After Debbie (my Wife) read yesterday’s Lesson, she quipped; “Write one tomorrow on the sins of the MEN, please!” We both smiled. And yet … that’s exactly the way the Holy Spirit directed Isaiah, to exposit the sad condition of the men, too!

It’s just that this Paragraph (today’s Text), though short, spans a chapter break in Isaiah’s little Volume. Church history teaches us that Isaiah himself did NOT put chapter divisions in his Work. They were added later (around 1550 AD) to help us locate certain paragraphs/sentences/clauses/phrases.

Now … here’s Isaiah’s bleak prophecy regarding the men of Israel.

Isaiah 3:25- 4:1 … “Thy MEN shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. And her (Jerusalem) gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”

Wow!

The men, they (apparently the majority, though obviously not all of them) are killed in battle!

The coming (fierce) Babylonian army will massacre thousands upon thousands of Israel’s (Judah’s) men! Look again at the Text … “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.” Haughty women yes, but dead men! Yes, the “wages” of sin is DEATH, both physical and spiritual! (But again I remind you … God did save or spare a “remnant” in Israel, the relatively few godly women and men who stood true to the Word!)

Next Isaiah depicts the deep lamentation that will follow the attack (attacks) against Jerusalem. “And her (Jerusalem’s) gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.” (The very same Gates that are later rebuilt in Nehemiah’s day … after the Captivity has ended!)

The verb “be desolate” used here essentially means “to be empty!”

Jerusalem ruined!

Her army, her judiciary, her work force … gone!

Dead!

And the women to men “ratio” will be such that … so many women and so few men (still alive) … that: “In that day SEVEN women shall take hold of ONE man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”

Wow!

Every Jewish woman wanted to be married, bear children. Not to do so was considered a disgrace, in fact. In the Biblical culture of the Ancient Near East.

But there were not enough men available, sin and death having taken their toll!

So, Isaiah predicts, “seven women” will chase one man! Not that he is that handsome or wealthy … but that he is (simply) alive, available!

She says to him: “Let me marry you, please. It will cost you nothing. I’ll pay my own way. Just give me children! Just give me your name!”

How’s that .. for mentioning the men?

Oh yes, what men?

The Lesson today, the emphasis?

God judges not only individuals … but Cities as well! And if enough Cities are wicked, the whole Nation will fall. Psalm 9:17 applies: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Just an afterthought … if the vain women of Isaiah chapter 3 dressed so fashionably, so ostentatiously, maybe even so seductively … simply to “attract” the men … it turns out that there were very few men left (after the devastation of war) to allure! All that effort for so little avail!

Yes, always … God’s Judgments are “true and righteous!”

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!

 

Normally we think of God as the One Who “blesses!”

He is The “Adder” of good things to our lives!

He can even (and often does) … “open the windows of Heaven and pour out blessings” upon us! Essentially His Very Words, from Malachi 3:10.

God’s Biblical Testimony/Reputaion: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.” Wow, Psalm 68:19 … the sharing of systematic, habitual “gifts” from above!

Even James, our Lord’s “late-coming-to-the-faith” brother (half-brother to be exact) wrote: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness.” James 1:17

The Psalmist agrees: “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” What a great (magnanimous) God we serve, Psalm 145:15-16.

Yes indeed … GOD GIVES!

But (in light of what has just been said) our Isaiah chapter 3 Text today astounds us!

“For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, DOTH TAKE AWAY …!”  Isaiah 3:1, the chapter’s very first line, King James Version.

GOD, TAKING AWAY?

Yes, because of sin, rebellion, disobedience!

And this “taking away” is framed in an astute, militant sense!

God’s Name used here, “the LORD of Hosts,” literally means the “Commander of all the armies of Heaven!” This is tantamount to God “attacking” His wayward people and taking from them “spoils” of battle.

In actuality, taking back gifts He had lavishly (and previously) send their way, back when they diligently obeyed His Word, His Law!

Thus, theologically speaking … sin robs mankind!

Wow!

But, in our specific Isaiah context this Saturday morning, what does God “take away” from these people, from His erring people?

The list is significant, even fundamental to life itself!

Read it please … “For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.” Isaiah 3:1-3

The “stay” and “staff” … both represent things on which humanity depends for sustenance, for nourishment! Folks, I am talking (as our Text continues to specify) “bread” and “water!”

Resulting in famine and dearth!

Then God removes from Israel (Judah) their military leaders … “the mighty man, and the man of war.” No longer any brilliant strategists to ward off the enemy!

Then the Judiciary suffers! Skilled men of jurisprudence … gone! (Think of the United States of America these days, with many godless people now occupying the “bench” in our land!) Such a condition would probably lead to legalized baby-murdering, among other immoral things! Yes, “the (good) judges” are gone, dead!

