to say “stuck-up.”) And the verb “mincing” likewise means “skipping, taking little ‘prissy’ steps!” Show-offs!
My lexicon says “wanton,” the adjective describing their “eyes”, means “ogling, lusting,” inviting (but clearly in a lewd way)! Flirtatious!
The same kind of woman described in Proverbs 7:10-21, a long paragraph but well worth reading, every word! “And, behold, there met him a woman (much like our Isaiah 3 woman today) with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. (“Ogling” all the boys!) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. (Meaning that she has been to “Church!” She is quite “religious!”) Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. or the goodman (her husband) is not at home, he is gone a long journey. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech (quite persuasive) she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.”
But, back to today’s Isaiah 3 Text … the emphasis in our Pericope is this woman’s attire, her dress! I mean in detail! Things like … “tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.”
Wow!
Her feet and ankles and legs and wrists and arms and ears and nose and head … all lavishly adorned! (“Overkill,” again my parents would have judged the situation!)
The word “bravery” in verse 18 means “glory, splendor, excellence (in the sensed being very expensive), these women “living” for their “wardrobe’s sake!”
A few definitions may be in order …
“Tinkling ornaments” … anklets, bangles! (“Noisy” to draw even further attention! Maybe a little like Paul’s “sounding brass, or tinkling cymbals.”)
“Cauls” are ornamental “bands” worn around one’s head! (This Hebrew word is used only here in all the Bible!) Whereas the New Testament says a woman’s “hair” is her glory! (1 Corinthians 11:15)
“Round tires like the moon,” nobody knows exactly what Isaiah meant here. One teacher guesses: “crescent head ornaments.”
“Mufflers” were “long pieces of thick cloth that you wear to keep your neck warm.” Maybe “dressed like a Queen,” might express this level of extravagance!
“Tablets” may be “exotic perfumes,” often believed to be aphrodisiacs! Ultra expensive fragrances, again here worn to excess! Some of them apparently wore different “ointments” on different parts of their bodies! Vanity personified!
“Mantles” are overcoats.
“Wimples” may be “veils.” It’s translated that way once in the King James Version, anyway. But again, it is only used twice in the whole Bible. (Isaiah is in rare form today! A precise, even technical vocabulary!)
“Crisping pins” are “bags,” what we’d now call “purses.” Some of these, even in our culture, sell for hundreds of dollars apiece, down at the Mall!
“Glasses” are simply mirrors! (For self-admiration, no doubt! Primping!)
Wow!
But … how does this wardrobe line up with verses like, say 1 Peter 3:3-4, also written to women? “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but of a meek and quiet SPIRIT … which is in the sight of God of great price.”
Or to 1 Timothy 2:9? “That the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; NOT with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.”
Wow!
Man looks on the outward appearance!
God looks on the heart!
But … what does God have planned for these “showy” women? Who so neglect the spiritual to emphasize only the physical?
Again, Isaiah is specific.
The Lord will “smite them with a scab,” Isaiah 3:17. Maybe (one scholar believes) a disease of the scalp, rendering them bald!
The Lord will “discover their secret parts.” A euphemism for the soon coming “captivity” (when the Babylonians ravaged the whole Nation, Judah) … stripping the people naked and forcing them to march (in such a humiliating state) to a distant, foreign land!
And all that ostentatious garb? “The Lord will take away” every bit of it! (Verse 18, “sur” in Hebrew … meaning “turn aside, take off, remove, eschew!”)
Judgment!
“And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink.” All those perfumes didn’t help too much, did they?
And … “burning instead of beauty.” Sun scorched bodies, ruined (beyond repair) on that long trek to Babylon! No longer lovely!
Wow!
All this (to me) gives Mathew 6:33 new impetus. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” What things? Like clothes and food and houses!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
By the way, Amos the Prophet also denounced feminine hypocrisy! Though he was hard on the men, too! Read Amos 4:1-3 … “Hear this word, ye kine (feminine gender, “cows” really, the women) of Bashan (wealthy, proud, conceited), that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow (feminine again) at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.”
Wow!