Taken by God, in judgment.

And get this, even godly Preachers have become scarce! ““For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah … THE PROPHET.” Isaiah 3:1-2

And in the vacuum thus created, here come “false-prophets” aplenty!

Yet God continues on His “depletion” campaign!

Next He “gets” the “wise men,” the “prudent.” (Leaving a bunch of “fools” to run Israel/Judah, senseless men in God’s Eyes!) Yes, “foolishness” is the polar opposite to “prudence/wisdom” in Scripture. I am not being unduly crass.

But who are the “ancient?” Has longevity of life been affected too? They surely represent the older men and women who have much experience and counsel and sagacity to share … had they been spared! (Or the line could as well imply that the then extant older people “lacked” such understanding!)

The list is exhaustive!

More are mentioned … removed by God is His righteous judgment!

” … and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.”  A Nation wrecked, ethically bereft!

Crooks now run the country’s affairs … men of no honor! (I am thinking of several recent Congressional witch-hunts!) Double standards everywhere!

Even “skilled laborers” (in our verse “cunning artificers”) had become scarce! Here’s an example … “Now there was NO SMITH found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.” 1 Samuel 13:19-20

Even the art of “public speaking” is bereft (or would become so) of its once skilled “orators!” Think of the late night so-called (television) comedians in today’s culture! Irreverent, unpatriotic, reprobates to the core!

Oh yes, the God Who “gives” can also “take away!”

Plenty to ponder today, isn’t there?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Who would have ever thought this sobering “civics lesson” would be imbedded in Isaiah chapter 3?

I’ve learned that really Isaiah chapters 2 through 5 present a single Sermon from the Prophet. Unbroken Holy Spirit inspired preaching! (Although here we are going to study this elongated Message a chapter at a time.) Isaiah, a Man of God … with a burden for his Nation! A Seer with enough boldness to declaim sin, in all its ugliness! (Yes, in olden days a “Prophet” was also called a “Seer.” (1st Samuel 9:9 … “For he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.”)

But specifically (and importantly), here are two things I didn’t mention in the Lesson on the coming glorious “Millennium,” described in Isaiah 2:1-4, written two mornings ago …

First, an indictment of the nation’s sins!

Do not skip this paragraph please, it being so typically Isaianic. “Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.” Isaiah 2:6-9, a pretty good synopsis of the degraded social life of Judah in Isaiah’s day, at least until Hezekiah’s attempt at revival occurred.

The “east” … the heathen God-defying nations surrounding Judah!

Notice too their keen obsession with money, “silver and gold.”

“Horses and chariots,” a misplaced trust in military prowess, rather than the Protecting Hand of Almighty God! God had long ago forbidden Israel to “collect” horses. “But he (Israel’s King) shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” Deuteronomy 17:16

And prolific  “idols,” a cleat violation of the Ten Commandments, at least twofold!

Wow!

Now secondly … in chapter 2 verses 10-22, a description of the coming dreadful time of Judgment that was to befall Israel. Still is coming, in some major ways.

This (partially) happened when Judah fell to the Babylonians. But it will be completely fulfilled in the coming days of world-wide Tribulation. A horrible time generally known as “the day of the Lord.” (In fact, this exact phrase appears in verse 12, King James Version.)

Things like …

“And the idols he shall utterly abolish (God having destroyed them). And they (the rebellious people) shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Isaiah 2:18-21, panic as God pours out His Wrath!

This picturesque passage is virtually quoted by John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos, describing the tribulation! (Quoted 800 years later!) “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17

Isaiah, every bit as up-to-date as Revelation!

Again I say, Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Tomorrow morning, the Lord willing, we shall study some in Isaiah chapter 3. What a Prophet, what a Book, what a Bible, what a wondrous God!

 

READ BOTH POSTS PLEASE …

It is 4:58 here in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. IN THE MORNING!

And we soon leave for the surgery center at my ophthalmologist’s office.

I am scheduled to have cataract surgery on my left eye this morning around 6:30, the Lord willing.

I ask you to pray for me please.

As soon as my vision allows, I will write the Isaiah chapter 2 Lesson.

The Bible, what a Book to study!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Now it’s 5:18 here in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. IN THE EARLY EVENING, PM!

My eye surgery has gone well. God has been so good, answering prayer after prayer! I can already see through my left eye!

Thank you all for praying!

On December 20th (the Lord willing) I return for the cataract surgery on my right eye.

I will again be writing Isaiah Lessons as soon as possible. Maybe even tomorrow morning.

Gratefully,

Dr. Mike Bagwell

We leave tomorrow for a time of Revival in Michigan. Pray for us as we travel.